Jul/Aug - uspsa

Area 1 Candidates
) he office of AD involves two
1 distinct roles, that of area director
(area manager) and that of USPSA
board member (policy maker). Which
do you consider most critical? How
would you balance conflicts that may
occur between the two?
Bill Burkard:
I don't see the roles as conflicting.
The "area manager" deals with tactical
problems, while the "policy maker"
deals with strategic issues. Any successful
business represents a balance of tactical
and strategic views of the same
problems. The experience gained by
"managing the area" should serve as
basis on which "policy" decisions are
made. In the event that a specific issue
or decision would have a short-term,
negative affect on a limited segment of
the organization, the decision has to be
made on the basis of what's best for the
health of the overall organization. In
this kind of situation every effort needs
to be made to insure the affected
group(s) are made aware of the situation
before it goes into effect.
Bruce Gary:
I believe the two roles are completely
intertwined, and together they
represent a single core responsibility of
the area director: to make policies that
reflect the interests and address the
concerns of the shooters he represents.
In my opinion, an area director cannot
succeed as a policy maker without
thorough, hands-on understanding
and involvement in the issues faced by
the sections, clubs and members within
the area.
It is impossible to say that one role
is more critical than the other. They are
both critical. As "area manager", the
area director must communicate in
both directions betvveen the national
organization and individual sections,
clubs and members, and ensure that all
parties are fully informed about issues
that affect the area. The "policy
maker" must then use that knowledge
to work with the other members of the
2000 Area Director Elections
board to create workable, sensible national
policies that address those issues.
This is a very familiar set of responsibilities
for me. My job involves
communicating with many organizations
and individuals, all over the country,
working to understand the problems
they face. Using that understanding,
I design business and technical
strategies that solve their problems and
help them succeed. My "members" are
very much a part of the process of creating
the strategies that affect them. I
would work the same way for the
members of Area 1.
I would balance conflicts between
the two roles by using one to measure
the other. If it is unclear which policy
is best, I believe the conflicts can be resolved
by simply asking "which path
best serves the interests of the shooters
I represent?"
Everett Mastrich:
Both roles are extremely important;
however, more time from my perspective
should be spent in the role of
"area management." I would balance
my time the same way I do with my
professional life, by prioritizing the
conflicts and weighing which conflicts
would be in the best interests of the
Area and which ones would be in the
best interests of USPSA while also
keeping a common sense perspective
of both.
Brian McCormick:
I think that these two roles are
equally important and see these roles
as overlapping rather than conflicting.
I think that the most important thing
that the area director has to do is to listen
to the membership and to represent
them at the meetings of the board of directors.
As a manager, you listen to
your people and as a board member
you represent them.
t t uh t phr eo ps oe cs t ei oc no mc omo ur =
2) Hnic°atindg° wy o
dinators, club contacts, and other
members in your area? How much
communications do you feel is desirable?
Bill Burkard:
In an ideal world, every member
would have instant access to information
that will affect them and the organization.
In the real world, even with
the Internet, it is a challenge to get the
info out and the comments, questions,
and gripes back.
My proposal is to utilize a chain of
communication with scheduled virtual
"meetings." I would ask USPSA to support
the cost of a quarterly phone
"meeting" with the section coordinators
within Area 1. In turn, I would ask
the SCs to have quarterly communication
meetings with their clubs. The
club meetings would be open to members
but conducted by club presidents
or their representatives. If successful,
the strategy would allow the timely
communication from the AD to/from
the SC to/from the Club President
to/from members.
In addition it would be recommended
that, at a minimum, the area
and each section and, where possible,
individual clubs maintain web sites to
offer an electronic source of information.
Area 1 currently supports a web
page with links to section and club
sites.
Bruce Gary:
A lot. I've already begun contacting
section coordinators and club presidents
throughout the area, and hope to
have at least an initial conversation
with every one of them by the time this
hits print. With an area as large as ours,
we're going to have to use phone and
e-mail to stay in contact, but I'm certain
we can identify problems, work
through ideas, design solutions, and
help each other succeed no matter
where we are.
I like to have direct, two-way communication
with the people I work for.
Here in the Northwest Section, we
have found that e-mail can be a great
way to communicate with each other.
We can "discuss" issues without having
to be in the same place, we can "broadcast"
information to clubs and individuals
quickly and cheaply, and through
e-mail the members of the section
10 FRONT SIGHT • July/August 2000