Some Understandings about Coordination Work

By a practitioner in Hebei Province

(Clearwisdom.net) An important issue that every practitioner doing coordination work faces, is how to coordinate, what to coordinate, and how to do the coordination well.

A coordinator is a contact person and a communicator. Every practitioner is a coordinator, it's just that the scope and aspect of coordination varies. To coordinate in a relatively large scope, a practitioner must have the wish to serve others and have the relevant capabilities. In addition, he/she should be acknowledged by most practitioners, mostly in terms of security and working methods.

A coordinator is not an official or a leader. A coordinator should never put himself above other fellow practitioners, whether intentionally or unintentionally, as this is a key reason for not coordinating well. One may have ones own insights, understanding or suggestions, but it should be handled in a manner such as consultation, communication or discussion, instead of ordering, supervising, blaming or substitution. For example, a practitioner once asked a coordinator how to handle a certain Fa-validation issue. The coordinator did not express his opinion right away; instead, he asked the practitioner what his understanding and opinion on the issue was. He also asked the practitioner about the opinion of other practitioners. Then the coordinator shared his ideas on how to handle the issue better. As a result, the issue was handled smoothly and successfully.

Another coordinator felt that he slacked in Fa study and had not done the coordination work well although he spent a lot of time on it and was very busy. He proposed to stop doing coordination work for a while so he could adjust his cultivation status. He gave an example to explain his decision: "One day a practitioner came to ask me how to deal with a certain thing, but I did not know how to deal with it either, therefore I could not give her any advice." Actually, I don't think this is a proper reason. One of the main responsibilities of coordinators is to exchange their understanding of the Fa with fellow practitioners and help them to think of and solve problems from the perspective of the Fa and walk their own paths; instead of letting practitioners rely on coordinators' directing them. The real reason for not being suitable to hold a coordinator's position is that one has developed intentionally or unintentionally the attachment of putting oneself above other practitioners. Coordination is not for showing off one's personal abilities, which is validating self, instead of validating the Fa.

So how do we coordinate? I think it is simple. We exchange understandings of the Fa with fellow practitioners; nurture a healthy Fa study and experience sharing environment; and to help practitioners to connect Fa study with their cultivation. Thus, practitioners come to better understand their mission and how to fulfill it, or in other words, practitioners make progress in comprehending the Fa. If we understand our historic mission as Fa-rectification period Dafa disciples, we will definitely improve as one body.

After the publication of Master's article "Thoroughly Dissolve the Evil", many practitioners went to places that were close to labor camps to send righteous thoughts. In situations such as this, another role for coordinators is to help the group to facilitate the process. Ensuring that someone takes responsibility to arrange a schedule and similar things, plus studying the Fa with practitioners and exchanging understandings why we should do this and how to do this better, are all parts of good coordination.

To handle coordination work well involves multiple aspects. Above is just my personal understanding, it may not be right and is definitely incomplete. I hope all practitioners doing coordination work can think of how to be good coordinators.

June 4, 2007

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2007/6/5/156299.html

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