Process minutes: 2017-10-03

Agenda:

10/3/2017
6:30-7:45pm, CH north patio and unit 18
Present: Jillian, Patti, Bob, Sarah, Debbi

AGENDA:
1.Checkins
2. Monkey review
3. Saturday’s meeting - who from Process can be there?
4. Discuss next steps on committee structure conversation with Debbi
5. Committee effectiveness training in November
6. Next meeting
(did not get to this) Discuss how it went to have Sarah skype in to the
Sept 18 meeting
(did not get to this) Discuss next steps on Skills and Thrills - idea for
Grounds related master planning weekend?

Minutes:

2. ONGOING MONKEY:
Bringing chocolate for the two community meetings a month.
Re-MONKEY: Jillian will remind GOers to fill in Pref in Gather for how
they want to be contacted - view by Album to see Pref (rather than photos).
Re-MONKEY: Mary and Sarah to share their handouts and powerpoint to the
Process cmtee google folder in drive. (See 3/19/16 Process minutes)(Feb
2016 Training)
ONGOING MONKEY: at each facilitator brunch: could ask facilitators - when
there’s a new proposal, or discussion of any new idea, ask for questions,
then ask for positive reflections about it, before they go into discussion
of concerns.
ONGOING MONKEY: Let’s schedule a few refreshing policy moments:
Parking
Cleaning up after yourself in the CH / Expectations for teen and youth cmty
work, CH access, and supervision
Review of GO proposal and decision-making processes and revisiting decisions
Overview of BOA and how to search for agreements - demo
Minutes must be emailed to their minutes email address for the BOA and to
talk.
RE-MONKEY: Jillian will add to the BOA job description, tracking if
committees are sending in minutes, and if community meeting minutes are in
there too.
RE-MONKEY: Jillian will add Vice President (infoco convenor) and Secretary
(process convenor) into the mandate and email out new copy - check with
Debbi first to makes sure it is correct.
Re-MONKEY: Sarah, Patti, Jillian to go through the Active tab of Yi-miau’s
excel spreadsheet and each rate if we think something should stay active,
or S for surpassed, or E for expired. Then we will review at the next
meeting.
RE-MONKEY: Jillian will send out a few reminders about the 10/29/17
facilitator brunch.
DONE: Patti will email talk about meeting moved from 10/4 to 10/7/17
RE-MONKEY: DONE Sarah will put up a sign on doors on Wednesday 10/4/17
about 10/7/17
MONKEY: Jillian will email Susan to encourage her to ask for feedback in
the meeting eval time, did people who are there like having it on a
Saturday, was it helpful to them.
MONKEY: Jillian will email Pam to remind her of the Saturday meeting since
its unusual, and to record who was there.

3. Saturday’s meeting - who from Process can be there?
Sarah can be there, and Bob, to answer any potential questions. Patti
doesn’t know yet.

4.Discuss next steps on committee structure conversation with Debbi.
------
Our notes on this topic from our August process meeting after the cmty
meeting:
Review results from cmty meeting discussion about structure, next steps,
skills and thrills?
An active steering cmtee would be a great way to provide support
committees. Debbi Schaubman took on convening steering cmtee because she is
interested in this topic which is great!
>From the meeting discussion, several people realized that it’s not a one
size fits all situation. Some cmtees seem to be doing fine in the existing
systems and structure and others not. So seems to be a committee by
committee thing. Some could use some attention and experimenting, other
structures, other ways of functioning. Maybe more subgroups, interest
groups, ad hoc groups with a particular task and a coordinator.
What is a good next step? Support Debbi! Talk with her and schedule a
process meeting with her - what kind of support can we offer? Help get the
word about a reinvigorated steering and next steps toward that.
Nice that committees are presenting their goals based on the vision, and
maybe a steering cmtee could help them implement, keep them on track,
encourage them. The community is the decision making body, but steering can
help keep it on track.
---

Debbi has recognized issues around institutional memory, or lapses thereof;
example is Grounds not knowing that some of the wetlands area are owned
with TS.

Might we want to take some steps to do more planning for upcoming conveners
- succession planning (particularly, Buildings, F&L, Grounds due to the
scope of work)

Consider solutions - combine buildings and grounds and have an admin
position that could help both
If there was a steering committee these topics would come up in a group
that would have more of this historical knowledge
Patti notices that the committees aren’t communicating as effectively with
the community
Plenary Time:
Open Q&A for committees at each meeting
One committee reports at each meeting
Steering convener could report periodically at meeting
Brief (2 mins) reports from each / a couple of committees at each meeting
Post minutes at the plenary from the most recent committee meetings for
each committee
Steering could be a place for the committees to talk about future planning
and see more clearly how different areas / projects would overlap

Debbi - I don’t think of it as a structure conversation really, I think of
it as being about communication. I think there are things falling through
the cracks between committees. Committees not talking to each other enough.
One example is F&L and Grounds. Grounds discussing a burn, but had not
known back then that we co-own the land with TS. And F&L did not know
Grounds was discussing it. No committee holds all the knowledge. So we need
better ways to share information. And this is even harder when there’s
frequent turnover in committees. So Debbi wondering if we need to bring
back steering, in a way that is more effective for what we need now. A
problem back then when we killed steering was that reps did not always feel
like they were well versed in what was going on in their committees.

