Your Quarterly Report: What should I write about this quarter?
Fru Ellisif of Endless Hills
It's the first of the month, it's that time of the year again, and it’s reporting time. Do you even remember what you reported on last quarter? Half the time, I don't! What is the point, anyway?So, you try and comb through some records come up with something to write about, and send it off to your regional or Kingdom officer. Then what?? Is what you reported in anyway significant? Who does read all those reports anyway?
I can tell you that all reports are important and can make a difference. I have to say the best strategy for running my Baronial Chatelaine office has been not in trying to work independently from the rest of the populace, but rather is trying to provide support and recognition for those individuals who are taking policy to heart and being a private chatelaine. One person cannot reach every single newcomer. One person can try to funnel the newcomers in their direction, by using website links to an office page, or providing business cards to populace members who are active private chatelaines. But, I do not feel this office was meant to be the only source for newcomer related learning, but rather the support and coordination behind a groups newcomer outreach. This perspective lends itself to a different type of reporting, as the focus is no longer on the activities of one or two people running the office, but on the efforts and coordination of the group at large. I often find myself speaking more of other's actions, than myself in reports. My focus has shifted from reporting office duties to reporting the good works of my populace. Because I was now not speaking solely for myself, there wasn't a quarter where I did not have something to report. Even if all I did was encourage someone in the local group to do something, something was being done that would fall under the jurisdiction of my office. To my mind, this type of reporting also more accurately accounted for what was happening in the group. It showed my superiors that chatelaining was a group effort. It, also, showed that our group, while not always going by only “official” office work was always actively chatelaining or attempting to recruit. When it comes down to the base line, this is all a report needs really to show, that your group and office are actively attempting to grow and teach newcomers. There are various way groups do this, for instance, they try to hold demos, they have newcomer meet and greets, they can provide one -on-one support, or even have mentoring programs.
How they achieve their recruiting is just fine and should only be decided by what the local group feels they could do. Yet, how would anyone else, but a group member, know how hard a local group or individuals are working unless someone bothers to mention it? I may be coordinating my group’s efforts, but I am also their voice to Kingdom and beyond. As an officer within the Society I am the voice of Kingdom and Society back down the group. There are three levels within our office structure, Society, Kingdom, and local group. All of these levels need to be in communication with each other. It is each level’s responsibility to report and get in touch with the other levels. Someone in the Kingdom office should let local officers know their reports and service are appreciated and worthwhile. Following the same line of thought, the officer from the local group should call out for due and worthy attention back down to the local group through reports and award recommendations.
Thinking about this on yet another level, a local officer should also be reporting back to their populace. It has been found that when a Kingdom reports back to local officers about their reports and office goings-on, that local officers feel more encouraged to report because they feel like their work is worth something. This should also the same for the local populace. The local populace should be motivated by hearing that their works and ideas are being passed on and well received by Kingdom. This can be done in a number of ways, like posting a message in your local newsletter, expressing thanks to people in the business meeting, or sending in an award recommendation. This will also show you local populace that you are trying to build something. I report just about every local business meeting. I make sure to let everyone know that newcomers meetings are going consistently, if there is anything going in the office, like a project, or if volunteers are needed. Basically, I try to convey that I am there also to listen to them and help them in their endeavors. I want my populace to know that, the office can be counted to do what it says it will do, and that its recruiting process is continuing consistently.
