New Blog--sort of

This represents something of a change in approach

 And, on why one might...or might not...join a fraternal organization, like the Freemasons, although there ore others, like the Optimists, The Knights of Columbus. 

So, why wouldn't a young person join one of these groups?

 I chatted with a few of them (being 25+) over the last year or 2, largely because I had the time during COVID. Those with whom I spoke denigrated the idea of signing on with groups. To them the groups referenced were passe and irrelevant to the issues presented by contemporary society.

1) Timing and time commitment. The old style of recruiting is based on a candidate asking  3 times to join before the "ask" is acknowledged. Most of the time this request is based on curiosity. Where might one search to get legitimate information about, as an example, Freemasonry. Yes, there are Grand Lodge sites and some are much better than others. Some describe extensive community commitments, civic engagement, opportunity to meet others from diverse backgrounds, and imply an opportunity to build networks of acquaintances locally and across a jurisdiction. The GL of BC would be one good example. Another Canadian Grand Lodge to check out would be the GL of NS. There are some US Grand Lodges as well: New York, Rhode Island, North Carolina, California, Oregon, Washington State. Directing the potential candidate to one of these is simple and will address most preliminary questions. 

2) Demographic. Is this a bunch of old guys or is there an age relevant group to meet with? A good question. Pictures typically posted by Lodges show guys even older than I am with one foot in the grave. Not a draw for a person under 50. Nor might the activities advertised be age appropriate or of interest. Further, many have partners, or wives. Do they have a place in the organization? Are there congenial opportunities for them or is this exclusive and gender specific? In fact there are some innovative opportunities. Le Droit Humane is one. Richelieu Clubs are another.

3) Diversity. Does the group promote diversity? The part of the world I am in is heavily Christian. There is talk of a Church Parade, attendance at (Christian) church meetings, affiliation with certain religious groups. The VOSL's is invariably the King James version even when the WM is Jewish or Muslim. (for the uninitiated, the WM gets to choose which VOSL is open at the alter during open Lodge). In fact, much of what we believe was initiated during the Enlightenment with reference to Hobbes Locke and Rousseau (he of Social Contract fame) . And, part of what he wrote was based on his understanding of the way First Nations tried to conduct their lives. But it is never referenced. One might read The dawn of everything: a new history of humanity to get a different perspective on our ritual and its meaning.

4) Networking. Is there an opportunity to network so that one can understand the community better, can develop skills he might not have...or which he has but wants to improve, or simply to share skills and experiences? Or is just a place where men meet for a drink and dinner and get out of the house for a few hours? Younger men probably want to network if they have any kind of ambition in the community or in their work. The problem with most Lodges, at least in the eyes of the younger men who might otherwise be interested, is that Lodges fail miserably in providing this opportunity. 

5) Relevance. Those interviewed identified several issues germane to contemporary Canadian society:

• immigration and the diversification of our society. How are new Canadians well integrated into our society? What values are important to us?
• how is the decline (almost extinction) of the middle class being addressed.
• there is a national movement disingenuously referred to as the alt right or christian right. This is a colonial pro-white movement which denigrates diversity and democracy. Sound alot like fascism??
• there is a gap between the rich and the rest and it is growing.
• there is climate decay/degradation and little constructive is being done about it.
• large media groups (and others) are buying out smaller papers. here in NB, all of the English speaking newspapers in the province are owned by the Irvings...who coincidentally are predatory in their treatment of small business.
• English public schools in NB have a 30% absenteeism rate. What is the position of 2500 Freemasons in NB on this matter? 
  

Are Lodges without influence?  Or, as Putnam (Bowling Alone) noted at the beginning of Century, perhaps big organizations like the Masons are no longer relevant because what people want to do is join targeted activist groups. 

Stop IT, Now!

When are the Americans going to put a stop to this???

Probably never. When teachers are resigning and leaving the discipline because of violence, because they believe they are being used as bargaining chips to get people back to work and because hey are grossly underpaid, it is unlikely that the public education system either here or in the US is going to  going to meet social and professional expectations. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2021/10/18/teachers-resign-pandemic/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

 

 

Games, rules, women (on boards)

Rules for the game

Now comes the hard part...setting the rules for the game.

