The Mandate System
Exploring the system that brings a complex organisation like Buddhafield together.
Buddhafield comprises five distinct legal entities, 30 part-time employees, over a thousand volunteers, approximately 30 teams, at least a dozen events annually, and elements of practice, work, play, and community. So, how does it manage all of that and make it work, incorporating legalities, decision-making, budgets, challenges, and a move away from mainstream top-down power structures? Welcome to the mandate system... explore the following pages to get a glimpse of the answer.
Mandate System Introduction
The ‘mandate system’ is the way we organise teams and distribute power and decision-making authority at Buddhafield.
If someone holds a ‘mandate’ at Buddhafield, it means they have the power and authority to make certain decisions in a particular area on behalf of Buddhafield. It also means they’re responsible for looking after a particular area of work.
Legally speaking, all decisions are taken on behalf of the Trustees. But the trustees delegate authority to certain individuals (’mandate holders’) to take care of certain areas of work.
Why we like it
The Mandate system could be seen as a middle way between traditional hierarchy and a free for all! It’s a way to share power, which is hopefully more efficient and clear than full consensus. It is deeply collaborative and it also requires a letting go and trusting of others. An image could be of overlapping mandalas or a mycelium network of distributed nodes of power.
What are the benefits?
- A good way for people to get involved gradually, rather than an 'all or nothing' situation where new people get loaded up with maximum responsibility.
- Clarity that one is being trusted to take certain decisions could be empowering.
- Allows involvement of more people within a structure.
- Should ensure people are less isolated in their roles. Everyone has a resource group or circle.
- Allows transparency and accountability: a way for everyone to see more of what others are doing and whether aims are being achieved.
- Allows the possibility of people giving input, without blocking decision-making.
- Allows more speed and flexibility in decision-making in a situation where people are geographically separate. Not 'waiting on the team retreat meetings' to decide things.
- Clarity about who to speak to, who buck stops with.
- Part of a mandate is to have an eye for succession, be planning for that, so could support capacity building and growth
- More small, effective meetings as opposed to large, vague and ineffective ones, where it's not clear what the decision-making process is.
What is a mandate holder’s job?
All mandates should have a clear, written remit defining their role, composition and scope of authority. These should be periodically reviewed and updated.We think that it is important that no one person holds more than three Mandates.
We ask mandate holders to agree to:
- Agree to hold a Mandate for one year, recommit to holding a Mandate during a Mandates meeting at each Autumn team retreat for the following year.
- Review the Mandate specification and ensure they agree with it. If they want to add or change something, bring it to the mandates meeting.
- Gather a resource group or create a circle- people with the energy and skills to be part of the group that will make things happen in the mandate area.
- Find a way to be in regular communication with the resource group or circle. Make notes from their meetings and put them in a folder on our shared Google Drive. Most of these will be freely available internally unless they are likely to contain confidential information.
- Ensure the work of the Mandate goes ahead, and any challenges are processed within the resource group or circle.
- If they want to pass on their mandate, we ask them to think about who they could train up or find to take over that Mandate and then share that with other Mandate holders. Ultimately, the Trustees must have confidence in the person they are suggesting to be the new Mandate holder.
- Attend Mandate meetings (or find someone to represent the Mandate)
- If they want to let go of a Mandate, they let Mandate holders know in advance of the meeting, to give time for making suggestions about who the next Mandate holder might be.
What is a resource group or circle?
The resource group
Each Mandate holder will have a resource group, which is a circle of people with whom to consult and share tasks, without all the members of the circle needing to be joint mandate holders. Ideally, there would be a minimum of 3 in a resource group. Mandate holder plus 2 more people.
The resource group decides how often they want to meet. Initially, the resource group will come up with a big picture overview of what they would like to achieve in the year ahead. If people want to be part of a resource group, this needs to be agreed by Mandate holder. It is hoped that resource groups will also be a place where people can learn responsibilities involved in the Mandate and thereby build capacity and give the opportunity for more people to have a greater sense of engagement.
What’s the difference between a resource group and a circle?
A resource group is just one type of circle.
What is a circle?
A circle is a group of people who have agreed to take responsibility for a particular area or project within Buddhafield, and have been granted this responsibility and any accompanying decision-making power by the larger circle that they are part of.
Within a circle, people will hold defined roles which make clear how they will serve the particular responsibilities of the circle, and what aspects of this they are looking after. All circles should have a Lead Link, a Team Holder and an Organiser, if at all possible. For more info on these roles, see below.
A circle can decide how often they want to meet and how they want to communicate and take notes. For transparency, they need to make minutes when they meet. These minutes need to be accessible to everyone else involved in the Buddhafield mandate system.
