Update: Principles Play and setting guidelines for meetings?

[sarah queblatin]

Dear 1Matrix Friends,

 

I am glad that I am recovering from my weeklong fever (thanks for your healing light and intentions :-) Today I had lots of creativity time and time for this too.

 

I am inspired by our heart work (a word play on "hard work") and I feel we need to make sure we continue the process of mapping our principles. Since this can't be rushed nor forgotten, we are working on it as we go along. We are learning so much through this process, don't you think?

 

On my part... I thought to myself, why not use again the principles I outlined last time... I believe it was able to clearly express my idea on how our principles can look like. You can see my suggested principles (combined with some of yours) on the principles play document here  . Let me know what you think. You are of course always free to make your own list as we all agreed before.

 

I look forward to your Principles Play :-)

 

By the way, I have this lingering feeling from the previous meeting and I've expressed this to Russ and I feel I need to express this to everyone too. the truth is I was not able to work on my art grant proposal since it was so hard to do two things. but it was a blessing to be just a listener and have my mike on mute. I was able to have a deep reflection based on my observation of the meeting while on mike mute.

 

I feel thtat we need to set guidelines for our meetings. Some things I need should be looked into are:

 

1. Round Robin of Roles - Does it only have to be me and yorlene to switch in the documentation job? Can we also have a roundrobin of roles in charing, coordinating, blessings, etc?

 

2. Guidelines in listening, sharing, speaking, commenting. I feel sometimes - we interrupt each other without intending to but it affects the flow of the conversation....it really did last time... I felt it.

 

3. What is our quorum?

 

4. How do we decide? Voting? In board meetings, we move for a decision, and someone seconds it. I mean it doesn't have to be too formal... we can decide on how it should be.

 

5. Approval of agenda by everyone before the meeting

 

6. Creating a safe space for each other to speak

 

 

 

 

Ok, I think that's all for now... Just my thoughts... 

 

Would love to hear from you.

:-)  

 

Have a blessed weekend!

 

Sarah

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sarah Queblatin

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[Russell Maier]

I am really happy to hear you are doing better Sarah! 

Team, Sarah's had a fever all week everybody.  :-(  She's still got a cough-- so let's send her some good vibes for her recovery.  There's lots of rain and wetness here in the Philipines right now so keeping away from colds is a challenge.

Sarah, thank YOU for sending us your good vibes with your Principles insight!

Your insights and suggestions are so valuable-- especially as we navigate new territory and ideas that we are passionate about.

Your procedural principle suggestions are so important.  I would like to comment on them here-- if everyone else comments we can probably come up with some basic Procedural principles to guide us in the next meeting.

1. Round Robin of Roles - Does it only have to be me and yorlene to switch in the documentation job? Can we also have a roundrobin of roles in charing, coordinating, blessings, etc?

Great point Sarah.  There is definite benefit to switching around.  There is also benefit to keeping our roles-- we are getting good at them.  Some people are good typers ( and I can’t take notes on my iPhone).  However, that considered, I would be totally open to rotating.  These would be the roles to rotate through as I see it:

1. Technical Organizer, Call generator

2. Chair

3. Secretary

4. Begining Blessing

5. Ending Blessing

6.  (feels like there should be a sixth!)  Harmonizer?

2. Guidelines in listening, sharing, speaking, commenting. I feel sometimes - we interrupt each other without intending to but it affects the flow of the conversation....it really did last time... I felt it.

Great point.  Do you guys like the Talking Circle concept that I introduced a while ago?  At the bottom of the agenda there is a list of our names.  We can use this as the order of speaking.  For each discussion we can do a round on this order.  We can end our speaking by saying “Harmony”.  The other person then knows it is their turn.  They can just say “Pass. Harmony”  if they wish.  The Chair won’t have to intervene then and it can go smooth and fast.

3. What is our quorum?
4. How do we decide? Voting? In board meetings, we move for a decision, and someone seconds it. I mean it doesn't have to be too formal... we can decide on how it should be.

