Secretary Manual. West Chester University Office of Student Leadership & Involvement 238 Sykes

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1 Secretary Manual West Chester University Office of Student Leadership & Involvement 238 Sykes

2 Table of Contents Welcome..2 What s your Role as Secretary.3 Serving as an Exectuive Board Officer 4 Communication...4 Internal communication...5 External communication..5 Agenda and Minutes 6 Sample Agenda 7 Tracking Your Organization s Goals..8 Conclusion..9 Acknowledgments We would to thank Delta Upsilon International Fraternity and Theta Chi Fraternity for giving us permission to use portions of their Secretary Manual. Created by Kathy Lloyd Updated by Sara Harrington 2/2005 1

3 Welcome Congratulations on your election or appointment to your organization as Secretary. The organization secretary has the opportunity to be one of the most important officers in an organization. The secretary is the oil that can keep the organizational machinery working together smoothly. In many organizations, the role of secretary can be expanded to encompass the numerous organizational, managerial, and structural functions. Consult your organizations secretary s manual for details in your duties and responsibilities. The secretary should be doing more than taking minutes and producing a phone list. He/she is responsible for all internal and external organization communications. He/she is the central location and organizer for all organization resources. He/she is the authority for questions of procedure, policy, and protocol. He/she is a central figure in tracking progress towards organization goals and compiles the master organization calendar. The secretary should also be a central figure in communicating with your Headquarters. There are numerous administrative requirements that your organization must submit to the Office of Student Leadership & Involvement and/or your administrative headquarters (if applicable) and the secretary is instrumental in ensuring that they are completed. The area of organization administration is one in which a dedicated secretary can make huge strides to improve the internal functioning of the organization. Competent execution of the secretary s duties and responsibilities can have immeasurable effects on almost every other area of organization operations. As secretary of your organization you will be like a historian in keep records. You need to do your job well so to ensure that the history is accurate. The secretary is vital to the functioning of any organization and this manual is to aid as you perform on role. From Delta Upsilon International Fraternity Secretary s Manual 9/1/99 2

4 What's Your Role as Organization Secretary? Your duties and responsibilities maybe: 1. Serving as an Executive Officer of the organization and setting a high example of leadership for the organization. 2. Maintaining and transmitting all correspondence of the organization to your organization's Headquarters, the campus, the community, and other organizations. 3. Custody and responsibility for the organization's Minutes, Roster, Agendas, and other files of the organization. 4. Maintaining an accurate written record of all Organization meetings, and keeping a comprehensive attendance roster for the members. 5. Seeing that all forms and information are sent to your Headquarters on time, complete, and accurate. 6. Receive and distribute all incoming mail to the proper individual in a timely fashion. 7. Create, maintain, and update as necessary, an organization member phone/ list and roster. 8. Prepare an outline agenda for organization and executive board meetings detailing all agenda items. 9. Record minutes from organization and executive board meetings. 10. Responsible for all mailings of the organizations. 11. Produce a master organization calendar for planning and coordinating events. Collect dates from every organization officer at the beginning of each academic year, for inclusion in the master calendar. Distribute copies of this master calendar to every member. From Delta Upsilon International Fraternity Secretary s Manual 9/1/99 and Theta Chi Fraternity Chapter Secretary Operations Manual *Note some organizations have two secretaries, a recording secretary and a corresponding secretary. The difference between these to secretaries and responsibilities will be addressed in the communication section. Check your official organization manual for details those positions. 3

