[Businessmtg] Fwd: Service Positions

[Jerry]

Biz-Pals,

Picking up on a bit on a couple of points:

~ As mentioned, any one person's opinion does not get to determine whether our service positions need to be filled or not. Whether created by founding policy or group conscience our service positions are set for what were determined by the group to be good reasons. 
    Would it be ideal that our secretary, GR, and treasurer positions get filled before [lesser?] vacant positions are addressed? Of course, but that doesn't seem to be happening. Meanwhile there are Steering Committee (SC) seats left unfilled which some members may well be willing to fill, positions which are intended to introduce broader input into SC discussions, and which would introduce fresh volunteers to SC service without a 3-year commitment attached.
    I have been told directly that just because we have defined service positions doesn't mean they need to be filled. Likewise that some are of little or no benefit, so why fill them. Now, that there is no intention of filling them. Seems to me the Group Conscience should take precedence here.
    We are now down to very few people on our Steering Committee making determinations on what shows up on this Business Meeting's agenda. They carry significant influence on how we move forward. For me this raises a question of what constitutes a consensus within the SC. When two SC positions are being purposefully left unfilled (added to the three vacant positions mentioned above) at what point does arriving at a full SC consensus become impossible?

~ ASP's requirements to serve in a SC position have prevented members with considerable Al-Anon service experience from serving the group. When we are flush with ASP-qualified volunteers stepping up to fill our SC positions that's one thing, but we haven't had that in a very, very long time. And it doesn't seem that we have a Plan B for times like these; instead we load our SC members with the duties which should be being performed by others.
    When the ASP membership took on the ownership of the group rather having it solely owned by Steve the first set of officers didn't need to have the 1-year of prior ASP service requirement and things worked out. There is no evidence that lowered requirements, or temporary exceptions to our current requirements when positions go unfilled for long periods, would be any different.

~ Let us not forget that personality conflicts have been a significant part of problems which led to some members being unwilling to serve at SC levels, lowered retention of others who have served, and some who have left the group all together. It got quite acrimonious a few years back and I believe we are still recovering.

- - - - -

We have a group service problem. Perhaps our newer volunteers and trusted servants will find that further service is attractive to them; I hope so. Meanwhile, though, five SC seats go unfilled. That's five votes that can't be cast, and five sets of Experience, Strength & Hope which are absent from forming consensus' there.

I am in favor of making some temporary adjustments to our policies and practices to get all our service positions filled.
• One could be being less stern on current volunteers, allowing them to resign from their current positions early to stand for vacant SC positions.
• Temporarily lower our 1-year of prior ASP service requirement for standing for SC offices.
• Begin recognizing significant face-to-face Al-Anon service as qualification for ASP officer positions.
• Calling for volunteers to stand for our two At-Large SC positions along with the other vacant slots.
• If some sort of resolution to our service position problem isn't found, I believe we should set a quorum requirement for forming concensus' in the Steering Committee based on a percentage of the full complement of SC seats, not just on those present.

Our current SC members are managing under current circumstances; many thanks are due them. But this isn't something which should continue. Shared service between many hands is part of Al-Anon recovery. This Business Committee has the responsibility to search out solutions to problems which come up. I'd like to hear and discuss the ideas and thoughts of others as we deal with this service problem.

In service,
Jerry
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-------- Original Message --------
 Subject: Re: [Businessmtg] Appointed positions
 From: aohara77 at comcast.net
 Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2022, 8:41 AM
 To: logmark at comcast.net
 CC: ASP Business <businessmtg at asp-afg.org>

All,

My take on this is entirely different.

It is not up to me to decide a decision in our Motions is not of value.  There was a group conscience and a vote taken that the Secretary would have the webmaster position rolled into a recording secretary position - volunteering and recruiting would look something like what we already do to get our daily chairs and our greeters.  In my mind, keeping our website current is critical, whether some or all o f our members read it isn't relevant.  It is how we all stay on the same  page.  Tricky, because of course because we don't have a Secretary.  

With that said, this month we are discussing and hopefully recruiting for the open Steering Committee (SC) positions.

Steve is right, we do need to fill the Secretary, Treasurer and GR positions.  The purpose of having the founders step in to bridge the vacancy gap was meant to help the existing SC members manage the work.  These are NOT permanent roles that Steve and I have stepped into.  I want to remind everyone that although Steve is the original founder and after Jerry, I am the longest member of ASP, we do NOT own decisions or positions.

