authors: @jujube @chasechapman @rashmiashok11 & myself
Overview
This quarter, WICWG is experimenting with different ways we can make progress on these goals. This post (which we plan on doing monthly) is intended to document and share experiments and key learnings from this Working Group with the hopes that we can be a resource to other initiatives within and outside of the Coop.
WIC Mission and Goals
Written by @chasechapman
The Women & Non-Binary of Index Coop Working Group was created to build the largest network of female and non-binary contributors of any DAO. This working group is to serve the Index community by:
- Upholding and supporting an open and inclusive culture at Index
- Recruiting more diverse contributors at top-of-funnel
- Activating and accelerating talent coming into Index
We plan to serve the community by exploring initiatives that support one of three overarching goals:
Building Culture
Create a space for women and nonbinary people to socialize → make WIC the social event of the week (continue to uphold an open and inclusive culture)
Educating
Help educate women and nonbinary people coming into crypto about web3 and DAOs (top-of-funnel recruiting)
Supporting Paths to Contribution
Help support women and nonbinary people in becoming contributors to Index (activating talent)
Learnings from Creating a Working Group
Written by @catjam
This is the first time that any of us have led a Working Group at Index Coop, though many of us have been contributing to IC or other DAOs for a while. We’re sharing our learnings as first-time Working Group Leads for future first-timers, and as input to the Index 2.0 process. Our goal with this iteration of WIC is to experiment and learn how to best recruit & support a gender diverse community at Index Coop – we haven’t nailed it yet, but we’re learning lots along the way!
The process of applying and being approved for a Working Group & budget was… surprisingly easy! Instructions were straightforward and clearly communicated through @anon10525910 . We worked through a budget based on previous proposals from other Working Groups. Having these to reference was helpful, but it definitely felt like we were “flying blind” with the budget, and more rigorous feedback from other WGLs or the community would have been helpful. (In full transparency, I (@catjam) proposed the budget higher than was necessary as I have learned from previous corporate budget cycles and Cher Horowitz in Clueless to never accept a first offer.) We are hopeful that the Nest & Wise Owl structure will lend itself to more detailed and thoughtful feedback on pod goals, structure, and budget.
We’ve been struggling more with the process after WG approval. There are no clear or written expectations for Working Groups and Working Group Leads at the Coop (how do we communicate with each other? How do we report on progress and hold each WG accountable? How are WGLs expected to keep their members informed about wider goings-on at the Coop?) So far, we’ve set the following “WG 101” expectations for ourselves:
- Slides & WGL attendance at Weekly Context calls
- WGL attendance at Leadership calls, slides when necessary
- Index 2.0 participation (as working group leaders within Index, though not specifically representing WIC)
- Monthly forum posts on our progress
- Dedicated time during WIC calls for cross-Coop updates (onboarding improvements, Index 2.0 initiatives, opportunities for involvement with other WGs)
- Notes in the sCoop
- Weekly meeting & initiative tracker for WIC leaders
- Weekly open meeting for all WIC members & interested allies
- Create and maintain dedicated Notion page
Through this process, we’ve also observed that different Working Groups have different structures that work best for them (open meetings, closed meetings, different onboarding and participation expectations, different communication expectations with other groups, etc.) Working Groups are currently the only option for how a group should organize, budget and operate within the Coop, but this one-size-fits-all solution is less of a fit for newer initiatives like WIC, future diversity initiatives outside of WIC, and potentially regional-specific groups. Again, we’re looking forward to the Nest/Pod evolution to create a model that best fits the needs and goals of WIC – and have already started discussing how to experiment with that this quarter! (Thanks to @Pepperoni_Joe for his endless support here.)
Experiments and Learnings within WICWG Scope
Building Culture
Written by @rashmiashok11 and @chasechapman
Kickoff Event
​​What we have done: A WICWG kick-off party for the Coop to brainstorm and collaborate on how best the WIC WG can integrate and contribute to the community. We touched upon the economic case for diversity and how diversity will help amplify collective intelligence.
What we accomplished: We had breakout sessions to co-design how WICWG can support and serve the coop. Some of the areas we identified were
1)Serve Index Coop better: WICWG will be cross-functionally integrated as part of the new Index 2.0 structure to be able to serve the community better
2)Increase top of the funnel: Build awareness about Index Coop with the top of funnel women and non-binary community and ensure they have a better foundational understanding of the DAO ecosystem and working at Index Coop
3)Build the most prominent women and non-binary network in the DAO space: Create a safe space to learn together, identify financial opportunities and foster long term relationships
Weekly Standup Calls
What we’ve done: hold weekly calls welcoming women and non-binary people into Index
Impact: created a space for people interested in Index to become familiar with the Coop and explore where they might be able to contribute
How we’re continuing to improve: highlighting needs of other WGs on weekly WIC calls to better help WIC participants plug into other WGs within the Coop
Tea Time
What we plan to do: hold weekly Tea Time in Discord (similar to TOC’s Tea Time)
Expected impact: improve retention of women and non-binary contributors by creating a space for asking questions and learning about how the contribution process works, what Index does, etc.
