Mandates and Working Groups
Interacting Between Teams
Our 'SOS' structure is a series of circles (teams) within circles.circles (wider teams). Each circle contains the role of External Coordinator who attends the meeting of the wider circle. (and the EC of that circle will do the same, and in this way information is passed through the system.)
This applies to your Local Group External Coordinator (EC) attending Nation/Region meetings. But this also applies if you have a large local group and you want to create 'sub-circles' that feed in to your regular group meetings.
External Coordinators also feed FROM the wider circle back into your team.
Note: This should not be the sole interationinteraction 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 CoordinaterCoordinator should be able to find their contact details.
Mandates
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.
ADDLets PARTYsay EXAMPLEyour HEREgroup wants to organise a fundraising disco. You'll need someone (or a small team), to organise each element of the event. Different people can be given the responsibility to organise the venue, the food, the music, and the advertising.
Each of those people has an informal 'mandate' to make plans in their area- they don't need to check every decision with the rest of the group.
But sometimes these responsibilities overlap, and it's important that people communicate effectively with each other. For example, if the venue team arranged a venue that closed at 9pm, but the music team had booked a DJ from 7-11pm, there would be a tension between their decisions. That's why its important to communicate your actions with the rest of the team, and check there is no harm in them, even though you're not having to get permission to do everything (like you might have to in a more heirachical organisation).
Learn more
If you want to learn more about XR's Self-Organising System, then you can attend regular online training on this or request specific SOS training for Local Groups.
I THINK THE REST IS TOO MUCH, - should be in post - SOS training pages
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).