The Season for Family and Friends

I hope you had a great Christmas season. We all need good times, drink and food with all our family and friends.

My season was fabulous, 10 days off work, many dinners with family, my daughter, sons and granddaughter put many smiles on my face. For the upcoming New Year, I will be working, driving public transit for 11 hours straight (no party for me). I do this work, not because I have to, rather I want to see the freak show that is NYE, instead of being the show....lol.

As the New Year approaches, my wish is that all of you will have a healthy, happy and prosperous 2012. The new year is a time for new beginnings, it is time for us to change tack and try to better our situation. For our Kin life I hope you all will keep the education and personal betterment at the top of your list. If we concentrate on ourselves, we will only improve everything around us.

So have a great New Year and may you grow all year long.....

Wanted - more members for Kin Canada

Facebook says I work at Kin Canada, well I do. I work at, for, with, and because of Kin Canada. We are in need of new members. I need help, I am tired and old and working at Kin Canada is consuming my life, and I love it. I would not have it any other way.

What can Kin Canada offer to you? Why would you want to join?

You may have friends, but you need more. Kin Canada has the best besties you can find. Friends that stand by your side through the thick and thin. You could have friends all across this country, from coast to coast to almost coast. My Kin Family will invite you in, hold you close and never let you go. You need this family, you need this Association, you need these people. They will overwhelm your life, and keep you moving forward. I have been with Kin Canada for 18 official years and 20 unofficial years, and I have so many friends my life is full and complete.

We will give you the best professional and personal development money can buy. Kin Canada breeds the best leaders in Canada. If you want to move up in your job or profession, your personal life or public life, you need Kin Canada. We train all members, the more you want the more you will get. We will train, teach and guide you to a better more fulfilled life. So you can start to improve your life now, sign up with Kin Canada and take that first step to your new and improved future.

And all the time that you are making friends, having fun, and bettering your life, you can be helping others. Kin Canada is the best Service Association in Canada. Now you may be thinking, what is a Service Association or Service Club? That's the icing on the cake. We serve the community, help the disabled, assist the poor, give children with Cystic Fibrous a better life, help kids in sports, and a million other things. The pride you can have in helping others is huge, the space in your heart is filled instantly. If you have a cause that is close to your heart and something that you would like to support, your Club would be happy to include that in their purpose.

So now is your chance to take that first step to a better future. Facebook Kin Canada, Google Kin Canada, message me. It is easy to find that Club in your area that would love to hear from you. Any Kin in this entire country would love to help you find your future Club.

And to my Kin Family...pass this message on. In any form you wish, just spread the word about Kin.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night

Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day is to remember the troops that fought for Canadians. It is not about approving of the conflict, rather keeping in our thoughts and minds, the young men and women that put their lives on the line for all Canadians.

Being a truly Canadian Service Association, I hope that all Kin will participate in the service at the local cenotaph, or just take that minute at 11:00 am to remember those brave Canadians. As with Portraits of Honour, please keep keep this day close to your heart.

Kin Communication

Sorry I have been so absent. my life has been in turmoil, but I promise to be MUCH more active with the blog. My belief is that we need more views and opinions in the Family of Kin. Now my topic;


I talked at FLC about the need for communication in Kin. Just a little will go a long way. Since that time, I have heard little from District 5. There are a few key Kin that can keep the conversation going. I have a request that should be easy.....Fellow Kin, lets get talking...and mention this blog and you will recieve a 25% discount.

Love ya all...

The Future of Kin is Fun & Knowledge

Last year DG Sharole and DG Kimberli, undertook an event that was hoped to help both their Zones in the future. They were hosting a combined education weekend, in an effort to bring the Zones and members together with education and fellowship.

They managed to bat it out of the park. To keep Kin involved and active, you need to make it fun while keeping them informed. I helped with some of the facilitating, I wholeheartedly loved to help with the promotion of Kin.

This year the Columbia Valley Kin and especially the Cranbrook Kin pulled off the same type of education weekend. It was also a great success. They had a few big issues to deal with, but they held it all together and held a fabulous event. President Crystal and Kin Kelly developed an excellent team building event, The Kin-azing Race. This is what it is about, vision, plan, execution and celebrate, these ladies know what Kin is about. This event is the future of Kin, it was the kind of event that needs to be copied by all.

