Re: AUGD: Request for your thoughts - leadership transitions
Re: AUGD: Request for your thoughts - leadership transitions
- Subject: Re: AUGD: Request for your thoughts - leadership transitions
- From: "Nicholas Pyers - AppleUsers.org" <email@hidden>
- Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 22:14:29 +1100
If the MEMBERS of the group want it to survive, then most of the time someone will step forward to take on some of the roles that need filling… even if that role evolves in to something slightly (or even radically) different ;)
That said, all too often potential volunteers don’t know;
a) what the job actually is, and
b) how simple a job can actually be!
So have TWO documents to explain the actual job description available for each role you need filled.
The first “document” should be no more than TWO PARAGRAPHS LONG!!! Keep it simple and use it to entice interest in the role! Once you get interested people THEN you can give them the full nuts and bolts description.
The second one should be a far more detailed description (The Nuts and Bolts) of exactly what is involved in doing the task! And most of the time it is a lot simpler then people expected or they appreciate having the step-by-step processes already documented for them.
[PS: Does YOUR group have a Policy and Procedures Manual available NOW for EACH major role within the organisation that provides step-by-step descriptions on how to perform certain essential tasks — if not, perhaps NOW is the time to get everyone to start writing up what they actually do… or better still have someone else who does NOT normally have anything to do with the role write up the document - all too often those doing the task forget to document basic steps because the people who do them automatically perform them without thinking]
Many people initially think “Oh my! _I_ could never do what Fred was doing" - and then tell themselves one or more of the following;
— It’s too hard/I wouldn’t know how to do it
— I don’t have the time
— Someone else will do a better job than me
To over come these self-deceptive justifications, try and get the outgoing person to explain at one of your meetings just how easy the task actually is. See if the outgoing person can spend some time with the new person to actually show and explain what they did and how they did it.
Consider splitting tasks that one person is doing across multiple people… e.g. the current Secretary may be answering all the phone calls AND responding to all the incoming email - perhaps you might need to find two new people - one to answer just the phone calls and the other to just focus on responding to email
I’ve been involved with groups (User Groups and other interests) where the ENTIRE previous leadership walked away for one reason or another… in one case an entire new Committee came forward and took the club in a totally new direction and it survives to this day… another group imploded completely… at the end of the day it was the MEMBERS who decided what happened
--
Nicholas Pyers (email@hidden)
Founder & Publisher, AppleUsers.org
http://www.appleusers.org/
> On 11 Nov 2014, at 7:00 pm, Saundra I Foderick <email@hidden> wrote:
>
> I recently received a letter from a long-time group leader and a hoping that members of our list can offer guidance,
>
> She has been writing her group's newsletter for almost two decades and has served in multiple leadership positions. Her question was, "What can a group do when the long-time leaders who have kept a group alive move on, burn out, get older, or simply find themselves unable to serve?" She wondered if the only practical answer might be to end the group.
>
> Each time I sat down to write her back, I found that I was offering the standard vanilla advice, not really answers that would help her group weather a challenging situation.
>
> So, I am hoping that groups who have faced these challenges can offer concrete steps to help - action items that can revive a group.
>
> Thanks,
> Sandy Foderick
>
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