Objects of the game

The object of the game is to become a director before the other players. The player succeeds by achieving:

• notoriety
• authority
• power. 

These are achieved withies described in various stages as described in various posts:

• pre career
• early career
• mid career
• senior. 

This may be doe in various careers:

• law
• science
• financial services
• mining
• agriculture, fishing, forestry
• IT
• media
• politics
• pubic service

Each player chooses a career path, which I often fraught with barriers and challenges as well as offering unique opportunities. The success formula is left to the discretion of each player. So, there is an element of strategy and an understanding of risk. 

Equipment

The equipment for the game consists of a folding board, a pack of opportunity cards, a pack of barrier cards, 6 playing pieces, 2 dice, and a box of Kleenex (just joking). 

Paths

On the playing board there are paths to success based o one's education, the opportunities presented by a career, whether they get a mentor or later a sponsor. As in life, players will be diverted ono side loops sometimes as a consequence of their own poor strategic choices and sometimes for reasons out of their control. Some careers have more opportunities for earning notoriety, authority and power than others. 

Next: success formula. 

Older and better

Governance, Women and Leadership

The estimated time it ought to take to reach any kind of a senior level both with a national non profit and within a sector should be between 10 and 15 years, The game will give points to achieve this next step in 10 years although it will likely take 15 years, given the barriers thrown up as a woman tries to advance her goal to be a corporate director.

1. What opportunities have been realized over the length of the game, so far. Have mentors helped? Did sponsors come through? Did the player find either? Without one or the other, the player will stay stuck in a mid level loop. With both, the player will advance quickly through the 1st 2 levels.  
2. At this level within the sector (not quite C-suite ) the player will have developed a profile as a senior volunteer realized by being elevated to the position of chair of a national non profit. At the same time , she will be at least a senior VP within her sector. If she has advanced within the public service, she will be an ADM or a DM off either a Federal Ministry or within a large province (Quebec, Ontario, BC, Alta.) She may well consider herself mired in a  mid level position if she has a similar position in open of Canada's smaller provinces. 
3. She will have moved on from the ICSA Acc Dir program to being a mentor in that program. She will also have achieved the C.Dir.  designation through the Conference Board of Canada. If she does not get this designation, she may be able to get a position on a junior company within the TSX . Enough to be successful in this game but not successful enough to win the game. 
4. Professional achievement is important and she should be designated a Fellow, if she has a professional designation. If not, she may be awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree. If she has pursued a career in the media, she will have won several awards (Genie etc).
5. She will also be asked to advise a Senate Standing Committee on some topic. 
6. She will be asked at the early part of this stage to be on an evergreen list from one or another of the major executive search firms. 

So, we have moved the 5 levels for the game. The next step is to lay out the rules, then describe each step at each stage, then describe loops within each stage. This is the hard part!

Mid level: Women on Board

Mid-level: Women on Board

We continue with the game design for the Board Game: Women on Board.

What does "mid career " look like for those women who aspire to a corporate directorship? 

1. Leadership is the by-word at this level, especially as a volunteer on a non profit board. Remember, it is important to secure a board position either at a local or, preferably at a regional level. At this stage, the player should be positioned to have a position on the Executive Committee or at the least, on the Audit Committee. Year 1 at this level should position the player to be vice chair in year 2 and Chairman in years 4&5. 
2. As an entry level candidate, it is important to get known in one's professional association. Doing committee work, having a profile in educational events, taking part in the design of policy papers all enhance profile. With those successes in hand, the player is now ready to do a number of things with one's professional association. These include: chairing a key committee (policy would be nice); executive (would be better). These two leadership positions enhances the player's profile with the national association. Accomplish these in years 1,2&3 and then move onto the national scene for years 4&5.
3. Maintaining contact with the player's mentor is important. At this point, the player is positioned to recruit a sponsor the better to move her into sector activities. 
4. Now begins the broader approach of networking at national association events and perhaps connecting with the international scene. One's sponsor helps with this. The acquaintance established with key director search consultants will prove helpful at this level. 
5. To further enhance one's profile, the player actively solicits opportunities to represent the non profit at a national level, gives presentations on the national stage, writes articles for national newspapers, takes part in association webcasts. 
6. This is the time to begin to nurture political connections initially through representations at Senate select committees on behalf of the national branch of the non profit and with the national professional association. 

