[Businessmtg] Daily Chair Qualifications

[Steve Rankin]

Hi ASPers,

 

FWIW, I clearly remember chairing my first Al-Anon meeting.  My home group was on Sunday evening in El Cerrito, California where my sponsor went.  Somehow I got shanghaied into chairing.  I was A-OK with public speaking – it was sharing my ESH on an Al-Anon topic that scared the bejesus out of me.  I sweated bullets all week.  I went to an “Al-Anon Retreat” that weekend headed by Fr. Terry & Fr. Tom.  All during the retreat, I thought “this is a perfect topic” then 5 minutes later couldn’t remember what it was.  I was panicked driving home because I didn’t have a clue for a topic.  I got to the meeting and was practically wetting my pants as I read the Steps on the wall.  The Third Step jumped out at me because that’s where I was stuck.  So, I shared how I was stuck on the Third Step.  The funny thing was that my sponsor shared the solution.  Perhaps, I should have called him more often.  😊

 

Jerry mentioned that it would seem that with a group our size, that it wouldn’t be a problem getting just 7 people to volunteer.  That does seem like a no-brainer, doesn’t it?  So why do we have a problem sometimes?  My thoughts:

 

1.	The Secretary doesn’t send out 2nd and even 3rd announcements promptly.  In the instance I noticed, the Secretary sent out the 1st announcement on the 4th of the month before the new Daily Chairs were needed.  Frankly, I think even that is a bit tardy.  The 2nd announcement wasn’t sent out until 3 weeks later!  It’s almost crunch time and for whatever reason, the Secretary is just now announcing that we need more volunteers for Daily Chair.
2.	I mentioned marketing.  Hey, I’m not a huge fan of marketing, and I definitely support the idea that Al-Anon is a program of attraction rather than promotion but. . .  we do need to remind ourselves that we live in the real world and as such we compete with many other things for our member’s attention.  IMHO, a friendly and somewhat energetic announcement with a positive spin that we need new Daily Chairs strikes me as more likely to attract volunteers than one that focuses on the problem that we are short 2 Daily Chairs.
3.	Attitudes towards volunteering.  Are they different today?  I really don’t know. 

 

Jerry also mentioned the idea of the Secretary having “a pre-prepared Tradition 7 topic on service the Secretary would automatically post on the day/days for which we have no volunteer chair.”

 

I have problems with this.

 

1.	I don’t like to micromanage our trusted servants.  If the Secretary wishes to pre-prepare a Daily Chair Opening for those occasions, I’m OK with that.  But, I’m not OK with telling the Secretary that she needs to do that, nor am I OK with telling the Secretary what her topic needs to be for those occasions. 
2.	We have designated topics for several days every week.  Let’s say the Daily Chair for the Step meeting doesn’t show up, then the Secretary posting a share on the 7th Tradition is inappropriate because it violates our Group Conscience.  
3.	This kind of thing is based on the negative assumption that our Daily Chairs are going to screw up and not do their job.  I much prefer the assumption that we trust our Trusted Servants to do their jobs, and reserve taking action and establishing group consciences, aka “rules”  for those occasions when they don’t. Yes, there are some service positions that are critical to the survival of ASP, such as the List Administrator and Treasurer, where we do have alternates and other safeguards in place. 

 

 

Linda mentioned that she’s volunteered as a Daily Chair twice. Excellent!  Thank you Linda!  Linda also mentioned that she’s been turned down for volunteering again because she’d already served.  Huh?  

Number 7 on our Founding Statement and Policy page state.

     “Dominance is a constant threat to any Al-Anon meeting. No one person may hold more than one service job at a time or hold consecutive terms at A Serenity Place.”

In other words, we don’t want someone to serve as a Daily Chair continuously, but there’s nothing saying that someone can’t do it periodically.  

FWIW, I’ve had a very simple method of determining who gets to serve at ASP since the very beginning. . .  First Come, First Served.  I really don’t care if someone has 6 months and 2 seconds or 62 years in Al-Anon.  I don’t care if they are new and still in diapers or they worked at WSO for 2+ years. The truth is that I’m leery of those that volunteer to serve and proceed to talk about their extensive Al-Anon resume. 

Love and SERENITY,

Steve