Saying Yes to Life Means You Become Things in Days of My Destiny
- March 12, 2014, 8:01 p.m.
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- Public
So Little L goes to preschool now. This preschool is run by a mobile family resource unit that actually offers a range of services in a range of places in the region. It runs something like 5 or 6 preschools, 1 outside school hours care, a mobile toy library and runs mothers groups in remote areas. It's actually pretty cool. Anyway at the start of the year, a mum I know in town was asking around if people entering this service would like to join the committee, seeing as a few of the people on the committee were leaving (due to not needing to use the service anymore). I was somewhat interested. I was told that I could become a Floor Member, where the only responsibilities are to attend 4 general meetings per year and to always promote the service in the way I spoke to people.
I went along to the AGM on Monday willing to become a floor member.
I am now the President.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!
Basically all positions were deemed vacant and so nominations began for new people to take on the old positions. Nobody at all was interested in any of the executive positions (president, vice-president, treasurer and secretary), myself included. All other positions were filled and then there was a second call for the executive positions. I decided I could give Treasurer a go. I was nominated, I accepted. Then the other executive positions were filled - all except President. Nobody at all was raising their hand. Out of about 25 attendees, not one wanted to go for it. In the meantime, I realised that going for Treasurer probably wasn't a wise move, seeing as numbers aren't really my strong point (lol). There was thick reluctance in the air for anyone to go for the President position. The people in charge of the meeting (the old executives) were trying so hard to convince anyone to just even give it a go, which got me thinking some more. They then said, "Even if you've already put your hand up for another position.... if you think that the role of President might interest you a little, that's okay, we can swap positions," and that's when I put my hand up! From their perspective, this was fantastic news and a really successful meeting (they had kept saying that a committee really can't work without a president - and I found out later why). On my end, I was spinning out!!! I told them I'm a pretty laidback sort of person and that I could only be president if the president had a president hahahahaha! Everyone laughed, but they still allowed me to give this a go. I was feeling daunted but excited. My head was spinning a little even and I turned to Leah beside me (who eventually became my secretary!) and said, "What just happened????" Lol. Straight after that, the AGM finished and a general meeting began and from that very moment, I was President and sat at the front to lead the meeting!!!!!! It was the most BIZARRE thing ever!!! LOL!!!! And the Director even offered to make me a coffee and was asking how I have it!!! Lol!!!! Leah was sitting beside me as my secretary and here we were, leading this meeting without even knowing the procedures or the lingo hahahaha!!! It was the funnest way to ever be thrown in the deep end!!!
That night I came home and read through ALL the paperwork that was given to me that day (reports etc) and got a much better understanding of all the roles and who is who. I also understand a bit clearer now what my role is, though I won't have the full picture until our "Handover" meeting next Wednesday, when the old execs hand over everything to the new execs.
Since Monday, the daunting aspect of it has died away and I know that I am capable of doing this. One of my concerns that I raised at the meeting (before deciding to go for it) was the fact that they'd mentioned that the President needs to be in touch with the day to day business happenings and be able to read emails regularly. I raised my concern that my internet where I live is pretty terrible, but then they said really I could get away with checking it a few times a week. Turns out that checking my emails on my phone actually works heaps better than trying to check it on my laptop, so that's what I've been doing.
In hindsight, as situations come to light, I'm already really grateful that I didn't end up with the Treasurer's position. It seems that the whole service itself hasn't been the best financially speaking and have gone over budget in many areas. This looks bad in terms of funding, because we haven't been organized with the money given. There are a lot of grey areas too, which the Treasurer has been trying to iron out in the last twelve months. There is a need for a lot more consistency in terms of procedures, and the Treasurer has asked that the Administration develops a procedural manual even (to which the Administration has felt threatened). The Treasurer has to report on the financial side of things without sugar coating anything, which means bringing light to things that aren't always easy to report on or easy to hear. So I'm glad for that reason that I haven't ended up in a position where I have to be the person doing that. Another reason why I'm thankful already is that there is a suggestion for the outside school hours service to close this year, in which the Treasurer will be heavily involved. Again, I'm glad I don't have to be the face of such an unsavoury situation and I'm glad I don't have to try to liaise with upset parents over this.
As President I have been receiving emails left, right and centre already. This morning after taking M to the bus stop, I sat down to go through some of the emails - it was an hour and a half before I was completely done!!! Crazy!!!!
Some things have developed. The lady who did become Treasurer has since decided against this. She was willing to take on the position without really knowing exactly what was involved. She knows I'm new to it all too and felt bad to have to throw this on top of it all, but I told her it's not a problem at all! If anything, it's great she knows her strengths and limitations! So I've been emailing with her a little bit about this, and also contacting the ex-President, seeking advice on what the best procedure is from here. I was also on the phone to the Treasurer-now-not-Treasurer this morning. She's from my hometown which was really awesome, and we seemed to have good rapport too. I was on the phone to her for ages and it was just great to have a chat. She was telling me her concerns regarding her decision and how the ex-Treasurer might take to it. It was so good that she sought my advice and blessing for this first and that she could share all of this with me.
One of the things I noticed about the committee is that we all met in the next town but barely any of us are actually from that town! In fact, most of us live about a half hour away from that town, in all sorts of directions!
Another thing that has happened is that the executive committee was emailed this morning by the Director. We were asked for two of us to attend some interviews and sit with the interview panel. Of course I jumped at THAT opportunity!!! So that will be next Tuesday. I'm really really excited with all the opportunities coming my way because of this!! It's just amazing :)
So basically it works like this: each service has its own set of staff who look after the children etc. They have a Director who represents them at the committee meetings. The committee is the group who gets their say regarding the behind-the-scenes running of the business in general. The committee approves certain decisions or not. The committee is broken down into different parts too - there's the financial department, the admin department, and then there are "floor members" who represent the parents from each service. I, as President, represent the committee, and I will be working closely with the Director, who represents the staff (as mentioned). So it's good I have my head around this part. The Director is also new to it all, she's been on board since November. Her emails are slightly wishy-washy, and some of the responses (eg from the ex-President) seem ... bossy and annoyed. So I don't know if this is just how it SEEMS and that maybe as time goes by and I get to know these women better I will see it's not like that, OR, maybe the Director isn't as organized as she should be and indeed it is annoying. For example, the Director sent out an email with everybody's contact details, but she actually got some names wrong. So the ex-President (who is kind of representing me for the next little while as I get my bearings with everything) responded, alerting her to this mistake. She also sent a separate email, somewhat kindly berating her for having had sent the contact list to the entire committee before double-checking the details with the execs. It looks bad now that she has sent out an incorrect contact list. So she re-sent it, except that it still had errors on it!!!! Oops. Lol. Finally the third time things were all sorted.
Yesterday while at the library (to study for my course), I bumped into the ex-Vice-President. She sat next to me and went through a few things with me. She said something about how sometimes the execs can make mistakes and this can be annoying because it does look bad depending on who sees the mistakes. For example we need to have a uniform structure and project professionalism to the outside at all times, and it doesn't always happen, which is disappointing. I completely understood. This was before the whole contact list thing with the Director.
So now I'm hoping that I'm well and truly on the ball with all of it and don't make too many mistakes! I've had a great response so far regarding my prompt responses to emails, which is great. I've also been congratulated quite a few times by different people on my new role as President, which is just fantastic, because it reflects to me the supportive and encouraging environment I am entering.
Deleted user ⋅ March 14, 2014
Awesome!