Mandala Governance and Structure Meeting

July 3, 2004

Present: Jane Arthur, Tom Adducci, Debbie McCubbin, Dan Montgomery, Arbie Thalacker, Joe Inskeep

Regrets: Brian Callahan, Michael Carroll, Esther Siebold, Jan Watson

Administrative Business

• Dan Montgomery will spearhead our workgroup’s presentation at the July Mandala Governing Council meeting. Debbie, Jane, Arbie will also be present and able to speak to their sub-group work.
• Joe will circulate a copy of the interim report to the workgroup Sunday evening before sending to Connie Brock on Tuesday. A deadline for edits is Monday evening.
• Joe will announce the review group meetings of July 22^nd and 24^th to the review group distribution list. Tom will take minutes during the 22^nd, Debbie during the 24^th. Minutes from these calls should be sent to Dan so he can use them in preparing for the July MGC meeting.

Congress Discussion

• We don’t have a subgroup formed for this as yet. JI feels the Governance group should present a set of recommendations about the role of Congress in governance. He has sent an initial set of ideas about the Congress to PRR and the workgroup for feedback.

Member Comments:

• The Congress process should offer checks and balances for overall governance, rather than a redundant forum for leadership representation. So we also want a plebiscite of society, the broadest lens of participation and representation. The selection process for "delegates" is important part of this.
• There was suggestion that we understand how to get the broadest views into the Congress. What if those drawn to the Congress don’t represent broad views?
• There was concern about the issue of limited resources many people have available for travel, and the potential outcome that there might be over-representation by members of the hosting community.
• The container itself is one of social practice, practice of society. There was agreement that it could offer training in the practice of society: leadership and understanding community dynamics.
• Suggestion that we consider different tracks at the event: one plenary and then perhaps tracks on leadership, community process and culture, practice and study, and so forth. Or perhaps each Congress is organized around a limited set of content or process areas that membership has identified as most critical.
• Suggestion that we consider including center director meetings as a part of the Congress.
• We should report out in broad strokes for July.

Governance Structure Subgroup Report

• PRR mentioned the value of a broad, representative mandala council. As a representative body, in some sense, larger is better.
• Board needs to be small, focused on specific skill-sets.
• JI: In addition to mandala council and board, I briefly mentioned the importance of an executive team as part of structure. Richard hasn’t responded on this point yet.
• The workgroup discussed inviting a small advisory group to support the Governance Structure team, people who would bring further experience and perspectives. Esther and Michael are out of town and aren’t available to respond to the idea. Joe feels there is a great deal to do in the next several months, and the extra support would be a great benefit. Arbie welcomes this advisory group support.
• Joe suggested Richard John and Jim Rosen as first options to contact. One member suggested we center an advisory group on people from our own mandala, steeped in our traditions. Joe will work with Arbie on building a group.

Membership/Partnership Subgroup Report

• We are not sure which particular objective we are fulfilling, or what our November deliverable will be.
• We think Alex’s paper is important and should be circulated. Jane thinks this document needs to get out there. Can we send it to RR and suggest he consider circulating it? Joe will do that.
• Tom will write up an interim report for use in the July Mandala Council meeting and send it to Joe.
• Tom and Denny will talk to Denny to see if they are forwarding any aspect of this concept to the July meeting.

Critical Tasks and Services Sub-group Report

• This sub-group is pleased with the response from centers to the survey, and that we have data on critical services needed in the mandala from that. We intend to try to brainstorm with leaders at the July meeting about how some of these services can be provided. We have begun to engage the practice centers, Europe and SA on these survey questions.
• Our November recommendations will include ideas for implementation, and once the data is in, we’re really looking forward to starting on that piece.
• An important principle: start building the central services infrastructure simply, around the highest few priorities. Don’t try to put a whole administrative structure in place at once. Successes will build confidence and give us time to carefully plan the next layer of implementation.

Principles of Governance Subgroup

• We’ve been so active on other sub-group areas, principles haven’t been developed yet. We have two documents, one circulated by JI, one by Chris Tamdjidi.
• Our next meeting will focus on these principles. That call scheduled for Sunday, July 11^th, 5pm EST.

Workgroup Minutes

• Group agreed that minutes being posted on the web need to be simpler and easier to understand for readers outside the group. They are getting too much detail, in some cases, without the right context. Joe will double his efforts on that front.

The call ended at 7pm with dedication of merit.