Start date for Tea Time calls is TBD.
Educating
Written by @chasechapman
WIC Speed Dating
What plan to do: host a “speed dating” event for women and non-binary people in crypto to connect with one another
Expected impact: improve a sense of inclusivity and community across the Coop; gain exposure for Index and our diversity initiatives
WIC Speed Dating took place on November 18.
DAO Contributor AMA
What plan to do: Women in Index hosting a DAO Contributor AMA on Twitter Spaces covering how to become a DAO contributor (including some of the challenges, and how to overcome them)
Expected impact: become a resource for those hoping to contribute to DAOs and establish Index as a leader in the space; widen top-of-funnel of contributors
DAO Contributor AMA on November 30.
Index 101 Workshop
What plan to do: host a series of workshops (daily workshops over a 3-day period) covering the basics of Index products
Expected impact: help educate people (but particularly underrepresented groups that are not currently contributing) about Index products; improve Index product holdings across a more diverse user base
Index 101 Workshops on December 8, 9, 10.
Supporting Paths to Contribution
Cultivation Project
Written by @jujube
This has been talked about since day 1, and despite many different approaches to mentorship, our group could unanimously agree that half-hearted attempts at bringing in more diverse talent can be even more harmful than helpful. So we are extremely detailed and iterative in this process of paving a path of talent activation within the Coop.
When we initially ideated, we opted for more traditional 1/1 mentor/mentee structure, which was met by challenges including time zones, language barriers, and potential mismatch in interests/talents. So we scrapped it and came up with a strategy that aims to minimize impact on weekly schedules, while maximizing WICWG member exposure opportunities and time efficiency.
While designing this process, we identified 3 membership phases within our group: Incubation, Cultivation, and Acceleration.
1: Incubation:
During this phase, comfort is key. We want to ensure the meetings feel friendly, welcoming, and accessible to all. Members can live here for a while, simply completing tasks within our WG to support the WICWG members and getting education/support in web3. But we highly encourage all members to try “cultivating” their DAO contribution skills on a somewhat regular basis.
2: Cultivation:
Now that the member is comfortable in their environment, we now encourage them to cultivate their DAO contribution skills by branching out to other WG’s outside of WIC.
Cultivation Cohort Process: WG leads who want multiple tasks completed in a set duration of time (currently imagining 2-4 weeks) can come speak at our weekly meeting on a rotating biweekly/monthly basis. We are currently in the process of creating a calendar to organize WG speaking schedules, if you’re interested in getting multiple tasks/bounties done soon, please sign up in the link below!
The WG leads will give an introduction on their WG, context on their current tasks/projects, and offer a Cultivation Cohort at the end of the meeting which members can sign up for. The Cultivation Cohort is a 2-4 week program in which members who sign up will get added to a group chat on Discord under this WG lead. WICWG CC members will attend at least 1 weekly meeting together, optional weekly check-ins, with the end goal of completing one task outside of the WICWG.
The end goal here is to get a task done from a Working Group outside of WIC. If you are a WG lead who would like to get at least 2-4+ tasks done while scouting talent from the WIC group, please fill out an application here.
3: Acceleration:
The final phase of the WIC member. In this phase, the WIC member has finished at least 1 task during a WG’s Cultivation Cohort. That Cultivation Cohort’s WG lead, who was introducing and guiding our WIC members, is also a talent scout for their own IC WG. If both the WIC member and WG lead agree that this seems like a good fit, then the member can be classified as their Acceleration Phase, in which they have now successfully contributed to, and joined another WG. The goal here is to continue that member’s WG contribution, and help them achieve the Copper Owl status, and beyond as a consistent IC contributor. With the introduction of Index 2.0, we would love to see members in this phase emerging as Pod Leaders.
This process is iterative and always being improved upon with honest feedback! If you have any thoughts, concerns, or questions on our current process, please don’t hesitate to ask. We truly appreciate all that the Coop has done to help our initial program already and are super pumped to help more diverse contributors find their best place within the Coop. Hoot Hoot!
Onboarding
Written by @catjam
We’ve also been working with TOC to include WIC as a resource in the onboarding process for women & non-binary new joiners. @LFeld has done an amazing job partnering with @bradwmorris n this process! So far, they’ve rolled out: pronoun roles in Discord, found under Community: #pronoun-rowles, and are working (in tandem with the New Joiner process redesign) to mention WIC in the New Joiner form and process.
Looking ahead
We’re looking forward to the next few months, and will continue to update the forum on our monthly progress! In the meantime: Questions? Feedback? Ideas? We’d love to hear from you, whether in the comments, our #wic-public Discord channel, or DM!