By Helen Reid, GGV Executive Board Member 
Helen Reid reports on the Policy and Procedures Subcommittee, 6th August 2019.
I’ve now attended a second Executive meeting and at each meeting there are reports from the subcommittees. There are five subcommittees: Policy and Procedures, Girls’ Experience, Adults’ Experience, Property, and the Finance, Audit and Risk committee. All these committees meet regularly and comprise members of the Executive as well as others.
I want to share some of the work these committees do, starting with the Policy and Procedures committee. This is a dedicated group led by Ann Cook, who does an awesome job, making sure that our policies are up-to-date, comply with appropriate legislation, and meet the needs of our organisation. They are also probably some of the few members that have read the entire GGV Constitution and By-laws and could most probably quote appropriate excerpts when necessary. Someone has to care about crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s and I’m glad we have this committee on the job.
Just in the past few months they have been working on the Privacy policy, to align with the GGA policy and ensure it complies with legislative requirements, the Life membership policy, the Food safety policy, the Fundraising and Raffles policies due to changes in legislation, and the Emergency Response/Fire Danger Ratings policy. On top of all this, the committee has ensured that all the paperwork for the election of the next State Commissioner is up-to-date including the position description. Wow – I’m exhausted just typing up what they do!
Thinking about what this subcommittee does got me thinking – I’ve been a leader for close to 34 years, but when was the last time I had a look at what policies we do have, and are there some I should be having a look at again? So I found the page on the website and had a serious look. I knew about many of them – Smoke Free, Anaphylaxis and Allergy and the relatively new Healthy Eating Choices policies. And there are some that I’m hoping I’m not going to need to know such as the Building of Guide Halls and Scattering of Ashes policies but I guess it is good to know they exist. And maybe there are a few that are worth taking just a little time to have another read of, such as the Complaints and Grievance Procedures or the Members in Vehicles policy just in case. Maybe it is something that we could spend a few minutes at our next District meeting discussing, highlighting two or three policies just as a reminder. None of them are very long – some just a few lines – but as a member I have a responsibility to abide by these policies.
So thanks to the amazing work of Ann and her team. I’m sure there are days they must think it a thankless task but we are a better organisation because of the work they do.
Next time: I’m attending my first subcommittee meeting with the Adult Experience team so stay tuned to find out what that group is up to and maybe a profile or two of who’s on the Executive.
Thanks to those who let me know they had enjoyed reading the last blog. Even had a few of our Guide parents take note of the blog which was both surprising and nice.
If you have any questions or comments please get in touch – helen.guiding@bigpond.com.
