Creating the Future's February board meeting will happen right here on Monday, Febraury 10th at 1pm ET. Scroll to the bottom of this post to watch it live. To share your ideas, questions, and observations, tweet to the hashtag #CTFuture.
For the past several meetings, Creating the Future's board has been focused on the 'backstory" to our bylaws. If a group doesn't know what it wants bylaws to make possible, or have some of the foundational pieces in place regarding the role of the board within the organization, how can their bylaws be anything but boilerplate? How can those bylaws then guide the group when the going gets tough? How can they be touchstones for what effective governance and leadership will look like in action for that group?
At our November meeting, the board talked about the potential for bylaws to be the “operations manual” for the board – a living document that tells the story of how the board functions, making explicit what is often assumed.
At our December meeting, the board considered the question "What is the board accountable for?" Their list of expectations is stunningly more human than the expectations boards are commonly taught to hold dear.
Then in January, the board focused on the other half of the accountability question: "Accountable to whom?" By acknowledging that the board is accountable to anyone with whom the organization is in relationship, the following "To whom's" became clear – to include but not limited to…
• Each other
• Those we advise / users / direct participants in programs
• People who are actively participating in furthering our mission (Fellows, demonstration partners, donors, volunteers)
• The lives all those participants touch
• Whole communities
• Other boards
• IRS
• Future "whoms" – those yet to come
In other words, the board – and the organization as a whole – is accountable to those individuals who are committed to and participating in advancing the mission, as well as the people whose lives are touched by those participating individuals.
The board then asked, "What will it take to hold ourselves accountable to all those people?" The answer was singular and clear: Walk the talk of the vision and values at the core of our work. Specifically, we want our bylaws to help the board commit to the following:
- to walk the talk of our values and vision.
- to show up / be present in whatever way we each commit to participating.
- to being a learning organization and applying what we learn to our own work, including these bylaws.
- to deep engagement with our participants and partners, providing as many opportunities as possible to engage.
- to having internal controls, to ensure legal compliance.
Now we are ready, at our February meeting, to have the rubber meet the road. We will be considering the organization's bylaws, section by section, in light of the talk we intend to walk, in light of the expectations we listed for ourselves during the December meeting, and in light of the commitments (above) that we want to uphold.
If you always thought bylaws discussion was the time to head to the little boys/girls room, you will want to be sure to be present for this discussion, where we bring each section to life by infusing it with the essence of how we want to be with each other.
To help you follow along, there two documents will be helpful:
• Our current boilerplate bylaws.
• The statement of our Values in Action.
We hope to see you right here at 1pm ET on Monday February 10th!
Please note: The video will not appear until the meeting begins. If it's 1pm or a few minutes after, and there is no video, please wait for it – we may just be starting a few minutes late. As always, to share your ideas, observations and questions, tweet to the hashtag #CTFuture.
Listen to the Audio Only:
or Download the MP3
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