They invited me to help facilitate some of the seminars. I was delighted to help. I always know this is what I like doing, but now I know this is really what I want to do with Kin. My belief is that we all need to promote Fellowship and Personal Development, to keep Kin involved and attract new members. I am avalible and would love to help anyone that wishes to hold such an event. And please remember to;

Grow, Learn, Make Friends, Have Fun

National Convention

Have you sent in your proxy for the National Convention?

The deadline to fax it to National has been extended to August 24th. The proxy can be found at


http://www.kincanada.ca/kinsmen-pages/en/content/160/National-Conventions


I hope that link will work, please just go to the National page, then convention, then proxy.

There is a motion on the floor, you can find it in the "Kinections". They did not circulate it very good. There is also the budget and any other item that may come up.

I will be attending National, so will our present Governors (Paul and Kelly), and our outgoing Governor Lisa (not sure if Philip is attending). Any of those people, or anybody else that is attending, would be glad to carry your vote. Please we must all stand up and have a voice. We must all participate in the affairs of National.

Download the form, sign, and fax.......simple. Please take part

InterClub, what is that?

This may just be the future of Kin. To interclub is to take your Club (or at least some of it) and visit another during their meeting.

When I joined, this was a function that we all loved. The fellowship of another Club was always fabuolus. The Personal Development that we gained, watching a fellow Club in action, was tremendous. Even the trip was very memorable, with your own Club.

Now. We don't have the time. New young members would love to visit their neighboring Club. New young members need to expand to outside of their own Club. They need more, the best way to provide your members with more is to pick them up next Tuesday night, and hit the road.

While you are there, don't forget to have fun with them. Vote when you can, change their rules, mess with them. Make so they come visit you for "pay back".....

Got to love the road trip.....

Manage or Resolve

At the District Leadership Seminar this year, National has continued to have a section on "Conflict Resolution". Most organizations have changed their focus to "Conflict Management" rather than resolution. Very few conflicts can actually be resolved. Conflicts can however, be controlled, directed and we can learn to cope with any conflicts that we may have. I am a huge advocate of conflict management, I feel that we need to live in the real world where conflicts happen every day, and we must have the skills to control and cope with these conflicts.

I was under the misconception that I had some of these skills. I have a very good friend that did support me in all aspects of Kin. When this friend took on a position and needed my support, I was not there. In order to manage our conflicts there are many options we have. One can collaborate, compromise, accommodate, compete or avoid. I had issues with the decisions that my friend was making. In my mind, I chose the last option of ignoring, for the reason that it was easier to walk away and not have the conflict.

The result of this decision was to make the conflict much harder to manage or resolve. I chose to avoid the conflict with my friends' choices, by doing so, the conflict is not about decisions made, rather they are now about my loyatly to my friend. My devotion to my friend is now the conflict. This issue will take a very long time to manage. Trust is a big conflict and the hardest to resolve.

The moral of this story, is to be upfront and honest with others and especially the Family of Kin. We all deserve better, hiding your true feelings or avoiding an issue, well not come to a good conclusion. I have learned that my friends are the best in the world, and can deal with honesty and openness.

To PDF or not to PDF

We always want to PDF our files. (Personal Document File). Yes we must, because everyone knows that those evil Kin will change the files. So we must PDF it so that no changes can be made. Now I am being sarcastic, but we do need to make sure we have the newest and accurate files.

But PLEASE people we do have to have the WORD file, and need it accessible. I spent hours with our awards rules, because we only had the PDF file (and 28 different files and not one). We had to retype the entire file and double check every page. We do not have to be too protective of our files. We have the PDF to make sure it is accurate, we also need the word file so people can copy paste and change for motions, etc.

So we will not steal your precious info. Be free, people have word and we wont try to con you by showing you a wrong file.

National does a survey

We all recently got a link to do a National survey. I was so happy, this is the only way we get to introduce the regular members input. However, as you will see, the input they will get is very limited. Here is the link...

http://www.kincanada.ca/kinsmen-pages/en/specialty/44/Highlight4

Now, a survey or a referendum are only as good as the question they ask. the question can be worded in such a way as to get the answer you want. the questions must be open and simple. Here are the questions that the National Board of Directors presented;

1. How should the activities of Kin Canada affect Canadians over the next five years?

2. Describe the results the efforts of Kin Canada have had on Canadians?

3. How have the activities of your club contributed to the mission of Kin Canada?

4. How can the association better serve its members in making them better Kin?

5. How does Kin best serve Canada and Canadians?

WHAT?????

