The Route Treasurer is the custodian of route property and controls the route finances. The Treasurer is responsible for the transparent management of these assets.

This Guide covers the Treasurer’s responsibilities. It is essential for the route Treasurer to familiarise himself or herself with this Guide in order to fill the position as an effective leader. The Guide will also help other route leaders and members, since it will give them a good understanding of what the Treasurer’s role should be and what support they could be offering the route Treasurer.

This Guide should be read together with other Guides covering the various leadership positions.

 Why is the Treasurer’s role important?

Since the Treasurer is the assigned person in charge of the route finances, it is very important that a person who is widely trusted is appointed or elected to this position.

The Treasurer’s role is mainly to apply appropriate control of route assets and to keep record of the route finances. In the absence of the Chairperson (and Vice-Chairperson if there is such a position for the route), the Treasurer will be expected to act as Chairperson.

As a leader serving on the Route Forum, the Treasurer should, along with the other Route Forum members, provide the leadership needed for the route to grow and function effectively. This does not imply that the route cannot rely on the Open Africa head office to offer help! But it does imply that the route leaders and Treasurer should seek such help when it is needed.

The various route members are coming together to achieve common objectives with building and promoting a destination route that will bring more economic activity to your area, which will lead to growing local tourism businesses and the improvement in the quality of life of your local communities. While the Treasurer may focus mostly on the assets and financial aspects of leading the route, it is the task of the leaders, including the Treasurer, to ensure that the bigger intentions are reflected in the route’s activities and that these activities lead to positive results.

What are the duties of the Treasurer?

The route’s founding document (constitution, memorandum of association or trust deed) may specify what obligations the Treasurer has, but in many instances it will not. Whether defined in the documents or not, the Treasurer’s duties will have bearing on the route complying to the applicable stipulations and, as such, it is important for the Treasurer to study the founding document carefully, with the aim to understand the intentions of the document in general, and the specific tasks and/or responsibilities assigned to the Treasurer.

In addition, the Treasurer should be aware of all the provisions of the founding document, so that the specifications and rules are correctly applied, especially concerning the management of resources and funds, as well as the required reporting on these.

In addition to the formal or legal requirements, the Treasurer is also responsible for ensuring that the Route Forum is informed of the route’s financial position and that the route property, if any, is adequately controlled and protected.

There are three areas of responsibility for the Treasurer:

• Control of route property.
• Management of the route finances, financial records and keeping of up-to-date accounts.
• Legal and organisational compliance for financial reporting.

The systems used by the Treasurer may vary in level of sophistication, depending on the route’s requirements. For instance, in one route, a simple paper-based bookkeeping system may be adequate, while in another route, a comprehensive accounting system may be needed.

There are specific aspects of the route’s functioning where the Treasurer plays a central role, which we can turn to now.

Control of route property

When a routes starts out, it will not have any property, but over time it may grow into an organisation with assets such as equipment, media items, or even products that are sold.

The Treasurer is responsible for setting up a system of control to ensure that these assets are kept sagely and used responsibly. It is not necessarily the job of the Treasurer to police every aspect of the use of route assets, but he or she must take full charge of the system of control. This implies that the Treasurer should design policies and introduce mechanisms appropriate to the situation the route is in, and to ensure that these policies and mechanisms are implemented.

Financial systems

A key element of the Treasurer’s responsibilities relates to the control of money. All income, including membership fees, should be received and accurately recorded. In a smaller route or when the route starts out, the Treasurer is likely to do most of this himself or herself, but it is not a requirement that it is the Treasurer who actually does the work. However, it is the Treasurer’s responsibility to ensure that the financial system is functional and that funds are adequately controlled.

For most routes, the following will form part of their financial system, and will therefore fall under the Treasurer’s control:

• Compilation of a route budget and comparing the budget to actual income and expenditure.
• Receiving of income and recording such income, including membership fees.
• Approval of route expenditure against budget items and payment of suppliers.
• Management of route banking facilities.
• Record-keeping and filing of financial documents.
• Compilation of accounts and submission of these accounts to the Route Forum.

As noted, the Treasurer’s task is to ensure that this system is functioning well and not necessarily to be responsible for all the time-consuming elements of maintaining accurate financial records. When the route grows, it is likely to become an involved area of work, which may be best outsourced to a service provider. However, when a service provider does some of the work, it does not remove the duty from the Treasure to remain in control of the system.

Compliance with financial reporting

The Treasurer is responsible for meeting the reporting obligations specified by law and/or in the route’s founding document. In some instances, this may imply an audit of financial records and receiving a set of audited financial statements, while in others, the compilation of a set of accounts by a certified accounting officer may be needed. The Treasurer is responsible for seeing to the process of completing such reports and for submitting these reports to the appropriate authorities or internal structures.

