[Businessmtg] Service at ASP

[Steve Rankin]

Hi ASPers,

 

Tradition 3. The relatives of alcoholics, when gathered together for mutual
aid, may call themselves an Al-Anon Family Group, provided that, as a group,
they have no other affiliation.

 

As we all know, the meaning of words and language change over time. This is
especially true as technology changes in modern society. Back in the 40’s
gathered together meant gathered in one physical place. Today, it has come
to include the virtual definition which refers to gathered in one body – as
in gathered in a virtual place. A Serenity Place is such a virtual place. 

 

Like CAFG before it, the founders of ASP believe that we are an Al-Anon
“Group” according to the Al-Anon Traditions. However, the World Service
Office and the Board of Directors were not ready to include the online
fellowship into the folds of the face-to-face fellowship when we started.
They still aren’t. Supposedly, their primary reason is a fear that an online
meeting will elect a Group Rep from a country other than the United States
or Canada, which could lead to a Delegate to the World Service Conference
from another country. So, while face-to-face Groups, Districts, Areas,
Intergroups, Literature Depots, etc. are registered with WSO as “groups” the
WSO has instead determined that the online fellowship will be registered as
“meetings” and therefore not have representation (neither voice nor vote) in
the greater fellowship. 

 

Since the World Service Conference (WSC) is an exclusive conference – only
Delegates from the US & Canada, WSO Board of Directors (Trustees), the WSO
Executive Director & some support staff, and special invited guests are
allowed to attend the World Service Conference – the intention is to exclude
international representatives and all of the online fellowship. I will note
that occasionally an International guest is allowed to attend, but only by
invitation. They are allowed to address (speak to) the WSC, however they do
not have a vote. OTOH, no member representing the online community has ever
been allowed to attend the WSC. 

 

Regardless of what name or terminology WSO choses to call us by, the Al-Anon
Traditions give us the right to group autonomy just as much as any
face-to-face group. I will note that I have been told by one Trustee that
group autonomy does not apply to ASP because we are not a group. Well, if
that is the case, then the other Traditions don’t apply to us either.
Needless to say, that shut her up. 

 

So, given that ASP does enjoy the right to group autonomy as much as any
face-to-face group, that means that ASP can chose how it will structure
itself – how we set up our internal service structure, take group
consciences, etc. 

 

When we looked at the variety of service structures within the Al-Anon
fellowship, we not only had the experience of years of face-to-face Al-Anon,
we also had the experience of being a part of CAFG, its service structure
and how that functioned with over 700 members. We also benefitted from many
hours discussing the issues with Ric B., the Executive Director of WSO, my
sponsor (a Past Delegate and Trustee), and the SW Regional Trustee. These
discussions began in January 1996 and continued thru early May. The depth of
effort we put into that process speaks for itself – most folks that I talk
to say that ASP is the best online meeting there is. They might not like how
we do business behind the scenes, or they may not like me – I really don’t
care. We host the best online meeting available. 

 

If you don’t believe that, then why are you here instead of at the meeting
that you think is a better meeting? 

 

We decided that the World Service Area service structure that we were
familiar with was the best fit for ASP. Nobody ever said that we thought we
were an Area – we’re not that stupid. But, we did believe that the typical
face-to-face Group structure was not adequate to meet ASP’s needs

 

ASP did exactly that in the Spring of 1996 when we started ASP and adopted
our Founding Statement and Principles. Every member of ASP was required to
read that page when they joined ASP. If you didn’t, shame on you. If you
haven’t read it in a while, then I suggest you read it carefully now. During
the Winter and Spring of 2005-2006 I held a special business meeting for the
purpose of transitioning the ownership of ASP to the members. During that
extended business meeting, the members reached several group consciences. 

 

Motions 1 thru 3 addressed the daily meeting format, which was retained
intact from the 1996 group conscience, except that Motion #3 allowed the
Wednesday Tradition meeting to include the Concepts. 

