Participant’s Manual
JCI Admin
JCI Admin The JCI Local Organization Management Course Version 01 January, 2013
JCI Official Course JCI Admin – General Information
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JCI Admin JCI Vision
Course Summary
“To be the leading global network of young active citizens.”
JCI Admin is the JCI Local Organization Management Course recommended for any member who wants to become member of the local board and a leader at any level in the Local Organization. The course covers the structure of the local board, management of the Local Organization affairs and the responsibility of the Local Organization in providing development opportunities that will empower JCI members to create positive change in and outside JCI.
JCI Mission “To provide development opportunities that empower young people to create positive change.” About JCI JCI is a membership-based nonprofit organization of young active citizens ages 18 to 40 in more than 100 countries who are dedicated to creating positive change in their communities. Each JCI member shares the belief that in order to create lasting positive change, we must improve ourselves and the world around us. JCI members take ownership of their communities by identifying problems and creating targeted solutions to create impact.
JCI Admin should be taken by all members who want to fully understand the dynamics of the management, and administration of a JCI Local Organization. JCI Admin is a half day course divided in these modules: Module 1 – Management Module 2 – Administration Module 3 – Opportunities Module 4 – Results Criteria to attend this course
JCI Official Courses are designed to facilitate the learning process by combining the new theories with practice using the previous experiences from participants as a source of learning with the focus on sharing knowledge and experiences. © Copyright by JCI: All rights reserved. This publication is for the exclusive use of the trainers conducting the JCI Official Course and can only be reproduced for this purpose. All JCI Official Courses must be organized online and all participants must individually register online to qualify for the manual and to be certified as graduated from the course.
This course can only be attended by active JCI members or past members still contributing to the Local Organization and to graduate the participant must pass the online knowledge test and fill the trainer evaluation. The course must be organized online and have all participants registered online. Criteria to become Trainer of this course •
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Be an active JCI member or past members still contributing to the Local Organization for at least one year. Have graduated from this course, JCI Achieve and JCI Impact.
This publication or parts of it may not be translated in any other language without the express permission of the JCI Secretary General. Published by Junior Chamber International (JCI), Inc. 15645 Olive Boulevard – Chesterfield, MO 63017, U.S.A. Tel: +1 (636) 449 3100 – Fax: +1 (636) 449 3107 Toll free (from USA only): 1 800 905 5499 E-Mail:
[email protected] - Website: www.jci.cc. 2
JCI Admin – General Information
JCI Admin JCI Admin The Local Board of Directors It would be difficult for a Local Organization to meet every time a decision needs to be made. A Board of Directors is a smaller body elected by the members and given the authority to decide on their behalf. The Board of Directors also carries out the daily business of the organization. The scope of the decisions of the Board must be restricted to those that are not at the level of the General Assembly. The authority, decision making and responsibilities must always remain in the hands of the membership in the form of a General Assembly. A Board of Directors does not rule the Local Organization. Instead, it carries out the decisions and mandates of the membership. A Board member is given the permission to make some decisions on behalf of the membership and can be held legally responsible for abuse of power of misrepresentation and misuse of the position. For more information on the Local Board of Directors download the JCI Local Action Guides from JCI website www.jci.cc.
Managing a JCI Local Organization Management can be defined as the attainment of organizational goals in an effective and efficient manner through planning, organizing, leading and controlling organizational resources. The four (4) functions of management of organizational resources. a. Planning – Defining goals for future organizational performance; deciding on the tasks and resources needed to attain them. The Board of Directors is the ultimately responsible for providing clear and attainable goals and planning the ways and steps to achieve them. It is also the Board of Directors’ responsibility to assign the resources and the different objectives and responsibilities to officers or members with clear instructions on what is expected and what is the minimum standard of performance required to consider the responsibility accomplished. b. Organizing – Assigning tasks, grouping tasks by committees, allocating resources to committees. This step goes down a level and the people who JCI Admin
received the responsibilities in the Board of Directors need to assign the different action steps or tasks to members and decide on the allocation of the resources received. c. Leading – Using influence to motivate members to achieve organizations goals. The Board of Directors provides constant motivation and leadership to keep activities and members going. This can be achieved by being actively involved in all aspects and activities and by showing interest in the performance and actions and by keeping the information on the progress and goals achieved always flowing through all channels of communication. d. Controlling – Monitoring the activities of the Local Organization, keeping track of goals, making corrections as needed. A constant evaluation of the progress of activities and periodical study of changes or updates on goals or planning must be done by the Board of Directors. Participation on the board of your Local Organization is an honor and duty not to be taken lightly. By fulfilling your responsibilities as an officer of the organization, you will rise to the leadership expectations of your members.
