Since being elected as your Department President, I have hit the ground running. My first order of business was to sign a Unit Charter, Welcome back L’Anse.
I have been to several Units this past month. To my surprise, Unit members call themselves the Ladies Auxiliary. We are not the Ladies Auxiliary. We are the American Legion Auxiliary. I also discovered some Unit Presidents do not know how to open or conduct meetings. This confirms my mission for this year. Back to the basics and focus on our Units. When our members do not know Policy, Procedures and Protocol, it results in confusion and chaos. This is what is happening now.
· Policy:(A course of action adopted by a government party, business, or individual.) This means your Unit Standing rules as well as our Constitution and By-Laws.
· Procedure:(An established or official way of doing something.) How to conduct a meeting, or how to conduct a conflict resolution.
· Protocol: (A system of rules that explain the correct conduct and procedures to be followed in formal situations.) This is the one most of our members ignore.
Auxiliary members call the Department Headquarters on a daily basis for issues within their Units. A unit member should not call our department office for anything. Unit issues are to be directed to your District people. The District people will contact the Department person if they need further assistance.
For example, if a unit membership chairperson has a question pertaining to membership, that person reaches out to the District chairperson.If the District chairperson is un-able to assist the Unit, the District reaches out to the De-partment area chairperson for their District. The area chair-person contacts the Department membership chairperson if further assistance is needed. The only person who contacts the Department headquarters regarding membership is the Department Membership Chairperson. These steps are for all committees and officer positions.
When does a Unit member reach out to the National headquarters? They do not! When a Unit reaches out to National, the concern the Unit has will be referred back to the Department. Then, the Department will send it back to the District. The headquarters staff is busy doing their tasks, and when they are constantly answering Unit members’ phone calls, our staff falls behind on their tasks. This results in delays in getting things processed.
So please follow our policies, procedures, and protocol. Keep Rocking 4 Our Veterans.