 

The big kahuna is Motion #4 passed unanimously in February 2006. Motion #4
established several things regarding the duties, responsibilities and
authorities of the:

1.	Business Meeting.
2.	Steering Committee. 
3.	Individual elected officers on the Steering Committee

Motion #4 draws the line in the sand between the duties and responsibilities
of the Business Meeting and the Steering Committee. The point is that the
Business Meeting ONLY makes general policy decisions, while the Steering
Committee ONLY makes administrative decisions. The Business Meeting does not
tell the Steering Committee how to administer ASP business, nor does the
Steering Committee make policy decisions. 

Motion #4 defines the job descriptions of the officers elected to the
Steering Committee. 

It is important to note that the duties, responsibilities and authorities
Steering Committee is greater than that of any member of the Steering
Committee, including the List Administrator. Concept 3 gives individual
members of the Steering Committee the right of decision regarding issues
directly within their assigned duties. 

 

Additionally, ASP has defined the procedure for establishing new group
consciences. While it is described in general terms on a couple of web pages
on the ASP website, the process is defined in detail on the Knowledge Based
Decision Making page. This is the page that informs both the members and the
Chair of the Business Meeting how business is conducted in the ASP Business
Meeting. 

 

Subsequently, we reached other group consciences placing further
restrictions on who was allowed to serve as an officer of ASP on the
Steering Committee. 

 

Please remember, the Steering Committee is akin to the Board of Directors of
ASP. The members of the Steering Committee have parallel duties,
responsibilities and authorities to the Board of Directors at Districts,
Areas and WSO. In other words, very similar to the Board of Directors of any
other Al-Anon entity – all of which have policies regarding minimum
standards for getting elected to. ASP’s requirements to serve on the ASP
Steering Committee are actually trifling compared to many of those other
Al-Anon entities. 

 

Consider the selection process of the Trustees (aka Directors) on the
Al-Anon Board of Directors. Areas within a Region RECOMMEND a Regional
Trustee to the Nominating Committee, which RECOMMENDS a candidate to the
Board of Trustees.  However, it is the Board of Trustees that elects the
candidate to the Board, or chooses not to and the position is declared
vacant. Of course, the candidate generally needs to be a Past Delegate
before they get recommended to by an Area in the first place. The road to
serving as a Trustee involves many years of prior service in Al-Anon, and is
subjectively selective, with the Board having the final say – not the
membership.  

 

The point is that if you don’t like the process at ASP, perhaps you should
compare it to the process in other Al-Anon service entities of similar scope
– not just your face-to-face meeting that most likely doesn’t have a Board
of Directors or anything remotely like it because your face-to-face meeting
isn’t remotely like ASP in terms of scope, size, etc. 

 

On the other hand, we do have ten ± service positions at ASP that have
minimal prerequisites before one can serve. Those are very similar in scope
and concept to positions in a face-to-face meeting, important to the daily
recovery meeting, and serve as basic stepping stones to serving on the
Steering Committee.

 

As with all Al-Anon entities – meetings, Groups, Districts, Areas and WSO –
it is the responsibility of the members of that particular Al-Anon entity to
comply with the group conscience of that particular Al-Anon entity. No one
in Al-Anon gets to violate the group conscience. 

 

If you don’t like a group conscience, then you have choices: you can leave
and go to another meeting – we mention that option on the Founding Statement
and Policies page; you can do what I did when I didn’t like what was
happening at CAFG – I started my own meeting and called it A Serenity Place;
or you can work within the confines of ASPs group consciences. 

 

Personally, I don’t like every group conscience at ASP myself. I don’t have
the power to change them. Oh well. Instead, I chose to adhere to them and
work within them whether I like them or not. For those that don’t feel like
they are being heard, that’s not true at all. If I or the others on the
Steering Committee didn’t hear your comments, we wouldn’t respond. I’ve
responded in depth about how ASP works. If you think that I somehow
‘control’ ASP, you are sadly mistaken. I have but one voice. A strong voice,
no doubt, but still one voice. The strength of my voice doesn’t come from my
position as the Founder of ASP – it comes from the group conscience of ASP. 

 

Love and SERENITY,

Steve

 

 



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