I just read that a "process observer" watches over the UUA board and board committee meetings to make sure (among other things) that the meeting is anti-oppressive.
Wow, having somebody watching you at all times to make sure Iyoudont make a slip isn't oppressive?
- well ok, this is possibly a minor form of oppression.
And yes, I know that if everyone on the board joyfully and gratefully agrees to being monitored, then it can't be oppression.
And there may be a good reason for the Board not to trust itself to behave. No, no -Seriously!
But it sure does make for a good opportunity to be snarky, doesn't it?.
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I don't think it's about making sure the board doesn't say oppressive things, but about holding the board accountable for what it says it wants to be (anti oppressive, inclusive, etc.)
I didn't know that that's what the Process Observer does at UUA Board meetings.
I'm on a couple of boards that have process observers and their function is to make sure we don't veer too far off the agenda or stay in one place on that agenda so long that we begin to repeat ourselves.
But it seems, as usual, the UUA has to be different. :-)
Is there room for the process observer in your meetings to call attention to things like power dynamics - so that everyone's voice there is actually heard? So that some people don't come to dominate, while others withdraw? I've been in a lot of committees and spent at least eight years on boards - and we could have used more than admonitions to stay on topic.
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