Problem
You go to a club or organization and last year;s contacts have moved on. Why?
Toastmasters attempts to give the previous president status with the letters for Immediate Past President, IPP. The IPP can usually be relied on as a backup to give the opening address to the meetings when the President is away on business trips or holidays or family birthday parties.
I was discussing this with a senior, experience, long-standing member of TCS, toastmasters club of Singapore. He asked, "Does the president have real power? Or is a senior person from the old days the one who always has to be consulted first? Maybe the president feels they have no power, no authority."
That explains it. The President will resign early if he or she has all their aims and hopes and plans thwarted.
At a meeting, discussions can go on for hours when the veto people refuse to give way. Eventually, or at a pre-arranged time (five minutes for each item on the agenda), the President has to End the discussion.
He/she might say, either,
'We have heard arguments for both sides, the committee will now vote' or
'We won't spend any more time on this, I am appointing you three to form a cub-committee and reach a decision within a fortnight. So and so is head of the committee and has the casting vote. He/she will report back what you have done at the next meeting,' or
'What we tried before didn't work. So we'll give the new system a try and see if it works.,' or
"Since you can't agree, I am making the decision. We will do ..."
If the president resigns suddenly, before the end of the term of office, possibly:
The backup committee is leaving too much to the President
The President has not been allowed to make decisions.
The President does not know how to make decisions.
The President does not or will not delegate.
The back up committee needs to be changed so the President has support.
A system needs to be set up so that a committee member absent for three meetings in a row must either appoint an assistant as backup, or their role will be taken over by another who has more time.
We had a committee member whose husband died and another who lost their grandmother. After weeks of deliberation I found what I thought was the polite wording. Could you devise a variation on this?
'Dear (name)
We all missed seeing you and are concerned for your well-being.
We would love you to come back to a meeting so we can offer you our friendship and support and help you to get away from your cares with a change of scene.
'We want you to be able to come back without the burden of having to take on responsibility.
We propose to temporarily appoint (name) to take over your role until you feel well enough and have the time free to resume the role.
The role will still be open to you this session or next when you feel ready for it because you were so good at it in the past.
'We hope as soon as you are feeling a bit better you will come along, even if it's only for the first half of the meeting, or just the break, or just the second half, as we would love to see you again and want you to know that we all care about you.'
I wrote this to one of our committee members. She wrote that she was very pleased to hear from me and thanked me for my concern. She came back and resumed her role.
The important thing is to provide support for all the committee members and be sure they are all supporting the President.
Keeping Track
I keep in touch with a lot of organizations.I end up with assorted cards and don't know who is or was who when. I have started writing the year on the back of business cards. That way I can keep track of the most recent president and committee. if I am emailed that so and so has been voted in as president for a second term, I can add the new date and if possible write to congratulate them and be sure I am still on their mailing list.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
See my previous posts on visiting Hong Kong, Kindertransport monuments in Europe, and Titanic exhibitions in Ireland and elsewhere.
You go to a club or organization and last year;s contacts have moved on. Why?
Toastmasters attempts to give the previous president status with the letters for Immediate Past President, IPP. The IPP can usually be relied on as a backup to give the opening address to the meetings when the President is away on business trips or holidays or family birthday parties.
I was discussing this with a senior, experience, long-standing member of TCS, toastmasters club of Singapore. He asked, "Does the president have real power? Or is a senior person from the old days the one who always has to be consulted first? Maybe the president feels they have no power, no authority."
That explains it. The President will resign early if he or she has all their aims and hopes and plans thwarted.
At a meeting, discussions can go on for hours when the veto people refuse to give way. Eventually, or at a pre-arranged time (five minutes for each item on the agenda), the President has to End the discussion.
He/she might say, either,
'We have heard arguments for both sides, the committee will now vote' or
'We won't spend any more time on this, I am appointing you three to form a cub-committee and reach a decision within a fortnight. So and so is head of the committee and has the casting vote. He/she will report back what you have done at the next meeting,' or
'What we tried before didn't work. So we'll give the new system a try and see if it works.,' or
"Since you can't agree, I am making the decision. We will do ..."
If the president resigns suddenly, before the end of the term of office, possibly:
The backup committee is leaving too much to the President
The President has not been allowed to make decisions.
The President does not know how to make decisions.
The President does not or will not delegate.
The back up committee needs to be changed so the President has support.
A system needs to be set up so that a committee member absent for three meetings in a row must either appoint an assistant as backup, or their role will be taken over by another who has more time.
We had a committee member whose husband died and another who lost their grandmother. After weeks of deliberation I found what I thought was the polite wording. Could you devise a variation on this?
'Dear (name)
We all missed seeing you and are concerned for your well-being.
We would love you to come back to a meeting so we can offer you our friendship and support and help you to get away from your cares with a change of scene.
'We want you to be able to come back without the burden of having to take on responsibility.
We propose to temporarily appoint (name) to take over your role until you feel well enough and have the time free to resume the role.
The role will still be open to you this session or next when you feel ready for it because you were so good at it in the past.
'We hope as soon as you are feeling a bit better you will come along, even if it's only for the first half of the meeting, or just the break, or just the second half, as we would love to see you again and want you to know that we all care about you.'
I wrote this to one of our committee members. She wrote that she was very pleased to hear from me and thanked me for my concern. She came back and resumed her role.
The important thing is to provide support for all the committee members and be sure they are all supporting the President.
Keeping Track
I keep in touch with a lot of organizations.I end up with assorted cards and don't know who is or was who when. I have started writing the year on the back of business cards. That way I can keep track of the most recent president and committee. if I am emailed that so and so has been voted in as president for a second term, I can add the new date and if possible write to congratulate them and be sure I am still on their mailing list.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
See my previous posts on visiting Hong Kong, Kindertransport monuments in Europe, and Titanic exhibitions in Ireland and elsewhere.
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