New routes and many voluntary associations may not require any of these, but this does not imply that the duty of controlling route assets should be viewed as of lesser importance.

Use of this Guide

This Guide will help you understand the role of Treasurer in the route. It does not provide you with detailed instructions on the requirements of your founding document – this is why it is important to read this Guide along with the route’s founding document (constitution, memorandum of association or trust deed).

Other Guides, Examples and Resources

Other Guides and Case Studies in the Open Africa Route Toolkit will be of use:

• Guide: How To Lead Your Route
• Guide: How To Have Effective Meetings
• Guide: How To Serve As Route Chairperson
• Guide: How To Serve As Route Secretary
  
• Guide: How To Elect Your Route Leadership And Appoint Them To The Best Positions
• Resource: Video: Ken Blanchard On Situational Leadership

Other resources to use

• Robert’s Rules of Order – http://www.robertsrules.org

The Route Secretary fills a very important role in your route. The route’s effective functioning as an organisation is only possible if the Secretary ensures that the Route Forum’s administrative and information systems functions well.

This Guide covers the Secretary’s responsibilities. It is essential for the route Secretary to familiarise himself or herself with this Guide so that he or she can fill the position as an effective leader. The Guide is also good reading for other route leaders and members, since it will give them a good understanding of what the Secretary’s role should be and what support they could be offering the route Secretary.

This Guide should be read together with other Guides covering the various leadership positions. You may also be interested in the Resource: Template Voluntary Association constitution.

Why is the role of Secretary important?

It is important that best possible candidate is appointed to the role of Secretary and that the appointed person is a good administrator.

The Secretary’s role is mainly to ensure that the route’s administrative systems and communication channels are working well. It is also important that the Secretary understands the rules set by the route’s founding documents and the legal requirements, since they may apply to the route’s functioning.

As a leader serving on the Route Forum, the Secretary should, along with the other Route Forum members, provide the leadership needed for the route to grow and function effectively. This does not imply that the route can not rely on the Open Africa head office to offer help! But it does imply that the route’s leaders, and specifically the Secretary, should be seeking such help when it is needed.

You are coming together in the route to achieve your common objectives with building and promoting a destination route that will bring more economic activity to your area, which will lead to growing local tourism businesses and the improvement in the quality of life of your local communities. While the Secretary may focus mostly on the administrative aspects of leading the route, it is the task of the leaders, including the Secretary, to ensure that the bigger intentions are reflected in the route’s activities and that these activities lead to positive results.

What are the Secretary’s duties?

If the route is formally constituted as a company or a trust, the Secretary will have some legal duties associated with the function of Secretary. These duties mainly relate to keeping all records up-to-date at the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC, previously called Cipro) and the Receiver of Revenue (Sars). In some instances, the Secretary may also be the person who must represent the company/trust/organisation for legal functions.

The route’s founding document (constitution, memorandum of association or trust deed) will specify what other formal obligations the Secretary has. These are important aspects of the Secretary’s role, but the responsibilities go beyond those formally listed in the founding document. It is important for the Secretary to study the founding document carefully with the aim to understand the intentions of the document in general, and the specific tasks and/or responsibilities assigned to the Secretary. The Secretary should also be aware of all the provisions of the founding document, so that the specifications and rules are correctly applied.

In addition to the formal or legal requirements, the Secretary is also responsible for the route administration and internal communication. The key outcomes attended to by a good Secretary will be seen in the fact that members are well informed of what is happening, that information is stored to be easily available when needed, that the rules governing the route are correctly applied, and that all legal requirements are met.

But we should look beyond the narrowly defined tasks included in the founding document and defined in the law.

Broadly speaking, there are the areas of responsibility for the Secretary:

• Ensure that the route complies with all legally required administration.
• Manage the route’s information, including filing of important documents, keeping record of decisions and minutes of meetings, and distributing documents.
• Keeping the route’s communication channels open so that all members stay informed.

The systems used by the Secretary may vary in level of sophistication, depending on the route’s requirements. For instance, in one route, a simple paper-based filing system and distributing hard copies of documents may be the best solution, while in another route, an online storing and document sharing platform may offer the required functionality.

There are specific aspects of the route’s functioning where the Secretary plays a central role:

Meetings

For Route Forum meetings, general member meetings, or any other formal route meeting, the Secretary is tasked with:

• Sending our invitations in accordance with the provisions in the founding document for notice periods and the format of the notice.
• Receiving and recording of  proxies or other forms of assigning authority to individuals to represent members at meetings (if applicable).
• Recording attendance at meetings and storing such attendance records.
• Taking minutes and/or record decisions at meetings, distribution of such minutes/records to the required people, and storing these minutes/records for future use.

