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The Petanque New Zealand National Council is
proposing to put a remit to the 2008 Annual
General Meeting to change the way in which the
organisation is governed.
The remit is that the ruling body be a single
Board consisting of a President, Vice-president
and 3 other Directors. This will replace the
current National Council and Executive.
It is proposed that this take effect from 2009.
PNZ issues this paper as a basis for discussion
amongst its constituent members and Clubs, to
inform the voting at the AGM.
Background
PNZ’s current governance structure – an elected
National Council and an appointed Executive
Board - was put in place as from March 2004. We
have been operating under this structure for
nearly 4 years.
We changed to this form of
governance because the previous system
just
wasn’t working - a
committee of 8 people running the body on a
day-to day basis, focussing on the small stuff,
difficult to reach decisions. We were trying to
run a national organisation within a structure
designed for small club-level organisations –
having a President, Secretary and Treasurer and
a number of Committee members elected at an AGM
at which all members can be physically present.
We changed to the governance structure
recommended by SPARC and most sporting
organisational “gurus” - a split
governance/management structure, with a Board to
set strategy and an Executive to carry out that
strategy and do the day to day management.
However, shortcomings in this structure for PNZ
have been apparent for some time, especially
with the “regional representation” model:
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Having the
governing body made up of people elected
primarily on the basis of where they live
does not provide for the election of people
with the skills, knowledge and expertise
required to govern and run the organisation
and take it successfully into the future.
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Regional
representation is effectively meaningless
when there is no strong, formal regional
association in some areas, such as “Central
North Island” and “Canterbury/Tasman”. Many
of the clubs do not consider themselves part
of the designated “region”, and their
interests do not necessarily converge.
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The current
structure is a very unwieldy and cumbersome
communication channel between the governing
body and members (Council / Executive /
Regions / Clubs / Members).
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It is
recognised in the literature that the formal
split governance/management structure may be
less appropriate for small voluntary
organisations, such as PNZ, where there are
a limited number of people willing to take
office. In this situation, everyone has to
have a job, “do” as well as “think”.
Proposal
It is therefore proposed that we should simplify
the structure by removing the “regional” layer
of administration, and move to a single Board
consisting of a President, Vice-president and 3
other Directors. These people are to be elected
for their skills, knowledge and expertise, by
the membership, through their clubs.
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Board members will be
elected for a three-year term; 2 members
will retire in rotation each term, but be
eligible for re-appointment. Members may
serve a maximum of 3 consecutive terms.
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The
Secretary and Treasurer will be
appointed by the Board. These positions will
be non-voting in terms of Board decisions.
The appointments will be for 3 years, with
incumbents eligible for reappointment at the
end of each term.
This arrangement is proposed
because
a greater degree of
long-term continuity is desirable for
these administrative positions, which
largely deal with day-to day management
issues and activities. It does not preclude
the people in these positions being part of
any sub-committees established by the Board,
e.g. the Treasurer on a Financial Strategy
Subcommittee.
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Regional representatives
These will be
the spokespeople for their area. They will
be elected by Clubs in the region, as per
the current process. Regions themselves
will determine their boundaries, i.e. what
Clubs they include. Regional reps will have
the right to attend and speak at Board
meetings, but not to vote. They must have a
written mandate to show what clubs they have
the authority to speak on behalf of, when
attending Board meetings or otherwise
communicating with the Board.
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Other
Management Positions
The Board may
establish Management positions such as
Coaching Director, Magazine Editor, National
Tournament Director. People will be
appointed to these positions by the Board,
and be responsible to the Board.
All such
positions will be advertised, and open for
application, to PNZ members. Appointments
will be on terms and conditions as agreed
between the Board and the appointee, but
with a maximum term of 3 years; incumbents
will be eligible to reapply when positions
are re-advertised.
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Who may stand
Applicants for
any of the above positions must be financial
members of Petanque New Zealand.
Members may
hold more than one position, eg. Magazine
Editor and Webmaster, Umpiring Director and
Regional Representative, except that board
members may not also be Regional
Representatives. This is to avoid conflict
of interest between regional and national
perspectives.
Proposed PNZ Governance Structure
Voting process
Voting in proportion to numbers is considered
fairer in terms of representing the wishes of
the membership than one vote per Club.
The voting system and process will have to be
assessed carefully, to ensure fairness and to
minimise incentives or potential to “rig” voting
outcomes (e.g. by forming “shell” clubs). Thus
we need to
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Establish a
minimum number of members required to be a
Club (e.g. 15, which is the number required
to form an incorporated society).
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Look at the
membership number profiles of clubs to
determine the proportion for voting e.g. 1
vote per 25 members.
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Look at whether
we need a threshold (number/proportion of
clubs or members casting votes) for an
election to be valid.
Comment
The benefits of these changes are
Examples of distribution of responsibilities
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With respect to
regional representatives, there need be no
restriction on the number or size of
“regions”. These can form naturally in the
areas where petanque is strong, without
having to try and fit outlying clubs into
artificially determined areas– so there can
be a Northland region as well as Auckland; a
Tauranga/Bay of Plenty region; a Hawkes Bay
region. All of whom can put their region’s
views to the Board.
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At the same time, each Club
will have a more direct say in determining
the makeup of the governing body, so their
views are not lost in the amalgamation to a
wider region. There will be a closer
linkage between members and their elected
representatives, as each Club can send a
delegate to the AGM to speak and vote.
While some may not be comfortable with the idea
of non-voting regional representatives, the
governing body is charged with running the
organisation for the good of all its members.
This requires people with the necessary skills,
regardless of their geographical location. It
may be that at any one time, the majority of the
Board may come from a particular area; this
should not be viewed as negative, or a weakness.
To create a closer relationship
between the Board and members, it is proposed
that one Director be
designated
“Membership Services” Director – responsible for
liaising with clubs, with a specific duty to go
around and talk to them, and be the point of
contact between clubs and the Board. Thus there
will be a much more direct channel from Clubs to
the Board than there is at present.
Barbara Whittington
Secretary
Petanque New Zealand
25 January 2008 |
