Penobscot Valley Branch of AAUW

Leadership Team Governance

New Leadership Structure 

 LISTEN TO THIS!  WE TRIED SOMETHING NEW AND IT WORKED.

Penobscot Valley Branch chose a new governance structure because our Branch could get no one willing to be President.  Our strategy not only improves how our leadership functions, but brings new energy and greater involvement from Branch members as well.  Here is a snapshot of the new structure and procedures: 

Leadership Team Structure:   We replaced our "board" with a "Leadership Team" (LT) comprised of a secretary, a treasurer, a membership vice president, a newsletter editor, a chair of EF/LAF, a diversity chair, a gender equity chair, an international relations chair, a public policy chair, and a liaison for AAUW national and state communications.   So what's new about this?   

*   The Leadership Team (incoming and outgoing members) holds a marathon planning session in May that sets the framework for the coming year's major events and activities.  Refer to Duties of the Leadership Team (LT) for details.

*   Notice, no person holds the title of "president" for the year.   That honor changes each month as each member of the leadership team fills the position for one month and then passes the baton to another member for the next month.   We use the title "CONVENER" in place of "president."[For the convenience of AAUW national and state, we continue to have a president in name only.  Thus, all AAUW national and state president's communications are mailed to the "liaison for communications" leadership team member and passed on by her to the current convenor for action.]

*   Notice, too, no person holds the title of "program vice president."     That is a shared honor as well.   The person serving as CONVENER also assumes responsibility for completely organizing one MEMBERSHIP meeting, with help from two members of the Branch who are not part of the leadership team.  The 3-member planning group (TRIAD) organizes and conducts a membership meeting around the predetermined theme.  Themes for MEMBERSHIP meetings are selected by the Leadership  Team and are based on input received the previous spring from all Branch members.     The TRIAD selects a meeting site, does publicity, prepares introductions, distributes name tags, provides refreshments (if appropriate), and gets the full experience of organizing an event for the Branch.   A modest budget is provided to each TRIAD.  To help the TRIAD, members can refer to the  "MEMBERSHIP MEETING PLANNING GUIDE". 

         Our new Leadership Team governance accomplishes two things.  First, it relieves any one member from taking on the many responsibilities and burdens of the position of president of the Branch for the entire year.  Second, it allows more Branch members to participate in Branch leadership activities, without making a commitment to be on the formal leadership team.  

Duties of the Leadership Team (LT)

MEMBERSHIP Meeting Planning Guide

Sample MASTER LIST Planning Document



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