Membership records

Except if membership administration is assigned to another Route Forum member, the Secretary is responsible for the following concerning membership:

• Receive applications for membership, process applications and communicate with applicants on the success or their applications, or if additional information is needed to process such applications, request such information from applicants.
• Keeping membership records up-to-date and reminding members to provide their new details should there be any changes.
• Sending reminders to members whose membership is about to expire.
• Support the Treasurer in collecting membership fees or other membership payments.

Functioning of the executive

Managing the information needed by the executive is one of the Secretary’s most important tasks, since a well-functioning executive will allow the route to achieve good results.

The Secretary’s role is not only to keep minutes or record of decisions at meetings of the executive, it is also to support the individual members of the executive in fulfilling their duties by ensuring that the route’s information is organised systematically in is accessible when needed.

Information from committees

The Secretary will not be involved in all the route’s committees or task teams, but is responsible for collecting and storing information relevant to the committees or task teams. In this regard, it is important for the Secretary to ensure that one person on each committee or task team is tasked with the secretarial duties of that committee or task team, and to receive the needed information from that person for storage.

The implementation of projects is normally assigned to committees or task teams. It is not the Secretary’s job to monitor the progress of these committees or teams, but it is the Secretary’s job to organise and store the reports submitted by these committees or task teams, and to ensure that these records are accessible for future use.

Use of this Guide

This Guide will help you understand the Secretary’s role in the route. It does not provide you with detailed instructions on the requirements of your founding document – this is why it is important to read this Guide along with the route’s founding document (constitution, memorandum of association or trust deed).

Other Guides, Examples and Resources

Other Guides and Case Studies in the Open Africa Route Toolkit will be of use:

• Guide: How To Lead Your Route
• Guide: How To Have Effective Meetings
• Guide: How to serve as Chairperson
• Guide: How to serve as Treasurer
• Guide: How To Elect Your Route Leadership And Appoint Them To The Best Positions
• Resource: Video: Ken Blanchard On Situational Leadership

Other resources to use

• Robert’s Rules of Order – http://www.robertsrules.org

Electing your route leaders and appointing them to specific leadership portfolios is perhaps the most important yearly responsibility of the route members.

As an Open Africa route subscriber to the Open Africa Charter, you are committed to transparent governance. As an organisation with its own founding document (constitution for a voluntary association, memorandum of association for a nonprofit company or trust deed for a trust). As an Open Africa subscriber, you are obliged to follow specified procedures in electing and/or appointing people to leadership positions. You should follow the exact procedures described in your founding document for elections and appointments.

In this Guide, you will not find the detailed instructions on the process that should be followed. The exact steps will vary from route to route, based on what is provided for in the particular founding document.

What this Guide provides is general guidelines on what you should consider in electing your route leaders and their appointment to fill specific leadership portfolios. You will find this useful in understanding who the best people would be to trust with the leadership responsibility and how to ensure wide support of the leadership by your membership.

It is worth distributing this Guide to members as part of the annual process of asking for nomination before elections take place – and to send it every year. The Guide may also be useful for training purposes when the roles of the route leadership are covered.

Why is it important to appoint the right leaders to the best positions?

Your route leaders play a very important role in determining the success of establishing and/or expanding a successful destination route. They have to inspire the members to remain active in route activities, to act as the public representatives of the route who interact with other organisations and recruit new members, and to make plans and implement projects. Above all, they are the people entrusted with governing the route as an organisation.

It does not matter which legal formation your route chooses as the best option – a trust, a nonprofit company or a voluntary association – since all organisations need leaders to take responsibility for key elements of healthy functioning. This is as true for a newly established route as it is for a well-established route. The calibre of the leadership will largely determine the route’s success.

Since the route leadership plays a key role in determining the route’s success, it is worth spending some time as route members on what the issues are to consider in electing the route leaders and appointing them to portfolios.

The election of route leaders is not a measure of determining the popularity of the nominated individuals. You will make a big mistake if you only focus on how well the candidates get along with everyone, although this is a very important success factor. There are many other considerations to take into account.

The two most important considerations in putting your leadership in place are:

• Transparency with full member participation in the election process.
• Allocating the best people to the positions that match their strengths.

What is involved in electing and appointing leadership?

