We had another great call on Sunday. When asked, “How are you, as we close the call tonight?” participants said: committed, happy, excited, motivated, inspired … and squishy (from the creative in the group 
)
For those who couldn’t join, we missed you. AND we’re looking for volunteers for specific roles, now that we’ve got some clarity around the project. See below. I’ll be in touch with each of you personally to confirm whether/where you see yourself fitting in on the project moving forward.
Lots of love to all,
Andrea
ACCESSING THE RECORDED CALL ——————————————
The replay line is 218-936-1055, PASSCODE 77869#
It will be available until the next call.
Attendees: Andrea Howe, Dr. Jeff Schlichter, Gail Guseman, Chris Hajzak, Randy Guseman, Mary Morrison
ROLES AND VOLUNTEERS ———————————————————————
Facilitators: Confirmed are Gail and Vickie. Candidates include Mary, Melissa, Cary, and Alison.
Promoters: Confirmed are Chris and Jonathan. Candidates include Ruth, Dennis, Rod, Alona, Valerie, Lisa, and Hang.
Participants: Confirmed is Chris. She’ll be a great contributor to a beta group and can give us insider perspective on her experience of it.
Advisory Panel: TBD (this is a group of parents inside step-families who will advise us pre-beta and throughout the project on topics of interest, project design, etc.)
Web Designer: Candidates include Ken (Chris’s hubby).
Graphic Designer: Confirmed is Randy.
IMMEDIATE NEXT STEPS ———————————————————————
- Chris to recruit hubby Ken as our official web designer (this week)
- Andrea to talk to candidates to confirm their roles moving forward (this week)
- Vickie to set up regular Sunday meeting time (from 9 – 9:45), starting in December, for those who are clear they want to be involved moving forward (whether or not they have yet been on any calls). The first December call will be a “get to know you” call so we will be a more powerful and connected virtual team (this week).
- Mary to propose additional/specific ideas for how to build the relatedness of our virtual team (by Weds. Nov. 28)
- All to post bio info on the blog (see end of email for access info), including personal info about step-family experience (by Weds. Nov. 28)
- Jeff to post possible call topics on the blog (by Weds. Nov. 28)
EXCITING NEWS: PROJECT LEADERSHIP! ——————————————————–
I’m delighted to announce that we’ve got a trifecta of leaders for the project in place: Jeff as official bandleader, Chris as deputy, and Vickie as lead admin. Jeff led the call on Sunday and will continue to. Andrea will stay on as a core team member.
BETA LAUNCH SCHEDULED FOR JANUARY ‘08 ——————————————————–
The current plan calls for design and promotion between now and the holidays with a launch of a 5-pack of virtual coaching calls launched shortly after Jan.1 – a great way for families to begin a new year. We agreed it would be ideal to at least have a web page up (something simple to start). We also agreed to a one-time focus group with candidate participants to validate/expand our design (this becomes the Advisory Panel).
FACILITATOR ROLE FOR BETA ——————————————————–
- Help develop the structure/protocol for all calls (with Jeff’s guidance)
- Participate in all beta calls (listen in even if you’re not facilitating)
- Debrief in between virtual coaching calls (via email and short teleconferences)
REFRESHER: VIRTUAL COACHING CALL DESIGN ELEMENTS ——————————————
- 10 – 15 adults per group (no children) – size is large enough to be diverse, small enough for all to “get in the game”
- Parents and step-parents participate on same call so each can hear the other’s perspective (although they may be members of different families to promote candor and compassion)
- Cohort group (i.e. membership is ‘closed’ for a particular call series)
- Start with a basic “5-pack” – where a group commits to participating in 5 calls. If a call is missed, they will have access to a recording of the call (these recordings could be saved as archives and available long-term).
- Ask members to listen to a pre-recorded “orientation” so they understand what the calls are all about, and come with an empowering context
- Calls occur weekly; 45 minutes per call (feels more do-able than an hour and is likely to leave people wanting more, which is a good thing!)
- Each call is framed by a specific topic, such as “Your New Role,” “The Loyalty Tug,” “Angst Among Moms (biological and step),” “How to Listen and Talk to Each Other” (may start with the listening/talking topic – sets the stage for the call series and applies to all situations/topics)
- Call #5 focuses on where to go from here and could include meeting as a group face-to-face (for those in same geographic area), family volunteering.
ACCESSING THE BLOG ——————————————-
The blog, called Love Restored, is at http://happystepfamily.wordpress.com/wp-login.php?action=auth&redirect_to=%2Fwp-admin%2Findex.php. Login: happystepfamily
Password: loverestored
It’s easy to use! If you click on Posts from the Dashboard view, you’ll see a listing of everything, sorted by category.