When a local group officer reports to Kingdom several things happen. The Kingdom office takes the report and thinks “Hey, wonderful! Now I don't have to search out this information by myself.” Secondly, it shows the regional officer that someone from the local group is attempting to make good on their promise to run the office, which looks good for the local officer and the local group because it shows the local group is trying to become more efficient and self-sufficient, and generally to grow and/or become more established. The officer will then look at the content of the report. “Nothing to report” can mean a lot of different things to a regional or Kingdom officer. It can possibly mean that things are just fine, business as usual, nothing extraordinary happening lately. It could also mean the local group is struggling to maintain itself, much less recruit. It could even mean a local officer does not really know what they should be doing, and perhaps needs a little more guidance or encouragement is needed to fulfill the duties. “Nothing to report” or something along those lines, because it can be taken so many ways, does not usually leave an “everything is status quo” impression for your local group. Instead it raises red flags. It makes the regional or Kingdom officer ask “well, if there is nothing to report, what are they not reporting about?” or even “ is anything being done in this group?” This, generally, is not the kind of attention one wants to draw to their group. If nothing has changed since the last report, simply state that or something like “our office is running normally, as per the happenings of last quarter.” Simply put, the word “nothing” rings in the ears of a regional and/or Kingdom officer as literally “nothing has been done”. “Nothing to report”, does not say “we are running consistently in the activities that we do.”
When the Kingdom officer has taken a look at all reports, they can see more clearly what the local chatelaines and groups might need. Perhaps they need better tools to do the job, perhaps more training should be made available, perhaps just motivation, or clarification on what a particular policy means. If the groups are getting a lot of interested parties, but not many newcomers stay with the local group, perhaps some Kingdom-wide brainstorming needs to be done to find a better way to retain newcomers. The Kingdom officer will make award recommendations or can provide some kind of recognition to outstanding groups or officers or individuals. And as mentioned before, a regional/Kingdom officer should take the time to pass down their findings to the local officers so that ideas can be passed around, policy clarified, and officers prepared for the next quarter's happenings on a Kingdom level. The officer will then take the sum of all these reports and make his/her report to Society and the Crown.
Society will look at the report and say, "wow, look at all these things happening!" This is a very efficient Kingdom, capable of running itself; just look at all the hard work they have done! Look at how much it is growing and maturing. How neat is that tool (manual, brochure, newcomer program, etc...) maybe other Kingdoms would like to use something like this? A good idea can go very far indeed!! A well said and well placed idea can change everything. Another way in which your reports can impress society level officers is by gathering data on which areas are growing, the media reps can create better and more targeted press and public image materials.
The offices of Chatelaine and Media Representative especially need to work in tandem with each other. To put our office relationship into a different perspective, the Media Representatives are our marketing team, while the Chatelaines are our human resource and support team. Hopefully, none of us will have to call up our society media reps (we usually only think to in crisis situations), so most times these reports are the only way the media reps get to hear our side of the teamwork. But this doesn't just apply to the media representatives, it applies to our cooperative work with all local officers and it applies to our voice on to the society level and the BOD. What does the Society Chatelaine base his/her reports on?? What does the Kingdom Chatelaine base his/her reports on? Both these officers can only base their reports on the reports of the local groups. Without the voice of the local groups, these two officers would have nothing to report. What should be reported?
Ok, but after all this discussion, what needs to go into a report?
- First off, you must include your membership, office term expiration, and contact information
- office organization efforts
- new outreach updates and media
- contact with press
- Your group's effort in chatelaining: sometimes the best way to run the office is so that it supports the group’s efforts, and not to function independently of the group at large.
- web presence information
- Estimates of people using your office, all people, newcomers, email list members, information seekers, transplants, press, etc...
- activities, demos, and events, even if not sponsored by the office
- usage, growth, maintenance of, organization of, and ideas for gold key
- What's important to you, what you need, what you would like to see?
- Conflicts (potential or current )
I know that this sounds like a lot, but when you look at it piece by piece, a standard report is something that can be done in a small amount of time. Usually less than an hour per quarter, presuming you have all of your information available. Not everything you report must be large or grand in nature. Sometimes it is the small battles of running an office that people will most want to hear about. Office organization efforts: No one expects a local office to take up a whole bunch of time out of your life, but maybe you have a neat filing system that helps you save time, or helps other save time. This is something we all would like hear about. It takes time to re-organize or streamline an office. I find this perfectly acceptable to talk about in a report to Kingdom, as it shows that the office is certainly not being neglected, but thought about and tended to.
Contact with press: It may not be your “official” job to makes these report to the Kingdom Chatelaine. All press contact should be reported to the local and Kingdom media rep., but it doesn't hurt to report something twice. It can even be beneficial, because what would happen if the seneschal or media rep forgot to report? At least, if you reported it, someone on Kingdom level would know about what is happening.
