GB Concept VI. On behalf of A.A., in Great Britain, our General Service Conference has the principal responsibility for the maintenance of our services, and it traditionally has the final decision respecting large matters of general policy and finance. But the Conference also recognises that the chief initiative and the active responsibility in most of these matters should be exercised primarily by the Trustee members of the Conference when they act among themselves as the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous (Great Britain).
World Service Long Form VI. On behalf of A.A. as a whole, our General Service Conference has the principal responsibility for the maintenance of our world services, and it traditionally has the final decision respecting large matters of general policy and finance. But the Conference also recognizes that the chief initiative and the active responsibility in most of these matters should be exercised primarily by the Trustee members of the Conference when they act among themselves as the General Service Board of Alcoholics Anonymous.
World Service Short Form VI. The Conference recognizes that the chief initiative and active responsibility in most world service matters should be exercised by the trustee members of the Conference acting as the General Service Board.
Application in AA
- The purpose of Conference
- To be responsible for the maintenance of world services
- ... through the remainder of the service structure ...
- ... below the level of Conference
- This is effected through:
- Final decision
- ... on large matters ...
- ... of general policy and finance
- The Board then implements through:
- Chief initiative
- Active responsibility
- The frequency with which bodies meet matches the level of their activity
- The three levels of activity are:
- Decide, Plan, and Execute
- Decide ('final decision'):
- Conference meets infrequently ...
- ... so has time only for large matters of general policy and finance
- Plan ('chief initiative'):
- The Board meets regularly ...
- ... so has time for planning and administration of these large matters of general policy and finance
- Execute ('active responsibility'):
- The subcommittees and service corporations are continually or continuously active ...
- ... so have time for implementation
- Why is Conference restricted to final decisions on large matters of general policy and finance?
- It meets infrequently
- It meets only for three days
- Its information is often somewhat out of date
- The amount of information to process would be prohibitively great were it to have to deal with small matters, too
- Most Delegates are not Board Members or staff
- ... so are not familiar with the many details of practical implementation
- ... and are not familiar with the advice of the many advising professionals
- There is a natural cap on the number of questions that can be resolved
- There is a natural cap on the number of decisions that can be made because the process is cumbersome
- Decisions are made only once a year, so there is no ability to respond to situations as they arise
- It has no executive structure itself to implement decisions
- The Board is part of Conference
- In line with Concept IV, those to whom work is delegated take part in the decision-making of the delegating authority
- This matches authority with responsibility more effectively In line with Concept X
- Chief initiative
- Survey the situation
- Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
- Devise plans
- Proceed to implement them promptly
- Active responsibility
- If there is an action, take it
- If the ball is in someone else's court, follow up
- Monitor the process
- Adjust in real time
- Assess the results
- Report back to Conference
- The buck stop with the Board at the material level
- The mirroring of the structure at group level
- Group consciences
- These are held infrequently
- Everyone participates
- They are for the purposes of decisions on large matters of general policy and finance
- Business meetings
- These are held frequently
- Only executive officers participate
- They are for the purposes of planning and administration
Ideas in life:
- Concept VI provides more details of the general principle of Concepts I and II
- Whilst final responsibility and ultimate authority reside with God, manifesting as universal consciousness (the Fellowship: 'spirit') ...
- ... the active voice and effective conscience operate through the individual consciousness (the Conference: 'mind')
- God's will is expressed at the level of decisions on large matters of general policy and finance: at mind level
- Policy can be likened to 'what God wants me to do in the world'
- Finance can be likened to 'how God wants me to use the resources I have been given'
- I participate at three levels:
- Concept I—spirit—universal consciousness—dissolving into the greater whole
- Concepts II/VI—mind—individual consciousness—accessing the universal consciousness—making decisions
- Concept VI and onwards—body—implementation of decisions at the material level (planning, administration, and execution)
- Where my responsibility (as the 'Board') starts and stops
- I have to take action
- The bucks stops with me in terms of my actions ...
- ... but I am not directly responsible for outcomes
- But I am acting on behalf of Conference (mind)
- Conference (mind, individual consciousness) is acting on behalf of the Fellowship (spirit, universal consciousness)
- Final responsibility and ultimate authority reside two stages higher
- So I have no personal investment in the endeavour
- So there is no cause for tension or worry
- God will do for me what I cannot do for myself
- But God will not do for me what I can do for myself
- What I do as the 'Board'
- I have chief initiative
- What are my roles in life?
- With each of these roles:
- Survey the situation
- Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
- Devise plans
- I have active responsibility (see Concept III)