5 Serving as an Executive Board Officer The Secretary is a vital member of the Executive Board of your organization. As an organization leader, the Secretary must be a responsible person who will carry out the duties of the office with great care. In the Executive Board meeting, the Secretary should take part in all discussions. If appropriate, the Secretary should make copies of the agenda for the persons before organization meetings. He/she should strive to improve communication at all levels of the organization. This includes communication between members, parents, alumni, campus officials, and your Headquarters (if applicable). Communication There are many other ways the Secretary can improve communication within the organization and the campus community. ORGANIZATION COMMUNICATION: In most organizations, the Secretary is responsible for sorting the daily mail and posting letters to individual mailboxes. The Secretary should read and route all mail unless it is addressed to a specific officer. The Secretary should take time during his/her report to the organization to read the minutes of the previous meeting (unless the reading of the previous minutes are waived), and also make any necessary announcements that may be appropriate. It is recommended that organizations maintain a weekly or monthly calendar of events so that members will always be informed of activities. The Secretary should maintain a master calendar. The Secretary should take note of significant events in the organization and record them on the calendar. Copies should be distributed to all members, along with an organization phone/address list. These items should be updated each semester. UNIVERSITY FACULTY/ADMINISTRATION: Invite members of the faculty and university administration to dinner or to present at organization meetings. As Secretary, initiate further relations with your organization and faculty advisor. Send thank you notes to university staff members who help out your organization. LETTERS TO PARENTS: Send letters to parents explaining the organization when you get new members. PRESS RELEASES: After successful service projects and/or community service events, the Secretary should submit a summary to the local newspaper and your school paper. Many papers will print positive articles about organizations. The proper method to get newspaper coverage is to submit a press release before and after an event has occurred. 4

6 CAMPUS PAPER: Use the campus paper for ads or the personal section of the classified advertisements. This can be used to congratulate members or other organizations. LETTERS/NOTES TO OTHER ORGANIZATIONS: The Secretary can really get the name of your organizations out among other organizations by sending thank you/congratulatory cards to them. From Theta Chi Fraternity Chapter Secretary Operations Manual Internal Communication The recording secretary is responsible for all internal organization communications. In order to efficiently communicate information within the organization there are a number of things that must accomplished by the recording secretary. The first part is having accurate information to distribute. This is accomplished through proper maintenance of organization resource files, minutes, and meeting agenda. The second part is having the proper contact information for the people to whom the information is distributed. In order to collect information, the secretary has to be organized and involved in the day-to-day operations of the organization. Part of this is organizing and distributing agenda and minutes. This also involves making sure members and organization officers understand that they must submit pertinent information to the secretary for distribution or recording. Once the information is at the recording secretary s disposal, the next step is to organize and present that information to the appropriate constituents in the most easily understood and useful format. The form of this information dissemination will vary and can include telephone calls, word of mouth, posters, phone and lists, and correspondence. It is up to each organization and secretary to determine which form is most appropriate for which information. Regardless of the format chosen, it must be done. Part of this task is working with the organization officers to help them distribute appropriate information as well. From Delta Upsilon International Fraternity Secretary s Manual 9/1/99 External Communication A corresponding secretary is in charge of all external communications. In looking at your organization s external communications you need to think about who are the people you are in communication with. They may be other organizations, faculty and staff on the University, the community, and your Headquarters (if applicable). Be aware of what is going on, on campus. This also helps with public relations. When you find out information about an organization, whether is it their anniversary or an accomplishment, send out notes. This looks good. Also having an appreciation day for faculty and staff, where you ask members of your organization to send notes to those faculty and staff members they like. 5

7 In dealing with non-members of your organization think, of creative ways to show your care and interest have them. This will make your organization look really good. A good public relations committee can really help you with your external communications. Agenda and Minutes One important function of the secretary is to manage a meeting agenda and minutes. An agenda give members insight on meeting topics. Minutes allow for efficient information dissemination and provide a record of meeting proceedings and organization business. The most important thing to remember about an agenda and minutes is to do them. Furthermore, to be an effective organizational tool for the organization, they need to be produced on a regular basis and in a timely manner. An agenda should be prepared for all executive board, committee, and organization meetings. The president should prepare the executive board meeting agenda, which will be informal in most cases. Committee meeting agenda will be informal as well, being the responsibility of the committee head(s). The items discussed at executive board meetings should then be used to develop the organization meeting agenda. This helps us prepare for organization meetings, as well as maintain continuity in organization operations. An agenda for executive board and committee meetings should be informally discussed with the appropriate individuals before the meetings, whereas organization meeting agenda should be typed and distributed to the organization before the meeting. Minutes are an equally important part of the organization s organizational structure. The secretary should take minutes at both executive board meetings and organization meetings. Although much may be repetitious, many issues discussed at executive board meetings will never reach the organization floor, therefore, executive board minutes will help future administrators review past executive board decisions for perspective and direction. Organization meeting minutes should document the progress and actions of an organization throughout the year. They are of the utmost importance, informing your members of meeting actions as well as upcoming dates and events. Minutes are also the means through which we learn from your predecessors, and educate future members. Once produced, typed meeting minutes should be maintained in a central resource file. Furthermore, the organization meeting minutes should be posted and/or distributed within 48 hours of each organization meeting. From Delta Upsilon International Fraternity Secretary s Manual 9/1/99 On the next page is an example agenda. 6

