[TheForge] Questions regarding group leadership

Mon Jan 1 15:59:39 EST 2007

Ditto..........I belong to the Central Minnesota Blacksmiths.  We
have no officers, no by-laws, no board......etc.  We rule quite
well this way, and as an ABANA Affiliate, we often wonder if
there are others working this way.

Those that want to get something done can do so, we put on our
workshop according to interest.  We also schedule to fit what the
members want.  If you show up at a meeting and the group has an
item that they want a vote on, you get to vote.

We have been together going on now (2007) five years this way
and we like it the way it is.  We do have several more active members
that comprise the core group, they are the ones that show up at meetings
all the time.

Glad to see that this works for other groups as well.

Rome Hutchings
The Prairie Forge
13633 Ferman Ave NW
Clearwater, MN 55320
(763) 878-1694

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bruce Freeman" <freemab222 at yahoo.com>
To: "Sponsored by ABANA" <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, January 01, 2007 2:37 PM
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Questions regarding group leadership

>I would like to put a bug in peoples ear that
> sometimes the best way to lead is not to.
> 
> Altogether too many people in positions of leadership
> get the impression that everyone is waiting for them
> to take the lead.  My impression is that mostly
> they're wanting you to get out of their way so that
> they can do what they want.
> 
> A typical organization has a president, one or more
> vice presidents, maybe a past president and an
> incoming president, treasurer, chairman of membership,
> ways and means, programs, etc., etc., ad naseum.  Each
> one has his little fiefdom which he either runs or
> doesn't.  If he doesn't, he blocks progress.  But if
> he runs it, he probably runs it to his pleasure and no
> one else's.  (Part of the problem, of course, is that
> these chairmen  amount to committees of one in most
> organizations, i.e., officers.)
> 
> When I wrote the NJBA bylaws, I took those ideas into
> account.  We have no officers, just directors.  That
> way no one can get in the way of progress.  No
> "program chairman" can stop us from having good
> programs.  No "president" can strut his stuff and get
> in the way of the organization working to the benefit
> of its members.
> 
> Once a year we have an elections meeting.  Typically,
> we just reelect the current slate of directors, but
> any member can move that the elections be run
> separately for each director.  Anyone can
> self-nominate.  There's no limit to the number on the
> board, so no one is ever defeated in an election
> (though separate elections for each director would
> permit that if necessary).
> 
> Between elections meetings, the board can elect new
> directors for terms ending at the next elections
> meeting.  Hence, the minute we spot an active member,
> we draft him onto the board (so to speak) and involve
> him.  As a result we have a board of about 15
> directors, of whom we almost always get a quorum of
> 1/3 at board meetings.  We have one director who
> considered resigning a few years back when he got on
> the board of Peters Valley - because he didn't think
> he'd have time for both.  I told him not to be silly -
> being on the board of PV WAS an NJBA activity as far
> as I was concerned!
> 
> What happens in an organization like ours is that you
> get essentially two levels of membership, not based on
> privilege, but on interest.  Most of our members hang
> back, read the newsletter, attend meetings either
> frequently or occassionally, but show little or no
> interest to do more.  Then there are those of us who
> are more active, arranging programs or putting on
> workshops for our monthly membership meetings, running
> or assisting at our weekly open forge meetings, etc. 
> (Kind of a club within a club, but NOT an exclusive
> one.) Yet with fifteen directors, this proves not to
> be very much work for any of us.
> 
> In short, by letting interested people contribute in
> ways they're interested in, we have a very dynamic
> group and seem to well please the membership.
> 
> Bruce
> NJ
> 
> 
> --- David Childress <trollkeep at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> I realize that I am a little slow on this Thread,
>> but I am also
>> running for the Board of our Statewide
>> Association.(Indiana)  I know
>> what the Members that I regualerly see would like to
>> see change and I
>> have a vision of a goal, that everyone at least will
>> someday know
>> someone who practices our craft.  This will require
>> many new
>> blacksmiths and many more visiable blacksmiths.  I
>> would like to be
>> able to go to Menards and buy a pair of tongs
>> because there is enough
>> demand to make it worth their while to carry tongs. 
>> How to do this I
>> only begin to know but I am willing to try.  Any
>> suggestion How?
> 
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