Please Nominate People for Regional Representative

[Ryan Bradley]

A consistent concern is voiced every single year: the Board is out of touch with the membership. This is an important concern. For a healthy organization, we need good communications between the membership and the Board and we need both groups to believe in it.

Along with the restructure of the organization, a new Regional Representative role is being created with 2 main jobs:

• Let the board know what the membership wants.
• Let the membership know what the board is doing and why.

We want to improve communications, but we can't do it without your help. We know you're busy. We've kept the role focused to take up less time. Please run or nominate someone for Regional Representative and help us make sure the Board hears your voice!

More in-depth if you're bored due to Covid:
The original Board designated special student-only seats, but has always had difficulty filling them. Being a Board Member takes a lot of time and we often hear students say something along the lines of "I really want to be on the Board, but I don't have time. I'll do it once I graduate and I'm not in all these classes."

Regional Coordinator positions were created to improve communications, but there have been increasing demands on their time. As both their time commitments and the amount of organizational knowledge required grows, it becomes more difficult to attract students to these roles. It is unreasonable to give more and more work to people and still expect them to be able to do all of it, especially in an all-volunteer organization. Shifting priorities have meant communication is no longer the focus.

The restructure is an opportunity. And to make it work, we need student voices. By creating Regional Representatives we create transparency and improve communications. By retaining the Regional Coordinators, we keep the Regional Representatives focused on communications. The plan is to create a more direct connection between the Board and the membership. We want to build a bridge by filling these roles with students or recent graduates. The membership will have direct representation. Someone to advocate for them. Someone who is not quite so far removed, by age or experience, from student life.

Building good communications and transparency is difficult, but it is one of the most important parts of any organization. We're okay, but we could be better. We can always be better.

Again, please run or nominate someone for Regional Representative and help us make sure the Board hears your voice!

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Ryan Bradley
NAIGC | Board of Directors | Advisor
ryan.b...@naigc.org | NAIGC.org | Facebook