[Businessmtg] Agenda Topic: Redefining the Roles of the List Administrator and Founder

[Jerry H.]

Biz-Pals,

I'm tagging my comments onto Anne O.'s topic introduction in hopes that they'll be easier to follow.

Like Anne O., I, too, was around during the years prior to the 2006 switchover from Steve's ownership of the ASP site to group ownership. ASP doesn't keep records of dates joined and my old '386 is frozen somewhere in my basement.

As a regular member of the Business Meeting I recall voicing strong concerns against one person owning an Al-Anon meeting and participated in the discussions which eventually led to Steve relinquishing "ownership" to the group's membership. At the time I wasn't very knowledgeable about the internet, its technical requirements, and its terminology, only that "list owner" sounded very non-Al-Anon. In any case Motion #4 was passed in early 2006 and became ASP's group conscience agreement.

In the ensuing election I became the first ASP Treasurer under the new structure - holding the position and an officer seat on the Steering Committee (SC) for around 5 years because nobody stood for the office when my rotation time came around. Later I stood for and was elected to a 6-month term on the SC as a General Member*. Still later, upon the sudden resignation of a List Administrator (LA), I stood for and was elected LA and recently, after 2-1/2 years as your LA, I also resigned. That's 8 +/- years on the Steering Committee and as a continuous member participating in ASP's Business Meetings since I first joined.

It's only fair that I be frank within this meeting. In response to Anne's reference to past LA's not continuing their ASP membership once they rotated or resigned from office: each was unanimous in voicing personality conflicts with our founder. My resignation was also in no small part due to similar conflicts and the sometimes daily strain they added to trying to fulfill both my LA responsibilities and the added Secretary duties when she resigned. Way to darned much for me.

>>> HOWEVER <<<

These past few months of serenity without the cloud of building resentments and what had become in reality a part-time job, not just voluntary service, has led me to some concluding thoughts:

~ Our founder, Steve, created A Serenity Place, its form and practices, during the formative years of the internet - the Wild West years if you will. For this he deserves much credit not only because of his vision, but because of the technical expertise he had which made putting ASP into practice possible. We are all in his debt.
~ The result of Steve's work has been many thousands of online meetings over decades where unknown thousands of people from around the world, each suffering the effects of living with or loving an alcoholic, have been able to find alternatives to their miseries; serenity and compassion where only insanities and anger once existed. 
~ What conflicts existed between ensuing elected Trusted Servants and Steve can, I believe, be largely attributed to the distinct differences between the warmth of personal contacts common in the service and business practices of face-to-face Al-Anon Groups, and the distant and impersonal (and often easily misinterpreted) communications necessary when running the business of an email-based Al-Anon Meeting.

I can't say that ASP's venture into member ownership of the ASP site has been a failure, though I now see it as an imperfect experiment. We who have brought our collective Al-Anon experiences to our Trusted Servant positions over the years have helped to continue much of Steve's work. But none, I believe and despite our best efforts, could have, or could carry on, without Steve looking over our shoulders adding suggestions and occasional assistance.

>>> NEVER THOUGHT I'D BE SUGGESTING THIS <<<

The importance of the Topic Meetings is so great that to my mind they supersede by far ASP's business practices. Whether past conflicts are of merit or are merely consequences of our shared disease they ought be set aside for the sake of those who recover here.

~ I think that Steve ought be offered the permanent position of ASP List Administrator.
~ Current ASP Policy calls for two permanent "Founders, or those most nearly so" on the Steering Committee. Efforts should be made to determine who amongst us is eligible for those positions.
~ The other ASP Steering Committee positions: Secretary, Treasurer, Greeter Chair, Webmaster, and the two General Member seats would remain elected positions.

I can already hear the gasps.

And I don't know how to go about codifying these suggestions since the way ASP is set up requires a supermajority approval vote of the entire ASP membership to change ASP Core Policy*. All I do know is that a long string of past LA's have found that how we've been and are doing things is unbearable to one degree or another. It makes sense that we explore alternative possibilities.

Jerry
-
*See: asp-afg,org/founding-statement, Founding Policy #12 (Makeup of the Steering Committee)
















  


















[see http://www.asp-afg.org/ASP/Business/nbm/structure.htm]
> On 07/08/2020 7:48 AM Anne O. <aohara77 at comcast.net> wrote:
> 
>  
> Good Morning All,
> 
> This is such a big topic, I am not sure where to begin.  So I will start
> first by saying, I don't have anything  more to share with you than my
> observations and my thoughts.  I am not a founder and although I have worn
> many hats at ASP, LA is not one of them.  
> 
> First some background.  I have been a member of ASP since 1999.  I was a
> mostly silent member early on, spent about two years reading and then
> dropped off for a while.  I joined again in 2003 and haven't left since.
> Please note, all dates are approx. and strictly from memory.  When Steve,
> our founder, transitioned ASP operations to the membership, it was a process
> that took some time to take shape.  As the roles in the Steering Committee
> took shape, resumes were submitted to the business meeting for the newly
> formed steering committee positions and elections took place.  I was part of
> that initial SC group.  and became the ASP Webmaster.  Since that time
> (2006?) I have also been Treasurer, Archivist and now Greeter Chair.   Other
> than 2+ years  since 2006, I have been a member of the Steering Committee.
> 
> 
> Observations: our ASP principles and policies are sound, our meetings are
> healthy and thriving, however, our steering committee roles and
> responsibilities may be unbalanced and lacking some consistency, remember
> with each rotation we start over and expectations are high for the new
> person.  I think the role of the List Administrator is too big for one
> person, past behavior has shown that after each 3 yr. period of LA service,
> our list administrator not only passes the baton to the next volunteer, they
> also leave ASP.  I can only assume it is due to burnout, please understand
> this just my observations.
> 
> So I am definitely not a wordy person, and may have left out information or
> details that would have been helpful, but I am also trying to keep this high
> level because I REALLY don't know what the answer is, lol.
> 
> Here is what I'd like to suggest:
> *	Founder: To better promote consistency and assign permanent
> leadership, have our Founder chair the SC
> *	List Administrator: The List Administrator gets a barrage of emails
> from members.  
> o	Why can't those emails go into a shared mailbox - The LA is of
> course the point person, but not all responses need to come from the LA.
> o	Why can't other members of the steering committee take a day of the
> week to respond to some of those emails, to give the LA a break.
> o	And, for those who don't know, not all emails to the LA are friendly
> or stress free, so I think sharing this work helps relieve some of that
> pressure.
> 
> Okay.. Opening the discussion.
> 
> Hugs,
> 
> Anne O
> ____________________________
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