Merry Christmas

To all my fellow Kin, I love you all and wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Kinsmen vote "en bloc"

en bloc - as a unit; all together; as a whole

Voting en bloc is something that all Clubs, Zones and Districts do and are doing. We do it to vote for conventions, Vice Governors and National Vice Presidents.

We will sit in a caucus and decide where to place our vote and the proxies that we carry.  Then we will place all our votes on the same ballot.

I just want all members to think about the issue. We have a one member, one vote policy. I have these few questions about this policy, whether it is beneficial or not.

• Is there not, always a couple influential members convincing the rest of the caucus of their view?
• Would your District, Zone , Club, have all voted the same way?
• Is this vote a fair representation of our membership?
• Is there any other way of collecting the varied views of the membership?

I have had a large number of votes that I directed to a decision that I was not personally comfortable with, because of the caucus and voting en bloc system. The issue of proxies also fall into this problem, I will be talking about proxies in a later blog. Please comment if you have a view for or against this issue. My belief is that this is a problem and we are making our decisions based on the opinions of a very few Kin.

Communication is the Key

To be a leader, you must be able to communicate. The members need to know your opinion, thoughts, plans, and deals. Whether you are a President, Deputy Governor, Governor or National President, you MUST be in constant communication with the members, who look to you for guidance.

When I joined Kin, the only communication we had were letters that came though the post office. This was always very limited and after the fact. That is the one source of communication that is not very effective in these days of the 21st century. Now we have instant communication with tools like Facebook and Twitter. We have a rare leader of the Association, National President Lee Burry, he uses many forms of communicating with the members. I will use him as an example, below are the links to the National President, if you follow these you will become one of the informed;

Website - http://www.kincanada.ca/
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/#!/lee.burry
Facebook Page - http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Kin-Canada/108172575878053
Facebook Group - Lee still could fill this void.
Twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/leeburry
Blog - http://believekin.ca/blog/
Youtube channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/believekin
Linkedin - http://www.linkedin.com/Lee

This is very impressive, we have a Kin National President that is aware of the potential of communication. Good job Lee....

There is also a huge communication tool that most members have, a cellphone. With your phone, you can text, Blackberry message, email, and of course, call. I used all these tools as Governor, I found that this is the most important thing that the members need, information. These days we hunger for up to the second information and a constant connection.

As a leader, or just Joe Member, please use these tools. The Association needs communication, and it should be two way communication. Members need to know and have input. Let us move into the future and stay connected.

Foundation Apologizes

The Foundation has sent a letter of apology to the Clubs. This was an honourable  move after their actions at the AGM. I am very pleased to see that they made the right move, and I commend them. We must all support and assist the Foundation with their better understanding of the membership.

There are however, a few issues that I do not understand;

• How they could interpret the clause; Section 6, subsection (a) (in earlier post on Nov. 17th), as a fee must be paid to the Foundation. My interpretation would simply be that the Clubs must participate in fund raising activities of the Foundation, just as it is worded.
• There is still no reference to an amount that must be paid, in the apology letter. We still have no written policy.
• There was a strange issue about the date of the letter. the letter was dated on October 22nd, soon after FLC and well before my blog post about the Foundation on November 17th. But, the letter was postmarked at a private postage machine on November 18th. then marked at the Post Office on November 19th. I just found this very odd, and wonder if they want the impression that the letter was done earlier than reality

The Foundation has made a good first step, we must now watch the following actions and put all our support behind our Foundation.

Who directs the National Association?

The National portion of our Organization is a very important aspect. We need to be united, part of a whole, and associated to a larger group. We are all affected by the actions and business of "National". I put, to you, who gives National direction, and steers them in the directions that the membership wish?

In the past, the direction came from the members. We could all have motions brought to the floor of the National Convention. We had our Governors on the board (with the members concerns). In those days National was solely directed by the members.

Then we changed the format of the National board, to remove the Governors and use an Association Director. Being on that first board for a period of 2½ years, my goal was to try to establish the purpose of the Association Director to just relieve the Governors work load. Myself and a couple other board members believed that the Association Directors could be an asset to the Association. This could be done by the A.D. doing the grunt work at National, thus allowing the Governors more time to concern themselves with the business of the District.

At this time the Association Director now known as a National Director (N.D.) takes their direction, from the National President and the Executive Director. The Governor has very little input into the direction of the board, only through external means, they have no direct input. The N.D. is a representative of the National Association, when attending District events. They are NOT the Districts representative on the National Board. The N.D. is only allowed to make the scripted statements that are provided by the board, they can not give their views on any issue. They also can not release any information prior to having permission from the board. The regular member has no way to advise the N.D. on the direction that they wish the national board to go.

All the new directions we have (Vision 20/20, being green, balanced scorecard, etc.) come from the Executive Director, to the N.D.’s that devise a policy, with the Governors overview after the fact. Then it is presented to the members as a done deal.

Are these plans or policies bad, absolutely not!! Are they member driven, no!! “National” has become an elite group. Look at all the committees and boards; you will see the same names over and over. If you speak out about the direction or policies of National, you will have a hard time to get into that group.

The National Directors need to be a representative of their District. The Governors should be directing them to what direction to move the Association. The National Directors would then formulate a process to carry out the direction. Then the Executive Director should carry out the wishes of the Board, the E.D. should be only advising the board not directing it. Then when a plan or policy is developed, the members approve them at their District Conventions and then at National Convention.

I only want to see more member involvement in the Association. At this time I see us having no input or say in OUR Association.

We need YOU!!

There are always elections in Kin, but there are some very important elections coming in the next few months. Our Foundation, District and Kin Canada need your help. Are you a Kin of good character? Do you want the Association to grow and prosper? More importantly, do you want to grow and prosper? Kin is about the personal development; this is your opportunity to move forward in your Kin career.

District Vice Governor / Governor

2 year term

Election – District Kinvention 2011 at Port Alberni

National Director

2 year term

Election – District Kinvention 2011 at Port Alberni

Foundation Director – 3 positions available

2 year term

Election – Fall Leadership Conference 2011 / Foundation AGM at Harrison Hotsprings

These positions need Kin with a strong character. We need Kin in these positions to listen to the members, bring the information back to the members and be willing to fight for the future of Kin. We need to move the Association in new directions and forward out of the past. You can learn and grow in these positions; your future may be here.

Help us and help yourself, think now about putting your hat in the ring… Think now, think early .We need you.