The identification of route leaders will generally follow some basic steps, such as:

• Request nominations – commonly a circular is sent to all members (mostly along with notice of the AGM).
• Receive nominations – in many cases, it must be written, signed by the nominee as well as the person nominated plus a seconder, and must to be delivered to the Secretary.
• Appoint a presiding officer – at the meeting where the voting is to take place, the current Chairperson, or another person appointed by the Chairperson, or a person specified in the founding document will preside over the voting process.
• Motivate for candidates – this would take place at the meeting where the vote is to be taken.
• Vote – generally, each member (or appointed proxy) will have one vote that is exercised through a ballot (a ballot is mostly preferred above a show of hands when it comes to voting for people).
• Count – this is generally done at the meeting by the presiding officer and one or two generally trusted assistants.
• Announce the results – the names of those elected will generally be announced. If members request the detailed counts, this may also be announced, but is generally not required.

Many founding documents do not ask members to vote on the portfolios allocated to the elected leadership, but only for the people to serve on the executive structure. At their first meeting, those elected will then appoint from among themselves the individuals to portfolios such as the Chairperson, Treasurer and Secretary. However, the founding document may require that the vote takes place at the General Meeting to elect leaders portfolio by portfolio, which implies that the full process (from nomination to announcing results) will apply to each portfolio separately.

We have now covered the technical detail of the election and appointment process. It is very important that this process is managed in a transparent manner and that all members participate fully and are kept and informed.

The election of the best leaders and their appointment to the portfolios they are best suited for are very important aspects of setting the route up for success. Members should therefore be aware of what it is that they should look for in their leadership, and they should seek to ensure a good spread of competencies in their leadership team.

Here are some pointers for members to consider:

• Experience: There is no substitute for experience when it comes to the appointment of leaders – however, this does not imply that younger people are disqualified, since experience is not only related to time, but also to the exposure the candidates had to relevant contexts.
• Commitment: The level of contribution from leaders is dependent on what time and effort they can offer the route; it is not only a matter of their dedication to the route, but also the degree to which they may already be overstretched.
• Neutrality: Strong personalities may be controversial too, and may not be able to maintain healthy relationships with all the stakeholders and members. In this regard, it may be better to prefer candidates who are perceived to be neutral on any controversial topics or who are not seen to be representative of any “factions” in the local community.
• Trustworthy: Trust is something people earn over time through their actions, which is why trustworthiness is such an important indicator of the suitability of a person to serve as a leader of route members.
• Expertise: A variety of expert competencies are needed to form balanced leadership – from networking, to business management, to financial systems, to marketing, to product development, etc.
• Dreamers and doers: The route leadership should ideally include both the visionaries who see the possibilities others are missing as well as those who get things done and who work with great efficiency.

The route leadership will be assigned specific portfolios. In allocating these portfolios, it is very important to match the strengths of an individual with the requirements of the portfolio. You would ideally want to put the best person in the right position, just like a sports coach would aim to assign the team players to the positions on the field the individual players are best suited for.

Here are some pointers that could help decide which individual should fill which portfolio:

• Chairperson: The role of the Chairperson is to inspire members and encourage action. A suitable person will have a strong vision of how the route can contribute to local development. It will be a person who demands respect while showing energy and drive. The Chairperson should also be fairly well organised since he or she will be running meetings, doing presentations and evaluating the effectiveness of route projects. A very important consideration is that the Chairperson will act as the “face” of the route and must therefore be proficient in public appearances.
• Treasurer: It is very important that the Treasurer has an impeccable record and is trusted by members to look after the assets of the route and to manage the membership fees and other income. It is essential that the incumbent has knowledge of bookkeeping systems, but he or she does not need to be an accountant or bookkeeper.
• Secretary: The position of Secretary is ideal for a person who is meticulous in organising information and who understands the importance of sticking to the rules and keeping a good internal communication system going.
• Route Development Coordinator: The ongoing development of the route and the members’ businesses is a very important element in ensuring the route’s long-term sustainability. An energetic and well-organised person with a natural curiosity to explore new ways of doing things would suit this position.
• Marketing Coordinator: An energetic and outgoing person who easily connects with others is good for this portfolio. Passion for the region and its people is also a must.

Who is involved in electing and appointing leaders

Then election of route members should involve as many as possible if not all the active members of the route – both in the nomination process and the actual voting.

During the time that the route is being established, the Route Establishment Working Group will be responsible for getting the founding documents (constitution, memorandum of association or trust deed) drafted, they will organise the launch meeting where the founding members will sign the founding documents, and they will make all the arrangements for the first election to take place. It is important during this period that the Working Group involve as many as possible prospective members in the process and that they all have the opportunity to nominate candidates for election onto the leadership team.

Subsequent elections will be guided by the provisions in the founding documents. It is common for the Secretary to be the designated person to receive nominations and manage the election process, but founding documents may have different specifications in this regard, so you will have to familiarise yourself with the provisions of your route.

