3. Succession planning: coping with inevitable losses
There are different types of group
Paganism is organized to
many different types of group, which each require quite different forms
of
succession planning. Some (perhaps most?) of us belong to more than one
group
at once, being ourselves part of that vast overlapping web of
relationships and
collective identities that we call the Pagan community.
Let's introduce our imaginary friend, Isadora. She's a
dancer by training, and works for her village's Druidic Ballet (all
imaginary
villages ought to have a Druidic dance company, don't you think?),
where she
dances and she also keeps the finances sorted out. Isadora's not just a
talented and jazzy dancer who can gloriously embody the Tree Spirits,
but she's
an absolute whiz at bookkeeping. Knows her fives from her tens, does
Isadora!
Now, good bookkeepers are rare enough in this world, that
everybody wants Isadora to come keep their dollars straight. So,
Isadora is: ·
bursar for her small group, Coven of the Raven and
Dinosaur, ·
treasurer for the Butlerian Tradition, the
collective of related covens and groves that puts on a yearly camp-out
and
retreat at Arkham Farm, ·
tax-preparer for the Panpipe Institute, which owns
Arkham Farm and hosts gatherings, ·
pursewarden for the Miskatonic Local Council of
Covenant of the Elder Gods… By now you get the drift of
things. There are lots of different groups, which may all have a
different
title for what's effectively the same role. Each of those groups finds
its new
Elders in a different way, and it has a different need for succession
planning.
Looking at them in detail, we have: ·
The ballet company, which rehearses and performs in
the union hall up at the end of ·
The coven needs a bursar to keep track of the Candle
Fund, and make sure that its Covenant dues get paid each year. The
coven's High
Priest invited Isadora to serve as bursar because he thought she was
ready to
take on some responsibilities, and it would help her develop as an
Elder. ·
The tradition doesn't have its own fixed
meeting-space, since it conducts its business by patiently polite
consensus
over the telephone, backed up by happily-brief business meetings on the
last
evening of the yearly camp-outs at Arkham Farm. The tradition needs
someone to
keep its minimal accounts straight, and do the little things like
cutting the check to
pay for the rental of the campsite. Isadora became the
tradition's treasurer after the senior priestess of the tradition stood
up at
dinner one night and asked for someone to help keep the paperwork
straight.
Isadora, being Isadora, volunteered to do this. ·
The Panpipe Institute (named for the famously good music
that is played at all their gatherings) owns Arkham Farm. Because they
are
incorporated as a society and they own land, they have to file annual
tax
papers, and they must pay taxes to the county tax office. If they
didn't pay
those taxes, there are plenty of developers who would love to knock
down the
farm's rather charming barns and build condos there instead. Isadora
can't
remember how she ended up doing the taxes for the Institute, but she
has wryly told
folks more than once that she would be just as happy training someone
else to
do it. She's smart enough to see that burnout is sneaking up on her. ·
Miskatonic Local Council of Covenant of the Elder Gods
doesn't own much of anything tangible, just a few funny-looking hats
that are
worn by its officers, and some minute-books and the like. But since
Miskatonic
is the oldest and longest-running CoeG council, known far and wide by
the
affectionate nickname of 'The Elder Ones,' there is a certain social
capital
that has become ingrained into its collective identity. So there is a
lot of prestige at stake when new officers are elected at the council's
annual
business meeting. In typical Miskatonic fashion, Isadora says that
something
possessed her, so she ran for pursewarden, and she was elected by a
thundering
majority of her fellow Pagans. What we see from these
little stories is that there can be many different kinds of Pagan
groups,
ranging in form and scale from primary worship groups such as covens or
groves,
through lineages or networks, to public churches or religious
societies,
ongoing festivals such as Panthea, formal public-outreach organizations
such as
CoG, and land-holding groups such as Circle Sanctuary or Earthspirit.
Just as there are many different kinds of Pagan groups,
there are many different sorts of succession plans that might be
needed. In
order to understand how to plan for a group's succession issues, we
must start
by understanding how the group itself really functions, and (perhaps
more
importantly) why it should continue functioning. What is being continued?
Succession planning starts
with discerning the group's primary purpose or function. We might do
well to
borrow the concept of the 'mission statement' from government agencies
and
businesses. For example: Our core mission
at Weyland-Smith Industries is to
make world-class Let's try this again in
Pagan terms. The mission statement for Isadora's coven might be: Coven of the
Raven and the Dinosaur exists to honour
the Gods, the People and At the very beginning, try
to understand just what is being continued.
