Secretary Resigns!!! - not quite 2 years this time

[New Boy]

Have read Yvonne's resignation. Does anyone know if Council have united and made a decision about what they are going to do or are they still trying to blame each other to save their own skins? If Stuart's assessment of the situation is correct they could have a real fight on their hands.
Is there anybody out there that knows if the Trustees can be proven to have been negligent are they personally responsible for any claim made against the Society?

[Veronica Schofield]

I am very sorry to see that rather than being an excellent means of exchanging information about Dexter Cattle, this website appears to have degenerated into "The home of tittle-tattle and gossip for small minded people". It is a pity that our secretary is being used as a pawn by a small number of people who are not prepared to accept the result of a democratic ballot. I love my Dexters and I have made many wonderful friends during my 30 years in the Society. It makes me very sad to see the same problems recurring again and again.

[Mark Bowles]

Veronica, as you well know, this website exists for the use of Dexter people worldwide to talk Dexters, and other subjects including their breed societies.
Everyone can have their say, including you, and everyone is welcome.
Mark

[welshdexterboy]

I am sorry you are upset Veronica but i dont believe there has been much gossip here really. For the majority of us here dont know what is going on but we want to show our support for Yvonne and get to the truth behind it. You say the same problem is recurring again so perhaps we need to implement something to stop it. Many people go on to committees for their own benefit and this could be true of some of our Council members so we need to make it less attractive so only those dedicated to improving and moving the breed forward would consider a position on the Council. I am sure that once this is sorted we will get back to discussing those things that are more important to us like Why does calf scour stick to my trousers even after a hot wash?

[Martin]

Veronica, you say in your post 'It makes me very sad to see the same problems recurring again and again'. Maybe that's what we see as well, the same old problems cropping up time and again. Is it the same people causing the problems? You accuse us of being small minded, I think this comment should be aimed at certain members of council as without their dictatorial attitude and nit picking ways we would have no need to discuss this matter. As far as accepting a democratic ballot is concerned, I doubt very much if too many people bothered with the ballot as lots of members probably do not know the people standing and find it difficult to vote for people when a few lines explaining who the candidates are is the only information they have. Besides even in a democracy you are allowed to voice an opinion against the ruling body and call for them to do what the membership requires.

Martin. Medway Valley Dexters

[Peter thornton]

I have a copy of Yvonne's resignation letter. I don't think it appropriate to discuss it here but one thing does stand out and that is that any issues seem to have arisen from the running of Council rather than the administration of the breed.
I would have thought that the greater part of our secretaries job was the registrations etc.
Perhaps there should be 2 posts? The Breed Secretary and secretary to Council. The latter would be held by a Council member.
This would seperate the Breed Secretary from the politics of the Society.
I speak from experience in our local District Council where every effort is made to seperate the paid officers from the political arena.

This still leaves the question of Council, and the direction of the Society, but I'll leave this for another day.

[Duncan MacIntyre]

There is no doubt that the DCS is in a sad state, and our secretary's employment and Council members behaviour are being discussed in some detail on this board. I do not think that this is the place for any detailed debate on the subject, affecting so many things by what we say when it is likely that none of us are in full possession of the facts. What we can do is make our general feelings on what is going on known to our council, give them time and space to try to sort it out and report back to the membership. Do remember that all council members are elected, they are volunteers, they are as varied as the Dexter cattle. Some have much experience of committee work and others have none. Some are skilled at working in groups and some are not. All should remember to treat one another with dignity and respect. Some of the postings here are neither dignified nor respectful.

Below is a letter I wrote to Council IN OCTOBER 2006.

Please read it, and remember it was a year ago, some of the events referred to may be dated but the principles remain the same.

I received a reply saying basically "very interesting, we will get back to you". Some changes have in fact happened, but not nearly enough.

