[Businessmtg] Process Questions

[Steve Rankin]

Hi Tammy and everyone else,
Please note that the server resends messages in plain text only.  No fancy fonts, bold or italic, no indentation or bulleted lists, no colors, no images, no nothing except the words and punctuation in a plain, basic font.  In fact, if a member tries to send images - as they sometimes do - the server will bounce their share and it doesn't get posted, but the List Administrator gets daily messages from the server until the List Administrator log in and cleans up the mess.  It's a small mess, but it does create unnecessary work for the List Administrator in the recovery meeting and the Secretary in the Business Meeting.
FYI to everyone else . . . Tammy sent me a private note last night with some questions and comments that I responded to privately.  As she mentions in her note to the Business Meeting today, this is her response to what I wrote her last night.  
Tammy:  "However -- I do still feel strongly that asking the Secretary to introduce the meetings with an agenda and a brief summary of where we are at with each subject is appropriate and would be very helpful to participants."
Steve:  An agenda is a very simple thing.  It is merely a list of things to be discussed in a meeting.  No more and no less.  
I have two problems with the idea of requiring the Secretary include a synopsis of where we are at with each item on the agenda.
First, it creates a real burden on the Secretary.  See, a synopsis (brief summary) of where we are at on a topic is anything but easy to create from the discussion in the last Business Meeting.  It may sound like a simple and easy idea to many, but actually doing it and doing it without any bias is challenging.
Second, posting a synopsis of where we are at on an issue BEFORE we have reached a consensus is false.  If the Secretary posts a synopsis of where we are at, most members will take that as a statement of fact regarding a consensus.  This would defeat the very purpose of our KBDM process.  We established our KBDM process years ago to avoid premature assumptions which lead to premature decisions.
Third, we require that the Secretary announce the upcoming Business Meeting to the membership in the recovery meeting. That announcement includes the agenda of the Business Meeting.  Now, if you want to require the Secretary include a synopsis of the agenda as part of the agenda, then that would need to be included with the agenda posted to the recovery meeting.  This kind of message posted in the recovery meeting tends to incite discussion in the recovery meeting, which is not allowed.  
Fourth, I simply do not know where we are at on any given issue until I believe we have reached a consensus.  Too many times I have seen a discussion in an Al-Anon Business Meeting look like it was ready to wrap a bow on it, and then someone in the back said something and the discussion was immediately a hot mess.  Another classic example that I have seen in our ASP Business Meeting was when a previous Secretary would say we had a consensus, but that was based on counting the earliest comments before the real meat of the discussion occurred.  The result is a failed motion.  
Tammy: "As I said -- I am okay with not requesting the Secretary to provide Minutes because of the approval process and timing. I would however, like our business meetings to be introduced with an agenda and summary of where we are at with each item AND I would like to see Mary's recommended language change under the Treasurer's section."
Steve:  Please avoid saying things like "I like what Susie said" in the Business Meeting.  That doesn’t mean anything to the rest of us without our having to go back and read what Susie said. What if Susie said more than just one thing?  And of course, there is the anonymity issue - principles before personalities.  When a member refers to WHO said something instead of what they said, the reference is the personality, not the principle of what was said.  The point is that if you have something to say about what another member said, please say it about what they said, not about the person who said it.
I'll quote a section out of KBDM process:
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VI. Posts to the discussion
Members are asked to read ALL the new posts before posting a response or question. Please do NOT ask questions that have already been answered. A post may be:
A. A question;
B. A statement of fact—if so please provide supporting evidence;
C. A statement of Al-Anon principle—if so, please quote the applicable Step, Tradition or Concept;
D. A statement of experience—if so, please say so and describe the Al-Anon experience in our usual way: what it was like, what happened, and what it is like now;
E. A statement of opinion—if so please be clear that it is your opinion and not a statement of fact or Al-Anon principle.
Also, if you would like to see something, please explain why.  This is supposed to be a discussion period where we share Al-Anon ESH on the issue; not a quasi-voting period.  
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Tammy: "I'm sorry that you've had to "deal with" members not following instructions. 
Steve:  As much as I'd like to discuss this further, this issue is out of order in this Business Meeting.
About Venmo. . .
Any discussion of Venmo - or anything else - is out of also order in the Business Meeting.  Period.  The only issue on the table now is the approval of the bylaws.  
Love and SERENITY,
Steve