Piece 03 of 14
The three-role starter team
The smallest team that actually works.
The smallest team that actually works has three roles. One person can wear two hats early. Nobody should wear all three for long. Fill these and you have an organization, not a hobby.
The Outward-Facing Lead
The message and the relationships
The face and the voice. Speaks for the group in public and online and keeps the message on self-determination. Builds relationships with allies and local groups. Welcomes new people and makes the first impression a good one. Keeps the tone calm, confident, and lawful, and never takes the bait in an argument.
The Operations Lead
The list, the calendar, and follow-through
The engine room. Holds the contact list and keeps it accurate and private. Tracks the one metric: committed people who can be reached. Sends the reminders, books the room, keeps the schedule. Makes sure decisions from meetings actually get done.
The Events Lead
The gatherings and the first-time experience
The room and the moment. Plans the meetings and any public gathering: tables, meetups, coffees. Handles logistics: place, time, setup, what people see when they walk up. Makes events feel welcoming so a first-timer comes back. Captures contact info from new faces and hands it to Operations.
How they work together
Outward-Facing brings people in. Events gives them a room to walk into. Operations makes sure nobody falls through the cracks and the work continues. Three roles, one loop.
Do
- Name a person for each role out loud
- Let one person hold two roles early
Don't
- Leave roles "shared by everyone," which means nobody
- Let one person hold all three past the first few months