CONCEPT THREE

CONCEPT THREE: The right of decision, based on trust, makes effective leadership possible.
Principle: Trust 

TRUST:  I always like to start, first, with a definition. According to the dictionary, ‘trust is a firm belief in the ability and reliability, the truth and strength of someone or something.’ 

Now, I know, that is a strong statement, given the feelings of doubt and misgiving in anyone, anything, including our own selves, that we felt before we came into this program. 

Until we started our recovery, many of us had felt anything but trustworthy, and very few people in our lives had been an example of this. We didn’t have a lot to work with. This principle of Trust eluded us. 

I heard once in a meeting that trust isn’t something that is given, especially not in this disease, rather: ‘Trust is experience over time”.  It is an integral part of this journey towards serenity. 

Trust is not a destination, but rather it is a journey of acceptance and understanding, a growing loving awareness and compassion. 

It’s those little steps we take everyday that begins to unfurl a whole new way of being in this world where we can begin to trust in ourselves, trust in our Higher Power’s will for us, rather than relying upon our own judgements and  limited understandings. 

THE RIGHT OF DECISION BASED ON TRUST:  The Third Concept gives OA groups the right to bestow upon a trusted individual, the authority to make decisions on behalf of the group when needed. 

We may not understand at the start of our recovery, that when we criticize someone in a service role, or tell them how they should be doing their job, the way we want them to, or undermine them in any way, we are actually preventing them from making effective decisions on their own, the very decisions we are trusting them to make on behalf of the group! 

When we are not allowing them their right of decision, based on the trust that we have placed upon them, then we are not acting in accordance with Concept Three.

This process of decision-making is the glue which binds the service worker to this fellowship, to all those who voted them into their position, on behalf of all those their position might benefit. 

Even when they might not always do things the way we want them to, as long as they are working within their job description, a trusted servant has the right to decide how to do their jobs. 

MAKES EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP POSSIBLE: Concept Three asks us all to trust our service workers to act and lead responsibly, and then, most importantly, leave them room to accomplish that task. 

OA members who are placed in these decision-making positions are generally members who have served in other roles; thus, the selecting body is trusting that, based on their past performance, these members will make the best choices for the group as a whole. 

They may be new to the task itself, but as long as they have demonstrated they are willing to learn, to grow into the role, we can all rest assured that they are doing their job according to the trust that was placed upon them, to the best of their abilities. 

OA couldn’t operate without this trust in those in service positions. Someone, somewhere along the line of service, needs to make a choice, initiate a new course of action, produce a motion, or provide space for the fellowship to grow in some way.

Their ability to delegate in this manner, that is in keeping with their role and our vested interest in them, allows for quick and efficient decision making to occur, and the dissemination of information as it might apply to a situation. 

CONCEPT THREE: The right of decision, based on trust, makes effective leadership possible. Recovery from compulsive overeating first helps us learn to trust ourselves. As we grow in that awareness, we learn to not only trust ourselves, but this sense of trust is developed in a deepened faith in our Higher Power, and then… ultimately in our fellows, and other events surrounding us. 

Presented by Alix S. on March 19, 2023
This content reflects the experience, strength, and hope of our members, and, as such does not reflect OA as a whole.