Circles must:
- Keep minutes that are accessible to others involved in Buddhafield
- Have a description of their purpose and areas of responsibility that is agreed by their super circle (the larger circle that they sit within. )
- Have a Lead Link who can liaise with their super circle
Circles can choose:
- When they meet
- How they communicate (a Slack channel? A WhatsApp group?)
- How roles within the circle are assigned
- How they work together
- How they take minutes
Circle core roles
Lead Link
- Represents the team in the wider circle it is a part of (super-circle)
- Allocates the Circle’s resources across its various Projects and Roles
- Establishes priorities and Strategies for the Circle
- Assigns people to the Circle’s Roles; monitors the fit; offers feedback to enhance fit
- Initiates yearly circle review
- Holds yearly bundle holder reviews for bundle holders in the circle
Team Holder
- Welcome and introduce new members of the Circle to the team; focus is inward on the team
- Notices when support is needed
- Ensure team members know how the Mandate System works, and how to access working minutes etc.
- Calls team members if their attendance drops off and knows what is happening
- Seeking to understand Tensions conveyed by sub-Circles and Circle members
- Supports team members in conflict situations
Circle Organiser
- Organise next meeting as last agenda item in each meeting
- Ensure those absent know when next meeting is
- Send out meeting reminder(s)
- If necessary ensure meeting is rescheduled and that everyone in circle is informed
- Book Zoom for the meeting
- Keep up to date record of who is in the circle
Circle Coach
- Supporting people in roles of a Circle until they are confident in working within the Buddhafield Mandate System
- Promote good self-organising practices and support team members to self-organise so that team collaborates more effectively
- Linking the Circle with Mandate System Development Circle to enable feedback and keep a record of roles up to date.
- Can be a facilitator to hold meetings on track with agenda and with structured decision-making processes.
Some Examples of Buddhafield Circles
Buddhafield has a number of super circles within which all the other circle sit. The biggest circle is Anchor. While the anchor circle doesn't meet very often, it is a place for decisions to go to and come from when there is nowhere else that's clear or where the decision could not be resolved at one of the other circle levels.
Other big circles are: communication and connectivity (administration), operations, three jewels, Buddhafield Base and Guardianship (legal responsibilities sit here).
Examples of other circles or resource groups are retreats, kit, vehicles, publicity, front of house, kitchen management, Buddhafield Festival, Buddhafield Cafe, Green Earth Awakening, IT, Buddhafield Base.
And then at the more granular level, a circle like, for example, Buddhafield Base would contain roles or resource groups such as events, fundraising, property search and so on.
Circle and roles can arise and dissolve at need so the system is responsive to what's happening within the organisation.
How does decision-making work?
The authority for final decisions in a particular mandate lies with the individual mandate holder. Around them is a resource group or circle with whom there is dialogue either collectively or individually.
It is essential that they discuss decisions they are making with those that will be affected by the decision and those who have expertise in the area. The system asks people to consult, listen, be receptive and then make the decision. If the decision is likely to impact a larger part of the organisation than the immediate team, then the consultation needs to be opened up via the circle system.
Who looks after the mandate system?
The system is ‘self organising’, so we all have the power to create circles and change the system in various ways.
However, there is a role within Buddhafield to look after the system overall. The Mandate system mandate holder is responsible for supporting others in Buddhafield with the mandate system, to help it function smoothly.
The key thing to know is that this is the person you can contact if you want to understand more about the Mandate System or get something done within it (e.g. set up a circle) but don’t know how.
The Mandate System Mandate circle also organise mandate meetings.
Mandate meetings
There are three Mandates meetings a year. One in January, and one at the Spring and Autumn team retreats.
The primary objective of mandate meetings is not to make decisions - strange as it may seem. The primary objective is to share workings out. To consult others who will be impacted by the decisions a resource group or circle has come to. And to be receptive to the thoughts and input of others about things the circle considers important. It is essential to circulate proposals from a circle before the meeting so it can be taken in and discussed beforehand. The Autumn and Spring team retreat mandate meetings are key. A Mandate is formally dissolved at one of these meetings.
If a Mandate holder no longer wishes to hold a Mandate they will say so at the autumn team retreat and we look to replace the Mandate holder by the January Mandate meeting. New mandates can be proposed at Mandate meetings with a written brief. Trustees will have final veto on mandate membership, only in cases where there has been a complete breakdown of trust and communication.
General resources for anyone interested in Self-Organising Systems
📑 Articles
- What is Holacracy - by Stephanie Ray
- Benefiting from Collective Intelligence - My journey to self-organising systems, by Amaragita, September 2019.
💁🏻♂️ Website
A learning platform for those wanting to learn about Self Organising Systems.
📖 The Guide
A guide to effective collaboration from Sociocracy 3.0.
🖥 Video