[Businessmtg] 1st Step Shares

[Steve Rankin]

Hi ASPers,

As usual, I agree with Jerry's perspective. 

How does Al-Anon work?  Very simple - members share their personal experience, strength and hope with one another. That's it.

So, when I reach out to a newcomer I share my personal ESH with that newcomer. Sure, I may give them a piece of literature, but literature is merely an adjunct to our sharing.

We have the same exact issue with sponsorship. Many newer folks hear about sponsorship but are confused about what sponsorship is, how to get a sponsor, etc. So, some years ago ASP developed a web page where we talked about sponsorship. After discussion in the Steering Committee, a consensus was reached to add a web page to ASP that included shares of ASP members ESH on sponsorship. All of us felt that a share by MaryBeth, a past member of ASP, was an outstanding share on sponsorship so we asked and received permission to post her share on the ASP site. I vaguely recall that we also had another member's share and some descriptive text developed in the Steering Committee. Naturally, none of this "fixes" anything, so members continue to have questions about sponsorship, so a new discussion started in the Steering Committee but faded away without resolution. But then recently, the member's shares were removed and replaced with quotes from CAL and links to other CAL. 

May I quote a paragraph from AL-Anon's WSO website?

"Since its founding in 1951, Al‑Anon Family Groups has published more than 100 books and pamphlets that share a single purpose: to help family and friends recover from the effects of someone else’s drinking. This literature supplements the face-to-face meetings where Al‑Anon members share their insights and experiences with each other. It is only one tool of the Al‑Anon/Alateen program."
http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/al-anon-literature

Please note how WSO tells us that CAL "supplements the face-to-face meeting . . . "
Yeah, that annoys me a bit too. Sure does smack of WSO catering to the f2f meeting while the online members are ignored? So, if even WSO tells the fellowship that CAL is a supplement for f2f meetings (while ASP is ONLY granted permission to use CAL IF and only IF we sign a contract every year AND limit our use of CAL to a single paragraph. Why would ASP replace our own member's shares with hyperlinks to WSO's CAL? 

Sure sounds like an issue that ASP should discuss in the Business Meeting; potentially reaching a group conscience. 

One of the realities we face at ASP is that this is an online meeting. There are some very real differences between an online meeting and a face-to-face meeting. As a result, solutions and guidance from WSO is not always apropos to our meeting or to the online member of Al-Anon. Some things that work well in the face-to-face environment just don't apply or work well online. 

I don't see any side issue here as Jane suggests. If something is related to the issue being discussed in the Business Meeting, then that something is a legitimate part of the issue being discussed and SHOULD be included in the discussion. The goal here is to reach an INFORMED group conscience and we can only do that by encouraging a complete and open discussion of everything related to the discussion. 

Again, I agree with Jerry when he talked about putting WSO decisions and choices above ASP recently, and smacks of control. 

Discussions in the Steering Committee do not trump discussions in the Business Meeting. The Business Meeting is the source of the ASP group conscience - not the Steering Committee.

During the process of transitioning ASP from my "ownership" to full ownership by ASP the membership of ASP reached several group conscience. The following is quoted is from one of them.
http://www.serenitysys.com/A_Serenity_Place/Business/nbm/structure.htm


Steering Committee Responsibilities:

* Contract with necessary service providers
  - Domain name registration
  - Mailing List hosting
  - Web Site hosting
* Administer all technical affairs of ASP
* Implementation of ASP policy & practices
* May make autonomous decisions when needed
* Report to Business Meeting monthly
  - Suggested changes to policy & practices
  - Generalized report of actions taken

Please note that the gist of this is that the Steering Committee's function is to administer the technical affairs of ASP and to implement ASP policies and practices. 

Policies AND practices. 

Soooooooo . . .

It seems to me that if the Steering Committee is having a discussion on an issue that might belong to the Business Meeting because it involves a possible change in ASP policies and practices, that the discussion in the Steering Committee needs to cease and the discussion and any potential group conscience be reached in the Business Meeting using our knowledge based decision making process (KBDM). 
http://asp-afg.org/members/business-meeting-process-at-asp/

Hugs,
Steve