How to run elections and make appointments

As an organisation constituted through your founding document (constitution, memorandum of association or trust deed), you are obliged to manage your elections and appointment of office bearers in accordance to the provisions in the founding document. Study the document carefully and then plan the process leading up to the elections (which will most likely take place at your AGM).

When your elections have been concluded and the portfolios of the leadership team have been assigned, you should inform the Open Africa Head Office of the new leadership and their portfolios.

Use of this Guide

This Guide is suitable for distribution to members in advance of the election process and specifically when nomination for election to the leadership team is sought. It may be sent to members along with the notice of your AGM and other documents relating to the election process.

It is also useful in providing content for internal route training, when the election of office bearers and the leadership team are discussed.

Route leaders create a shared vision among the route members, bring together the various needed operational parts, and guide the involvement of members so that the route can achieve its goals. Like any organisation, your route will elect or appoint members to lead by filling formal positions, while some may also lead informally, without being given a specific leadership portfolio.

When you find yourself in a situation where leadership is required, you have the responsibility of creating the environment for good results to be achieved. But what are the choices you have in leading and what should you be looking out for when stepping forward to serve your route as leader?

This Guide will help you understand what is involved in leadership and what choices you have in the style of leadership that will be most productive for your specific situation. It should be read together with other Guides covering the various leadership positions.

Why leadership is important

Your route may be part of the Open Africa network, but it is also an autonomous organisation (perhaps a voluntary association, nonprofit company, co-operative or trust). As an organisation, the route sets its own priorities and functions independently of associated parties such as the Open Africa Head Office.

You are coming together in the route to achieve your shared objectives with building and promoting a destination route that will bring more economic activity to your area, which will help grow local tourism businesses and help improve the quality of life of your local communities. While your route’s intentions may be noble, you will only achieve good results if you are able to organise all the available resources behind your route’s objectives and attend to the actions needed to make it all happen.

It is the task of the leaders to create new possibilities – they are tasked with ensuring that the bigger ideas of your route are brought to life through the activities of your members. Good leaders are able to explain the ideas behind the route so that it attracts wide support, and they are able to translate these ideas into the practical activities needed to achieve good results.

Without good leadership, the potential of your route will remain unarticulated, the idea of a growing local economy will gain little support, the resources available to get things done will be too limited, and the actions to be taken will not be defined.

If you are elected or appointed to a leadership role in your route, it becomes your duty to ensure that the ideas behind the route inspire others to join in, and it is your task to guide the members to work together in achieving the desired result of attracting more and more visitors to the route.

What is leadership?

Leadership does not entail getting overworked in doing everything that needs to be done. Nor is it sitting back and enjoying the status of recognition. Leadership is about ensuring that the objectives of your route are achieved through the collective effort of your route members.

The temptation (and trap) for people newly appointed into leadership positions is to take on all the tasks to get things done. But this is not a very effective way of building a strong route. Remember, you also have members! It is the task of the leaders to create the environment for things to happen and to guide members so that they work together in achieving the route’s goals. However, it is not their task to do all the work!

The opposite is also true… it is not the role of leaders to catch the limelight and make public appearances, just to then sit back and wait for others to do the hard work. Good leaders show the way, organise the needed resources, and guide the participation of all the involved parties so that the route can achieve its goals.

We can summarise good leadership into three points:

• Put into words the new possibilities worth pursuing.
• Harness the support needed and gather the resources to make it a reality.
• Make explicit the needed actions and keep everyone involved in achieving the desired results.

The route leaders are responsible for all three these elements of leadership. They need to understand what can be done to grow the route, to inspire others to join in, and to organise the route activities so that things get done.

The leadership style may vary from situation to situation. Think for instance of a group of well-established businesspeople coming together to organise an event, compared to a group of high school kids organising a similar event. The leadership style will have to be different in these two situations, otherwise the participants may either feel micro-managed and leave, or they may feel anxious about what must happen, since they are not familiar with the demands. For each of these situations, a different leadership style would be appropriate to achieve the needed outcomes.

There are many tools available to help leaders adjust their leadership style to a situation. One such tool is the Situational Leadership model of Ken Blanchard. According to this model, leaders should be aware that they can offer leadership through a combination of directive behaviour (giving instructions) and supportive behaviour (offering guidance). In each situation, leaders should be conscious that their style should be informed by where the people they are leading are at.

The combination of directive and supporting behaviour by leaders can be described in an easy graph, where these two behaviours are plotted on a horisontal and vertical lines, where both are low at the bottom/left and are high at the top/right. The graph can then be divided into four areas, each representing a leadership style combining these two aspects of leadership, with the result shown below.

