mmmh, I'm wondering, if we are coming to a pretty fundamental fork in the road?
What is the spirit of CLUG? If I understand several comments from the "long timers" correctly, it seems that over the last little while we (CLUG) lost a bit of a good thing that was going on in earlier days, and I'm hearing a desire to get that back: A higher degree of interactivity; less client/server style meetings, more P2P meetings :)
However, there was a more fundamental question arising when the discussion got a bit more heated, which struck me as a question of leadership models:
What is the self-image of the executive? What is the membership's expectation of the executive? There are various valid leadership models of what a successful executive is. I would dare to submit however, that success will only be there, when the self-image of the executive is highly and intuitively aligned with the expectations of the membership.
Allow me to elaborate what I mean by differing leadership models:
* "the executive as government". This model implies, that the executive is expected to "rule", and make decisions they feel are the correct one's. In this type of "rulership" model, the executive decides when to seek input, from whom to seek input, and what part of the input to accept and reject. In addition this kind of executive appoints other "sub-rulers". In this model the "rulers" carry all of the responsibility and the membership at large being "the population" pretty much don't have to worry about much responsibility, but they don't have any power, other than the power to leave. In a "democratic government" model, the rulers get chosen for a specific period of time, and the population either keeps the rulers or replaces them with other rulers, depending on the sentiments of the (remaining) population. We all know this model pretty well, since it is how most of our governments work.
* "the executive as facilitators" In this model, the executive does not wield responsibility or power over most actual decisions, but they "facilitate the process" of arriving at decisions by the population at large. In this model each significant decision is referred to the population via a plebiscite, referendum.or whatever you want to call it. In this model, the executive would not say, that they are making a decision nor that they are responsible for the quality of the decision or much of the work. In this model the executive would say that the membership makes the decisions and is responsible. It is more of a volunteer model than a government model. It spreads out the responsibility and the work much wider than in the "government model".
There are other leadership models based on concepts like kings, queens, dictators, owners, experts, patriarchs, and of course "anarchy" but they probably apply less to the CLUG situation.
For example, these comments in some of the other threads suggested a "government model": to me (i.e. executives feel that they are charged with making decisions and are expected to carry the responsibility)
<quote>Currently the Executive are in the process of deciding on whether to break off and meet in smaller groups</quote>
<quote>We will announce our decision on this matter soon.</quote>
<quote> ultimately the "Board" will be the ones who will be footed with the responsibility of handling the meetings and making things run smoothly.</quote>
On the other hand, much of the discussion was initiated by, and enthusiastically carried by "the population", suggesting, that at least some of the members had an intuitive expectation that this was not a "decision for the government to make".nor that the government was responsible for the quality of the decision, but the membership at large would be responsible for the decision and the ongoing success of that decision.
So in my mind, this is less an issue of flame wars or personality clashes, but a somewhat philosophical question of the leadership model for CLUG. It might not be a bad idea to sort that out first.
The answer to the leadership model should make it clear how future CLUG meeting formats should be selected, and how CLUG decisions get made in the future. And the leadership model will influence quite a bit, what kind of members CLUG will attract and keep.
Choices, choices ... :)
Awaiting with baited breath how this will play itself out,
...Niels
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