I’m afraid this doesn’t really work for me. First of all because picnics, walks etc are in the domain of Team Community Life (and can also be organised by everybody). More importantly however, because the purpose of the Full Members meetings is emotional maintenance. The implied form is sitting together as a group and really making space for deep collective conversations. I’m including an exerpt of the governance reform below.
To be clear: I’m all for walks and picnics. I don’t think we can ever have enough of them, because they provide for really nice moments of connection. I have a very strong need for honesty, trust, appreciation and feedback though (which I also believe is important to the group’s functioning), so I would find it a pity if we would lose out on our six-weekly opportunity to sit together in a circle to talk about how everyone is doing. If I’m alone with this need, I’d be happy to go with whatever the group likes, but in that case I would prefer it to be the outcome of a collective decision.
Does that somehow make sense? Happy to exchange views of course!
For reference, an excerpt of the governance reform (Login – Nextcloud):
>> We use the Full Member dinners for appreciation, feedback and making space for whatever is difficult in that moment
We organise the Full Member dinners every 6 weeks (as it is now). If a dinner falls away, we schedule another one, so that we always have a moment for appreciation and feedback at least every 6 weeks.
We make enough time for emotional maintenance. This means doing sessions on appreciation, personal connection, feedback on things that are not going well or which are creating frustration, and making space for anything that needs to be said.
Reasoning:
See Lee’s post and Powerpoint on managing power and responsibility in a self-managed group: power-with is only possible when people are held accountable, and there is honest feedback given in an atmosphere of mutual trust.
The people who will take up a lot of responsibility need to be able to trust that feedback will be given, as soon as possible.
Making space for appreciation and frustration should ensure that as few things as possible disappear under the water line.
How to manage power and responsibility in a collaborative group