Mandates and Working Groups
Interacting Between Teams
AsOur you can see, our'SOS' structure is a series of circles within circles. Each circle contains the role of External Coordinator who attends the meeting of the wider circle. So your External Coordinator (EC) will be feeding the progress your team is making into the wider circle, and the EC of that circle will do the same, and in this way information is passed through the system.
External Coordinators also feed from the wider circle back into your team so you can understand how your work fits into the teams close by.
Note: This should not be the sole interation between teams. It is recommended if you are working on something that overlaps or sits close to a team many circles from you, that you reach out to them directly. Your External Coordinater should be able to find their contact details.
Mandates
While exploring the Organism you will be able to see the purpose and accountabilities of each team and role in the system. These are part of what makes up the Mandate of that role or team.
We use mandates to distribute power through the movement. They help us manage without managers, and make our organisation transparent and accessible, with no mysterious 'black boxes'.
Simply put, a mandate outlines your purpose within the system, what is expected of you and what you are responsible for. It is typically split into the following:
- Purpose Statement - Why does this Role/Circle exist, what is it for?
- Accountabilities - What will this Role/Circle do, what can I expect of them?
- Domain - What does this Role/Circle control, what do I need to ask them before I do?
Mandates are never set in stone; they are as dynamic as we need them to be. When you pick up a role in XR, you will likely be given a mandate with it. You can (and probably should) make this your own, either by handing back accountabilities that you don't feel you can meet, or by adding things that you think you can do to help.
To change a mandate, the desired change simply needs to be brought as a proposal to the meeting in which that role or circle sits. For example, if my role were to schedule trainings in the South West and I also wanted to do the scheduling for the Heading for Extinction talk, then I would propose that change in the SW Talks & Trainings meeting.
As part of its constitution XR UK requires that, "At a minimum, each circle must elect an Internal Coordinator, to be responsible for the healthy functioning of the circle, and an External Coordinator, responsible for liaising with the next broadest circle. The mandates for these roles can be found in Working Group Core Roles, along with other suggested roles that may be useful."
Want to know more? See Mandates in more detail (and how to write them).