[Businessmtg] la job

[Kim Corridori]

Thanks Steve for your background history and experience.  I hope to  
hear from Dawn.
5-10 minutes a day or a week sounds very do-able and more to the  
point a manageable position for someone willing to serve.

Kim


On Nov 23, 2009, at 1:27 PM, Steve Rankin wrote:

> Hi folks,
>
> Actually, the List Administrator job was greatly downsized when I  
> rotated
> out.  During the first 10 years of ASP, the List Administrator was  
> also:
>
> * List Owner - I 'owned' the "List".  ASP is a "list" that members  
> subscribe
> to.  An individual or organization can 'own' the list which means  
> that they
> own the server, etc.
>
> * Treasurer - I paid all of ASPs bills.
>
> * Web Master -  I created the entire ASP web site, made it visible  
> to search
> engines, etc.  The original web site was - and still is - hosted on my
> personal server at http://www.serenitysys.com/A_Serenity_Place/  My  
> original
> site still receives about 600 hits/month, which are forwarded to  
> the current
> ASP site & greeters.
>
> * part-Secretary - We always had a Secretary that recruited new  
> Daily Chairs
> for the ASP recovery meeting.  However the Secretary very rarely  
> ran the
> business meetings.  Most attempts to have the Secretary chair the  
> business
> meeting fizzled.
>
>
> The Greeter Chair was the only position at ASP, besides the List
> Administrator, that has consistently stood on its own two feet.
>
>
> In late 2005, I opened a new business meeting and after several  
> months the
> meeting has decided that it wanted to maintain the same kind of  
> recovery
> meeting format but seemed to be making little progress in  
> determining the
> service structure.  So, I proposed a modification of the then current
> service structure.  The new (today's) service structure includes a  
> division
> of the previous responsibilities of the List Administrator.
>
> ** List Owner is now ASP, instead of me or any other individual.
>
> ** List Administrator performs the duties as Tara outlined.
>
> ** Treasurer handles our finances; receives donations from members  
> and pays
> ASPs bills
>
> ** Web Master maintains the ASP web site. The current ASP web site is
> essentially a clone of my web site with updates & changes made  
> since May
> 2006.
>
>
> My personal experience here since I founded ASP, plus my 26+ years  
> of f2f
> Al-Anon, suggests that dividing a service position into small  
> pieces creates
> more problems than it solves:
>
> First, understand that the List Administrator job is NOT a huge  
> job.  I did
> it for 10 years; often while traveling around North America with  
> hit and
> miss Internet access.  The daily work load can be done in 5-10  
> minutes.
> There are 2 exceptions.
> A.  When a business meeting is underway, the List Administrator and
> Secretary need to actively chair the meeting, which means accessing it
> several times daily and responding appropriately.
> B.  When a snafu of some sort is in the works.  Generally, this is the
> result of one member posting a religious, political or business  
> share in the
> ASP meeting that prompted a reaction among a large number of members
> resulting in a lot of chaos in the recovery meeting.  Fortunately,  
> those
> situations are quite rare as a result of our being upfront with our  
> meeting
> guidelines.
>
> Second, when a position is divided into smaller parts, the  
> divisions are
> often arbitrary and lead to communication snafus among the trusted  
> servants
> and/or things fall in the cracks.  Normally simple procedures now  
> require
> input/action from several trusted servants.
>
> Third, finding new trusted servants at the next rotation becomes a  
> real
> problem.  For example, I've seen two f2f meetings that died as a  
> direct
> result of this.  The meeting seemed to have a bit of difficulty  
> getting
> someone to secretary (open the doors) until someone suggested that  
> 4 people
> could share the job--one for each week of the month.  The meeting  
> thought
> this was a super idea and ran with it.  Six months later they needed 4
> secretaries instead of just one, and since all 4 existing secretaries
> thought they'd done their job none were available.  Poof, the  
> meeting died.
>
>
> Those of us who have served ASP are all too aware of the fact that  
> finding
> new faces to fill our BASIC positions is not an easy task.  ASP has  
> never
> had all of its positions filled.  For example, we haven't had a  
> full cadre
> of greeters since . . .
>
> Finally, I'll say something about the issue of abuse and control.  I
> periodically hear a lot about this issue, but I've never seen it in
> actualized at ASP.  If a trusted servant is doing their job as  
> stated in
> their job description, then they are NOT abusing their position,  
> nor are
> they 'controlling'.  It's very unfortunate that some members of Al- 
> Anon find
> it necessary to raise this issue in the absence of actual abuse.   
> The fact
> that a member perceives a 'control problem' does not mean it's  
> valid, nor
> does a member's sensitivity to authority mean that authority is a  
> problem.
> Now, don't get me wrong.  I have seen horrendous cases of abuse of  
> power in
> Al-Anon service.  Just not at ASP.  IMHO, as long as we don't have the
> problem at ASP, we don't have that problem.  Besides, our service  
> structure
> does provide for a balance of power with other positions and within  
> the
> Steering Committee.
>
> Love and SERENITY,
> Steve
>
>
>
>
>
> To put your ASP mail on Vacation Hold or unsubscribe visit the ASP  
> member
> instruction page at
>
>  http://www.asp-afg.org/ASP/nbm/business_meeting_instruction.htm
>
>  The ASP web site for ASP members is
>  http://www.asp-afg.org/ASP/MembersOnly/index.htm
>
>  For assistance with Business Meeting issues, contact Dawn, the List
> Administrator at business at asp-afg.org
>
>
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