[Chapter-delegates] ISOC 2008 Chapter Review - Your feedback?

[Veni Markovski]

Patrick,
I agree that what is done, is done. That should not stop us from suggesting
new ideas how it could be, or should be.
Here is what I think should the process be in future cases (wrt chapters):
- Staff or board has an idea. they either develop it to a level to be shared
with board members, or share it in advance.
- Then use this list to share and ask for comments. (in this particular case
there are already comments - pictures used, language diversity, etc.)
- Then create the final document, which the BoT could either vote upon, or
have it "as information only".

ISOC needs to open towards transparency and more participation from the
members. So far we see that ISOC produces lots of documents, which are
created by staff, but rarely (?) discussed by Board. Perhaps that needs to
be changed, if the Board, of course, agrees on it.
Having said that, of course I agree with your assessment of the fiduciary
duties, and it is good to remind it to every Trustee. At the same time,
let's not forget that the chapters are the only civil society organizations
represented at the Board level. You see, the Internet Society is not a
closed group of professionals, as it used to be 18 years ago, when only or
mainly engineers were in control and command, not only of ISOC, but of the
Internet, too:-)
In today's world, ISOC is attempting to find its relevance by stating that
it represent 20,000 members, 80 companies, and 80 chapters.
Well, the chapters' voice at the Board and senior staff level is not well
heard, and sometimes their concerns are not either well understood, or well
addressed.

You say that you hope staff will take a note of this. I imagine that means
publishing a calendar, which would be saying:
Dear chapters, for the 2009 chapters annual report, here are the deadlines:

- acceptance of chapters' stories: Dec. 31
- review, edit, preparation: January 15
- circulation of the draft, time for comments:  January 15.
- accepting edits/comments: February 1.
- translation in French, Spanish, Arabic: February 15
- printing: March 1
- distribution: throughout the year

Or something like that. Once these dates are in the public calendar, they
just need to send updates and reminders on the list. Now, I am improvising
here, because a) this is not really my job - it should be done by staff, and
approved by Board, and b) the dates are just created, and they may differ.

However, even this can be published for comments in the chapters' list. I
say "chapters", but this could be published in the organizational members'
list, too.

Open ISOC towards the members, and ask for contribution from them. Make
their voice being heard, that's the bottom line.

best,
veni




On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 3:37 AM, Patrick Vande Walle <patrick at vande-walle.eu
> wrote:

>
> Veni,
>
> Speaking as a board member, I confirm I was not aware of this initiative.
> However, had I been asked, I would have approved it on the principle.
> The implementation details are, as usual, the job of the staff. As a
> former board member, you know that it is not the role of the board to
> micro-manage the Society. You and I and others have been blamed for that
> several times in the past. You also know that, once elected to the board,
> your fiduciary duties are towards the Society as a whole, and not as an
> advocate of the particular group that has elected you. But this should not
> prevent a trustee to bring to the board his/her particular area of
> expertise for the benefit for the Society as a whole.
>
> I agree that the "complain after the fact" mechanism we have is not
> optimal. There were several examples in the past of the lack of
> communication between the staff ad the chapters. However, I do not think it
> is the case here. There were bilateral communications between the staff and
> the relevant chapters. I am fine with that. Any process can be made better.
> One gains from experience. I am sure the chpaters staff will take that into
> account the next time.
>
> In this particular case, I think the benefits outwheight any identified
> weakness in the process. It shows positively the chapters. It's good
> advertising both for ISOC global and the chapters.
>
>
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