Concept Five
"For each responsibility assigned
to the service structure, a single point of decision and
accountability should be clearly defined."
Each action we perform should have a clear point
of accountability. For the committee as a whole, that point is
the chair who reports to his or her respective Area Service
Committee, Regional Service Committee, or World Services.
For specific projects, the usual type of work we
do in PI service, a single coordinator, project leader, or ad
hoc chair should be selected. This person should be held
accountable for the responsibilities assigned to him or her.
These responsibilities and our other expectations of that person
should be clearly defined; some committees include them in their
guidelines or procedural manuals.
The spiritual principles important to the Fifth
concept are integrity, respect, and trust. This concept’s
insistence upon accountability fosters all three principles. In
essence, the committee tells the individual who has been
selected as the single point of accountability for a task that
it trusts him or her and that, through this trust, it is showing
that it respects that person’s personal integrity.
Trust, as has been pointed out earlier, must be
earned. The committee, in selecting this person as the single
point of accountability, is saying that his or her past
actions—both on behalf of service to the NA Fellowship, as well
as in his or her personal life—have convinced them to trust that
individual with the responsibility of carrying out the
particular task assigned. They respect the individual’s personal
integrity, and trust him or her to accomplish the task with
excellence, and within the time frame allotted for it. |
