Leadership Development and Succession Planning

Working Group

Meeting Minutes, September 16, 2004

Present:   Victoria Bell- Chair; minutes; Marilyn Moore; Chris Kreeger, Betsy Pond

Agenda

What happened at the MGC (Mandala Governing Council) meeting which relates to this group’s work?
What happened at Vajra Dawn which relates to this group’s work?
Deliverables
Job descriptions…
Development of newer/younger potential leaders…
List of tasks to be accomplished in the next couple of months
Next meeting

Mandala Governing Council meeting/ Center Directors meeting

As working group chair, Victoria attended the Mandala Governing Council meeting at the end of July.  The meeting, and the chance to interact with those attending the center directors meeting, gave Victoria further insight into the role of this working group:

Due to changes in the mandala governance structure, a new economic model, and new membership policy, center directors are being asked more and more to act as representatives of the people in their sanghas.  They are being asked to facilitate decision-making processes which relate to the larger mandala.  This is not something that they are necessarily accustomed to or prepared for.  We can help them to clearly define their roles, and identify the skills and training needed for their positions.

It is clear that center directors are looking for help in sharing 'best practices’ with each other.  We have this opportunity to help with sharing best practices within our particular topic area.  The simple sharing of ideas/experiences can go a long way.

Vajra Dawn Leadership Conference

Victoria attended Vajra Dawn and led a working group there on the topic of leadership development and succession planning.  The group chose to discuss the various obstacles to getting involved in one’s Shambhala Center, and possible ways to address those obstacles. The Vajra Dawn working group will continue with its work, led by Tom Ni.  They will come up with a set of recommendations or a proposal to give to Shambhala centers, geared towards addressing obstacles to involvement, and encouraging youth to develop as leaders in their centers.

Working Group Deliverables

Job Descriptions

Discussion:

There is a new relationship developing between Shambhala center governance and mandala governance, and that relationship needs to be clearly defined for center directors and communities.  We can work this as part of our objective to help centers create useful job descriptions for leadership positions.

We can work with President Reoch and the governance structure working group to come up with a description or definition of the relationship between Shambhala centers and mandala governance - and what this entails for the jobs of center directors - based on the new developments.

There are implications from this for the selection and recruitment of center directors.  Many centers have no clear process for selecting and appointing their directors.  Requirements in terms of skill and experience are often un-clear.  If center directors are being asked to act as representatives of their communities to the larger mandala, there are certain skills and selection processes that should go along with this.  Is there a relationship with the center of the mandala in terms of deciding who gets chosen for a position?  For Shambhala Training directors, for example, there is a relationship with Shambhala International, and certain things are required of a candidate.  We need to explore this more.

Development of newer/younger leaders

Discussion:

There are progressions of leadership roles and responsibilities within a Shambhala center and within the sangha.  Given what a center director has to do, what sort of skills would it be helpful for her/him to have, and how can we help develop those skills over time in younger/newer leaders?  A combination of administrative skills and Shambhala leadership skills is important…  There are many existing programs for both of these things, in our cities, and within the sangha…

At Vajra Dawn, the importance of good volunteer management was discussed.  Many of the obstacles to getting involved in one's center could be addressed by having a person in the center responsible for overall volunteer management- overseeing and taking care of volunteers; learning about people's interests and skills; bringer together newer and older students in volunteer situations to make volunteering more of a learning experience; developing a culture around volunteering that is less about begging for help and more about developing people as leaders and providing people with opportunities to practice.

A volunteer management function within centers could also serve to address the problem of program coordinators getting frustrated and burning out due to having to take care of the volunteer needs of the program themselves.  When volunteers see coordinators and other leaders burning out all the time, it doesn't make them want to take on those positions.

There are many good existing resources on volunteer management.  There are also best practices within our centers which need to be shared.

One aspect of work as practice that needs to be understood and developed better, is manifesting court principle in Shambhala centers.  The culture around volunteer work, administration, and overall leadership can be further influenced by court principle, and this will have a significant effect on the development of newer and younger leaders. 

But what is court principle?  How well do we understand it?  It would help to gather the teachings on this and perhaps ask for further teachings.  We need a more specific view.

Eva Wong went to the LA center and was extremely helpful with pointing out simple ways that the center could manifest as court.  She is a good resource, and has been asked to begin visiting all of the centers.

Tasks to be Accomplished

Working group members will review these tasks and choose something that they would like to start working on right away.  Victoria may invite new members to join and help.

Next Meeting:

Thursday, September 30th, 3pm Eastern time.

Updated 2004/09/24