The Local Structure The organizational structure of a Local Organization must be suited to meet its own needs. But every Local Organization needs the following components: 1. General Assembly. It is through this body that the control of the Local Organization is exercised. 2. Board of Directors. The function of the Board of Directors is to provide direction to the Local Organization and facilitate its administration. 3. Project Committees. Project Committees are the means through which the work of the Local Organization is done. Each member should be assigned to at least one project committee. There is no ideal organizational structure that fits the needs of every Local Organization, but there is one that is right for yours. Here are a few guidelines that will assist you in designing your Local Organization’s structure:
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No one person should be required to supervise more than five people. In JCI officers are volunteers and have another life and a job to do and cannot be overloaded with too many people to supervise.
The supervisors must know importance of their roles in achieving overall objectives, and the standards by which their performances will be judged.
Three to five people should be the maximum one person should have to supervise.
Job descriptions and instructions when delegating or passing responsibilities must be clear and well known by everyone. The Board of Directors must define the minimum standards that will define if a job can be considered satisfactorily completed or not.
2. The workload should be balanced among the Board members. Each member of the Board should have a fair share of the work and nobody should be overloaded with work while others may have little or nothing to do. This will only generate stress that may lead to animosities among the Board members. 3. The system must be flexible so that additional people and projects can be added during the year.
Changing Trends In today’s fast paced and constantly changing world, young people are starting to re-write the formula for what makes a successful organization. Most of the younger members of our Local Organizations are technologically savvy, they are extremely resourceful and most importantly, they are impatient.
It must also be flexible enough to handle a reduction in the number of people and projects.
They want immediate opportunities to become involved, but they may not stay long in the organization. The new philosophy for young professionals seems to go like this:
If the number of members increases or reduces dramatically, the structure must be flexible to adapt to the new reality.
1. They join a company or organization and learn as much as they can;
If Board members resign or move out of town and the Local Organization experienced a reduction of members, there may not be a need to replace the missing Board members but temporarily shifting the responsibilities to another member of the Board.
2. They become immediately involved and look for an opportunity to move on to new challenges; 3. They are extremely team oriented and not always expect a leadership position while working in a team. 4. Keep eyes open for other opportunities in a different organization;
4. It must provide for easy and rapid two-way communications. Remember, as the number of middle-management levels increases, the difficulties of communication multiply. An easy to understand and efficient communication and reporting system must be developed to avoid difficulties in getting information down to the members or reports and complaints or suggestions up to the leadership. 5. It must allow for delegation of responsibility and authority. Everything must be clear regarding who reports to who and who makes decisions and to what extent. 4
6. All supervisors must know what is expected of them.
JCI Admin
5. Most will aspire to attain leadership positions within a short period of membership. Sometimes, this process can take as little as one year and sometimes, it lasts for several years. However, the research seems to indicate that it will be rare to find young professionals staying with the same company or organization for long periods of time. This dramatically affects JCI Local Organizations and alternative ideas need to be discussed for potential Local Organization structure in the future. The local membership is always moving and changing; Local Organizations must adapt and change to face new realities and trends.
JCI Admin Structure for the Young Generation In small or medium sized JCI Local Organizations, one solution that may keep these younger members active and involved is to have a small Board of Directors that emphasizes the use of Project Directors for nearly every task. For example, the Board of Directors would consist of the following: President, one or two Vice Presidents, Secretary and Treasurer. All these positions are supervisory roles and project managers should be used to conduct projects, produce newsletters or membership recruitment. The Local Organization would have to set bylaws and parameters, but a member could be the newsletter editor for three months, train someone else to take over that task and move on to be the project director. By utilizing a small Board, the Local Organization forces its Board members to constantly find and mentor new Project Directors who will learn by doing. Unlike a board position, directors’ positions last the duration of the projects or tasks, not in yearly terms. Advantages: 1. New members can get involved immediately; 2. Project Directors can learn to organize several different types of projects, events and administrative tasks before being on the local Board; 3. Young members could rise quickly if they are talented. For more information on the Local Structure download the JCI Local Action Guides from JCI website www.jci.cc.
The test of a Constitution’s worth is its effectiveness in giving prospective members a proper understanding of the nature, aims and purposes of the organization. For more information on the Local Constitution download the JCI Local Action Guides from JCI website www.jci.cc.
