Hello all. My name is Vishal Chavan. I have been a Mozillian since 2013 and a Rep since 2014. Since then, I have had the opportunity to be a part of some amazing initiatives which had a global impact with respect to the Reps Program and the community as a whole.
Some of my previous contributions include being on the Reps Onboarding Screening Team, Mozilla Open Leaders Mentor and an Expert, Regional Coordinator for Mozilla Clubs, Reps Social Media team member.
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One of the major implications of these testing times were the lay-offs that happened across the globe. The positive aspect can be that it made us perform using bare minimum resources that we had and strive better.
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Some of the key Mozilla communities have taken significant damage due to the layoffs. The prime examples of this being Latin American communities facing the issue of Mobilization, or the European communities facing the problem of lack of motivation etc.
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The transition period has given Mozilla an opportunity to change their perspective on the communities and restructure their programs to better fit the current scenario of volunteers and the community as a whole. Mozilla and the Council can also work on designing newer contribution areas which can appeal to every functional aspect of the community to get more participation. Being in the community for this long, I have worked closely on campaigns and initiatives and have a good understanding of what would work and what would not.
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Another strategy going forward can be to set up regional teams who would work with Council and Staff directly on regular intervals (just like a mini version of All-Hands, but virtual). These teams would get a chance to work on core projects and contribute directly. This will not only help volunteers work on what they love, but also get to know how things go around within Mozilla as an organization.
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For any family to sustain, the key ingredient is belongingness. The volunteer should feel that he/she belongs to the team. If volunteers are well informed and are directed to relevant resources they have a better understanding about the contribution areas and work associated. To get contributors involved for a long run, Reps can have frequent calls with them to understand their status quo. Get to know what they are doing, if they need any help, if they have any suggestions etc. Also, Communication plays a vital role here. Contributors need to be made aware of newer contribution opportunities, or any news about Mozilla in general, to make them feel involved.
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Another important motivating factor would be the skills that the volunteers would garner. Skills that would benefit them professionally in their careers as well. Along with this, volunteers, if they got involved, they could be made aware of the Recognitions, Accountability, the impact they could make in the global community etc. These could be driving forces for them to keep contributing for a long run.
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In case of Campaigns, Reps should be able to identify the area of interest among the community members who would be productive in any said Campaign. This is where we would need to come up with more Campaigns which would be interesting to a diversity of the community. We need to keep a note that not all minds think alike, and then work on designing Campaigns accordingly.
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Mentorship: I understand that changes are a part of life and are usually for the betterment of the community as a whole. But the Mentorship now is just not what it was 3-4 years ago. This has hampered the Reps program to some extent. Previously, mentees would have their mentors to turn to for any kind of guidance, suggestions, or just plain chat about the community and contribution pathways. I feel this has been somewhat missing in recent times. Mentors are needed to help newer Reps know about the program and understand the principles better. This would also help in keeping contributors involved for a long run.
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Community Portal: Community portal is great and is super easy to use. Although when the reporting tools would be integrated into the portal, it would make it feel more complete, at least for a Rep. I would suggest we build a mobile app for the portal as well. This would make creating events, campaigns and reporting activities way more easier and faster. Also fetching data from people.mozilla.org would also be useful.
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Geography : Not all regions around the globe are active. That may be due to any reason such as no communication, connectivity or timezone issues, people not responding, or the people there just not feeling related to the campaigns etc. All the initiatives and campaigns should be planned keeping in mind the geographical diversity and differences in work cultures. Every Mozillian, irrespective of location should be able to relate with the initiatives and should treat them with the same passion and dedication as every other Mozillian around the world. Council can have region-wise surveys / online meetups to know and understand issues and differences in communities. This will help them reach out to communities on a more personal level and people will feel more involved.
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Experience : I have been a part of the Mozilla Community for more than 7 years now. During this time, as an active contributor, I have learned and grown as a community member and as a person. I feel my experience with Mozilla and a general understanding of the council’s way of working with OKRs and MDM is an asset and would help me to strategize and plan solutions to key issues not just with the community, but also with various contribution and focus areas.
It is time to look forward and find our way in the new Mozilla community structure. As an experienced rep (who has not served in the council but has vast experience with communities worldwide) I stand in a unique position to contribute with new ideas and clear milestone approach to achieve the goal of reps being the primary mobilizers in the new community structure.
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Community Building and Mobilizing : To build a community means dealing with a group of people having different perspectives, mindsets and ideas but having the same passion towards a common goal. Building and mobilizing communities throughout has been a challenging as well as a learning experience for me. This experience has helped me to contribute to various initiatives such as Open Leaders, Take Back The Web Campaign, FirefoxOS promotions, Mozilla Clubs, Webmaker, Privacy Advocacy to name a few.
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Coaching / Training : Being involved with the Reps program, Mozilla Open Leaders and other significant campaigns for a long time, I have led many training workshops and sessions whose major focus was on spreading web literacy and the importance of online Privacy, to the general audience. I have had the privilege to mentor and encourage other Mozillians to spread knowledge and train others.
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Insights within Mozilla : Being associated with Mozilla for this long, I am fairly accustomed to how Mozilla works and its guiding principles. Also being a community member, I am well aware of which areas of the program and community needs consideration. I also am connected to many grass root volunteers working on key Mozilla focus areas.
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I can say that this year has been kind of a roller coaster for me both professionally and personally (for all of us, really), I was not a part of any initiative since January which would have a direct impact on the Reps Program. I have although been contributing as a Mentor for the Mozilla Open Leaders program for 2 years now.
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Apart from that, I have been a part of Reps Onboarding Screening Team, Mozilla Open Leaders Mentor and an Expert, Regional Coordinator for Mozilla Clubs, Reps Social Media team member. I have also worked closely with Mozilla Foundation on their key activities such as Webmaker, Take Back The Web Campaign, Teach The Web etc.
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Privacy Month Campaign : A Global campaign which focuses on educating people about the importance of online Privacy in their daily lives, and why it matters. This campaign has a great online presence on social media reaching out to millions of people around the world. Started in January 2016, this campaign still has significant involvement within and outside the Mozilla community. I was a part of the initial team for this campaign.
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Featured Rep Of the Month : Contributing to the above campaign, I was featured Rep of the Month in February 2017.
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Mentorship Opportunities : I have had the privilege to work as a cohort member and also as a Mentor and Expert for Mozilla Open Leaders Program on multiple occasions. Previously, I have worked with MoFo on their key activities such as Webmaker, Maker Parties, Take Back The Web Campaign, Teach The Web etc as a Mentor.
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Net Neutrality Campaign : This was a crucial campaign at the time, because there were plans to introduce certain services into the Indian market which would violate Net Neutrality. Mozilla Reps had an active part in encouraging people to raise their voices and sign petitions towards the government.
We do not know what the new community structure is going to look like and hence there is a lot of opportunity for innovation and cadence for Reps as Motivators, Coaches and Mentors.
Thank you for going through the answers. Please feel free to connect anytime if there is some clarification needed or just plain feedback or suggestions.
Be Safe and Take Care !!
Vishal