The Relationship between a BoD and Staff

Members (and some AMCers) are complaining about the lack of input/review/approval the AMC had over the Oral History Project. We were informed that it was happening, and the general timetable and expectations, but that’s it. 

This is a good time for a quick lesson on the relationship between a Board of Directors and the paid staff.

 

The BoD handles the big picture stuff. Visions, goals, general values and direction of the organization. They hire an Executive Director to “make it so.” The Board communicates their big goals to the ED and approves a budget. From there, The ED is responsible for hiring and supervising other staff to get stuff done. The Board is apprised of things, consulted when there are problems, but generally stays hands off on the details. This is a good thing—the Board comprises members who may or may not be diligent and skilled, and the turnover rate is high. 

 

If the Board doesn’t like how the ED is or isn’t getting stuff done, they replace the ED.

 

So as an illustration, let’s say the AMC has as a grand goal “make it easier for members to gather in person” and after much discussion, determines that it would be really super awesome to have physical Mensa clubhouses. The AMC would then tell the ED “we want clubhouses for members, and we’re authorizing $1,000,000 towards that goal.”

 

The ED can then decide to make one big clubhouse in the most populated city, or three smaller clubhouses in cities where the groups are wobbling. They might decide, after research, that the best way to allocate the million dollars is to rent rooms on Thursdays in 500 park districts across the country. The ED would apprise the AMC of this decision, and at this point, the AMC could say "gosh no, we want to own buildings, even if it’s only two." The ED would change course or lay out the case for renting in many cities instead of buying in one or two.

 

The AMC does NOT get consulted on furniture, which internet company to contract with, or what color the carpeting will be.

 

Back to the situation at hand—somewhere along the way, The AMC said, among other goals, “preserve our history” and "increase membership." The ED, or more likely the staff responsible for marketing and increasing membership, thought "personal anecdotes and stories are effective tools for bringing in members," heard about this history publishing company, cut a deal with them that seemed good, and made it happen. The AMC was informed of this deal in a general sense, and for whatever reason, didn’t say “gosh no!” The AMC was NOT informed of the specifics and certainly not the wording of each communication, any more than they’d be consulted on the decision to paint the clubhouse walls griege with puce accents or which direction the refrigerator door should swing.

 

What we’re learning, or at least I am, is that there needs to be some tweaking of the “hands-off; don’t micromanage” division. 

 

The next AMC meeting is going to be interesting.

Further thoughts on the Oral History Project email/postcard

Further thoughts on the Oral History Project email/postcard (which I've shared with the AMC), somewhat colored by having been the person taking the brunt of the outrage for this in several online forums:

It was an ok idea. Little effort and cost from Mensa in exchange for some good fodder for future marketing campaigns and perhaps some ego strokes for those who participate and like to see their names in print.

Members were notified about it, and how to opt out, several times and via several means. That many chose to not receive or read or remember those notices is an all-too common problem. It’s on my CommComm plate to figure out solutions to this, if possible.

For several days, while scurrying around trying to spread explanations and smooth ruffled feathers, I said that no one, AMC or Staff, had seen the actual copy that would be used on the emails/postcards. I have since been corrected on this. I presumed that no one who has a clue about Mensans would ever in a million years word something in such a phish scammy manner. I was wrong; at least one person on the staff DID see and approve that wording before it went out.

When I learned that, my jaw dropped and shattered on the floor so significantly that I’ve had no comebacks at all.

The Board of Directors and the Staff should be partners towards a common goal, and that goal (aka Strategic Plan) is determined by the Board of Directors and implemented by the Staff, under the supervision of the Exec Director.

I’m supportive of the notion that the Board should not micromanage the professional people we’ve hired to get stuff done. However, refraining from micromanaging does not mean refraining from managing completely.

The Board should have input regarding what is said and how to the members they represent. This is the reason the Communications Officer reviews every page of every Bulletin before it goes to print. There is a line between input/review and meddling/bogging down. Should I review the Bulletin? Yes. Should Tabby review every single tweet in advance? That’s ridiculous. Should Kimberly review and approve every email sent to a member? Of course not.

That said, Tabby should be expected to tell the Staff person who types the tweets “please never mention eugenics. and do throw in a picture of a cute kitten now and then." Kimberly should be expected to have input on the topics to be included in the updated onboarding emails that get sent to every new LG Officer. 

Which brings us to this fiasco—

Two things need to change in the future:

1. Someone who is on the AMC should be expected to have input and review on future projects that are intended to solicit money from members or that are intended to bring in revenue from sale or exchange of members’ information.

2. The Board should not have to wait DAYS to learn details they are expected to defend or refute to the membership, at least not without higher quality flak jackets with sequined targets on the back.

A Firehose of Information- and Still Members Complain About Not Getting It

Communication requires a sender and a receiver. The problem I see is that many members, for a variety of reasons, choose not to receive messages via the several means currently employed. Historically, the solution has been to add more communication vehicles. So far, we have LG newsletters, the Bulletin, Mensa Wired and Mensa Leader, Mensa Connect, direct emails, Twitter, and Facebook. Other than an old-fashioned phone tree, what other options are there (which won't work- many of us have filters on our phones to automatically reject incoming calls from numbers not in our contacts)?

What will inspire members to consume Mensa-related information?