Records and Annual Report It is important for a local organization to have an “Annual Report” with the most important aspects and facts of the years activities. Besides being a public relations tool, it is also a historical publication that can be used for future reference. A typical “Annual report” should contain: The Mission and major overall achievements in the community • JCI Mission and Local Organization Mission • Major contributions and achievements by the Local Organization in the community in history Marketing information about JCI and the Local Organization • Benefits of being a member • How members receive opportunities • A general marketing text the press can use Current Membership roster and Officers • List of all members (all categories) • List of all Officers and responsibilities Next year’s Officers • List of all Officers elected for next year and responsibilities
The Local Constitution is the most fundamental document of the organization. The contents of any Constitution should be stated clearly and simply.
Plan of Action and what was accomplished • Describe all the planned activity in the Local • Organization as well as the goals for the different areas for the year. • Details of what was accomplished and suggestions for the next year. • Next year’s Plan of Action.
No Constitution can be effective if it attempts to legislate for details. These are more suitably dealt with through policies, which are the everyday working rules.
Strategic plan • Longer term development plan
The Local Constitution and Policy Manual
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Description of what was done and what is left to be done in the future.
Budget and Financial Report • Proposed budget and current budget • Final financial report of the year.
the position should be the member in the level immediately below. It must be understood that Local Organizations have only that many positions and not everyone can be the President or Board member. If officers stay at the same level or repeat positions, they will start a chain reaction that will end up on the members who don’t see any opportunity in the leadership and management level, and leave the Local Organization.
The Local Budget and Finances
Leadership Ladder, the wrong way The preparation of a Local Organization budget must follow these steps: 1. List all administrative (not projects) expenses, including advertising for marketing, travel, communications, utilities, supplies, rent, taxes, etc. 2. List all secured sources of income, including advertising on Local Organization website, secured donations and grants, interest, product sales, etc. 3. List the projected number of paying members to give you an estimate of income from membership dues. Do not estimate for members who are not members yet. A safe calculation is the average of members in the last few years. For more information on the Local Budget and Finances download the JCI Local Action Guides from JCI website www.jci.cc.
The Leadership Ladder The local structure must always allow the flow of people climbing the leadership ladder to avoid empty steps that need to be filled by people going down the ladder or others having to skip steps and reach a position for which they still don’t have the necessary experience. Of course, there may be exceptions an emergency situations when this may be necessary, but it should be an exception because if repeated, it will start the chain reaction that may dramatically affect the future of the Local Organization. When there are more candidates for the higher position, the ones not getting elected must give up their step so the people from the step below can go up. Members who did not get elected for a higher position may run again next year, but the natural candidate for 6
JCI Admin
If the Board members who did not get elected for the President position stay in their level and just switch positions, they will block the way of the Directors who want to become Board members. And if the Directors don’t have the chance to move up, they will also stay in their positions and block the way of the Project Committee members who will not see the possibility for new opportunities and will probably leave the Local Organization. A President repeating the year may start a very dangerous trend that will lead to a complete isolation of the Board and soon they are the only members left in the Local Organization. This situation is very common when the natural flow of leadership was broken in the past and there are no experienced members to become President. It is logical that the President at the end of his or her term will have more experience than anyone else in the Local Organization and if the rules and values are not strong enough, the procedures can be broken allowing the President to stay for another year. This solution will apparently make the local organization much better, probably winning most of the awards and even become the best local organization in the Country and the President receiving the Best Local President Award, but because of the broken sequence, at the end of the second year the lack of experienced members for the presidency will be even greater because if it was bad when the two-term President took office, now two more years have passed without moving the leadership ladder. Instead of a leadership ladder going up, the Local Organization is keeping everyone on the same level forever. And remember, young members will not wait for long to receive the benefits and opportunities the organization should offer.
JCI Admin Providing Opportunities To fulfill JCI’s Mission to provide opportunities for young people, local organizations must constantly renew leadership positions. It is the essence of the organization to constantly provide opportunities for the members who want to become better leaders and citizens. There are only a few leadership positions to be filled every year and those who don’t manage to get elected and move up the ladder must give way for the ones moving up to their positions. Past officers and experienced members should not keep the positions available to new members, but move to new challenges and leave their places in the leadership ladder for the ones moving up. The greater the number of past Board members in the membership ranks, the lower the retention rate. Here are some roles past officers and experienced members can play: •
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role in community committees or leading communality organizations. But, most importantly, if Local Organizations only provide opportunities for the development of abilities and experience and never applies it, there is not much result achieved when it comes to creating positive changes. Of course, while acting as leaders in the community, past members can still continue their affiliation to the Local Organization, but JCI’s Mission can only be accomplished if new members have opportunities.
Applying the Skills All skills, experience and knowledge JCI members acquire while running projects, taking leadership roles at all levels must be used for the benefit of the community. If our most experienced members don’t act in the community JCI will not be able to create positive change. JCI produces leaders to act outside JCI to accomplish the Mission to create positive change.