The good folks down at the blacksmith shop at
Weyland-Smith would like to keep making cast-iron bowling balls for
years to
come. Like most well-run businesses, they really exist to pay wages for
their
workers, more than worrying about running the share prices up. So, they
would
probably be most concerned with making sure that they have new, young,
energetic apprentice blacksmiths who can learn all the ins and outs of
making
drop-forged bowling bowls, from the Elderly, wise,
thoroughly-experienced
master blacksmiths. And so, in the fullness of time, today's
apprentices will
become tomorrow's masters, and world-class bowling balls will continue
to be
hammered out for the children of central
Similarly, the members of Coven of the Raven and Dinosaur
would like to see the coven continue. It's been around for 30 years
already,
and graduates from the coven-sponsored Pagan Outer Grove have gone on
to join
or to found anew many Pagan groups scattered throughout their part of
the
country. All of those groups share the deeply-held and thoroughly
constructive
values that were taught in the Outer Grove, so whether or not they are
all
following the same Tradition or even recognizably the same Path, they
can all
get along and talk to each other since they share a core understanding
of what
it’s all about. So, the coven's succession plan will probably involve
some
thought about how to preserve, pass along, and build upon their
collective
knowledge. Should the group plan to continue?
For the bowling-ball company
and the coven that we just mentioned, planning to continue onwards
beyond the
active lifespan of their founders is probably a good idea. But there
might well
be some Pagan groups which don't need to think about succession: for
example,
short-term groups that are formed to deal with one particular issue or
answer
one particular question. Once they have accomplished that objective,
and shared
their knowledge as widely as they might wish, they can gracefully wind
themselves up.
On the other hand, one of the better tests for the
functionality of a Pagan group (particularly a Pagan church or other
religious
corporation) is whether it will manage to actually survive the
departure or
death of its founder. Gwyneth can think of a case in point right now --
a Pagan
church that she helped found, that has continued 10 years past her
departure
from its directorate, and fully 5 years past her having moved away to
another
part of the country altogether. What exactly does
'continuity'
mean?
For a lineage or a
Tradition, maybe 'continuity' entails nothing more than ongoing
networking. A
lineage might be said to have a practical existence if there is some
means,
direct or indirection, for any one of its members pass a message along
to any
other one of its members.
An example from nature is willow tree, which can
propagate itself by sending out long runners to another cluster of
roots, from
which another willow tree might grow. If
the first tree dies or is cut down, the other tree can survive. Huge
clumps of
such trees -- covering large tracts of forestland -- can easily survive
for
thousands of years, long after the lifespan of any individual trees.
Another
example is the 'fairy ring' of mushrooms that might spring up in the
lawn
outside your house, particularly after a heavy rain. The mushrooms
spring up,
let their spores spread away and then they shrivel up and die (or
perhaps a
squirrel eats them all before they ripen). In any case, the visible
mushrooms
don't live forever, but the underground network of fungal threads, the
mycelia,
continue to live and put forth new, every-expanding, rings of
mushrooms. The mushrooms
are only the visible part of something that is much larger and much
longer-lived.
But not all human-created structures can survive and grow
by solely following the examples of natural systems. Trees and
mushrooms don't
have to file paperwork and pay taxes. People and their organizations do
have to
keep doing those things if they wish to survive. To put it plainly: Formal
procedures
for succession are necessary Even if there is no expectation
of group continuity, advance planning will make termination smoother
and much
less rancorous. Can we suggest alternatives to departure?
If a person is stepping down
from an active leadership role because of competing life
responsibilities (for
example, a new baby or a new job) or because of illness or just plain
tiredness, is there a graceful way to keep them around as an honoured
Elder and
lore-carrier? Are there things they can do (maintain a web-log,
perhaps) that are
less physically demanding?
Money matters
If the group has any form of
financial endowment, whether it be an ongoing stream of income, or
simply a
savings account against a rainy day, some arrangements must be made for
its
continued management (or its disbursement, if the group is going to
wind itself
up).
Informal arrangements for financial matters will suffice
if all that is at stake is a coffee tin or a shoebox full of nickels
and dimes.
For example, when Gwyneth's former coven passed on the leadership of a
Pagan
training Outer Grove to another coven, the financial succession
consisted of
passing onwards the tin can which contained the Outer Grove's candle
fund.
Neither of the two bursars involved had any idea how much coinage was
actually
in the can, and neither coven was particularly concerned with an
accounting for
these assets.
But what would have happened if the coven had been
renting a meeting-space for the Outer Grove? Think again of our friend,
Isadora, who is keeping the books for the Druidic Ballet? She steps
into the
role of treasurer, and discovers to her horror that there are no
record-books,
no account-books, no indication of where the money was being deposited
at all,
let alone a checkbook with which to pay the rent. Her solution might
have
been to ask around, find out who might have been writing checks to
the
ballet company, then ask those people to give her copies of the
information
written or stamped on the back of the checks. In that way, she could
figure
out what the account number was, and at which institution the account
was kept.