I actually started pondering this issue before I took office— a firehose of information members should or might want to have, but they’re not getting it because they choose to opt out of reading it. I was casually chatting about this  with three 25 year olds, and their response was a major “ahah” moment for me— they told me that they pretty much ignore all messages that are shoved at them, but instead pay close attention to information that they sought out on their own.

I’m not quite sure what to do with this revelation, however.

Suggestions are welcome.

That Verify Your member Data Email and postcard

I had Mensa stuff on my to-do list for today. All sorts of small but useful this and that sorts of tasks. I ended up spending the entire day dashing from Mensa forum to Mensa forum answering questions and smoothing feathers.

The big kerfluffle today was the email and post card everyone got about the Oral History Project. Now it might not have been quite such a big deal, except for a perfect storm of several issues:

 

1. Despite telling the membership over and over in many ways, people either didn’t read or forgot about it.

2. The actual email/postcard was sent from the publishing company, and I have no idea who on the Mensa side saw it before it went out. Despite being Communications Officer, I certainly didn’t. Had I, I would have made more than a few suggestions for improvement.

3. The email/postcard looked like phishing. It came from a non-Mensa address, with a non-Mensa number to call WITHIN 7 DAYS.

4. Mensans are smart enough to recognize an expensive vanity publication when they see one.

 

Then, those who were gullible or curious and actually called the number on the message, after verifying their name, phone number, and address, were asked a series of questions about why they joined, what it’s done for their career, what’s the best part about being a member, and so on— the actual oral history stories the project is to collect. To be fair, the email/postcard DID state “We are also collecting stories from our Mensans to memorialize the history of identifying and fostering human intelligence for the benefit of humanity.” But somehow, since that wasn’t in the alarming bold “Please call 1-855-242-9245 (toll free) to take care of this important matter today” print, I and probably others missed that part.

 

After the interview questions, the sales pitch began. It was expensive, pushy, and even when I declined, I was asked if my current address is the one I’d like my package delivered to.

 

So as a result, across Mensa today, people were confused, suspicious, angry, and accusatory. I responded as best I could, after alerting the National Office that we have a big fire spreading that needs putting out. I corresponded with several key staff people in-the-know and crafted and shared long explanatory posts here and there.

 

Nearly everyone I read on several Mensa outlets said they considered it spam and were absolutely not going to participate. Most postcards and emails went in the shredder or trash file.

 

 ___________________________________________

 

After a day of speaking as a Board member, I finally get to compose my personal opinion thoughts here:

 

* Yeah, ok, it’s a vanity publication. Some people dig that sort of thing. Mensa will end up with a bunch of stories which is great marketing fodder, and Staff didn’t have to do much work to get all the useful copy. It didn’t cost Mensa any money, beyond potential lost dues revenue from members who quit over this issue.

 

* I hope this teaches all the higher-ups a solid lesson that messages sent to the membership should be reviewed by a couple actual members-with-a-clue before going out.

 

* I wish I knew the interview questions in advance so I could have been prepared to tell my fabulously interesting Mensa stories.

 

* Holy crap, what they’re trying to sell me is a lot of money! My ego is not worth the price they’re asking.

Agenda for Communications Committee Zoom Meeting Sept 22

In an effort to jump-start CommComm into action, we're going to have a Zoom meeting next week. Here are the topics I hope to cover: 

• Intros & why you’re on this Comm. What are your passions & skills?

• LG newsletters need attention. Editors are burnt out and feeling burdened. How can we make newsletters better, easier, & cheaper (besides more electronic subscribers)? I'm starting a “Sharehouse” for content already and will be working on creating templates much like Tabby has done for websites. What else? How can we help LGs who simply don’t have an editor at all?

• Would removing or lessening the publication requirements for LGs help editors & LG costs or result in more groups not bothering to do one at all, and if so, how might “National” pick up the slack so those members get something?

• Johnathan mentioned that we should ponder “how Mensa can use various technology platforms to increase user engagement in a way that respects the desire for free discussion between members while avoiding toxicity.” Clarify what is actionable for this; pick some good platforms and..um….?

• “Heat Map” Project—I need a list of LG FaceBook, Discord, and MeetUp groups, LG Twitter, Instagram names, and any other SM LGs are using.  Ideally with numbers of people signed up for each. How can we split up this task to get it done?

• I need a CommComm techie person to figure out how LGs can add a Discord icon to their web pages. Who can take this on?

• Brainstorming: We already have a pile of useful info for leaders and members, and several communication pipelines,  but too few bother to access it or even click and read at a high enough rate when it's shoved to them. How can we improve this? 

So How was the WG in Houston?

 Small, but nearly all the components of an AG were in placed worked. I didn't attend any of the evening social events, not even Misster Mensa ( I'm just not a late-night person and wanted to mitigate my Covid risks).

Kudos to Taz and the entire WG team!

I managed to do a reasonable amount of schmoozing with people about various concerns and projects.

The biggest happy surprise was the revelation from the Treasurer (Taz) that the money borrowed from the Life Members' Fund ( and 3 & 5 year funds, too, I think) has been restored fully. Wayback when that lawsuit happened, the AMC made grand plans to restore it within 14 years. Those intentions were chucked within a year or two because of other financial pressures. Now it turns out we refilled those coffers within only ten years!