Burnside Dexters
Burnside
Ascog
Isle of Bute
PA20 9ET

To All Council Members
Dexter Cattle Society


30th October 2006

Dear Council Member,

On my return from the Dexter Society AGM I decided that there were several issues which I would put to you in writing. For some reason we seem in the Dexter Cattle Society to be beset by petty differences, intolerance and lack of interpersonal skills. Perhaps this is not altogether surprising, considering that being a Dexter enthusiast inevitably means that the individual concerned is dedicated to a non-mainstream cattle breed which itself stands out from the general crowd. But however we wish to explain or justify, this does not mean that we cannot do something to improve the situation.
I have now been a member of the society for over 20 years, and have seen too many Breed Society Secretaries come and go since David Key resigned. In not one case have I felt that the departing secretary has been dealt with in a respectful considerate manner. I have also seen council members and even a President suffer unreasonable treatment from fellow Council members and other members of the Society when what was required was considerate help and support through personal difficulties.
To bring a few examples to your attention I will mention a couple of incidents from our recent AGM. Firstly the AGM clashed once again with the date of the York Rare Breeds Sale. There seems to be a total breakdown of trust and communication with the Auctioneers at this sale and an able diplomatic representative of the Society should be appointed without delay to rectify not only the issue of dates but of inspections. At the AGM we witnessed a senior member of the society badgering our treasurer for fine detail of the accounts when an answer could only have been provided after a detailed examination of the accounts, clearly possible if the question had been provided in advance of the meeting. This would then have allowed the membership to have the detailed answer, to which we were in fact entitled. But as a result all that we had was a most unpleasant encounter between two individuals in the meeting. We also had the announcement from Carol Davidson that she is making her extensive privately collected archives on Dexters worldwide available to all through Reading University. This was a complete surprise to me, and possibly to everyone else. Maybe some of council had prior knowledge that the announcement was to be made, maybe not. But such a wonderful gesture should have been met with more that “Yes, very interesting, next item please” response that it got. Even if it was a total surprise to the President, the rest of council showed no enthusiasm whatever, nor inclination to help the President out by saying something appropriate by way of thanks. I felt moved to do so myself but felt that I had already jumped in as a non council member on issues which someone on council should have been more vocal.
I mention these merely as examples, there are many others, and it is not the individual issues which I wish to address but the general state of affairs. I am very sad to hear that at the Council meeting which followed even worse was to come. I refer of course to the issue of the outgoing Chairman chairing the meeting until a new chairman had been elected, an accepted procedure in most similar situations. I have of course, to rely on the accounts of others for my information, but some of my sources are very reliable. I am sad to say that one of my sources was able to give me the information from the other side of the Atlantic, and it gives me no pleasure to hear that bad behaviour in our council meetings travels so far so fast. I am aware that Veronica Schofield will be writing to you on this issue, and having seen copy of her proposed letter I have to say I am in complete agreement with what she says.
This letter so far has resembled a catalogue of complaints, but I do not intend to merely make complaints but to suggest some possible means to improve the situation. I have experience of many and varied organisations, such as our local Church of Scotland, Round Table, Bute Agricultural Society, various Veterinary societies, and I have in the past served on the Dexter Society Council as a Vice President. I am about to be brave or foolish enough to suggest some of the basics which need to be addressed, and some possible remedies. Whilst I do not expect, nor have I any right to expect, that they will be seized with enthusiasm and implemented, I do seriously think that they should be looked at and discussed by all Council members. Even if they are not accepted the mere discussion of such matters may well result in some improvements.
One of the most serious problems faced by DCS is poor communication. It is recognised by those who study organisations that grumbles, complaints, etc are very often the result of poor communications between the top and the membership. Despite what Council members may feel on this subject I think there is plenty of evidence that this is true of our Society and improvements need to be made, and urgently.
As you may be aware, this is the subject of discussion on the dextercattleforsale website at the moment. Obviously communication is a two way process, and changes need to be made which will facilitate communications in both directions. Communication from the top down is probably the most urgent and in fact the easiest to address. The ongoings at Council meetings need to be better and more rapidly communicated to the membership. Can I suggest that is be addressed by posting minutes on either the DCS or discussion board website. In fact the DCS site is the more appropriate if this can be arranged. Inevitably there is a time delay if only approved minutes can be posted. This may be got round by either posting what is very clearly draft minutes of meetings, or, as is done in our Church organisations, a summary of the meetings is posted by a senior member of the Council. By doing this we ensure that the membership has a fair idea of what has happened in the Kirk Session meeting less than one week after that meeting. Something of this sort should be considered to convey to the membership what is going on in Council. I am aware that Council minutes are circulated to Group secretaries but it seems that this will at best involve a long delay and worst the minutes go no further than the group secretary.
Another issue is the presence of ordinary members at the Council meetings. This can be a scary issue for bodies such as the DCS Council, but in fact need not be. No unnecessary obstacles should be place in the way of members wishing to be present, though they must clearly understand that they are observers and have no role in the meeting unless invited to speak. Limitation of numbers may well be a consideration, but conversion of this into a time limit on notification of intention to attend should be avoided at all costs. Admission should be on a first come first served basis and members must accept that.
Whilst making the changes necessary for the communication downwards, due consideration should be made to make it easier for members to feel that their communications move upward, by email or otherwise. Information from committees might also be considered for easier communication with the membership, and such projects as the Genetics project should be much more accessible to the general membership.
Probably much more fundamental to the success or otherwise of the Society is the issue of relationships within the Council. This is a real deep seated problem, and I think the most difficult to tackle. Currently we have a group of people forming the Council who have widely differing views on a huge range of subjects relevant to the Dexter Breed. We need to give consideration to how we may best engender a feeling of tolerance to the variety of the Dexter Breed, encompassing as it does long, short, medium legs, dairy or beef type, black red or dun colour, horned or polled, “pure” from ancient times or including legitimately graded up ancestry, animals kept for show or purely as beef producers – all these may come within the breed standard and as such must be accepted as legitimate by all Council members. Council members must recognise that in global terms we are an invisible drop in the ocean, and cannot afford to be divided.
Means must be sought to instill a culture of dedication and loyalty to the breed as a whole and not just to personal preference and individual advantage. I have several ideas on how this may be achieved. The first is that the whole Council should be prepared, once a year, to meet and take part in an exercise to increase the bonding between members and recognition of the purpose of the Society. With regard to the purpose of the Society it might well be advantageous to consider writing a “Mission Statement” or similar document to which all Councillors would feel some allegiance. The holding of such an annual event should also involve some sort of training of the Council members. Whilst those with long experience may well resist such moves as unnecessary they should be encouraged to take part because they have so much knowledge and experience to share with the newer members.
I make no apology for the length of this letter, nor for the number of different points within it. I wish every Council member to have the opportunity to give it due consideration and then discuss it at a Council meeting, with sufficient time to discuss or dismiss it. If it is circulated to Council members in advance of a meeting I will be more than happy to coordinate any responses to it. If desired I would travel to a meeting to present any such responses.

Yours sincerely,


Duncan MacIntyre