So, to save lots of bother (and this is the sort of
bother that occasionally afflicts Pagan groups), it may be helpful to
write down
a set of notes on who does what and how they do it, and make sure that
there
are enough copies of those notes that someone, somewhere, will always
be able
to find a copy. This approach works as well for other matters as it
does for
financial matters (also see 'writing down the bones' and 'property,'
further on
in these notes). Continuity of leadership
With the exception of truly
leaderless groups, of which there are probably a few in Pagandom, most
Pagan
groups have either a leader, or a central committee (or a collective,
or a
board of directors). Shared leadership, such as by a committee,
collective or
directorate, is easy to carry forward, since there is a greater chance
that at
least some of the leaders will carry onward to provide continuous
'know-how'
about the group (this is one of the reasons why many groups have
staggered or
rotational terms for their boards of directors).
A tougher set of problems arises if there is a single
leader, particularly if the leader is a powerfully charismatic person.
There
may well be no plan in place for how to select a successor when the
existing
leader retires, steps down, or dies in place -- in the happiest of
worlds, this
is because the existing leader is doing such a great job of leadership
that
none of the group members would care to have to contemplate what they
would do
if that person left office. A rather nastier situation occasionally
ensues,
wherein the original leader works hard to put a stop to any
consideration of
succession. Gwyneth is mindful of several Pagan groups, in various
countries,
that have had difficult struggles to choose a new leader, for just such
a
reason.
Hopefully, a central leader will be so perceptive, so
whole within himself or herself, as to be comfortable with the notion
of succession
planning. A workable approach may be to form a committee or
working-group
tasked with figuring out what the job description of 'leader' should
be. Once
that is established, then it's time to consider who the possible
successors
might be, and weigh those candidates against the job description, or
the list
of essential tasks and personal qualities that have been established
for a
leader. Those junior members who seem to be potential
leaders can then be nurtured (and more finely screened) by giving
them opportunities for job shadowing and then gradually increasing
their responsibility and authority within the group. This may be called
"assistant," "co-chair," or even "coven maiden," depending on the
circumstances.
Exactly how to proceed with this process might be a book
in itself. The key point to bear in mind is that the candidacy of a new
leader
is ultimately subject to ratification by all the group's members.
Whether this
is done by an election, or by consensus, or by some other means, it
will be
done. Even if the new leader is simply presented as a fait
accompli (think of the worldly example of monarchic
succession, or corporations being headed by a parent and then one of
their
children), their leadership is ultimately subject to this basic tenet:
"They who cannot bear your rule will leave you." Count on it being
true. Specialists
Just as business firms have
specialist officers such as public affairs people, corporate
secretaries, and
treasurers, so do many Pagan groups have summoners, scribes and
pursewardens
(these titles will, of course, vary).
Larger organizations, such as Covenant of the Goddess,
elect their specialist officers at annual business meetings. In theory,
any
member in good standing can be nominated 'from the floor' at such a
meeting; in
practice, 'slates' of candidates may well emerge, offering a shared
vision of
the group's future.
Smaller, more intimate groups such as covens or groves,
may
simply find their new specialists by direct appointment. Perhaps the
senior
Druid, or the grove's Guardian, will name the successor, bearing in
mind the
person's talents and temperament. That approach can work well, too, as
long as
everyone is aware that that is how things work within the group.
Often, like we found with our mythical friend Isadora,
people who have practical expertise (such as bookkeeping) are already
doing it
for several Pagan groups. So there's one way to go find another
treasurer. On
the other hand, this exacerbates the risk that our chosen candidate may
eventually hit burnout through overwork. Gwyneth has occasionally taken
the
approach of polling a group's membership for private, written,
nominations of
likely successors for various offices, and then assembling a list of
the most
oft-named candidates for the group's discussion and ratification. Bear
in mind
that the person who is most frequently nominated may well decline the
honor of
being appointed to office. Burnout and retirement
Sometimes people continue to
perform a particular function until long beyond it has ceased to be
satisfying,
and has instead become a source of boredom. Sometimes people simply
lose
patience with the day-to-day tasks, or the petty frustrations, or the
interpersonal hassles. In any event, burnout can ensue.
To forestall burnout, some groups rotate people and
offices: this year's scribe might be next year's pursewarden, and vice
versa.
If burnout hits in mid-term, or if there are no set terms of office and
no
plans for rotation, then the group will need some means to replace the
person
who has reached their limit.
There are no universal solutions to this problem.
Sometimes the person has not wanted to leave office at all, or he or
she will
simply 'fade away' without notifying anyone. The worst part of this is
the
interpersonal nastiness than might ensue as the group tries to reclaim
items
such as account-books, or keys to bank boxes.
