[council] FW: GNSO Council - Induction & Training - Friday 22 November 2013

["Jonathan Robinson" <jrobinson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

All,

 

Please see below for communication with the chairs of GNSO SGs &
constituencies regarding Friday 22nd November.

 

Jonathan

 

From: Jonathan Robinson [mailto:jonathan.robinson@xxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: 12 November 2013 10:46
To: 'kdrazek@xxxxxxxxxxxx'; Michele Neylon :: Blacknight
(michele@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) (michele@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx); 'Elisa Cooper'; 'Kristina
Rosette'; 'tony holmes'; 'Robin Gross'; 'William Drake'; 'Marie-Laure
Lemineur'
Cc: 'Glen de Saint Géry'; 'gnso-secs@xxxxxxxxx'
Subject: RE: GNSO Council - Induction & Training - Friday 22 November 2013

 

Dear All,

 

You are due an update on this session.  If you are not the person who will
be participating, please pass this message on to the relevant person from
your group who will be attending on Friday 22nd November.

 

The objective of orienting and preparing the GNSO Councillors and the
Council as a whole for a productive year ahead remains the same.  To this
end, we have already held an introduction webinar and invited all new
councillors (as well as any existing councillors who wish to) to attend.  A
copy of the presentation used is available here:

 

http://gnso.icann.org/en/node/42593

 

Each of the 2013/2014 councillor has been sent a copy of the agenda for the
22nd November session and I have attached it for your information.  It
includes some detail on the session which you (or a designated colleague
from your group) will attend from 10h00 to 11h30 on Friday 22nd.  The
relevant exert is copied below.

 

Opening the session by Council Chair and GNSO leadership to orient the
Council within the GNSO:

1.      The role of GNSO council and related processes and procedures for
2013-2014
2.      GNSO leadership provide their expectations as to what they would
like to see from the Council in the coming year
3.      Councillors can share what they would like to achieve

 

The thinking here is that the Council is very firmly rooted in the GNSO and
so any development work should be based on and a clear perspective from the
various groups and constituencies that comprise the GNSO.  Primarily, it
will be good to get some input as to how your group (SG or constituency)
views the Council and the work of the Council and how you interact with the
Council via your councillors.  Non-exhaustive examples of points you may
wish to provide input on are as follows:

 

A.      Does your group instruct your councillors how to vote on any given
issue or do they have latitude / discretion?

B.      Does the work cycle of the Council work for your group?  (Do you get
agendas on time, do you have enough time to consider motions)

C.      Are you aware of council driven attempts to improve working methods,
productivity and effectiveness?  If so, does your group think good progress
is being made?  Could anything else be done?

D.      Are there any areas of policy development work that your group
thinks the Council should be tackling which it currently is not?

E.       Is your group particularly positive / negative about any work which
the Council has initiated and managed over the past year?

 

Coming in as council chair in Toronto, it struck me that we needed to do a
better job of orienting and engaging councillors from the outset of their
terms.  Clearly, it is desirable that they get some of this through their
prior work and experience in the group that selects them as councillors.
But, effective induction initiated by the Council seems to me to be
necessary.  This format and content is a first and so it may need work to
get it right.  Any other input on the initiative overall will also be
welcome.

 

I look forward to seeing and working with you in Buenos Aires.  Safe travels
and see you there.

 

Best wishes,

 

 

 

Jonathan

 

From: Jonathan Robinson [mailto:jonathan.robinson@xxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: 20 September 2013 14:14
To: 'kdrazek@xxxxxxxxxxxx'; Michele Neylon :: Blacknight
(michele@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) (michele@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx); 'Elisa Cooper'; 'Kristina
Rosette'; 'tony holmes'; 'Robin Gross'; 'William Drake'; 'Marie-Laure
Lemineur'
Cc: 'Glen de Saint Géry'; 'gnso-secs@xxxxxxxxx'
Subject: GNSO Council - Induction & Training - Friday 22 November 2013
Importance: High

 

Dear Colleagues,

 

I am writing, I trust, to remind you of an event we are planning to run in
Buenos Aires.  On Friday 22 November, the plan is to run an induction and
training session for the ?new? GNSO Council i.e. the Council to be seated
and in place from the ICANN Buenos Aires meeting onwards.

 

The background to this is that, when I started in as GNSO Council chair in
October 2012, it struck me that the preparation or induction was in place
for incoming councillors was limited and necessarily remote i.e. by email
and telephone.  Significantly, the first time the then ?new? council got
together in person was many months later in Beijing.

 

There are many good reasons to orient and prepare councillors for their work
on the Council in the year ahead and so this is one initiative that we
agreed to pursue at our council leadership / staff session back in Amsterdam
in January 2013.  We subsequently applied to ICANN for funding for an event
and this funding was agreed.  The support will finance the event and an
overnight stay, but not travel, so it must necessarily occur simultaneous
with, or adjacent to, an ICANN meeting.  Hence the reason we arrived at
Friday 22 November 2013.  The event will run from approximately 10h00 and
will be completed with a dinner in the evening.

 

The intended attendees at the meeting are the full GNSO Council which will
be in place subsequent to the council meeting on Wednesday 20 November i.e.
the then ?new? council.  The agenda hasn?t yet been fully developed but the
objective is clear; ensure that incoming and existing councillors are as
well trained and oriented as possible and moreover, that the whole council
is as well-prepared as possible to function effectively together in the year
ahead.  By function effectively together, I mean that they can work
effectively together as a council and be clear on the one another?s
relationships with, and responsibilities to, their respective constituencies
and/or groups.

 

Therefore, the reason I am writing to you is twofold as follows:

 

1.       To ensure you are aware of this event and well placed to ensure
that your incoming councillors are too.

2.       To ask whether you could offer yourselves, or if you are not
available, an alternate member of your leadership group, to participate in
the first session (Friday 22 November 10h00-11h30) in addition to your
councillors who we expect will be there for the full day and evening.

 

The purpose of 2 above is to make sure that, from the outset, the Council as
a whole is as well aware as possible of the relationship with and connection
to the broader GNSO and the groups constituting the GNSO.

 

If you have any questions or suggestions relating to this event, or indeed
any aspect of the chairing of the Council, please do get in touch with me.
I am personally committed to a well-managed and effective GNSO Council and
am open to any feedback in how best to achieve that.

 

Best wishes,

 

 

 

Jonathan

 

 

Jonathan Robinson

Chair

ICANN GNSO Council

 

jonathan.robinson@xxxxxxxxxxx

Tel: +44 (0)20 7993 6103

skype: jonathan.m.r