Process minutes: 2019-02-24

Minutes:

Tri-community facilitator's brunch
2/24/2019
TS CH
12:30-2pm

Present: Dolores, Patti, Jillian, Olas

AGENDA
1. Check ins
2. Hearing about the last Facil training session
3. Idea from TS on creating a committee evaluation tool
4. Next meeting

1. Checkins go-round

2. Facil training at TS
They had four sessions over two years, just completed it. Not everyone did
the full training, but ended up with around 10 people or so. IMO the best
thing was the bonding among people. The community appreciated it a lot that
we gave of our time to learn and to serve the community. Meeting behaviour
has been good, more cooperation and appreciation. They appreciate we are
trying to get better and be more efficient. Had a chance to get to know
each other and to resolve some conflicts. And some people started out,
learned and participated, and decided it was not for them.

Such a good growing experience and we don’t want it to just stop - maybe
have retreats or something. But with a task, such as to tackle a particular
issue.

Who would/could be part of that? Suggest that it be open. And would that be
decisions? Be careful of not excluding.
There was a backlash against GOers who did the training, not trusting, did
not feel to everyone in the training like it changed the culture in a
positive way. Was painful for those who had worked so hard to feel like
they were being accused of being in a club or distrusted in some way.

Lesli put together a document - checklist for facilitators to use, very
useful.
MONKEY: Dolores will share the facilitation meeting prep checklist with us.

3. Idea of evaluation of committees
TS brainstormed how can we tidy up the committee structure, link them
together better, simplify - too many committees. Maggi will be putting all
the suggestions into a document to start the revision process. What are the
current structures?

GO:
Process, with subcommittee CRC
F&L
Grounds
Buildings
Membership, with subcommittees Fun, Caring, Youth Engagement
Work
Meals
Common House
Tech
Steering is just one person who can call a meeting if needed

TS:
Children
Conflict Res
Common house
Finance and Legal
Process
Facilitation - handles the facil at plenaries, steering, and other
committees upon request
Framework - handles the process around facilitation at plenaries?
Grounds
Landscaping and Architecture
Maintenance
Marketing and Membership
Meals
Steering
Tech
Work

ICC has 7 standing committees including a coordinating committee and then
teams as secondary committees.

Great Oak has been talking about committee effectiveness and committee
participation. We just redrafted our previous agreement about the committee
convenor and member responsibilities. We have been burning out convenors -
doing work of the committee as well as running the committee. Convenor does
not have to be content expert. Idea - we could tie the facilitation of the
committee meeting to the convenors - process could offer support and offer
training.

Two years ago GO Process led a big effort to have committee present their
mandates back to the communities, which was helpful. But we have not done
much “evaluation” per se of the committees - how they’re doing .

GO has talked about what makes for an effective committee, what are the
ways people are structuring their committees now to see if they can
improve. But we have never really evaluated a committee per se - if a
committee is struggling we have not often (or ever?) brought it to plenary,
discussed the mandate and the hours and the jobs etc and restructured or
changed it and handed it back to the committee.

At GO my experience is that the convenor makes all the difference. That you
have someone who is not just task oriented, they have to be process
oriented too, to realize when the community needs to be involved in
discussions/decisions, be aware of what might be controversial, be able to
balance and prioritize short term and long term responsibilities etc.

At TS - there are so many committees it is hard to attend all the meetings.
I like the idea of having one day a month where there are committee
meetings. LIke a fair, you can go from one to the next. That day is always
the committee day.

TS does not have hours for committees in the work system yet.

I hear a lot of the complaining that happens at GO about 8 to 10 hours a
month. Importance of the meals at Great Oak, how the meals make people feel
connected, a foundation principle from the very beginning. But if you don’t
choose to take part you might not realize that and the work just feels like
a burden.

A committee evaluation tool could be a helpful tool to encourage people to
participate in committees - if it creates a structure and a time to reflect
on everything accomplished, making sure the committees have objectives,
goals, timelines and a system for thinking about that and reporting out on
int. A tool that can support morale and effectiveness. Not meant to be a
punishment. Can also be transparency, asking for help if you could not meet
goals - to be able to state needs clearly, to ask the community for help -
these are the skills or resources we need to meet community expectations
etc.

Do we have next steps on this committee evaluation tool idea?

MONKEY: Maybe we need Mary King and Maggi to please share what direction /
ideas they were thinking, the next time we meet.

4. Next meeting
Sunday April 14, 11:30-1 at GO CH dining room
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