We can adjust Blanchard’s model to our own situations to provide us with guidance on which leadership style would have the best results. The explanation below is such an adjustment of the model.

Instructive leadership

A leadership style represented by A in the graph is strong at offering direction and is more instructive than supportive. This leadership style is appropriate in situations where the members are all very new to the environment, are unsure about how things are done, and have little contextual experience. They need to be told what to do and they need clear instructions on how to do it.

We can call this an instructive style – commands are given for members to execute.

It should be clear that this leadership style will only bring good results in situations where members are still learning about what the tourism industry is about and where they are new at running their own businesses. It is very similar to a work environment where a boss employs staff and tells them exactly what to do by when and how. There is very little scope for anyone to show initiative and find their own way of doing things.

An instructive leadership style depends on the leader deciding and then telling the members what to do. This is not likely to be a very productive approach for most routes, since route members are independent business owners who would most likely not appreciate a style in which they are told what to do. It  would be unsurprising to see many members disengaging when such as style is used, so be cautious to use this leadership style in a route context. It may be what works well in your individual business when you deal with employees, but it may be disastrous in a route context.

Mentorship

Many routes may find a more supportive style appropriate, where members are engaged in discussion about what should be done and how it should be done. The style represented by B above combines much supportive behaviour with much directive behaviour. While there is more engagement by the leader employing this style, the level of directing the members is still high. The members will be talking and making their views heard, but the leader will still push hard on his or her understanding of what should be done and how the members should be doing it.

We can call this style mentorship: members discuss what should be done and are then given clear direction on doing it based on the expertise of the leader.

Mentorship works well where the leaders are much more experienced than the members. In some routes, this may be the case, and members may appreciate the strong style of taking charge of decisions. However, when there are several independently-minded members with a fair amount of their own experience (even if much less than that of the leader), they may find the forceful decision-making of the mentorship style to be offensive and, as a result, it may not work well. Under such conditions, another style will work better…

Coaching

Leaders do not have to be experts in the field of operation, but they need to be able to shape the space for effective execution. This is specifically true when route members are well equipped to act independently, but where the specific context of the route activities require guidance. C in the graph represents this space, where supportive behaviour is high and directive behaviour is low.

We can call this a coaching style of leadership – members need guidance in talking about the situation and are well equipped to decide about the best way to proceed themselves.

This is a good leadership style for many routes where the members’ level of experience and competencies are high. They can get things done without direct involvement of the leaders, but appropriate support in shaping the discussions and decision-making is much appreciated by members.

Delegation

The last of the four leadership styles we can call delegation – members can be left to achieve the defined outcomes without much involvement by the leaders.

This leadership style involves very little, if any supportive or directive behaviour. It is a “hands-off” approach to leadership, where the members are allowed to get on with things and report on the outcomes.

Delegation works very well where members are independent operators with all the competencies needed to achieve good results. They are best left alone to deliver on what they promise. Leaders should however be mindful that, in many instances, members may act as if they are ready for a delegation style, but are not. It would therefore not be a bad idea to include regular reportbacks when this style is used, so that the leaders can decide to revert to another leadership style if the situation dictates.

Who is involved in leadership

Leadership is not the task of any one individual – it is the combined effort of all the route members. Some members are given the responsibility to fill specific leadership portfolios, while others will help guide the route in achieving its goals through their involvement in various route activities, but without filling any specific portfolio.

Leadership is a collective responsibility. It would be impossible for one individual to be great at all the required leadership competencies. Some people are better at creating vision and inspiration, while others are better at meticulous planning and keeping track of activities. In combining leadership into the responsibility of a collective, a route may benefit from the competencies of people with different strengths. In this sense, it is true that all members are also leaders.

As an organisation that needs to attend to specific organisational functions, the route will assign responsibilities or portfolios to specific route leaders. They are mostly elected members who serve on the Executive Committee (if the route is a voluntary association), or other route governing structure such as a Board of Directors (if the route is a nonprofit company) or a Board of Trustees (if the route is a trust).

On each of these governing bodies (Executive Committee, Board of Directors or Board of Trustees), the serving members are likely to be assigned portfolios. It is expected of such members to lead the route in all aspects relating to that portfolio and to manage the detailed affairs of the applicable portfolio. In this way, the responsibility for the portfolio goes beyond leadership;  it also covers the management of the detailed activities and seeing to it that all the required tasks and activities are completed on time.

Your route is bound to be organised around several route projects, with each project having assigned members to serve on the project team. These members are acting as leaders for the project, and the Project Coordinator is specifically tasked with guiding the project, not only as leader, but also as project manager responsible for making sure the project proceeds according to plan and within budget.

