How we work together


This page is being overseen by the Community Conflict Transformation Group

 

"Who are these people? Who elected them?

And how do I replace them with some of my friends?

Can you hear us? Are you listening?

No power without accountability!"

(NPWA lyrics by Billy Bragg)

 


 

 

Guidelines for how we work together (- a statement of the 'power-with' preference in our decision making process)

 

  1. We ask for a standard of participation that is upheld by all who serve as trustees to a charity. The primary responsibilities of trustees are as set out by the Charity Commission: “Trustees have and must accept ultimate responsibility for directing the affairs of a charity, and ensuring that it is solvent, well-run, and delivering the charitable outcomes for the benefit of the public for which it has been set up.” The charity commission emphasises the duty of prudence, the duty of care and the importance of compliance with (charity) law and with the charity's constitution.

 

  1. The purpose of meetings is for participants to take collective responsibility to make appropriate decisions that move us forward in line with our aims.

 

  1. Each participant is responsible for working with each other and with the meeting's chair with maximum efficiency in the use of meeting time, taking into account our key values of mutual respect. This involves understanding each other and a strong recommendation that only one person talks at a time.

     

  2. If anyone doubts that any communication has been understood (message sent has been message received), they have the right to ask for demonstration of understanding of what has been 'said' from whoever they think will be most useful (for mutual understanding).

 

  1. The meeting's chair holds the main responsibility to plan for meetings. The meeting's chair will ensure so far as possible that the agenda contains:

 

  1. In order to support the meeting's chair in prioritising the meeting more effectively, it is strongly requested that meeting participants' initial support or objection to the agenda proposals be received prior to the meeting by their marking the agenda on line with (Support/Unclear/Object & Initials). At the meeting, once everyone has had the opportunity to indicate a quick reaction to any proposal on the table, the proposer will have the opportunity to amend the proposal. The meeting's chair will check if anyone has any principled objections to the proposal and will seek a consensus decision, whilst reserving the right to move forwards on the basis of a majority decision.

 

  1. Where the decision is made to move forwards on the basis of a majority (rather than a consensus) decision, the dissenting minority will be encouraged to articulate how they would change the proposal to be able to support it. Beyond this, the meeting's chair will seek to address any outstanding principled objections at a subsequent meeting or through ad hoc arrangements outside the meeting. In the event that a participant cannot accept the view of the majority, their minority view can be minuted. Meanwhile, meeting participants will be expected to treat majority decisions as organisational policy and enable the organisation's policy to be implemented. (The obvious exception to this is in relation to matters which they believe compromise their official responsibilities in relation to the organisation.)

 

  1. Diversity of views and opinions are welcomed, with the intention that through discussion a collective view will emerge that all can accept, or at least live with. At times it is very useful to go round the people in the meeting in turn so that everyone has the opportunity to make a (brief) comment. (This is often called a 'circle process')

 

  1. At any stage where the meeting is ready to delegate a task to an individual or group of individuals, this will be encouraged, and a clear reporting back structure enabled. Delegation will be to either one person, or three, or 5 etc, with a requirement that decisions be made by the delegated group without any abstentions. The same attempt to reach consensus is preferred to majority decision making in the delegated groups.

 

  1. The intention is that interactions between meeting participants will be conducted with respect for each other and our aims. Where participants have a sense of not having been respectfully listened to and this is a matter of importance to the person in this position, they have a responsibility to voice this concern, with the intention of meeting participants being that all such matters can be dealt with in positive and restorative ways to address the situation.

     

  2. The principles of a restorative approach to 'conflict' are that the priority is to restore connection, enable mutual understanding, clarify responsibility and support actions to be taken by participants in accord with values of mutual respect. We uphold these principles, aware that 'conflict' is an inevitable, and often can be seen to be a fruitful part of decision making and of sharing anything in life together.

 

 

 


 

Shared Project Aims

(-see front page for a slightly edited version)

 

[EJ: Maybe for each aim, have a general aim, then a more specific aim for the next 3/6 months]

 

First Aim

We are working to enable the sharing of resources and resourcefulness specifically by establishing in 2009 a website that enables people to find and lend items that otherwise would not have been so accessible to them. The working title of this website is freelender.org 

 

[EJ: Proposal - first sentence could probably do with some expansion]

We are working to enable the sharing of resources and resourcefulness, using both online and offline methods.

In 2009 we aim to establish a website that enables people to find and lend items that otherwise would not have been so accessible to them. The working title of this website is freelender.org.

In 2010 Q1 we aim to ...

 

Second Aim

We are seeking to work with others who share values of generosity and trust-building in sharing community resources; in 2009 to establish clarity with justfortheloveofit.org about our working relationship, and later (?) with other providers e.g. freecycle, freegle. 

[EJ: Have we established clarity with freeconomy; whatdoes such clarity look like?]

 

Third Aim

We are committed to establishing by 2010 ways for the work of freelender.org to be self-sustaining or amalgamated with an organisation that is self-sustaining. (We define self-sustaining in this context as meaning having the wherewithal to continue to develop and market the freelending work and respond individually to enquiries within 5 working days,)

 

Individual Vision & Mission Statements

People involved in Freelending CIC may support the above aims and work effectively together whilst having different value systems, personal visions and missions. One supporter of the above aims may have a personal vision of building the essentials of community - fellowship, security and meaningful participation in a totality greater than one's self and be engaged with freelender for that reason. Another supporter of these aims might simply want to borrow and lend rather than spend.

