Secretary's Report on the Strategic Planning Meeting, Nashville, TN 2014
Submitted by: Karen Ragan, ACA WSO Secretary
The ACA WSO Board of Trustees met for our 2nd face-to-face strategic planning meeting on November 13-16, 2014 in Nashville, TN.
Six of the nine board members were able to gather. We discussed our visions of the fellowship's growth and how this board may help lay guidelines for future structure in our fellowship.Trustees present included Joan B., Vice Chair; Mary Jo L., Treasurer; Karen R., Secretary; Allen C., Trustee; Majbrit M., Trustee; and Martin C., Trustee.
There is a definite advantage to meeting face to face. One sees the love of the fellowship, the willingness to serve, the insecurities and doubts that work and resolve in the faces of this small group of fellow travelers who've volunteered to insure stability and growth in the ACA family structure.
Our charge as the ACA WSO Board of Trustees is broken into four segments. One segment is about the ACA mission: How well are we carrying the message of recovery? The second segment places charge on our finances: Can we insure the long-term financial stability of our organization with effective financial management? The third area of charge is the administrative capacity: Can we support our programs and services? And the fourth charge is regards governance: How effective is the ACA WSO Board at protecting the Fellowship's interest now and in the future? These questions were the skeletal base of our meetings.
We began on Thursday morning and continued scheduled meetings through Sunday morning. On Friday, we were joined by two of WSO's special workers: Sam B., the Distribution Center Office Manager and Robin R., the Literature Committee's production assistant. Both gave presentations regarding their work. We were able to discuss withSam topics ofsafety and health for the staff as well an overview of inventory. We discussed existing floor plans, shelving needs, and were provided a review of book costs, sales and shipping costs.
Robin's presentation included extensive samples of her layout experiences, The Board was able to discuss how this experience could tie in with the ComLine production. Robin explained how books are made and how to approach vendors when there are problems with binding or printing. We discussed why the downloadable materials from our website would need to offer options for different sizes of paper. This is due to spatial differences when a piece is translated. We also discussed options for distribution channels, translations, comparative costs and eBooks. Both presentations were informative and helpful.
We reviewed the notes from the past Strategic Planning meeting held in Atlanta earlier this year and discussed our progress. We incorporated lessons from the previous Strategic planning meeting by formulating goals rather than motions. We did this as even though we had a quorum, the full Board of Trustees was not able to be present and we wanted full board involvement.
We tried to incorporate realism...all things cannot be categorized as High...Now...2014 Priority---this is after all, November. We did, however, embrace possibilities. We formulated over 30 measurable goals with suggested steps for achievement. These goals are being put together into a specific plan that encourages the involvement and oversight of each Trustee. We covered a lot of territory.
Mary Jo L., Martin C. and Allen C., all with experience on the Treasury Committee was able to keep us on track with the financial impacts and aspects of our ideas. Mary Jo L., the Treasurer, prepared the agenda and presided over each day of meetings, and kept us on task with the goals of our program. Joan B. had done research about Strategic Planning in general, about the methods of not only setting goals, but of clarifying the steps to achieve these goals and measuring progress. Majbrit was passionate with details of the scarcity of literature, the dire need for translations and the need to decrease shipping costs for the non USA countries seeking recovery. Of course, I feverishly took notes and kept asking for people to slow down and repeat the goals in exact language so the plan could be properly documented.
Even when we were in "off" time trying to breathe a bit of the Nashville surroundings, our conversations still drifted back to the ACA fellowship and areas of service and growth, so there were many informal Board discussions as well.
As I said in January, as individuals, the Board members think differently. But there is a commonality expressed in these face-to-face meetings...the desire for clarity regarding the direction of the ACA fellowship. We are each willing to be of service for each ACA member-- speaking, thinking and acting on behalf of the fellowship. And we are each grateful for the opportunity to serve.
Respectfully submitted;
Karen R, ACA WSO Secretary
