Winter 2018 – Spring 2019
Initially, a Steering Committee was appointed by the Transition Task Force to harness the energy of the volunteers and provide ways to integrate their work in various Working Groups: Healing Learning & Protection, Path Teachings & Practice, Community Building, Governance, Finance & Legal, Governance Models.
For better and for worse, the PT was given a blank slate with respect to self-organising in order to ensure that it would be perceived as being at arm’s length from the Interim Board and from any former hierarchy. This gave rise to a very intense, internal experiment of searching for self-organizing means and tools. Consequently, the Year-One PT’s ability to reach out to the community was limited.
Nevertheless, there were a number steps taken:
- In Sept. 2019, the Steering Committee introduced MIT’s Theory U framework for conscious change, via U.Lab, and promoted it to the whole community to provide tools and pathways to work on a large scale with intentions and shared understandings. The U.Lab programs have an audience of more than 10 000 people around the world, and are based on values similar to those of Shambhala. About 400 people in the Shambhala community participated in 2019’s U.Lab 1 and 2 programs, formed groups, and have appreciated the widening of scope that these U.Lab spaces have provided. Although these U.Lab groups evolved from the PT, they now have a separate existence from the PT and have a hub led by a committed group of people working on Shambhala projects, and dedicated to gathering the energy generated by this initiative.
- In December 2019, the Code of Conduct Task Force’s draft for a new Shambhala Code of Conduct was approved by the board. Starting with a view of acknowledging that abuses and lack of transparency have occurred in our community, and that trust has been broken, the Code of Conduct seeks to answer the questions :
* What is the path one has to come back from being harmed or harming others ?
* How can I become a more responsible engaged and awake member of the world. - Some Working Groups created fruitful connections with the Shambhala Board – namely the Survey Working Group, the Code of Conduct Working Group, and the Governance Models Subgroup. These groups have been able to add expertise and community connections to on-going Board activities.
- Other Working Groups are ongoing in their efforts to integrate with existing Shambhala structures.
- By February 2020, the Charter Working Group had successfully led the PT to its first Charter document, including Vision and Mission statements adopted by the PT, and Aims from each of the active Working Groups.