[foundation-board] Draft announcement for Team and then Wider Public

Fri Sep 12 09:56:54 UTC 2014

For clarity, the current state of the FAQ is merely a starting list of
questions (some of which were proposed by ON) and we need to flesh out
answers - it's not in a state to help us with communications yet!  If the
board have suggestions for other matters we should clarify, so that we can
ensure we have a clear message for the team and community, please do add
these in.  (We need to work on this, as the announcement to the management
team, which could be seen as the dry run here, was confused and
contradictory and left a great deal of uncertainty and worry.)

ON have suggested we might want to frame the announce as a broader piece
around change. Although it may be obvious to some readers that a new leader
is likely to mean a review of strategy and operations, this won't be
apparent to others, and in the interests of consistent message (team and
community hearing same thing) and transparency it was suggested that we
might want to include a little more context.

I am not particularly happy with Rufus's draft post, as it implies the
change is being driven by a decision by me to leave, which is simply not
the case. I think a more positive framing, around the fact that we are now
in a great position and can look ahead and seek someone with the right
skills, is rather stronger from an organisational point of view. However,
if there is a general agreement that we want to frame this as driven by me,
I would appreciate being consulted. The rationale for the change is quite
important to get right and to message clearly and consistently to each
audience, and I would expect to be involved in developing that message.

My role here was only ever intended as an interim one, with the idea that I
would support Rufus and the organisation for a short while until things had
stabilised and a new leader could be recruited allowing Rufus to move on.
This took longer than expected:when I agreed to go full time in November
2012, we anticipated that I was joining for 12 months, or 18 at the outside
(and of course the plan has now changed and Rufus is staying on).  I
suspect this may not have been clear to the board at the time, or since.  I
expect at some point to go through learnings from this sort of thing with
board members at an exit interview.

Laura

On 12 September 2014 10:02, Rufus Pollock <rufus.pollock at okfn.org> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> At board meeting Friday there was discussion and then a decision re
> drafting an announce to share with team and then wider public as soon as
> was feasible (likely next Thursday at all-hands and then public post
> following that).
>
> My first-pass draft is below and feedback would be very welcome.
>
> It is also available in this commentable google doc here
> <https://docs.google.com/a/okfn.org/document/d/11WStzQDFRgHpdBTGRo2xKNsse9Xw1uVLLI9iIn9uxFE/edit#> which
> also contains an FAQ plus a different version of the announce that Laura
> has drafted.
>
> Regards,
>
> Rufus
>
> ## Announce
>
> For a decade Open Knowledge has been a leader in its field, working at the
> forefront of efforts to open up information around the world and and see it
> used to empower citizens and organizations to drive change.
>
> Both the community and original non-profit have grown significantly and
> the space in which we work continues to develop and evolve rapidly with
> many exciting new opportunities and activities.
>
> Today we’re announcing that our CEO Laura James is planning to move on to
> new challenges and new ventures and that we are therefore seeking to
> recruit a new senior executive to help lead Open Knowledge as it continues
> to evolve and grow. This process is starting now, and will ensure the new
> executive will be able to play a significant role in shaping future
> strategy and direction for Open Knowledge.
>
> Laura has played a central role over the last few years as we’ve grown
> from a team of half-a-dozen to more than forty. Thanks to her dedication
> and skill we’ve navigated many of the tough challenges that accompany
> “growing-up” as an organization. We have been privileged to have her with
> us and she will be sorely missed.
>
> Our Founder and President Rufus Pollock will remain in post and will be
> here both to help lead the organization in the interim and to work closely
> with the new appointment going forward. Furthermore, Laura, is also able to
> remain to in post as needed both to continue to run the organization and to
> assist with the recruitment.
>
> The management team will be continuing to lead the individual teams within
> Open Knowledge through these changes and will help to support the new
> leadership team.
>
> We’re really excited to be embarking on this, and to have the opportunity
> to prepare Open Knowledge for its next decade.
>
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