E. STRUCTURE AND LEADERSHIP OF THE RE-EVALUATION COUNSELING COMMUNITY
E.11. Developing New Reference Persons
We encourage all Reference Persons,[77] in consultation with their Reference Persons, to actively assist experienced leaders, and especially those who are Native and Indigenous people, Global Majority (GM) people, working-class people, and younger people, to learn about, think about, and counsel on the possibility of stepping into a Reference Person’s role, including the current Reference Person’s role. Experienced leaders, especially in the above groups, are encouraged to take initiative to learn about, think about, and counsel on training themselves and getting trained to lead more broadly and to be ready to play Referencing roles.[78]
“Experienced leaders” means those who
- are experienced Community members with strong Co-Counseling relationships,
- have been actively teaching and building the Community,
- are able to work cooperatively with other leaders,
- understand RC liberation theory,
- understand and follow the Guidelines, and
- are able and willing to work toward taking on the Reference Person’s role.
We encourage Reference Persons to actively seek assistance to think about and counsel on the possibility of passing on their role, and, where possible, to leaders who are Native and Indigenous, Global Majority, working-class, and younger.
We encourage people leaving a Reference Person’s role to continue leading RC, using their experience to continue helping their Community or constituency grow. We also encourage them to explore new areas of leadership, including building new Communities. Each new Reference Person will build on the work of the previous one and will think about and do the job uniquely.
The primary focus of both the former and the new Reference Person will be their new leadership role. However, they are encouraged to assist each other in their transitions into new roles.
REASON
We want to train and develop as many leaders as possible, as quickly as possible. People gain valuable leadership training and experience from being in the role and doing the job of a Reference Person. The RC Community wants to provide this opportunity to more people and to an increasingly diverse group that is representative of the general population (including people of different ages, races, and classes and from other under-represented groups), without losing the leadership abilities and experience of existing Reference Persons.
We want all our leaders, including those who leave a Reference Person role, to continue to grow and develop their leadership. We do not want to lose the abilities or experience of any leaders.
[77] All Area Reference Persons, Regional Reference Persons, International Liberation Reference Persons, International Commonality Reference Persons, and the International Reference Person
[78] For descriptions of Reference Person roles, see Guidelines E.1., E.2., E.3., E.5., E.6., and E.10.