 

The values that we have identified as part of our individual missions

[EJ: I would prefer to remove or replace 'as part of our individual missions'. e.g.  'The shared values that we have identified include:' ]

 

 

(This section written with thanks to the CPS Ethical Constitution -CPS Website)

(We are also interested in finding a simple and effective set of guidelines for running sociocratic processes)

 

Levels of decision making

 

The Project Steering Group

 

This group oversees the Project Steering group (link to page of this name) page.

 

The members of the project steering group are:

We put proposals to each other (or will receive them from other levels of Freelending CIC) and reach decisions in relation to them on the basis of consent.

Others may be invited to join this group, e.g. from Freecycle UK.

  

Development groups

[EJ: Let's start by saying what a Development Group is!]

Anyone can set up an ad hoc group with aims. This newly formed group can then ask for a representative on the Freelending CIC Steering Group, and can ask for any other relevant development group to join in the ad hoc's groups proposal and decision making process.

The current list of development groups is:

  1. Networking and Campaigning group
  2. Marketing Group
  3. Website Development Group
  4. Community Conflict Transformation Group
  5. Staff Recruitment and Induction Group
  6. Fundraising Group

 

Consent decision making at each level

(More will be written here outlining the basics of formulating proposals, quick reactions to proposals, re-formulating proposals in the light of quick reactions and the choice to consent or withold consent from the proposal. Without consent the matter is referred to a higher level; with consent people are selected to enact the proposals.)

 

How to establish or join a working group within freelender

-see the section above on ad hoc groups then join the freelend yahoo group to propose the new group you'd like to establish or join.

 

Open Source Design

Further reading

Wikinomics - How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, Don Tapscott and Anthony D Williams, Penguin 2006

Rebel Code - Linux and the Open Source Revolution, Glyn Moody, Penguin 2001

 

Infotopia - How Many Minds Produce Knowledge, Cass R Sunstein, OUP 2006

The Future of Work, by Thomas W Malon]

 

Code of Conduct

The following code of conduct has been a the Ubuntu code of conduct:

 

[ Ubuntu is an African concept of 'humanity towards others'. It is 'the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity'. The same ideas are central to the way the Ubuntu community collaborates. Members of the Ubuntu community need to work together effectively, and this code of conduct lays down the "ground rules" for our cooperation.

We chose the name Ubuntu for our distribution because we think it captures perfectly the spirit of the sharing and cooperation that is at the heart of the open source movement.

 

In the Free Software world, we collaborate freely on a volunteer basis to build software for everyone's benefit. We improve on the work of others, which we have been given freely, and then share our improvements on the same basis.

That collaboration depends on good relationships between developers. To this end, we've agreed on the following code of conduct to help define the ways that we think collaboration and cooperation should work. ]

 

Ground rules

 

Be considerate.

Your work will be used by other people, and you in turn will depend on the work of others. Any decision you take will affect users and colleagues, and we expect you to take those consequences into account when making decisions.

Be respectful.

The freelending community and its members treat one another with respect. Everyone can make a valuable contribution to the community. We may not always agree, but disagreement is no excuse for poor behaviour and poor manners. We might all experience some frustration now and then, but we cannot allow that frustration to turn into a personal attack. It's important to remember that a community where people feel uncomfortable or threatened is not a productive one. We expect members of the community to be respectful when dealing with other contributors as well as with people outside the project.

Be collaborative.

freelending is about collaboration and working together. Collaboration reduces redundancy of work done in the Free Software world, and improves the quality of the software produced.  If you wish to work on new code, at least keep your  colleagues informed of your ideas and progress. It may not be possible to get consensus from your colleagues about the correct implementation of an idea, so don't feel obliged to have that agreement before you begin, but at least keep the outside world informed of your work, and publish your work in a way that allows others to test, discuss and contribute to your efforts.

When you disagree, consult others.

Disagreements, both political and technical, happen all the time and the freelending community is no exception. The important goal is not to avoid disagreements or differing views but to resolve them constructively. You should turn to the community and to the community process to seek advice and to resolve disagreements. We have the freelending yahoo group for consultation and advice. There are also several Project Teams and Team Leaders, who may be able to help you figure out which direction will be most acceptable.

When you are unsure, ask for help.

Nobody knows everything, and nobody is expected to be perfect in the freelending community. Asking questions avoids many problems down the road, and so questions are encouraged. Those who are asked should be responsive and helpful. However, when asking a question, care must be taken to do so in an appropriate forum. Off-topic questions, detract from productive discussion.

Step down considerately.

When you leave or disengage from the project, in whole or in part, we ask that you do so in a way that minimises disruption to the project. This means you should tell people you are leaving and take the proper steps to ensure that others can pick up where you leave off.

 

Self responsibility and parting

We are likely to make additional requests which we will ask you to respond to if you begin to work with us and then leave.

We will respect your choice to leave and try to learn what we can from the time we've spent together working towards shared aims.