Web presence information: I feel I must put a note in here. I am not saying people need to report on the group's website. If you have an office website or page, this is what should be reported on. Updates, traffic stats (as in how many hits the page/site gets), the address should be reported to your local group and Kingdom. A website or page for newcomer’s resources for your local group is an excellent idea. Having such a page or site is becoming essential in our technological age. Nor do they want people getting the wrong idea about the SCA from a questionable source. Never hesitate to tap other offices in efforts to improve your own, such as your local, regional, or Kingdom web ministers.
Estimates of people using your office: For estimating your newcomers per quarter, I am saying use all the numbers you have, all people, newcomers, info seekers, email list members, transplants, press, etc... While we would love to retain all of our newcomer's, we also need to let others know just how many people we are dealing with on a regular basis. While we may have retained only one or two people a month, we have talked at least 10 or 15. Nothing can say more about your program and office than the amount of people are able to reach out to.
Activities, demos, and event: Even if not immediately sponsored or run by the office, each of us should be aware of the goings-on of the group and who is in charge of these activities. By working with the people who are volunteering or being asked to hold demos, these people have more of a chance to doing it correctly and perhaps may get you another deputy!
What's important to you, what you need, what you would like to see: We can't help a local officer or create the tools they need, if no one ever tells us anything! This goes back to with the voice of the local chatelaine’s, Kingdom and Society would have little to say. Society greatly values the job we do, and will if necessary change policy in order to help all officers be able to do their jobs. The fact that you are willing to share your pet projects, concerns, and ideas, shows Kingdom that not only does a local chatelaine take their job seriously, but that they are dedicated toward the betterment of the Kingdom, which is displaying peer-like qualities.
Conflicts (potential or current): This is the reporting issue, I think, many seek to avoid and sometimes leads them not to report all at. Because just about all local offices at some point have conflicts, is a large part of why have Kingdom and regional officers. We are a third party to go to, an extra hand to lend, a brain to pick, and, when absolutely needed, the voice of authority. My philosophy is that the majority of us have one great thing in common, we all want to work toward the betterment of our local group and Kingdom, and it is the technicalities of how to do that, in which we get lost. Most times conflicts will make us take a step back and re-evaluate the situation at hand. But sometimes we come across conflicts that have little do with us, other than it might change how people think of the office, such as a deputy who is found to be embezzling funds or something of that nature. It is better to be on the safe side and let your regional and Kingdom officer know you are aware of the situation, even if you are not sure what to do otherwise.
Your group's effort in chatelaining: Sometimes the best way to run the office is so that it supports the group’s recruitment efforts, and not to function independently of the group at large. Society and most Kingdoms would like us to report or at least communicate with our other local and Kingdom offices. No office is really meant to work alone. Being an officer is being a team-worker. We run demos or promote people running demos, but we have the seneschal look over our site contract and sign it. Why? Because the seneschal is making sure everything is kosher and that the local group representative is aware of all the contract details before signing the contract. A chatelaine would like to promote newcomers to come to a beginner level workshop, so the chatelaine works with their media rep/seneschal to create and submit a press release. Our reports to our local officers are part of that spirit of teamwork. When those reports coincide with our business meeting reports they can be doubly effective, in keeping both the other officers and the rest of the populace informed as to what your office is doing. Consistent reporting of this type builds more confidence in the populace and your other officers that you are determined to keep our office along some kind of goal path. Reporting on your behind-the-scenes work with other offices is what a Kingdom officer would love to hear about. Reporting a “pat on the back” is also a wonderful thing for Kingdom and your local populace to hear.
