“Secund” ... I can’t find it in the dictionary, so what exactly does it mean?
At the recent Marriage CoMission Summit, the allies agreed to a strategy of “secunding” employees to the MC as an alternative to hiring in the more traditional sense. While a search of the dictionary will leave you scratching your head, a Google search will reveal how commonly the word is used in the context of organizations seeking to work together. Here is our proposal to Webster as a definition of the word:
Secund: to be paid by one organization while operating under the authority of another.
For example, WinShape Marriage has secunded Jeff Fray to work for the Marriage CoMission as Chair of the National Steering Committee. Jeff is supported by WinShape while working under the authority of the National Steering Committee. As we go forward, other allied organizations will likely secund members to work under a similar arrangement.
Why secunding? There are several great reasons to take the secunding approach:
Secunding allows the Marriage CoMission to go forward as a non-organization organization without the need to form a legal entity with its own bank account to operate from.
With the officers and “employees” of the Marriage CoMission being supported by allied organizations and operating under the authority of the Marriage CoMission, a true model for collaboration is lived out.
The Marriage CoMission is protected from the temptation to become another institution and all involved are suitably motivated to work themselves out of a job.
The challenge of secunding: Individuals working for the Marriage CoMission have the task of championing the interests of the Marriage CoMission partners, not just their own supporting organization.
