Dave Curry
Concept Seven - Reinvigorate District Chairs
All districts have folks whose desire to serve seems to have
faded. One problem is uninspired district chairs who are year
to year holdovers, no longer a significant presence in the
success of the district. Now, there are always "spark
plugs" who treat the job with the significance and importance
deserved, but in some districts these individuals can be a
minority. So how do we get District chairs "on board"
so that they feel the urge to contribute to district successes
the coming year? The following are suggestions to reinvigorate
these positions:
- Restructure - There are many important district chairs,
some that coordinate with Kiwanis International as contact
points for the district, but some are obsolete and can be
discontinued. In 1999/2000 we eliminated six district chair
positions, sending a silent message that there would be
no unnecessary assignments and that the ones remaining would
be an important part of our plans. Yet we had 36 district
committee positions in 1999/2000 compared to 33 the prior
year - SO, here are where some new positions came from:
- Regionalize - We added positions to our structure to
put emphasis on 3 committees where we had a major emphasis
that year. We cover a significant territorial area, so we
decided to have regional chair positions for our World Service
Project, Training, and Club Revitalization & Growth
committees. In essence, there were 3 chairs overseeing 3
separate geographical areas (in our case Western/Central
/Eastern regions) for each of those committees. This ensured
that these chairpersons were focused on a specific
group of Lt. Governors.
- Special Training Session - This item, on the outset, looks
to be the least intriguing, but ended up making a huge difference
in welling up support from these individuals as a group.
At the District Convention, we held a training session for
incoming District Chairs. When asked to serve, each chair
agreed to be at the session as a requirement for
taking that leadership position. Almost every chair made
the training, where we:
- Recognized, emphasized, and explained why each position
was important and what was expected, including how their
position was interwoven into a specific goal and objective
that year.
- Empowered them in front of each other (and the Lieutenant
Governors) to lead that effort in that region, encouraged
them to be involved, and explained how they are
critical to our overall success.
- Explained the appreciation & award philosophy
of recognizing only active committee chairs.
- Thanked them for their involvement and answered any
questions.
The chairpersons at that session added to our success
that year.
Considerations:
- Don't overlook District Chairs, assuming they will be
self-motivated or involved, bring them together.
- Restructuring has positive affects in emphasizing the
value of remaining positions. Even something as simple as
increasing the number of individuals through regionalizing
important chairs sends a message.
- Use award programs to encourage action, (one of our first
Kiwanian of the Month's was a district chair).
- Promote their importance in an early bulletin article
and at your speech as incoming District Governor.
- Do you have an individual who doesn't know the responsibilities
of a position, but would do well if directed? Put them with
a spark plug from another district to coordinate efforts
(call another Governor in your class).
Sometimes effective leadership entails expanding your sphere
of influence through empowering, motivating, and most importantly
"sending forth" others into the district, increasing
leadership presence.
For more information contact:
Name: Dave Curry
Address: 1204 W Woolman
 Butte,
MT 59701
Phone: (406) 723-8067
email: Dave Curry
Previous Concept Letter
| Next Concept Letter | List
of Letters
|