I think many local chatelaines fall into the trap of thinking that because they the only elected person to be newcomer greeter, that they must do all the chatelaining for the group. This is a fallacy. Society has also made it policy that all members should be châtelaines..so where does this leave the local elected chatelaine? One person cannot possible do all the chatelaining for a group, there is not enough time or energy for one person to do all of the meet and greets and all following up, and all newcomer education. But a single elected officer can delegate out tasks that need to be done to run the office (like a follow up deputy), make it to one or two local activities a week (to meet newcomers), delegate a person they think is a good writer to help write up some newcomer outreach media. One officer can talk to a person running a demo, make sure they have what they need, and collect information so that the demo can be reported, and cookies can be passed around. One person can inspire others to action.
Newcomer Outreach Media: Does everyone, or anyone (other than you), know when your newcomer outreach media (handouts, brochures, etc..) were updated, or that the local group has these things available for use? For the simple fact that my Barony members knew I had media printed up, they came to me to get copies of it. This opened the door for me to collect more demo information, and for those members to know they were welcome to come back if they needed anything else, like gold key for the newcomers they were talking to.
Gold Key: The office holdings are not for the Chatelaine to wield with an iron hand, office holdings like gold key and outreach media are created and maintained for use of the local group, no matter how the chatelaine in the end gets to distribute or delegate it. Has gold key grown? Has it been mended? How many pieces are out for use? Is there a list of gold key you have so that you can show it people without having to drag out all the boxes? Is there a system you use to organize gold key? Have you put out any notices that people can bring gold key donations to you at events?
What are your personal benefits of reporting?
- Helps you track your group's growth trends and office success.
- Can help you organize your office.
- No need to do twice as much work.
Tracking Group's Growth and Office Success: This does not need to be a super fancy, number crunching task. What is most important about this aspect of reporting is to have the officer recognize what works for their group and what doesn't. If it takes months and months to line up a huge demo, tears, and screaming to get people to volunteer, and you only get one interested newcomer, then perhaps a new approach is needed. It also gives you something to report back to your local group about.
Organize your office: By using the guidelines above you can get a good sense of what needs a little more work in your individual office or what approaches need a little cleaning up. Breaking down the office into certain types of tasks (community relations/demo sponsor outreach, newcomer outreach, local group orientated) can help keep your mind focused on your target audiences, help you hone your language and thoughts to that audience, and provide the group an appropriate voice for that particular audience. There isn't a real need to do twice as much work to provide two different voices on the same topic. A little editing here and there to a brochure can provide you with materials for demo sponsors and general community relations. This is not cheating; in fact it is preferred to have a consistent public image going out to various target audiences.
You don't need work twice as hard work to get projects done: It is a polite thing and one we would greatly encourage to report your office workings to your local group. My home group even publishes the monthly business meeting reports in our local newsletter, so my reports at the business meetings are also reports to the general populace. Copying and pasting appropriate sections from my business meeting reports helps me build the foundation of my quarterly report.
Brochures and hand outs, once approved of general wording (from Kingdom Chatelaine, but using the wording available from the SCA press kit or an already approved Kingdom or local group hand out is also a good idea), can be re-arranged and lightly edited to speak to different target audiences. Official, office letterheads can be made into a graphic file (jpeg, gif, jpg, tiff, etc...), so that all you have to do insert the picture at the top of what your working on (reports, letters, hand-outs, etc...) for a more professional and consistent look. There is little need to re-invent the wheel each time we need materials. Our Society and Kingdom, presents us with some standard materials they would like to see us use, or at least use the wording of, so that we are all presenting the public and newcomers with the same “face”.
In conclusion, without our local officers our Kingdom and Society cannot prosper, nor represent, our populations. Our duty in reporting is not to tell us what you think we want to hear, but to tell us what's on your mind and what is going on for you and your office. To report is to tell Kingdom about your group and their good works in recruiting and retaining newcomers and holding demos. Reporting is not supposed to take days and days. It should be something that you take from 3 monthly business meeting reports, with a little more detail added to fill in the gaps between the reporting times. Reporting is also a conversation you have with your regional and Kingdom officers as to what is happening, how things are happening, and what you would like to see happen. Quarterly reporting dates for AEthelmearc’s Local Chatelaines:
- Jan. 1st
- April 1st
- July 1st
- Oct. 1st
|
|