When Adam outlined his expectations for cabinet members, his note of “presence” struck me. I feel like these expectations aren’t often laid out - generally, there is an assumption in place that if you’re in a certain position, you do whatever you think that position should be doing based on your individual interpretation of the relevant governing document.

But presence is a big thing for me, and it was something I was happy to see on Adam’s list. I was immediately taken back to a lecture a professor gave at the start of a semester. I think all of us know that there are different levels of “presence.” You can be physically in a room, but be mentally elsewhere. Have you ever been driving down the road and had the sudden realization that you’ve been on autopilot? You were present in the car, sure, but your mind was elsewhere. In my day-to-day, we call this mindfulness. Another part of being mindful is to know your own limits - something that we will post separately about soon.

Why is it important to have staff that is present and engaged? Sometimes people see certain government jobs as go-through-the-motion positions without a lot of engagement. The Internet Department was often like this - you were on autopilot until something went wrong. Fleet Command tends to be kind of similar. At least in my past, I would skim posts and the master roster to get a vague sense, and unless something looked off, I wouldn’t involve myself.

This is a very passive approach to the club, and we don’t think it serves anyone very well. Sometimes it happens out of necessity - this is an internet club, after all. Other times, though, we can do more to engage with one another. Part of having an effective and accessible government is removing barriers to access, and we can work on that ourselves by actively being involved and engaged. In the eight years I’ve been here, I think we’ve come a long way on this already, but I think people would be surprised if they knew how frequently others get nervous about applying for government roles, even AFComm positions. We should encourage people to get more involved in the club by applying for these positions and encourage the cabinet members to select assistants who will be present and engaged regardless of how long they have been in the club.

That’s why presence is one of the focuses of our campaign. It’s important to us and important for the club. We’ll expect it from our cabinet, and you should expect it from us.

-Thomas
–Adam W / Thomas B