Tomorrow, we will take a look at the next phase... being the senior level. 

Entry level-women on boards

Entry level: Women on Boards

My Apologies

For those of you who have been following this blog, please accept my apologies for going dark for the last 2 weeks. A combination of problems struck including ice and snow...and problems getting another blog up and going. It was to have focused on pension governance. I failed for some reason to engage the platform properly. So, I will continue using this blog until I get the other one fixed. 

NBPSPP and Pension Governance

Some of you may have been reading about my views about the NBPSPP, its governance and their performance. After several weeks about writing about it, and having done my research, I have now reached out to them for an explanation about certain elements of their governance approach.

Three (3) days ago, I asked 4 questions:

1. How does the board define director/ trustee independence?
2. How does the board evaluate its performance? 
3. How does the board recruit new members?
4. How many independent trustees are? 

I expect that there will be an answer in a couple of days (this being Sunday in this part of the world). 

Saint John, smart cities and open data portals

I had also asked our city councillor about whether Saint John had considered developing itself as a smart city. IN previous blogs, I had reviewed both what a smart city was and how Saint John's open data portal might help inform that effort. My councillor had no idea how to respond to the question about smart cities and rather though that it had to do with a continuous improvement program. (well...it does, in a way...just not his). He let me know that the open data portal was being looked after by the IT department of the city.  Bad idea. Very bad idea. I got back to him with one definition of a smart city and a suggestion that many more people than the IT department needed to be involved in the development of an open data portal. 
I can see another blog developing here, linked to the show
#whatmattersmost . 

Anyway, lets get on with the main show. 

Entry level: women on boards

An entry level position places the player in the first 3-5 years of a career, the sights of which are focused on getting a place onto a corporate board. The goal of this stage of the game is to acquire: authority, skills, and a network. 

• The first step is to get a position on a volunteer board in the first year of a career, if she hasn't done so already.
• begin to attend the relevant regional and provincial conferences 
• in the second year on that board, start taking courses through an operation like Charity Village through its webinar series. 
• begin to attend the national conferences. 
• in the third year, enroll in the ICSA Acc. Dir course (3 days) plus exams in either Toronto or Vancouver. 
• attend ICSA annual conference
• find  mentor within the governance structures of either the volunteer agency association (at a national level) or the corporate secretarial association. 
• through your mentor, meet board search/recruitment consultants. Meet with them to determine what qualifications corporations may be seeking. The search consultants should be nationally recognized. 
• in year 4 begin to publish articles in Trustee magazine and in a professional governance journal like Governance (the ICSA journal) or Corporate Secretary,  (the US journal). Ask to make a presentation about governance at these conferences (ICSA, volunteer agency)
• in year 5, continue with the above strategies and start to look for a more responsible career position, one which will enhance your profile with the boards of the companies in your chosen industry. 
• At year 5, the player will also have wanted to upgrade her professional education. If, for example, she starts the game with an undergrad degree, she should have entered this phase with a post grad degree. In this phase of the game, she should have upgraded her qualifications by completing a certificate in risk management (distance ed'n through the U of T as an example). Taking a certificate through the National Quality Institute will give her extra points. Both will jump her ahead in the game. 

The next phase/stage of the game is mid career, which I will cover tomorrow.

Pre-professional

Pre-professional activities

The first phase of the board game Women on Board deals with the pre-professional phase of the player's career. It assumes zero career experience. The player might draw any one of 6 player cards which consigns her to those first steps in the board game. So, what might she do, besides finalizing her education and beginning to secure those necessary qualifications to enter the job market.

• attend informal gatherings of like minded early stage professionals interested in securing a directorship. Such gatherings might include alumnus functions, professional association functions, board of trade "meet and greets".
• link with the chapter of a governance association. Such groups as ICSA might be one such group with 40 chapters across Canada, ICS chapters (mostly in western Canada;
• attend conferences sponsored by these associations, sector specific conferences; 
• take on a volunteer experience as an entry level board member. 

Each of these can lead to continuous learning certificate level educational sessions. These would be identified in a side loop for the entry level candidate and although this might seem to slow the player's progress in advancing to the corporate directorship levels, they might lead to using opportunity cards which can advance them faster later in the game.