The Brotherhood Coalition Values & Principles 

 

Purpose:

 

The purpose of establishing The Brotherhood Coalition (as denoted as "BHC”) values and principles is to ensure that members have an agreed upon standard of how we will successfully engage with one another and work together. All members must know and follow these values and principles.

 

Our Values:

 

BHC’s must also demonstrate the following essential values:

 

● Trust and Respect – We will build trust and treat all people with the respect they deserve.

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● Education – We will continue to learn about our culture, as well as continue to develop knowledge, expertise and skills in areas of interest.

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● Teamwork – We will work collaboratively in an efficient and effective manner to achieve our personal and shared goals.

 

● Unity – We will demonstrate a sense of togetherness through our work, as we look to be an example to current and future generations.

 

Our Principles:

 

In General:

 

- We are all equal. No hierarchies exist.

 

- We will undertake our work for the benefit of the collective "Us".

 

-We will take the time and do what is necessary to learn from our mistakes.

 

-We will benefit from our lessons learned and factor those insights into our plans on an ongoing basis.

 

- We will contribute meaningfully to building the capability and capacity of BHC to ensure the viability of our organization over time.

 

Meetings:

 

- We will govern meeting by Robert Rules of Order (to create safe, fair, accountable, confidential, and efficient space for effective agenda management and decorum).

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- We will step into BHC meetings and work through the lens of the organizations core values.

 

-We will come prepared to engage in professional dialogue, treating each other with respect, dignity and fairness.

 

- We will ensure decisions on the direction of the group are made by a majority consensus using a strategic and future-oriented approach starting by looking outside BHC to understand the context we operate in.  This will involve understanding (a) what dynamics we observe, (b) what opportunities and/or challenges arise as a result of these dynamics, and (c) how these dynamics might play out over the course of our planning horizon.

 

- We will inform fellow BHC members in a proactive manner when we are unable to attend or will be late for a meeting.

 

Accountability:

 

-We will complete tasks we have committed to and inform promptly if a deadline will be missed or whether more time and/or assistance is required.

 

- We will ensure that we are responsive to the needs and requests of members and those outside of BHC.

 

-We will take personal responsibility for the way we communicate with members or other outside BHC, when acting as a representative of the organization, ensuring our conduct is aligned to our values and principles.

 

- We will be responsible for ensuring we stay engaged through our established communication tools including the BHC email account, Google drive and Discord.

 

Conflict and Dispute Resolution:

 

-We will handle conflicts and agree to communicate about conflicts in a manner that emphasizes mutual respect, active listening and addressing ideas rather than personalities. Individuals expressing opposing ideas and opinions are understood as being part of the collective process and we will seek out clear and reasonable ways of addressing concerns.

 

- We will not tolerate incidents of expressed bias, hate speech, discrimination, prejudice or harassment.

 

- Any conflict between BHC members should be discussed first, between those members offline and in a timely manner. If the conflict cannot be resolved between the BHM members, then it may be raised with the core team who will hear out both sides of the conflict and present possible resolution options. If the parties cannot agree on one of the resolution options, then the core group by way of a majority vote will come to a resolution.

 

Privacy and Security:

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-We want members to trust us with their personal information, stories and ideas. Gaining and preserving that trust requires us to respect and protect the privacy and security of that information at all times.

 

- There is an expectation that all agenda or meeting deliberations are confidential and cannot be shared outside the meeting without the expressed written consent of the membership prior to public dissemination.