SoMBu 2023 Week 9

—

by

Andrew Grant
in ,

Language: Español

Broadcast on March 2, 2023

logo Sofa with name long scaled - - Sociocracy For All

In this broadcast:

  • Opening
  • New members
  • Circle reports
  • Member events
  • Training opportunities
  • Help wanted
  • SoMBu feedback

Welcome to our new members, especially if we don’t know each other! I’m always happy to see new names come up — it’s so special to me that others see the leverage point in governance for a better world and put their time and attention into it!

How could you share sociocracy with people around you? There are several options, depending on what you think they need. Here are some ideas!

  • For beginners; try our start page.
    I’m involved in an organization I’m excited about called Sociocracy For All. They promote better ways of making decisions together with a system called “sociocracy” — a way to include more voices and collaborate with more clarity and intention. They offer free info sessions once a month, have a look!

    → sociocracyforall.org/start-here
  • For people who might know a little bit about sociocracy; send them to SoLT!
    Here’s a great way to learn about sociocracy. The nonprofit Sociocracy For All that I’m a part of offers immersive training. It’s 9 weeks, 2.5h per week, and it’s basically like joining a sociocratic organization for a while so one can see what it’s like and how it works. There’s also training included in it. Much more fun to do it than just to read about it! See more info and dates here:

    → sociocracyforall.org/solt

As you know, SoFA is trying to get more resources into the organization, and training tickets are a big part of our income.

Ted handsign

 

New members

  • Ana Macedo Avelar (Brazil) SoTes
  • Lino Scelsi (Italy) Activism Circle
  • Neil Planchon (US) Intentional Communities Circle
  • Susan Hessel (US) Permaculture and Website circle
  • Sven Abrahamsson (Sweden) Swedish Circle

bem-vindo • benvenuto • welcome • välkommen
 

Circle reports

Mission Circle

The members of Mission Circle explored and clarified splitting Ted’s existing role into two roles, with the new one being a SoFA spokesperson role. They also began to organize an online retreat for the board and continued the conversation around the budget shortfall.

notes::mission circle

General Circle

The members of General Circle jumped into the role and budgetary issues, following several threads handed to them from Mission Circle. They confirmed the new shape of the Operational Leader role and did some brainstorming around the details of selecting someone for that role. This will likely be a big shift for SoFA!

Another big shift for SoFA is underway around the ongoing budgetary shortfall, and the members of this circle picked up the strategy session from the last meeting. The main result is new guidance from the circle for approaching the next budget cycle:

  • Focus on income-producing work (“the 20% we do that brings 80% of the income”).
  • Emphasize hours (in new or reassigned roles) for people already doing significant work for SoFA; that is, preserve the larger roles of people who have deep insight into SoFA and cluster smaller roles onto people who have big roles to create synergy.
  • Emphasize operations and operational meetings while working to reduce policy meetings to reduce overall meeting time. (For example, a circle might try meeting every 3 weeks instead of every 2 weeks).
  • Support members seeking sociocracy training income to complement their income from SoFA roles.

notes::general circle

Content Circle

Within this department, Outreach Circle has launched a new landing page!  They have also returned to the outreach campaign to refine it. Ted and Jerry continue to receive a lot of client work. Also, Social Media Circle has activated its TikTok campaign.

Elsewhere in this department, the Annual Conference is planned for May 4th & 5th: the program is set and “really awesome,” and the website is almost ready! Also, Web Content Publishing and Website Circles have restructured themselves so that Web Content Publishing is directly linked to Content Circle, which also allows Website Circle to operate in a more streamlined manner.

notes::content circle

SoFA Support Services Circle

Andrew Grant is wanting to pass along the SoMBu editor and broadcaster role. Please see the help wanted posting for more information about the role; information is included there about how to apply for the role if you know someone who might be well-suited to that work.

notes::support services circle

International Circle

Clarifying how to organize financially across national legal contexts continues to offer challenges, and David, Lea, and Jerry are working on a presentation for Mission Circle to address tensions between Financial Wellbeing Circle, International Circle, and SoPra. There is also an upcoming meeting with Web Content Publishing Circle to help clarify domains around performing web publishing work. The many language communities within this department continue their work in many ways, developing translations, training materials, and conferences. For example, SozFa (which connects with German-speaking practitioners) is considering a conference for the fall.

notes::international circle

 

Member events
 

Tech tool intro

March 30

Members of IT Circle, and in particular the Log Keeping team, are offering an introduction and training for SoFA’s IT tools.  We have scheduled this training event for Thursday, March 30, at 1300 UTC in our Helping Circle Zoom room, and we’ll send you more information about it soon.  This event is open to all members: we will review the full set of messaging and scheduling tools we use and offer support for anyone who wants to learn more about using these tools. To get involved, email [email protected].

 

Training opportunities

Spread the word!

MARCH

  • 02 — Free introduction: What is sociocracy?
  • 08 — Full class: Facilitating Group Decision Making
  • 15 — Free intro: Inclusive meetings
  • 16 — Free class: Building horizontal organizations
  • 29 — Full Class: Patterns and processes for inclusive meetings
  • 30 — Full class: Decentralizing decision-making with circles and roles

APRIL

  • 10 — Free intro: Deciding together
  • 24 — Full class: Facilitating Group Decision Making
  • 25 — Nonviolent Communication Introduction (3 sessions)
  • 27 — Free event: Horizontal accountability

Many sessions are free; all are sliding scale.

SoMBu broadcaster role

Help wanted

We are looking for a person to take the role of SoMBu broadcaster. The SoFA Member Bulletin (SoMBu) is our bi-weekly internal newsletter with important information for members. Responsibilities:

  • Collect information to draft the newsletter
  • Think of creative approaches to the newsletter
  • Send this broadcast to all SoFA members and publish it on the SoFA website
  • Connect with international circle leaders to localize the bulletin

This is a volunteer role that requires around 4 hours per month and knowledge of HTML. Training will be provided as needed. You would be part of SoFA’s support services circle that meets once a month, but as SoMBu broadcaster, you will only need to attend the report section of the meeting. (You could also become a full member if you prefer!)
 

SoMBu logo

About SoMBu

SoMBu is the bi-weekly SoFA member bulletin. Circle leaders and secretaries, let us hear from you! Submissions are due on the day General Circle meets: 3/14, 3/28, 4/11, 4/25 …

How is SoMBu working for you?

Contact: [email protected].

Andrew Grant, SoMBu broadcaster
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