As an Open Africa route, you are also part of a larger network, where the leadership offered by Open Africa offers you access to external resources that would otherwise not be available. The leadership offered by Open Africa staff and associates can be invaluable, especially during the time that your route is being established.

Leadership is an all-pervasive aspect of growing your route to have a good impact on your local economy and member businesses. By adopting a good and appropriate approach to leadership, the chance to succeed increases.

Use of this Guide

This Guide will help you understand the role of leadership in the route and the choices you have in adopting a productive approach based on your route’s situation. It does not provide you with detailed instructions on filling leadership roles (for this, see the other listed Guides). You are likely to get best use of the Guide by reading it and then discussing it with other route leaders (perhaps even organise a short workshop around leadership to discuss it), with the aim of finding the best approach to leadership suitable to your specific situation.

Other Guides and Videos

 These other Guides and Resources in the Open Africa Route Toolkit will be of use:

• Guide: How To Serve As Chairperson
• Guide: How To Serve As Treasurer
• Guide: How To Serve As Secretary
• Video: How To Chair A Meeting
• Video: Ken Blanchard On Situational Leadership

The Route Chairperson fills one of the most important roles in your route and is probably the individual with the most influence over the route’s success. More so than with other leaders, the Chairperson is the one to ensure that route members are supportive of a shared vision and that the various activities of the route are all aligned to this vision. There are also many organisational responsibilities assigned to the Chairperson, which will make the effective functioning of the route as an organisation possible.

This Guide covers the responsibilities of the Chairperson. It is essential for the route Chairperson to familiarise himself or herself with this Guide so that he or she can fill the position as an effective leader. And the Guide is also good reading for other route leaders and members, since it will give them a good understanding of what the role of the Chairperson should be and what support they could be offering the route Chairperson.

This Guide offers should be read together with other Guides covering the various leadership positions.

Why the Chairperson has a key role

There are many reasons for your route to assign the responsibility of route Chairperson to te best possible candidate. Much will depend on the capacity of the Chairperson – both in terms of his or her leadership abilities and the time he or she can allocate to route activities. Having said this, leadership does not entail getting overworked in doing everything that needs to be done, nor sitting back and enjoying the status of recognition.

The Chairperson’s role is simply to ensure that the route’s objectives are met through the collective efforts of the members and employees (when staff are appointed by the route). It is an all-inclusive responsibility that involves almost every aspect of the route activities.

While the route may expect support and guidance from Open Africa, it should not be expected that leadership and direction will come from outside of the route. The Chairperson along with the Executive Committee members should provide such leadership. This does not imply that the route cannot rely on the Open Africa Head Office to offer help! But it does imply that the route leaders, and specifically the Chairperson, should be seeking such help when needed.

You are coming together in the route to achieve your shared objectives with building and promoting a destination route that will bring more economic activity to your area, which will lead to growing local tourism businesses and will improve in the quality of life of your local communities. It is the task of the leaders, specifically the Chairperson, to ensure that the bigger ideas are reflected in the route’s activities and that these activities lead to positive results.

The Chairperson’s duties

The Chairperson (of the Executive Committee, voluntary association, Board of Directors of a nonprofit company, or the Trustees of a trust) is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the route achieves its overall objectives and that the plans made for the current period are implemented successfully.

When staff members are employed, and specifically when a chief executive or route manager is appointed, many of the organisational responsibilities that the Chairperson initially took responsibility for, will be assigned to this person. However, most routes will have to grow substantially to get to the point where such appointment becomes feasible, so in most cases it would not be something to take into account soon.

The route’s founding document (constitution, memorandum of association or trust deed) will specify what the Chairperson’s formal obligations are. These are important aspects of the Chairperson’s role, but the responsibilities go far beyond those formally listed in the founding document. It is important for the Chairperson to study the founding document, to understand the document’s general intentions and the tasks and/or responsibilities specifically assigned to the Chairperson.

But we should look beyond the narrowly defined tasks included in the founding document.

Broadly speaking, there are three areas of responsibility for the Chairperson:

• Outward representation of the route as an organisation.
• Internal leadership in keeping the members involved and the Executive Committee working.
• Duties in maintaining the route as a well-functioning organisation.

Let’s look at these separately to identify the detailed tasks and responsibilities associated with each. In listing these, it should be noted that the specific context of the route and the provisions in the founding document may direct the route to assign responsibilities differently.

Outward representation

Represent the route

During the initial period of establishing and building up the route, there will be a need for many meetings with other parties, which is the responsibility of the Chairperson to take charge of. When the route starts function well, it will become a key player in the development of the local economy and will have to interact with various other parties that are also involved in the development of the local area such as business associations, government departments, development agencies and community organisations. It is the responsibility of the Chairperson to represent the route in its interactions with these external entities.