One issue is institutional memory. Not being held effectively in
committees, but held somewhere in the full group.

Steering cmtee might have access to more institutional memory.

Forward thinking conversation about what is your committee thinking of
doing in future. If we had those conversations in steering or some forum,
you could see more clearly where the committees touch/intersect each other.
And if we get used to talking to eachother more then maybe eventually we
could lay steering down again.

Another idea - it is not uncommon to have an executive cmtee that includes
the past chair, current chair, future chair - have we ever explored doing
that in committees for committee chairs. Buildings, Grounds, F&L where the
continuity is critical where they have such a huge part of the
infrastructure responsibility.

So how do we make there be a full steering cmtee any more? Process could
bring forward a proposal to revive the steering cmtee.

And if so what could we do to better prepare people to be on committees.

Toward the end of steering before, there was at least one committee that
did not have fixed roles so there was no continuity, Grounds did not have a
convenor.

Gist of Debbi’s interest is, how to get committees talking with each other
enough.

Sarah - I really like the idea of writing a proposal for reinvigorating
steering - has value as we continue to experiment with alternatives to
committees as they are now. A good “buck stops here” place for the
community to know there is some group keeping an eye or giving support or
feedback on experimentation.

Patti - I noticed lack of communication from committee to community the
most. So I think steering can also play a role there, whether steering is
reporting back at every community meeting or something else.

Tension between keeping the community informed and effective use of time
community time.

I wonder if just adding a short piece at plenary - do you have questions
for a committee about something you have heard they are working on. Then
the large group can hear the question. And if no one is there from the
committee the question gets passed along.

Or we could rotate among committees, one per month to present 10 minutes
and questions? But then it might take too long to get to a committee.

One or two minute summary per committee of what they are doing? Hard for
people to be that focused. But facil could help focus and deflect questions
to the next committee meeting.

I think someplace between one cmtee and all cmtees at each community
meeting, and someplace between 1 minute and 15 minutes is the goal.

I wonder about posting committee minutes, when there is a plenary, posting
the minutes on the wall from each committee or laying them out on a table?
Hmm.

Two tracks that are parallel and could both tie in to a new steering cmtee
- the communication aspect, and also the committees that want to experiment
with other ways of getting work done. Steering can be a place to discuss
both of those things and give feedback.

Discussing of how best to know what is going on in a committee and report
back - outside person is good at summarizing.

I worry that we have gotten some feedback that we have too much structure
already.

Another option for providing more attentive management is to hire out a
more professional person. Like a property manager.

Some kind of succession plan for convenors. Do people sign up for a year,
what are the rewards.

Would it make sense to combine buildings and grounds and have an
administrator run that body and then the people who like to do the work get
to do the work.

Planning vs maintenance.

I like the idea of trying to push forward with reviving steering.

We’ll need to write up something, what would Steering do, why and how.

MONKEY: Sarah will take the next step of writing up an initial draft of
what a new steering cmttee would do and why. Process cmtee members will
respond.
Communication
Container for experimenting with committee structures
Call it coordinating committee?! Times have changed, not really about
urgent decisions any more, like Steering used be, more about information
and coordination.

5. Committee effectiveness training in November

Some Process cmtee folks have said they are interested. But those folks are
already skilled in being on committees. But can committee convenors and
members attend? And is this what they want, are we offering the right
thing, at the right time?

MONKEY: if we divide up the committees among process members and ask if
committee members (NOT just convenors) can go. Try to gather some
information. Maybe contact individuals, or go to committee meeting if
possible. Going to this will make your committees better. Ask committee
conveners / members:
if the content sounds useful to them (Sarah will write a blurb)
if it’s about the timing. Would a weekend morning work better?

MONKEY: Sarah will put together a flyer and then Patti, Jillian, and Bob
could use that content to email the members of each committee, Focus on
demystifying, change name to committee effectiveness training
MONKEY: Process will then email the committee members
Buildings (Mary King): Jillian
Grounds (no convenor): Bob
Membership (Willie): Jillian
Common House (Elph): Patti
Finance (Amy): Bob
Meals (Yi-Miau): Patti
Work (no convenor): Bob

Use an alternative meeting is another idea in the next session. Sarah
really does not want to just preach to the choir.

Demystify and build capacity for convening.

Maybe we should do something once a year.

To me, an effective cmtee meets regular, posts meetings ahead, takes
minutes, posts minutes, gets feedback from the community and acts on it.

And in the past convenors feeling like they do all the work has been the
case in the past.

I’m hearing two things - meeting the needs, and being efficient (minutes,
communication). Can vary a lot by committee.

Buildings has a new convenor and an administrators and two fix its. Stop
the habit of committee members thinking their job is to fix things
themselves rather than hiring them out.

Next meeting
10/30/17 at 7pm with Debbi
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