Proposed by The Ad hoc Committee for Service Structure*
Issue:
We move that the SMR Meeting group adopt a team approach generally for most fields of service.
Background:
In the course of our work reviewing service descriptions and structure we noticed…
Team Procedures and Structures Already in Place:
Website Administration
While the service description always mentioned one Webservant, in practice more than one person has updated the website. Last year there was a period of many months with the position being vacant, – finally, in August 2026 several travelers volunteered to learn how to maintain and update our website. Presently there are 3–5 (or more) volunteers working together with different levels of involvement. Brief informal reports have been given to the Business Meetings. – Further team development will depend on the group conscience regarding the team approach.
Service Coordination
The original ‘single servant’ description of the Service Secretary position was ratified on August 16, 2021, at an SMR business meeting. The revised ‘co-secretary’ model received formal endorsement on February 21, 2022 and has been utilized ever since for coordinating daily service needs such as chairpersons, roomhosts, techhosts and newcomer greeters. Additional volunteers have been instrumental in training sessions.
Also, a follow-up procedure to a previous proposal to verbally announce open service possibilities has been developed by the Service Structure Committee. That proposal had been voted in but there had been no thoughts on how to implement the issue. The Service Structure Committee decided to work on it, and for several months now the first week of the month has a dedicated place in the announcements. The results have been increased transparency to the participants of the meeting and a growing number of members volunteering for service and/or attending the Healthy Service Meetings. All of it adding to Service Coordination, with more details and guidelines to be developed.
Fellowship Activities
The recent Equinox Celebration started spontaneously with 4 members getting together to plan and schedule fellowship activities for the group. Two members decided to continue and bring an offer for a Solstice Celebration to the October Business Meeting. Group Conscience gave green light, organisation has started, – and it all may be the beginning of quarterly fellowship activities.
In our discussions and reflections we realized there are a lot of …
Potential Benefits of a Team Approach – a Few Examples:
Shared responsibility
Important functions such as the website, scheduling, finances, business meetings, and ACA World Service communication would be carried by several people rather than resting on one trusted servant. It is the hope that this will more likely prevent vacancies.
More fellowship through service
Teams can become another way for members to come out of isolation and develop relationships, practice cooperation, and experience ACA principles in action.
Encourages participation
Members may be more likely to say, “I can help with that,” when service is presented as joining a team rather than taking on an entire office.This approach also supports easier succession and rotation.
Developing a Team Approach that suits the needs of the Group and follows our Traditions will need a lot of further reflection, discussion and consideration. Establishing guidelines in alignment with Group Conscience will take time and volunteers willing to dedicate service to that process. Here our thoughts to start with:
Suggestions for Procedures and Practice:
Teams have responsibility for accomplishing assigned work. The Group Conscience holds responsibility for direction and policies of the team.
A team can be given considerable freedom to do the work – without being given authority to independently change the direction of the group.
An example how that might be developed – described for the Website Team:
- Based on the needs of the group, the current team has started to learn how to maintain the website, keep content current, install emails, improve existing areas, etc.
- Considering previous descriptions for service as WebServant, the Web Team would identify, describe and propose their purpose, policies and goals to the SMR membership for clarification and adoption.
- Volunteers giving service would identify their own level of involvement and area of focus. For example, tasks could be in the area of news, calendar, business or technical maintenance.
- The Team, ideally composed of 3–5 volunteers, or more, would work together to learn about website maintenance and to encourage participation, as needed.
- The team would report monthly to the Group Conscience (Business Meeting).
- The team would offer clarity and seek the group’s guidance when significant policy choices are needed.
A healthy team approach could be supported by exploring the following questions:
What exactly is the responsibility and the service provided for the group?
What authority does it have?
What does it need to bring to the Group Conscience / Business Meeting?
How does the team know when its work is finished, needs to change or needs direction from Group Conscience?
This proposal is a platform for a first discussion. We are curious about what you have to say and are looking forward to reading your comments, thoughts and ideas.
1The Service Structure Ad Hoc Committee was formed to review our meeting’s service structure for greater transparency and attraction, at the October 2025 Business Meeting. The core team volunteers are maelle, Macy, Jim R and Crissy (CC). In recent months they have met twice a month in a breakout room, after the SMR meeting, usually for about an hour. The team has decided to pause their work until January 2027. – The Committee Report from the October business meeting: https://www.acamorning.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/report-service-structure-BM-Oct.pdf
One thought on “A Team Approach to Service”
please simply move the biz meeting to happen during meeting and resume live voting? this meeting lacks rotation of service and creates so many hoops to get a motion on the boards, that rarely does a motion get voted on, unless proposed by a “committee or ad hoc”.
oy. end this online energy? please? it feels the founders of this group may need to allow the group back in the mix? is it safe? 🙂