It seems like no time at all since our online Business Meeting on 30/31 August, when the WA-Summit delegates endorsed the formation of the World Administrators Alliance. The WA-Alliance Interim council is 90 days into its term of office, and how time flies! We have been working hard on setting up all the processes and procedures necessary to get the WAA off the ground.
Included in the input from the Business Meeting Delegates breakout groups was the question: ‘What do you want to see from the WA-Alliance before May 2021?’ There is a great deal of valuable data and of course, we cannot do everything within twelve months. The mandate of the WA-Alliance Interim Council is to set up the governance, which means organising the systems and procedures that are needed to get the WA-Alliance off the ground. The most important activities are described below.
Of course, there is a great deal to manage and to organize. After the twelve-month interim period, there will be elections for all seven positions on the Council. Members will be able to vote during the Business Meeting that will be held in Q3 2021. It will then be the responsibility of the elected Council to take the preliminary work of the Interim Council forward to the future.
Administration
We have purchased Microsoft licenses so that the WA-Alliance Interim Council now has its own Outlook inboxes and Microsoft Teams account. MS-Teams will be the collaboration tool for the WA-Alliance moving forward, so that the Council, the WA-Summit Task Forces and Communications Team have their own Channel, to communicate and to collaborate. All relevant documents are being stored within these channels, to ensure consistency, continuity and transparency. More channels can be added as required for working groups or task forces.
An online bank account has also been set up, under the management of Treasurer Ursula Wartha. Guidelines are being put in place to manage this correctly.
We are also in the process of setting up a membership database using Wild Apricot software, that will enable us to manage membership applications, contacts, WA-Summit registrations, invoices, newsletters, mailings and surveys.
The Way Forward
Delegates also asked for a ‘road map’ for the WA-Alliance. Using the aims of the WA-Alliance as the spearheads for our activities, we have made a start of the Way Forward, as shown below.
Each of the WA-Alliance aims will eventually be distilled into measurable goals that will be manged by the WA-Alliance Council, with the support of our members. This is still very much a ‘work in progress’ and by no means complete. It will be a living document as the future elected Council takes up the process. Each spearhead will have its own measurable goals, activities and timeline. Next month we will show the details for the first twelve months of the WA-Alliance.
Membership Categories
Members are at the core of the WA-Alliance and setting up the correct membership categories is a very important part of our formation, so we need to get it right. After consultation with the delegates, the WA-Summit Advisory Council – Future Task Force worked for 18 months to develop the requested structure ready for endorsement at the 30/31 August 2020 Business Meeting. Subsequently, the WA-Alliance was established as a non-profit trade association in the USA. Do not be put off by the word ‘trade’, it’s a rather old-fashioned term for ‘professional’. So, most of our members will be Administrative Associations and Networks from across the globe. There are some countries who have not established any such networks or Associations, so individuals from those countries will also be welcomed as members. We also cannot build a global community without the help and support of the many industry stakeholders who have made a great contribution to the WA-Summit in the past, who support our aims and whose voices we need to hear. These will include professional trainers, educational institutes, administrative magazine publishers and training companies. There is a seat and a voice at the WA-Alliance table for them all as we build this global community. The WA-Summit will continue as the working meeting held every two years, under the auspices of the WA-Alliance.