8 Sample Agenda I. Call to Order II. Calling of the Role (Attendance) III. Introductions/Overview of Order of Business IV. Minutes Review and Correction (if necessary) Approval of minutes from previous meeting V. Officer Reports a. President/Chair b. Vice President c. Treasurer d. Secretary e. Other officers that the group may have In same cases, the reports are given in reverse order, with the President/Chair going last VI. Committee Reports/Special Events Reports Most groups have Standing Committees (those called for in the Constitution and/or By-laws). Often there are other committees (Ad Hoc Committees) set up to deal with a special activity or to address a specific, one time problem. Reports from all of these groups should be given at this time, in whatever order the organization prefers VII. Unfinished/Old Business To deal with motions made at previous meetings that were tabled or for discussions begun at previous meetings that were postponed before a decision was reached VIII. New Business Items can be raised by officers or committee chairs that relate specifically to their duties, or can be raised by any member as appropriate IX. Announcements/Sharing Among The Group X. Adjournment 7

9 The following is a summary of agenda and minutes culminating with weekly organization meetings. Committee Meetings Agendum informally set by committee chairmen Committee meeting minutes taken by committee secretaries Executive Board Meetings Agendum informally set by the organization president Officers discuss their areas of operations using committee minutes as a resource Executive board meeting minutes prepared by secretary Organization meeting agendum formally set and distributed to members at meeting Organization Meeting Use agendum formally set by the executive board Secretary takes organization meeting minutes Minutes posted within 48 hours of the organization meeting Tracking Your Organization s Goals The secretary has a very important role to play in tracking organization progress towards its goals. Most organizations set goals and create some type of action plan outlining how they will accomplish those goals. Many times organizations falter, because they do not check up on themselves as they execute the action plan. At the first executive board meeting of each semester you as secretary should bring up what the organization goals will be for the semester. Also you and the executive board should create a plan of how those goals will become reality. Share these goals with the rest of your organization. If the organization does not consciously pursue their goals, they can easily slip to the back of the organization s collective mind as the day-to-day activities of classes, exams, and other pressures build. To avoid this, it is imperative that the organization tracks its progress towards its goals in order to achieve success. While it is the entire organization and executive board s responsibility to monitor the organization s progress, the secretary needs to take a leading role in the process. Obviously, the first step in this process is to set organization and officer goals each semester. These goals need to be measurable, manageable, and realistic. After 8

10 setting goals, the organization must develop an action plan to accomplish these goals that includes a time line for accomplishing the necessary responsibilities and duties. The key to effectively managing this process is weekly tracking of your progress towards organization and officer goals. This means that the organization needs to take time at the weekly executive board meetings for the executive officers to review their progress. This process helps the officers discover minor problem areas and adjust their plan accordingly before challenges turn into major roadblocks to success. This process will also give helpful weekly reminders to the executive officers, enabling them to stay focused. From Delta Upsilon International Fraternity Secretary s Manual 9/1/99 Conclusion You are an important part of your organization s working and survival. You keep your organization a float and on track. Don t forget that the secretary is the oil that can keep the organization organizational machinery working together smoothly. Best wishes on your position. Questions or Concerns Contact the Office of Student Leadership & Involvement 238 Sykes

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