If you have wanted to practice Catalytic Thinking with others, focusing on real issues (not theory), this is the opportunity for you – volunteering as a documentarian for Creating the Future’s board meetings!
Our board uses Catalytic Thinking to explore every issue that arises. That keeps our actions aligned with our values, and allows us to explore new ways to look at what it means to lead and govern.
This year, in addition to other topics, the board will be devising a strategy and process for hiring / contracting, to prepare for adding new folks to our team in the year ahead.
What could our hiring process make possible, if it is created using Catalytic Thinking? What might it mean for equity and inclusion when the very first question of Catalytic Thinking is about just that – inclusion? That is just some of what we will be exploring during our meetings this year.
The job itself is simple, because Catalytic Thinking guides all our conversations.
- Attend our monthly board meeting (2 hours long) or listen to the recording.
- Document the questions the facilitator asks, and the answers people provide (approximately 1-2 hours to clean up your notes)
- That’s it! You can see a sample of what that looks like at this link. And if you are curious about what our discussions feel like, this category link lets you scroll through all our board meetings.
Documenting our meetings is an important component of being open. For folks who were at the meeting, the document is a recap, a source of reflection. For folks who were not able to be at the meeting, they have the choice to watch the video recording, or to review the summary you will craft. And for people who are coming into a multi-meeting topic midstream, your summary will help them prepare for the upcoming meeting, by reviewing the notes from the prior meeting.
We are therefore seeking a small team of people to help record our proceedings, transforming mere “notes and minutes” into opportunities for engagement, participation, teaching and learning.
So…
• If you are curious about exploring Catalytic Thinking more deeply…
• If you want to learn by immersing yourself in an ongoing practice with real life situations…
• If you are excited at the thought of helping Creating the Future remain deeply and authentically engaged as part of the world (vs. an organization surrounded by walls), encouraging those who are affected by our work to be the ones to shape it…
• If you relish the opportunity to help design the evolving job description for this critical role…
• If you want to be part of a community of Catalytic Thinking practitioners …
• If you want to be surrounded by people who find as much joy in exploring the ins and outs of leadership and change-making as you do – and who are excited to teach you what we have been learning in our explorations to date…
• And most importantly, if you like to laugh (because our meetings may be serious work, but they are also fun )…
Then this may be the volunteer position of your dreams! Just click on this link, and let us know a bit about you. What excites you about this opportunity? Why is this intriguing to you?
And one more thing – if there is anything we either left out that should be in this post, or questions we haven’t answered, let us know. This is a work in progress, and we’re looking forward to all of us figuring this out together.
Additional Information
All our board and strategy meetings happen live online via Zoom. We take open participation seriously, inviting anyone, anywhere, to not only watch but participate, asking questions, sharing thoughts and ideas. People participate via Twitter, via blog comments, or right inside the meeting with us. You can see more about the reasoning behind that openness here. You can get a feel for the meetings themselves at this category link for Open Meetings.
We look forward to getting to know you!