Re: Dealing with a common problem - your help please
Re: Dealing with a common problem - your help please
- Subject: Re: Dealing with a common problem - your help please
- From: Pat Fauquet <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 06:21:35 -0400
Dealing with a common problem - your help please
I took over the presidency of Washington Apple Pi after we had the same
President for 11 years. He is a great person and finally burned out.
Along the way our members and board began to expect more and more from
him and fewer and fewer people stepped forward to help out. Of course,
we can also turn that around. He took on more and more responsibilities
and forgot how to ask for help or he did not recognize that people were
volunteering.
It has been a tough year on many fronts. First of all, this has been a
year with heavy family involvements for me. I have also had some
serious dental surgery and been sick quite a bit. All that added up to
not being able to spend my entire life running the Pi. It meant I had
to rely on others instead of taking on every job.
First of all, even for a small group, your elected board is way too
small. We presently have 15 board members and in doing a lot of reading
about successful non-profit groups, we should have at least two if not
five more positions. More people to help means that the jobs are much
smaller. While the Pi is quite large and we have an office to staff and
many activities, even small clubs have a lot that needs to be done.
Second, form committees to take over large jobs and find people to help
staff the committees so that one or two people do not have to take on
major tasks alone. Identify the jobs that need to be done. When your
new board meets for the first time, have each of them chair a committee
and co-chair a second one. Make sure they find one or two people from
the general membership to help on the committee too. They can also
serve as chairmen if they are not in an elected position on the board.
Third, get as many of these people as possible to your board meeting
and ask for committee reports each time. In your board meetings, do not
move off of a report or topic until you have identified the people who
will help with the next phase of a project or job.
Fourth, do not micro-manage tasks. Things may not be done the way you
would do them, but words of encouragement and thanks will get more out
of your board next month than fussing about a job poorly done. Each
person will have to grow in their jobs and things will get easier.
Fifth and most important, spend as much time as you can before and
after general meetings meeting and clu events talking to your general
members while watching for signs of their wanting to help out. Take the
bull by the horns and give them a job. Make sure they know they are
needed and appreciated. One of our most successful ventures has been to
have a Lunch SIG that meets right after our meeting. We announce the
Lunch SIG at every general meeting and I make sure to spend time
talking to every person who comes. I make sure to get contact
information, invite them to the next board meeting and try to find out
what their interests are. I put them in touch with the corresponding
chairman and make sure to contact them personally in a week or two to
encourage them to become a part of the action.
Sixth, be ready and willing to accept resignations from board members
who cannot for some reason fulfill the needs of their office, or find
them a different job within the board. We have had five resignations
from our board this year, some for health reasons, some because of work
pressures, some because of moves, but I have kept a short list of
people who would be willing to step into a board position if one became
available. We have ended each board meeting with all positions filled
because of that short list. I have also been able to find helpers for
those whose jobs were more than they expected --such as your treasurer.
I said that the fifth point was the most important--well, I lied. The
most important thing is to tell your board how long you plan to be the
President. Be looking for a short list of people who could take over as
President and be training your replacement. It is not so much that
being President is tough, but that your group will need a person with
fresh ideas to take the helm after a year or two. I have let the board
know that I will not be president next year (I have just run for my
second term.). I have identified the job within the club that I want to
do then and because we have so many more people involved, being
President next year will not be as time-consuming as it has been for me
this year! We are about to begin the process of re-writing our by-laws
and I hope we can move to a three person presidency. I hope we will
have a President, a President-Elect and a Past President (perhaps to be
called Presidential Advisor). The first two will run the club, and the
old President will be there to lend a hand if and when the other two
ask for it. Of course that means that others in the group need to
rotate also. Secretaries, Treasurers, Program Chairmen etc. also get
tired and they too need to move to different positions. No one should
always be in charge of the same thing!
Pat Fauquet
President
Washington Apple Pi Macintosh Users Group
email@hidden
http://www.wap.org
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