The Quakers make all their decisions only with full unanimous accord.  I feel this is a very evolved and Oneness way to proceed.  However, having 5/6 would also be good.  That way Quorom could be 5/6 too.

5. Approval of agenda by everyone before the meeting

Great point.  I will add that to the Agenda template we have evolved.  It can be part of the ritual our meetings are evolving into.

6. Creating a safe space for each other to speak

Yes.  If we endorse the Talking Circle concept, this will help much.  But that is just technical... we need to evolve our principles to truly address this.  Perhaps, we can add a link to the top of each meeting agenda that links to our principles doc.  It can read “This meeting is guided by our shared principles of co-creative Oneness”

What does everyone else think?

Russell

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Russell Maier  |  Artist

Currently:  Sagada, Philippines
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1journey Blog:  www.russs.net
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[Dan Millstein]

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Love & Light, Dan

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[John G Edwards]

it already is 4mine ;-)

peace,

John
^o^

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[John G Edwards]

Greetings and Blessings all:

could I propose that before we get into procedural details, we agree that it's probably not a wise thing to show up for our weekly meeting after having had "one too many"... by the end I was finishing my 3rd beer, just to try to "catch up" :p not the best policy either, sry.

I propose we have a wide open platform in this week's meeting to welcome Catalina in if she decides to stay and to deal with whatever has seemed to try to shake up our peaceful unity this week... communication is the key, and until we can achieve that Oneness amongst ourselves, it's pointless to try to present it to the world... so let's work it out.

re: record-keeping... I'm not the best typist so I'd be glad to share that responsibility perhaps :p

I mentioned to Russ recently tho, that5 we each have our natural gifts to contribute... and, similarly, there's some things each of us are not good at... could we somehow trust that each of us are expressing ourselves fully to the best of our ability... ? my gifts here are vision, presentation, and encouragement... obviously some things I'm working on right now... I don't have much patience for the note taking and procedural process... this reminds me of the bureaucratic system we are growing beyond, in my belief. ideally, we would be uniformly equal in voice/presence, yet allow each to express and develop their own gifts uniquely, as the individual they are, in meetings and out.

Namaste'

J ^o^

[Russell Maier]

John,

Thanks for raising these issues on the meeting process!  Wow... Good comments.  Note that at the bottom of the principles play doc Sarah and I have added the Procedural Principles.  Please comment and add your thoughts here on how the meetings should be run!

We have big goals, a big vision and to make it happen requires things like meeting agendas and taking notes.  It requires keeping our focus on our intention.  Building a mandala of tens of thousands of people in a year means we're going to require systems, rituals, accounting, spreadsheets, financial statements and even a whole new way of beauracracy.  

I feel that Yorlene and Sarah's work keeping notes for the last two months has been really really valuable.  This has helped keep things on track.  Keeping to an agenda is also absolutely essential.  I learned this from Helen and the way she smoothly runs her HT meetings.

We've got lots going on all over the place and we need to systematically keep everyone up to date.  Yorlene won't be able to make this meeting so the note taking will help her and honours her place in the group.  The agenda has allowed her to already comment on the things we will be discussing.

We can have an open discussion about something-- but we really must put it after all the other items we missed last week.

What do you think we should be discussing exactly?  You wish to discuss the intention statement yes?  So please introduce the discussion to us and what you propose!  We can add it to the agenda!

I agree it is first and foremost important to have our core team jivving well together as a cocreative unit of 3/3.  And we do!  Catalina is in board and Yorlene has already submitted her reactions to the agenda!  And, I feel that the group harmony actually comes by having a smooth, principled and orderly meeting where we get lots done and have fun in between.  The last meeting where we detracted from a principled, orderly discussion wasn't so fun.  :-(

There's also the big need for orderly discussion and an agenda because of the delays and impossibility of talking over each other on Skype.

What do you think of Sarah's proposed procedural principles for our meetings?  This is so important I am seeing now.

Ok... Thanks John!

Russell

.   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .

Russell Maier  |  Artist

Currently:  Sagada, Philippines

Cell:  +63.9994558472

1journey Blog:  www.russs.net

Project: www.1mandala.org

Skype: russs95