[Businessmtg] Founders

[Jerry]

Biz-Pals,

While "there are no 'musts' in Al-Anon" there are some here at ASP. Certain tasks have to be performed in this electronic medium in a reasonable timeframe or things can fall apart fairly quickly.

We have found over recent years that keeping the Steering Committee (SC) roles filled has been/is problematic. This leaves gaps which need filled or things don't get done - or, rather, they DO get done, but not according to how our Service Structure says they should. My experience is that our SC members often end up doing multiple jobs to keep ASP functioning.

As it turns out, this process of work-arounds is not 'blessed' by our Group Conscience which is very specific about who does what and who can back up whom. What I believe Steve is asking us to think about is adding more flexibility to our structure.

Because our two Founder positions have by far the most ASP service experience it's perhaps natural to suggest we be specific in granting to them the ability to temporarily replace missing trusted servants or do the odd jobs that might go undone around here.

When I was List Administrator I occasionally asked other SC members to take on tasks which were outside their assigned service structure duties. I felt I had to in order to keep things running - either that or do them myself (which, trust me, can get to be messy.)

So I suggest we make official what has by necessity been going on for some time anyway. The question then becomes, for me:

A) should we be specific with language which includes granting only our two Founder positions, at the SC's request, the ability to temporarily hold two (or more?) SC seats and sets of duties at one time, or

B) might we be less specific by acknowledging that Concept of Service #3 already grants our SC trusted servants this flexibility. [C3: "The right of decision makes effective leadership possible." ]?

I know and trust that Steve and Anne are up to the job, but what about ASP in 10 or 20 years? I think we might be better served by setting in place additional language which acts as an umbrella policy for all SC trusted servants' duties such as, "When there are vacancies on the Steering Committee the duties normally assigned to that vacated position are to be assigned by the SC to another SC member, or, when necessary, to another experienced ASP member, that member becoming a temporary SC member with voice and vote."

Something like that should cover just about any situation which might show up in the many years ahead of us.

Enough thinking for today. I have to get ready for my camping trip along the wild and windy southern shores of Gitche Gumee. [Have tent, will travel]

In service,
Jerry
-






On July 29, 2021, at 4:14 AM, Steve Rankin <steve at serenitysys.com> wrote:

Hi ASPers,

 

OK, time is up for discussing the section on rolling the Web Master duties
into the Secretary position.  Please do not post any other discussion on
this portion of the Motion #4 update topic.

 

We are now going to spend the rest of the few days left in the month
discussing the recommendation of allowing the Steering Committee to request
a/the Founder(s) to perform some task or to [temporarily] perform the duties
of a trusted servant.

 

AND

 

We are also going to receive an updated Treasurer's Report from Mary, our
ASP Treasurer.  

 

Yes, this is unusual to entertain 2 discussions at the same time, but we
discussed this in a Zoom Steering Committee meeting on Sunday afternoon and
decided it was the best alternative in the few days left in the month.  

 

Please note - there seems to have been considerable confusion on this
section in the last Business Meeting.  This is NOT about assigning any
specific duties to the Founders as a part of the Founder's role.  This is
about allowing the Steering Committee to request one or both of the Founders
to perform some task on behalf of the Steering Committee or ASP.  

 

For example, when Jerry was elected List Administrator the previous List
Administrator departed abruptly and left Jerry holding the bag before he'd
even learned how to log into the server.  Jerry asked me to assist and teach
him the nuts and bolts of the List Administrator job. 

 

What we are looking at is to simply to officially allow the Steering
Committee to ask the Founders to do something more than exercise their voice
and vote - something that the elected members of the Steering Committee
would like them to do.  This is not in place of electing a member of the
Steering Committee, although it could be performing the duties of a vacant
position until a new member is elected to that position.

 

Hugs,

Steve 

____________________________
To Unsubscribe, go to: http://www.asp-afg.org/mailman/listinfo/asp
The ASP web site with all kinds of info for ASP members is http://asp-afg.org/members/
For assistance with other ASP issues, contact Steve the Founder of ASP, at steve at serenitysys.com