Coach and mentor new members: On the other hand, we cannot forget the great benefit the past Board and experienced members bring in terms of motivation to new members and by being live examples of what JCI can do for the members, but that does not mean they should continue doing everything. They should be helping and coaching new members to achieve the same level of experience and knowledge. Give advice, not running projects: There is no point on having the same people running the projects every year. In JCI one may be Director one time and committee member next time. Experienced members can serve in committees and act as advisors to new members running the projects. Of course, a local organization can reach great success if all activities are conducted by past presidents and other past top officers, but that is not what JCI’s Mission stands for: to provide opportunities for young people to develop they leadership skills, social responsibility, entrepreneurship and fellowship.
Succession Plan
Run high level projects: Past presidents, past officers and experienced members can take charge of high level projects, such as organizing a national convention, a top level community project that requires great skills and knowledge. Represent the organization in community committees: Past officers can play a very important
A Board of Directors cannot only think on their own year. They must constantly think, discuss and plan the next year too. JCI does not work on a January-December or yearly basis. The organization must be conducted on a long term perspective and each year is just a little part of the whole purpose and mission.
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At start of the year the local organization board must already begin to plan the succession ensuring there are always more candidates than positions and each possible or potential candidate receives the opportunities to develop the skills and acquire the experience for the position in the future. Of course, only a few will get elected but the skills and experience accumulated on the way will help those who did not get elected in other endeavors in the Local Organization, community, business or private life. Each board member must mentor and involve the potential successors in the planning so the next year is an easy transition. This will ensure consistency and a more secure future for the local organization because there is no abrupt change in leadership, planning and management.
The Role of the Board in the Succession
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JCI Admin Board members must closely follow up with members, directors and fellow board members and ensure they are acquiring the skills and abilities to fulfill next year’s vacancies in all levels of the leadership ladder. After all, this year’s Board of Directors is responsible for the success of next year’s Board.
If anything goes wrong next year, it will be because of lack of planning of this year’s Board. By adopting a succession plan the Local Organization ensures that JCI’s Mission is also accomplished by providing the opportunity for all members to develop their leadership skills and where can they find a better place than occupying a leadership position in the Local Organization?
The JCI Local Golden Rules 1. If a decision affects all, everyone must be asked to vote. 2. Some minor or urgent decisions can be delegated. 3. The members must always remain in control and have the ultimate authority. 4. No more than 20% of members should be on the Board. 5. It requires 2/3 of the votes to change the Constitution 6. Officers cannot hold the same position twice 7. JCI members must be Active Citizens
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JCI Admin Standard Local Organizational Structure There is no ideal organizational structure that fits the needs of every Local Organization of JCI, but there is one that is right for yours. Here are a few guidelines that will assist you in designing your Local Organization’s structure: 1.
No one person should be required to supervise more than five people. The workload should be balanced among the Board Members.
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The system must be flexible so that additional people and projects can be added during the year. It must also be flexible enough to handle a reduction in the number of people and projects.
3.
It must provide for easy and rapid two-way communication. Remember, as the number of middle-management levels increases, the difficulty of communication multiplies.
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It must allow for delegation of responsibility and authority. All supervisors must know what is expected of them, the importance of their roles in achieving overall objectives, and the standards by which their performance will be judged.
Following are samples organizational structures that may be helpful to you as you examine your present structure. As the membership and consequently the projects increase, the number of Vice Presidents should increase and when the Local Organization reaches four or five Vice Presidents, the position of Executive Vice President can be created to supervise the Vice Presidents.
Structure for Local Organizations with LESS THAN 25 Members Local President
Vice President
Secretary and Treasurer
Project or Task Director
Project or Task Director
Past President and Legal Counsel
Project or Task Director
Project or Task Director
Structure for Local Organizations with MORE THAN 25 and LESS THAN 40 Members Local President
Secretary
Project or Task Director
Vice President
Project or Task Director
Project or Task Director
Past President and Legal Counsel
Project or Task Director JCI Admin
Project or Task Director
Vice President
Project or Task Director
Project or Task Director
Treasurer
Project or Task Director 9
JCI Vision . “To be the leading global network of young active citizens.” JCI Mission “To provide development opportunities that empower young people to create positive change.” About JCI JCI is a membership-based nonprofit organization of young active citizens ages 18 to 40 in more than 100 countries who are dedicated to creating positive change in their communities. Each JCI member shares the belief that in order to create lasting positive change, we must improve ourselves and the world around us. JCI members take ownership of their communities by identifying problems and creating targeted solutions to create impact.
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