I encourage all of you to consider serving on the SC, it can be rewarding and it is a good exercise in managing  personalities and tone in email.  Always placing principles above personalities.

Hugs,

Anne O

-----Original Message-----
From: Businessmtg <businessmtg-bounces+aohara77=comcast.net at asp-afg.org> On Behalf Of Steve Rankin
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2022 5:04 AM
To: aohara77 at comcast.net
Cc: ASP Business <businessmtg at asp-afg.org>
Subject: Re: [Businessmtg] Appointed positions

Hi Missy,
Yes, the Recording Secretary position is open.  
As for how any of the appointed positions are recruited, it is up to the appointing authority for the position in question to handle it.  Again, we rarely have specific protocols for how our trusted servants do their jobs, and those exceptions tend to be uniquely necessary for the position.  The Treasurer position is an excellent example of the group having a need for specific information in the treasurer reports, and reasonably well-defined processes for handling group funds.  That's typical of treasurer positions.
Unfortunately, we haven't had an elected Secretary since April 2020 when Jerry resigned early, which resulted in Beverly, the Secretary, automatically became the List Administrator.  However she quickly resigned as LA, so both positions were vacant.  When the dust settled, I was both acting List Administrator and acting Secretary.  Lynne was elected in late March this year, so I was relieved of that job - thank you Lynne.  
Back to the Recording Secretary.  Perhaps, it would help to understand where I'm at personally on a few things.  First, the idea of a Recording Secretary was not my idea, nor was I in favor of it.  I have serious doubts about the value of creating a new service position in ASP when we're not filling the ones we already have.  Plus, I see that position as increasing the complexity and workload of the Secretary, not lightening it.  Sure, once a Recording Secretary gets a handle on the job, it should work out well, but we have learned that it's something that requires some diligence on the part of the Secretary to ensure that the Recording Secretary draws between the lines.  
However, a majority of the Steering Committee wanted the position to lighten the load on the Secretary, so I went with majority of the Steering Committee and recommended the Recording Secretary position to the Business Meeting during the discussion leading to Motion 22.  Since Motion 22 passed, we now have a Recording Secretary position.  
The day after Motion 22 passed, a member approached me about volunteering for the position.  Except that she was already serving in another appointed position.  Since we don't allow members to hold multiple positions, she'd have to wait a couple of months to rotate.  I replied the following day, describing that as well as more about the position, but she didn't respond.  I wrote her a couple more times, but never heard from her again, although she's still active in ASP.  
Hence, one of the reasons why I don't see this as a benefit for the Secretary - the challenges of working with someone to maintain the website is simply more work, not less for the Secretary.
My bottom line?  Please don't expect me to devote my time and energy to recruiting someone to a position that I don't feel is necessary to the functioning of ASP, especially while much more important positions are vacant.  
The same is true for the At-Large positions on the Steering Committee.  Under ideal circumstances, the At-Large positions would serve as a voice for the members in addition to the full slate of officers with actual jobs to do on the Steering Committee.  However, with important positions and actual jobs to do, such as the Secretary, Treasurer and Group Rep, I not only have no intention of recruiting anyone to an At-Large position, I am quite simply not in favor of filling them.  Back in 2016 & 2017, during a brief period where great efforts were made to fill all the service positions to the max, and two members were elected to At-Large positions on the Steering Committee.  One got involved and participated while the other did not.  
As for trying to recruit elected officers from the general membership in the recovery meeting?  My experience is that members who wish to serve Al-Anon as a part of their recovery, will get involved in the meeting.  We announce every Business Meeting in the recovery meeting, with the agenda of the meeting.  Sometimes that includes something about trusted servants, elections, etc.  If someone is really interested in service and serving, they'll come to our Business Meetings.  
We have a total of 19 members in this month's Business Meeting; 15 regular members and 4 from the Steering Committee.  Of the 15, two are Daily Chair - THANK YOU! - and none are Greeters.  One of the "regular" members has spoken with me in recent history about serving and I really hope she does, just like I hope that some of the Daily Chairs and Greeters chose to volunteer to serve.  
My objective is to make service in ASP worthwhile to your recovery, and in the process make ASP the best online meeting extant.  That doesn't necessarily mean it's always easy, or fun.  If fact, you might even get thoroughly PO'd at me sometimes.  That's OK.  I can be a crusty old fart that is stuck on the idea keeping ASP's nose stuck to the grindstone of Al-Anon principles.
If you got this far, you survived my rambling.  😊
Love and SERENITY,
Steve  


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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


____________________________
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