Hi All, and Asaf,
Thanks for the advice Asaf. I've made a mistake and processed steps 1 and 2. Step 3
- what the mistake was, as precisely as possible (e.g. not "I used bad judgment" but "I neglected to look at relevant data before deciding to fund Wikimedia Antarctica");
I failed to welcome incoming directors to the board of the Wikimedia Foundation and I failed to thank outgoing directors of the same board for the time and effort they have spent.
- that you are sorry about the harm/damage/waste/confusion your mistake caused (being specific would demonstrate understanding);
I'm sorry for this unpolite and rude behavior.
- what you have learned from making this mistake;
The Wikimedia Movement depends on volunteers and on the willingness of capable people to contirbute their time and effort. Volunteers not only to edit Wikipedia and others projects, and commit to Gerrit but also spend time on governing bodies like the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation. For the diverse communities of volunteering people in the movement to thrive it is esstential to retain a welcoming culture and show respect for those who do boring tasks and the janitoral work.
- what steps you have already taken to redress the damage or undo the results of your mistake;
So far I've done nothing to repair this mistake, except reading the ongoing discussion on wikimedia-l and thinking about what is going on and preparing this e-mail. To repair the damage done:
1. Hereby my welcome to Kelly Battles. Don't be shy to introduce yourself to this list. I wish you a lot of strength and wisdom while serving your time on the board. 2. Hereby my welcome to Arnnon Geshuri. You left Google in 2009. I don't know if you were sacked or that you fled from the illegal practices you were forced to commit in your position at Google. I sincerely belief you have learned your lesson over six years ago. You now have a paid position at Tesla Motors, a company destined to disrupt the automobile industry. Welcome again to the Wikimedia movement which does not aim to disrupt the automobile industry. Wikipedia does disrupt a whole range of other industries, but please be aware that Wikipedia started after most paper encyclopedias were already out of print. I wish you a lot of strength and wisdom while serving your time on the board. 3. La bienvenida al movimiento Jaime Villagomez. I wish you a lot of strength and wisdom while serving your time on the board as CFO. I'll assume you will going to be or become Treasurer of the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation. You will have a pivotal role in assisting the BoT in performing a series of 'fiduciary duties'. I wish you a lot of strength and wisdom in your job. 4. Goodbye James Heilman, and thanks for volunteering your time on the Board of Trustees. You've been fired. Don't take it personally. 5. Goodbye Stu West, and thanks for volunteering your time on the Board of Trustees. 6. Goodbye Jan-Bart de Vreede, and thanks for volunteering your time on the Board of Trustees.
- what steps you are going to take to mitigate or reduce the odds of a mistake of this sort recurring, including timelines for specific actions, if possible and applicable; and
My preferred habit of welcoming and thanking people is in real life meeting, to have the opportunity to shake hands, kiss, hug, whatever, and hand over a symbolic when I feel like to it. Opportunities for them abound, including, but not limited to the Wikimedia Conference in Berlin and Wikimania Esino Lario.
- invite comments on your understanding as reflected in this post, explicitly encouraging people to tell you if they think you've missed the point or if one of your intended actions is inadvisable, insufficient, or can otherwise be improved.
Please comment on my understanding as reflected in this post. Did I miss the point? Please tell me! What do you think about my intended and preferred way of welcoming incoming directors, and thanking outgoing directors? Is there a way to improve on this?
Ad Huikeshoven
P.S.
The board of Wikimedia Nederland will meet on Thursday January 21st. Wikimedia Nederland is an affiliate of the Wikimedia Foundation. It's mission is to further the mission of the Wikimedia Foundation and the Wikimedia Movement in the Netherlands. This mail was sent by me without it's content being read by fellow board members of Wikimedia Nederland, without the prior consent of the board of Wikimedia Nederland and without the prior approval of the message by the board of Wikimedia Nederland. So, I'm taking a deliberate risk.
On Mon, Jan 11, 2016 at 7:37 PM, Asaf Bartov abartov@wikimedia.org wrote:
Hello, everyone.
It occurs to me this might be a good time to recycle this piece of advice I have had some past occasions to offer some newcomers to the movement:
*So you've made a mistake and it's public...*
Step 0: Understand that there is no point in pretending you have not made a mistake.
Step 1: *Think* about the mistake you have made. What led you to make it? Were you acting on bad information? Without sufficient information? On intuition? Were you pressed by a deadline or by a strong opinion from someone else? Were you following a broken process? Did you act on the basis of circumstances you wish were the case rather than the circumstances that are in fact the case? (if it helps, consider writing down your answers to these questions, privately.)
Then, think about what can be redressed/undone/reverted about your mistake.
Step 2: *Think* about the prospects of making this mistake, or a mistake of its kind, again. How likely is it? Based on learning from this mistake, what steps are you able to take to mitigate or reduce the odds of its recurrence? Of those steps, which are you *willing* to take? Of those, which can you take right now, before responding in public? Which are you ready to commit to, longer term?