We suggest that you do not officially open your Time Bank until someone has agreed to take on each of these roles for at least 6 months, and you have a second person in line to take over from the first.
There is an interesting phenomenon to be aware of when asking people to take on leadership roles. It’s is generally much harder to get one person to take on a role than two. People often feel too busy or they are uncertain about their ability to take on a leadership role by themselves. But if you ask them to work with a partner – as the support or lead person in the role – that often gets people over the commitment hump.
When one or two people agree to take on a leadership role, they should know that it does not mean they have to take on all the tasks of that role by themselves – they just have to be responsible for making sure they are all done. The more they can involve other members the better – just as long as the jobs are done. When you go over the role descriptions together, you can talk about this in more detail.
Time Banks give people support to try leadership roles that they can grow into. The whole coordinator team supports each other and covers for each other. There is also a community of experienced coordinators who can answer your questions at the on-line forums.
You may be thinking at this point that a Time Bank takes a lot of time to set up and run. It’s true, it does take time. But it is a time investment that pays you back richly. As the months and years go by, your Time Bank will provide the members with opportunities to use their time doing things they really love, in ways that connect them more deeply to their friends and neighbors. And, depending on the purpose you have chosen for your Time Bank, it could be saving the members time and money as well.