In October 2018, the International Leadership Council published an important policy, though one that has (thankfully) rarely been needed: the Procedure for Addressing Concerns Regarding Individuals.
Prior to the creation of this policy, there had been occasional concerns that came to the Board, the Executive Director or the International Leadership Council regarding individuals within the Focusing community. These were all resolved amicably in the end, but the ILC agreed with the Executive Director that it was wise to have a policy in place in case there were ever a complaint of a more serious nature. It was also felt that it would be wise to have a procedure written out to ensure fairness and transparency for all. The ILC wanted to ensure that the one with the concern would be heard, and also that the other person would be treated with consideration. It was important that it all be dealt with in a Focusing way, respecting everyone involved, without minimizing potential issues to be addressed.
The ILC worked on the document for about a year. Much of that time was working together to choose words which maintained the right spirit, always being open to what right way forward might emerge when the issue is approached in a Focusing way.
Any such policy needs to have clear parameters for who is covered by it; in this policy, to bring a concern, one must be a member of TIFI, and the person about whom one is concerned must be a person who can reasonably be said to have some kind of leadership role within the organization.
Important policies need to be approved by the Board of TIFI, and they did so in September 2018. When the policy was reviewed with Coordinators, the ILC was pleased with the appreciation that the Coordinators expressed. Some indicated their intent to use the policy as a model for their local organizations.
The Procedure for Addressing Concerns Regarding Individuals can be found as a web page in English here and on the ILC page can be found translations to Spanish, German, Chinese, Dutch, Japanese, French, Portuguese, Italian and Hebrew.