10. Working together

A precondition of any project’s productivity and success are enjoyable relations amongst those involved – for us IFF Board, Academy Committee, Academy staff, other Academy members and IFF Member Organisations and their Representatives.  Different characters, temperaments, views, cultural and professional backgrounds can tremendously enhance the flow of creativity as well as block all interactions and stop movement forward. Especially, voluntary work is quite sensitive in terms of working relationships: neither income nor social acknowledgment is supplied as compensation for unpleasant working conditions.
Examples on working relationships

§       The Academy Committee was appointed by the IFF Board and composed in terms of shared visions, bonding to the Quality & Competency mandate, expertise, motivation, commitment to ongoing involvement and mixture of talents. This policy created excellent conditions to accomplish an ongoing trustful basis for doing the job.

§       Same policy was applied in choosing and employing Academy Coordinators.

§       IFF Board members are nominated and elected by IFF Assemblies. Fitting together depends more on coincidence or capabilities to adjust to constraints and to each other. Sometimes you are lucky, sometimes you suffer.

Personal experiences

• Over a period of about eight years Academy Committee members have succeeded in matching quite different approaches in political strategies, content and procedure, personal preferences and styles. We were hard working crazy people who had much fun working together and learning from each other:
  Rob Black (CND), Rineke Brinkhof (NL), Daniel Clénin (CH), Barbara Pieper (D), Janie Randerson (NZ), Markus Riesen (CH), Cliff Smyth (AUS-USA) and Francesca White (AUS).
• On the other hand we experienced marginal chances to cooperate if completely different agendas were followed by people. Atmosphere, motivation, creativity was spoiled on the spot, resulting in pulling back, getting sick or retiring.
• We would not have achieved and proceeded as we did unless talented and high motivated Academy Coordinators had joined in adopting the Academy-Culture of engagement, responsibility and teamwork: Carolin Theuring (D), Marie-Christine Schmoetzer (F, D), and Ritz Wood (NZL – USA).