Board / Community Meeting: November 2020

Creating the Future's
Board / Community Meeting:
Monday, November 9th, from 10am - 12pm Pacific time

Topic:
1) The board's role in ensuring the organization's integrity

Watch the meeting LIVE at this post.
Just scroll to the very bottom of the page.
Details about how to participate are below.

Note: if the meeting does not start on time please be patient as we may be running a few minutes late.

The words "be" and "do" on neon signsBeing an Integrity Board in Practice:
Much discussion led to our board's decision to focus on integrity, to ensure the organization is walking the talk of our values. The next step is to touch back to our values (an ongoing step, for sure), to determine what being an Integrity Board will mean in practice, and to begin recruiting people to be part of our board!

• If you are interested in new ways of thinking about boards and/or governance in social change organizations...
• If you would like your voice to be included in this discussion...
• If you want to watch and think things through quietly alongside us...

YOU are invited to join in*, in whatever way you feel comfortable (see the various ways you can participate below).

How to Prepare
First, read through the links in the paragraphs above.

Next, please let us know if you plan to attend by sending a note at this link. Per the "How to participate" section below, please let us know which of the 3 ways you would like to participate. 

This PDF graphic of the Catalytic Thinking Framework will give you an understanding of the flow of the conversation. We recommend printing it out or having it otherwise available during the meeting, to spark your thinking during the discussion. You can also follow along with the questions that guide Catalytic Thinking at this link

How to participate

If you have never been part of Creating the Future's work, all our strategy and board meetings are open and participatory, for anyone who wants to be part of the discussion. You can see more about that at this link.

Where we meet:

The board meeting will take place right here at this post. If the video does not appear precisely on time, please be patient – we are probably just running a few minutes late.

There are 3 ways you can participate in our meetings.

  • If your familiarity with and commitment to Creating the Future’s work - or your own experience with re-imagining organizational systems - is calling you to be actively involved in the meeting discussion side-by-side at our online “meeting table,” let us know, and we will send you an invitation to join us online.
  • If you want to participate but are unable to be in the meeting itself (perhaps you’re at work, or maybe at home with kids running around, etc.), watch the live-stream in real time and tweet your questions and ideas to us via the hashtag #CreatingTheFuture. We read those tweets aloud during the meeting, just as if you were there. This is a great first step for those who are not as familiar with our work, but want to get more involved.

(Please note: We will only see your tweets if you use the #CreatingTheFuture hashtag. In addition, during the meeting, we will not look at blog comments here at this post. While we will check those comments later, during the meeting we will only be following the #CreatingTheFuture hashtag in the Twitter stream.)

  • Lastly, if you want to simply watch, or you want to think about what you’re hearing and respond later – or if you will be watching the recording after the meeting happens – please add your thoughts into the comments here at this post. We will include that thinking into the mix of things.

We look forward to your being part of our discussion on Monday, November 9th! 

* All Creating the Future's board meetings are open for anyone to participate, or to watch afterwards. To learn more about the thinking behind this openness - and our experiences with being open - click here. 

Logistics: The meeting will happen right here at this post. Details are below.

Watch the meeting HERE on Monday
Note: if the meeting does not start on time please be patient as we may be running a few minutes late.

or, After the meeting - LISTEN TO THE MEETING HERE

Star Icon Blueor Download the MP3
(To download to your hard drive, right-click {or click and hold on a Mac} on the link above and select "Save Target As".. or "Save Link as"... depending on your browser)

4 thoughts on “Board / Community Meeting: November 2020”

  1. Hi I would be interested to be more involved, As a Montessori pedagogue and teaching in an accredited school I would be happy to learn more about inspiring the next generation.
    Kind regards
    Nikki Nightingale.

    Reply
  2. Although I was only a “fly on the wall,” I deeply enjoyed the conversation that occurred over the bylaws. I agree, wholeheartedly, that there should be a preamble to the entire document, AND a mini preamble to each section of the document. I also agree that we cannot state enough the systems that are operating are doing so at less than their ideal state. I believe that “isms” are grounded in the language we choose to use in our speech, but more in our documents that maintain lasting presence. Pushing away from the familiar “isms” can start by consciously choosing to use different words. Example: using the word “chair” instead of “chairman,” “chairwoman,” or “chairperson.” Another example is to identify that some words are unintentionally, but self-perpetuatingly, misused. Example: confusing “sex” with “gender;” the former being a descriptor of biological continuum, the later being a social construct pertaining to the establishment and sustaining of societal “roles.” I believe that we should mention “systemic racism” and “white supremacy” as overlapping but different aspects. I was reminded by a Latina colleague that “racism” happens in non-white cultures as well. This is true of “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusivity.” Each has different value connotations. Thank you for the great conversation.

    Reply
  3. … addendum.

    I am a person with disabilities. I am not a “disabled person.” Describing me as “having” a disability is very different from inadvertently describing me as the disability. We do make this distinction.

    Thanks.

    Reply
    • Thanks so much for your great comments! The change has been made to the draft to say “people with disabilities.” I hope you will also provide feedback on the revised draft we discussed when it is posted on the blog (and join us for future meetings).

      Reply

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