The route may also receive invitations to attend events, speak at conferences or address the media. The Chairperson should fulfil these tasks, or assign another members if he or she is not available.

It is also the responsibility of the Chairperson to represent the route at Open Africa.

Community relationships

Your route will only be able to succeed if there is substantial local support for what you are setting out to achieve but, as with any other organisation, there will be instances where misunderstandings may arise or where other local organisations may have expectations of the route that cannot be fulfilled. The Chairperson needs to stay in touch with other local organisations and, if there are any local organisational forums, it will be the task for the Chairperson to represent the route there.

Internal leadership

Meetings

The Chairperson is responsible for determining the date and venue of Executive Committee meetings and membership meetings, and is responsible for creating the agendas for these meetings. Ideally, the agenda for a meeting should be compiled before the meeting – perhaps a week or so – and should be distributed to those who will attend so that they can prepare for the meeting.

Most organisations follow a standard agenda format consisting of:
1. Present and apologies
2. Minutes of the previous meeting
3. Matters arising from the previous meeting
4. Reports
5. Financial report
6. New matters
7. Other matters and announcements
8. Next meeting

At the meetings, the Chairperson will be responsible for facilitating the proceedings. The name of the position of Chairperson refers to the “chair” of the person taking charge of a meeting, and this is exactly what the Chairperson is expected to do – to manage the proceedings at the meeting in such a way that views and opinions are heard, decisions are made, people are kept accountable, and the agenda is completed.

Mediation

The Chairperson should intervene when disagreement emerges between members working together on route projects, or when friction between members arise owing to issues outside of the route activities but that affect the route.

In some instances the involved individuals may approach the Chairperson themselves, or other members may bring the issues to the attention of the Chairperson. When such disagreement or friction is noted, the Chairperson needs to act quickly by consulting with all the relevant parties to develop a good understanding of what is at stake and to offer the parties guidance in finding a way forward that will be to the benefit of the route as a whole.

If it is an issue of substance, it may be required to also involve other Executive Committee members in the consultations and discussions.

Organisational functioning

Functioning of the Executive Committee

Leading the Executive Committee is one of the most important tasks of the Chairperson, since a well-functioning Executive Committee will allow the route to achieve good results. The role of the Chairperson is not only to facilitate Executive Committee meetings, it is also to support individual Executive Committee members in fulfilling their duties. This does not entail doing the actual work alongside them,  but rather ensuring that each Executive Committee member is able to deliver what is expected of their portfolios.

Regular meetings and adherence to good meeting practices are essential components of a well-functioning executive. It is generally required that the Executive Committee meets at least once a month and that each Executive Committee member reports on their achievements and responsibilities at these meetings. It is also considered to be good practice to keep minutes of meetings, or at least a record of decisions and assigned tasks, so that the Executive Committee can refer back to what was covered and/or promised at the previous meeting.

Co-ordinate key committees

The Chairperson will not be involved in all the route’s committees and project teams, but key committees or projects my deserve the Chairperson’s attention as member of that committee or project. However, it may also be appropriate for the Chairperson to be the Co-ordinator or chairperson of such committees or projects, should it be relevant to the route’s medium-term prospects and long-term sustainability. However, it may be advisable to encourage other route members to step into the role of Co-ordinator of projects and subcommittees, so that the route develops leadership capacity beyond that of the Chairperson.

Monitoring projects

The implementation of projects should be assigned to project teams, reporting to the executive through a project co-ordnator. However, it is the responsibility of the Chairperson to ensure that the impact of these projects are measured, and that the project teams are functioning effectively so that he or she can intervene to resolve challenges should a project team or committee not function as it should.

Discipline

The route founding document and the Open Africa Charter define clear guidelines for members to adhere to. When members do not follow there rules, procedures will have to be initiated and a process of hearings and/or disciplinary measures will have to follow. If not otherwise defined in the founding document, it is the task of the Chairperson to take charge of such situations, or to assign such task to another route leader.

Use of this Guide

This Guide will help you understand the role of route Chairperson. It does not provide you with detailed instructions on the requirements of your founding document. This is why it is important to read this Guide along with the route’s founding document (constitution, memorandum of association or trust deed).

Other Guides and Case Studies

These Guides and Videos in the Open Africa Route Toolkit will also be of use:

• Guide: How To Lead Your Route
• Guide: How To Have Effective Meetings
• Guide: How To Serve As Treasurer
• Guide: How To Serve As Secretary
• Video: Ken Blanchard On Situational Leadership

Other resources

• Robert’s Rules of Order: www.robertsrules.org