CPFMagazine_FALL2017_Vol5Issue1_eVERSION

CPF MAGAZINE
message FROM THE PRESIDENT
O
ver the summer, as I drove Alberta
and Newfoundland highways, my
thoughts centred on the significance
of national organizations like Canadian
Parents for French. In the crowded
minutes and hours of all our lives, how
do we gauge the effectiveness of that
extra hour of organizing meetings, or
the meeting with the provincial, federal
legislator or school trustee to influence
policy? When the national board meets
on a summer long weekend in a hotel
conference room for 7- 8 hours, we
ask ourselves exactly that. The answer
is creating a question to focus our
discussion– what is the impact of our
national board’s volunteer efforts on a
CPF member.
After a year of CPF Presidency at the
national level, my perspective focuses on
two realities.
1. Canadian volunteers in the 21st
century marketplace are in the driver’s
seat and CPF is slow to adapt to this
reality.
2. Organizational management needs
to leapfrog into a model of agility,
proactive planning, and innovation
accessing technology and adapting
to a new reality of leadership.
I recently read an email to members
of a CPF Chapter that started out
reasonably well. It invited members to
the AGM and then it went on to state that
unless parents came out to the AGM and
accepted officers’ positions, the Chapter
would fold and the repercussions were
listed. How I wished I could pull that note
out of our members’ inboxes! If you knew
a party was being held by a neighbour you
barely knew and the invitation basically
implied that no one usually comes but it
was being held for one last time just in
case someone showed up. Would you
mark your social calendar with a big must
attend star? Likely not. But too often we
talk about our volunteer association with
CPF in a similar vein.
So how about changing things up
when we host events knowing that
not everyone can manage a weekday
Volunteerism is the backbone
of many important initiatives
in our country, but ways of
operating effectively and
efficiently have changed
radically – CPF must as well.
evening event? How about being able to
call into the AGM and engage members
who could be involved that way, or a
meeting through internet conferencing
applications? Recent graduates are often
keen to ‘payback’ as they go out into the
‘real’ world and realize the enormous
benefit of being bilingual. They can
volunteer AND bring their technological
capacity to our ‘cause’.
Because of the heavy reliance on
public funding, we tend to focus on
people who have the capacity to manage
the needed reporting requirements.
This absolutely needs to be within
their competency or the ability to lead
volunteers and/or staff to undertake it.
But what is really needed is the ability
to leverage communication technology,
grasp persuasive writing and public
speaking skills. People who can ‘sell’
the value of a bilingual education from
either their own experience, or from
the experience of parenting children
who are well on their way to enriched
lives because they are bilingual. We
need parents to share the facts and
experiences. We need leaders to excite
parent volunteers, attract new members,
position CPF Chapters as great ways to
meet new friends and be involved in their
child’s educational life, and to support
teachers who want their students to
succeed. CPF needs leaders.
Everyone already knows that change
is hard and challenging. All of us adapt –
we’ve had to. Adapting CPF to the reality
that volunteerism and volunteers are
clearly telling us that we need to explore
a new approach to engagement and that
leadership in the nonprofit sector needs
to mirror models of success—adaptability,
technical literacy, concepts of supply and
demand in the marketplace of human
interests and capacity—are essential.
I appreciate the learning experience
and the opportunity to share leadership
insights to shape, adapt, and inform CPF
National over the last three and a half
years. For whatever value I contributed is
entirely due to the immense contributions
of my fellow board members, the two
Presidents with whom I have served, and
the strength of the National Executive
Director and her staff. I also want to
acknowledge the tireless efforts of Tony
Orlando, (President, CPF Nova Scotia) as
Chair of the Council of Presidents. As I
retire from the National Board. I thank
you for the privilege of having served with
you. Where could we make an even more
significant impact? n
Karen Lynch
President
CPF National
2016-2017
2 Canadian Parents for French Vol 5 • Issue 1 • 2017