Seriousplaypro Community Governance

The Seriousplaypro Community Governance Task Force made a draft proposal for a governance structure and decision-making process (one might consider this to be a “Constitution”) that was amended and adopted at the meeting in Paris on 28th January 2011. The decision was taken to move forward with the implementation of this governance system for as long as it seems appropriate and that the system or constitution may be developed as needs demand.

Members of the Seriousplaypro.com community who are interested in becoming involved in the community’s ongoing construction are invited to do so from now on, in a first instance, by leaving a comment to that effect at the bottom of this page.

Intent

To ensure a division of roles and responsibilities that allows a largely self-organising, healthy and vibrant community to function at an optimal level.

Key activities will be split between teams. Members of these teams are elected (at an annual event or in a virtual election process).

Finally, activities between these teams will be coordinated by the community Forum, which includes all the members of the teams, and is led by the “Forum Chair”.

Members are elected for two years; half the team are up for election every year. As the community evolves a constraint may be imposed on length of tenure. For example, members may be permitted to serve two consecutive periods in the same team, after which they may continue on another team (if elected, obviously). Thus, as a minimum, a two-year “break” would be observed between being a member of a given team for two periods of two years and a return to that team. Another limit may be the restriction of only only being a member of one team at a given point in time.

For the time being, no such constraints will be imposed on the Governance teams.

Structure/teams

Infrastructure: Website maintenance

What: This team keeps the site up to date with information and events and highlights community members’ contributions, proactively posts articles of interest, refers to other blogs or books.

Why: The more information that the website holds, the more attractive it will be to others. The more new information that is posted, the higher the site moves up in Google searches

Who: Any community members who are signed up on the seriousplaypro.com web site. In the future it may be pertinent to limit the number of members, but for the time being there will be no limit. Click here to join the Infrastructure and Website maintenance team.

Community marketing/external communications

What: A team that welcomes all new members to the site with a “hello” email. Also keeps out people trying to spam or scam. This team manages and builds relationships with external stakeholders and interested parties through responses to questions and by posing questions. This team is also the team that helps set the standard, and guards our code of conduct

Why: It is essential that there is a lively dialogue, and that the code of conducted is not only “observed” but actively alive (ref the elephants, the circle of people, and the “we always meet twice” elements from the Vision model)

Who: Any community members who are signed up on the seriousplaypro.com web site. In the future it may be pertinent to limit the number of members, but for the time being there will be no limit. Click here to join the External Communications team.

Events / internal communications

What: Create live events such as the kick-off meeting in Lausanne, and other face-to-face meetings and conferences. This team manages and builds relationships with members through responses to questions and by posing questions. The team may create webinars and other types of conference call events on topics of interest. The team may invite guest speakers to do seminars or talks. It may organise virtual “show days” for members to showcase their skills and expertise

Why: To build the members competences (the bridges in the mission model from Lausanne)

Who: Any community members who are signed up on the seriousplaypro.com web site. In the future it may be pertinent to limit the number of members, but for the time being there will be no limit. Click here to join the Internal Communications and Events team.

What: The Forum is the driving force of the community and the place where strategic decisions are made and where major projects are initiated. The Forum provides and ongoing operational role by coordinating activities between the three teams. Coordination may happen virtually. The Forum team may take on a rather loose structure. This team may also take upon it self to act as a “formal” liaison role in relation to LEGO. It is also this team that may suggest that new teams are introduced as part of the community structure. Such a proposal has to be approved by a majority of the community members.

Why: Help to keep the teams’ work aligned with a shared agenda, and for them to share ideas. The liaison role would be in order that the community is kept abreast of developments within LEGO, and possibly that insights from the community is fed into LEGO.

Who: Members from the above teams. The Forum elects a Chair, this person can hold the role for a year. It is possibly to be re-elected twice, after which a break of at least one year has to be observed.

Decision making in teams

A qualified majority makes decisions. If a team is split evenly, the Forum can be solicited to vote on the question.

Code of Conduct

We are a self-organising, learning network; consequently all interactions are based on trust. We will harness trust by:

Making knowledge accessible to everybody

Operating in internal honesty and transparency (integrity)

Respecting our elders and peers

Being courteous with our fellow members

When entering a dialogue, whether virtually or ”in person” we will observe the world café etiquette:

• Contribute your Thinking
• Focus on what really matters to you
• Speak with your Mind AND your Heart
• Listen to Understand
• Listen Together for patterns, insights and deeper connections
• Link and Collect Ideas
• Slow down so you have time to think and reflect
• Say something only if you have something to say
• Be ready to help your fellow community members