Consider establishing a clear and kindly way to 'retire'
office-holders who have burned out. In some Pagan traditions, there is
provision made for people to serve as Elder without any specific office
or
duties. In this way, a person can move into a more graceful retirement,
remaining available to share their accumulated knowledge, without
having any
specific ongoing duties. Writing down the bones
Succession planning is a lot
easier if there are some written references to what people do, how they
do it,
and what/where are the tools that they need do the job. If you wish,
you can
formulate formal job descriptions for the various roles in your group,
or you
can do as many soldiers have done and write a Continuity Book for each
role. A
Continuity Book is an informal, but carefully assembled collection of
relevant
references which the person stepping into the role will need to have
close at
hand. See the Appendix
of
this notebook for an explanation of how a Continuity Book
functions, and how to put one together. Passing the knowledge onward
Written forms, like the
Continuity Book, aren't complete in and of themselves. No matter how
much time
and effort is spent in writing out how-to lists, diagramming
procedures, and
describing relationships, at some point in time it will pay to simply
get
together with your successor and show him/her what you have been doing,
how to
do it, and why.
You aren't going to meet your successor, or you have
just stepped into your new role and the preceding person is already
long gone
and unreachable? Often, there is a work-around for this, and it is to
have
one or more third parties stand in the role of lore-carriers. In
essence, they
are cross-trained by the preceding office-holder, and then they carry
that
knowledge on to you. Backed up by written notes and frequent requests
for
feedback on what you are doing, it'll likely do in a pinch.
But what if no such provision was made? Then you are
truly on your own. Take the initiative to ask your colleagues what they
think
you ought to be doing. Then consider what an analogous office or role
would be
in a non-Pagan context: the pursewarden of a coven and the chief
steward of a
Christian congregation have very similar roles and responsibilities. In
the
end, if you give things a fair try and keep writing down the lessons
learned,
what succeeded as well as what failed, you will come to understand your
tasks.
In a fortunate situation, by re-inventing the processes, you may come
up with
better ways to do things -- and create a record that will
benefit those who will come after you. Property matters
Here it's largely a matter
of magnitude and mundane valuations. If what is being passed onward is
a
collection of ritual items and books, word-of-mouth and trust among
mature
people may be enough. But if the succession involves items of worldly
value
such as real estate, or a substantial endowment fund, even a
properly-witnessed
legal will may not suffice.
Some groups have substantial collective
property. Unless clear agreements are made beforehand, this is likely
to
exacerbate, extend and embitter any conflicts which do arise during the
period
of break-up. Californians will doubtless recall the story of the
break-up of
the collective community at Annwn.
If the assets in question are substantial enough to
present a risk of fighting over their control, consider vesting their
ownership
in a society or other religious corporation that has carefully-defined
articles of incorporation and bylaws. Bearing mind that any contract
which is
written by a lawyer can be overturned by another lawyer, if the
articles and
bylaws of a religious society are properly written, they will be more
difficult
to subvert to some undesired or unforeseen bad end.
By now you may wonder whether it wouldn’t be simpler to
just let your own children, or the children of co-religionists, inherit
the
assets and property. It's certainly simpler to set up, but have you
considered
what mess would ensue if the children who inherit are not interested in
carrying on in your Path? We've seen it happen with an established
Pagan
church in What happens to the accumulated lore?
Over the years, an Elder
gathers and develops an amazing body of knowledge, both as personal
understandings and as collected papers. Can you think of a systematic
way for
an Elder to pass down the knowledge that she or he has accumulated?
Think about libraries, collections of sacred writings,
computer files, or diaries. Is there any way to catalogue them, or let
other
people know what you have? Gwyneth's answer to this problem, as she
ages, is to
write the names of the intended recipients in the fly-leaves of the
books in
her library; that way, if anything suddenly befalls her, people know
where each
book is meant to go. But the computer files? Now, there's an issue.
Recently a
well-published Pagan author and web-mistress died. The many useful
articles in
her Web-space were taken down out of view shortly after her death, and
her
surviving partner has indicated that he has no plans to again release
her
writings to public view. As another example, consider the thousands of
e-mails
which we might have each sent and received over the past few years. If
we die,
will there be anyone who knows the relevant passwords and has the
expertise to
sort them all out?
In the case of hostile conversions, or even simply in the
case of a change of heart about public visibility, departing Elders may
choose
to intentionally destroy their books and files. Once gone, there may be
no
retrieving them.
For those of us who do not write, consider starting (or
participating in) an oral history project. Some years ago New Moon
With a good dose of Pagan realism, and a little
careful thought and planning, we can ensure that contemporary
Paganism will survive and thrive. So mote it be!
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