Objective:
- The IRWA’s Governance Task Force (GTF) was authorized by the International Executive Council (IEC) in September 2018 to engage the chapters in IRWA governance changes contemplated to meet the evolving needs of the Association.
Overview and History
- IRWA started a Governance Project in 2015. Its initial scope sought to examine international bylaws. The Advisory Council broadened the scope at Nashville in 2016, raising the following issues:
- Examine impact of globalization. Current international chapters in Australia, South Africa, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia are disparate and do not belong to a region.
- Examine whether IRWA is getting the best utilization of its leadership assets. These leadership assets include IEC, Advisory Council, Industry Committees and Communities of Practice.
- Examine ways to improve governance’s inclusiveness.
- IRWA initially responded to these recommendations by hiring consultant Tecker International in January 2017, which led the Governance Project effort for 18 months. Tecker Int’l reached the milestone of delivering three governance structure recommendations to leadership at the Edmonton conference in June 2018. These recommendations were met with noticeable opposition.
- IEC voted in September 2018 to pause the IRWA Governance Project and to postpone the Board of Directors vote that had been scheduled for June 2019 in Portland. IEC voted to form a Governance Task Force and tasked it to evaluate the current status of IRWA governance, its challenges and opportunities, to present a recommendation to the Association, and to perform these tasks with greater transparency.
GTF Membership and Plan
- Representation: One member from each of the 10 Regions, IEC as ex-officio and Staff Liaison.
- The GTF Plan includes reviewing Governance Project history in detail, preparing and distributing summary exhibits to communicate with membership and developing recommendations for IGC consideration.
GTF Accomplishments to Date
- Reviewed Governance Project history.
- Prepared and distributed history summaries through the regions for review and comment by chapter leadership.
- Conducted an Association-wide member survey to receive direct input from the membership in sufficient quantity to be considered statistically robust.
- Posted minutes and supporting materials on the GTF public page of Member Network.
GTF Activities Underway
- Preparing recommendations in a GTF Report, scheduled for release to the IGC at its September 13-14 meetings.
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