 

These questions are very abstract. They all need a 1,000 word essay to answer each one. I read them and did not understand what the National Board wanted. It would seem to me that the Board of Directors wants to give the impression of getting input from the members, without actually getting any valid information. These questions are vague, and not focused, I believe that the Board is trying to look like "intellectual visionary's".

 

Now, I do want you to answer the survey. Please do go to the site and be part of active Kin. But answer questions that you would like to be asked. Give them the information that you wish to give. Maybe operational issues, now the Board does not deal with operational issues, but who does? 

 

Question 3, mentions the Mission Statement.

 

'Kin Canada is a dynamic volunteer organization enriching our communities through service while embracing national pride, positive values, personal development and lasting friendships.'

or is it?

“Committed to changing lives and making Canadian communities a better place to live”

I am not sure which one of these statements is the actual Mission statement. Both are a very good start, however they are way too detailed. They threw everything into these statements, except the kitchen sink. They have become confusing and too much information. I do like the second one, of course with some words removed;

Kin Canada, Changing lives..

Simple, to the point, easy to remember, look great on banners and brouchures. Need I say more?

Yes we want surveys, we want to participate. Please just make it relevant and important to us. And I do want to thank the Board for their hard work, I just think that they get mislead and drift off the tracks.

Really, is a Proxy vote good for Kin?

Proxy Definition;

1. A person authorized to act for another; an agent or substitute.

2. The authority to act for another.

3. The written authorization to act in place of another.

District 5 House Rules, Section 14, Article 7;

District Proxy

a)   A proxy shall be allowed at District Convention, Fall Leadership Conference or any special membership meeting.

b)  A proxy is the authority given to an active life member or active member, in good standing within the District, to vote on behalf of an absentee Club.

c)   A proxy must be in written form, delivered to the credentials desk prior to the commencement of the District meeting. A proxy must be dated, may have a statement of intent to proxy voting authority, be signed by, two executive members preferably the President and the Secretary.

d)  Proxy authority may be used at any poll vote or ballot vote, within that assigned District meeting.

A proxy does allow all Kin to have their voice. This seems to be the only benefit to a proxy. We have a proxy to give the illusion of democracy and fairness. In reality many organization do NOT have a proxy vote, reasons are as follows;

• ·        A proxy is, in essence, a power of attorney. Thus the proxy holder votes how they feel the vote should be placed, and not necessarily how the absent member wanted the vote placed.

• ·        A proxy will dramatically change the dynamics of the floor of a conference. When a straw vote is held, we would have 80 people in the room, with all the information. If a poll vote is held, then there will be 500 votes, with about 5 Kin holding ¾ of the vote. I do not believe that this is democratic or fair. This is a recipe for disillusion for the majority of members.

• ·        We have a huge issue with participation in Kinventions and conferences. We need to educate members and make them more active in our Association. Do we do this with the proxy rule? A proxy allows members and Clubs to stay home. A proxy just rewards members for not being active. We need to make members accountable, if they wish to have a voice, they must become part of the Organization.

• ·        All Clubs need only send one member to be able to have their own vote. This should not be difficult, to send at least one member.

A proxy does not promote democracy; rather it puts the voting power in the hands of a few. We need more informed decisions, having a proxy system has the unknowledgeable members with the power of the vote. A Club that is too complacent to send a member to Kinvention should not be afforded the luxury of having a vote. The active members and Clubs that take part in our meetings and the discussion are the ones that I would like to see making the decisions in our Association. Members and Clubs that stay home and don’t have the information should not be making choices for us.

Who do you give your proxy to? Why aren’t you attending? Are they really voting in your best interest?

Lazy Blogmaster

I am so sorry fellow Kin. I have been so lazy in updating this blog. I really wanted this to be a communication tool, but unfortunately I did not follow though.

Even at this time I am writing this during my Kinsmen meeting. And yes, I am being fined.

I will be blogging about the proxy system we have. This WILL be out very soon.

Sorry all