NA QLD Service Board Report @ Nov. 2018

BOARD REPORT –  November 2018

On the 11^th of November 2017 the LSC selected 13 members to be part of the inaugural Local Service Board of NA Queensland.

Board Operations:

• The Local Service Board is currently comprised of 9 members, we have lost Board members who represented Townsville, Rockhampton, and Toowoomba since the last Local Service Conference in May 2018.
• The Board currently has 3 members who serve on the Regional Board.
• The current Service Board meets monthly via SKYPE meeting, with additional ad-hoc meetings often on a weekly basis in relation to outstanding issues such as outreach, PR, and structural components such as development of guidelines.
• This Board continues to adopt the new consensus based decision-making concept where every Board member has an equal voice, we have a rolling facilitator at each monthly meeting and a rolling agenda, which we try to work through.
• A Forward Planning action plan framework has been developed by the Board which addresses issues of priority that have become apparent to best serve NA in QLD, as well as feedback received and issues raised at the previous LSC in May this year.
• Northern Territory – 6 meetings from the Northern Territory have reached out for support from the NA QLD fellowship and we believe that we have the resources to be able to facilitate support for this fellowship.

Forward Planning Actions

Components of the Forward Planning action plan framework that have been actioned by the Board of QLD following the previous Conference that include:

• The qldserviceboard@na.org.au Outlook email account is working well in relation to communication between the NA fellowship of QLD and the QLD Service Board.
• Greater Queensland Local Service Page website is working well in relation to transparency from the Board around BOQ bank statements and Board minutes, as well as GSF minutes and notes. Some work could be done to organise this page to make it more accessible/searchable for members.  Members of the board have been nominated to administrate this
• Social media page “Greater QLD Facebook page” is established and creates another platform for communication. It now contains a pinned post outlining its purpose.  The group currently has 44 members and we would encourage Queensland members to join the page as a way of staying aware of activities in the area.
• Hyperlink page on website – Service tools as required by individuals and GSF’s can be utilised such as: H&I, PR, venue hire, GSF working guides, and literature downloads.
• The Board has made an open invite to GSF members to attend Board meetings, however to date, only one GSF member has attended. Meetings are held on the first Monday of the month at 7:30, anyone who is interested should email the board for details at the above address so that they can be added to the skype list
• A contact list has been produced from the previous two Conferences comprised of GSF and board members who wish to be contacted in relation to upcoming Conferences and events. Invitations to the November LSC where issued through this service.  Any GSFs who believe they should be on this list and did not receive the invite should recheck with a board member to ensure we have correct contact details.
• The board has been developing a service guide and webinar to provide information to GSFs on the structure of the greater Queensland area and the function on GSFs as a guide. This guide is in the final stages of development and should be available soon
• The board has been collating documents from global NA sources which outline both service structure and procedural guidance for various areas of service to assist in providing the fellowship with more tools. Development of these tools is an ongoing action item.

Additional business:

• Met with Regional IT chair to review the function of the national phoneline service and agreed to table this as a recommended service for the Queensland area as a whole at the LSC (sunshine coast has already implemented)
• We have provided literature to new start-up meetings (e.g. Mt Isa)
• We have been approached by groups requesting financial support a retreat. While the board supported the spirit of the event, it became clear that the proposed event could be cost prohibitive for many members and would have required a commitment by the board to fund any shortfall in attendance.   The board spent time with the organisers to understand their model and discuss alternatives to reduce the cost of the location and might have enabled day visitors to attend however the options didn’t meet the original intentions.  The board determined that the risk that and potential financial impact too high and could have seriously depleted the potential funds available to support a larger more potentially inclusive event
• The board decided that there was value in running a workshop at the LSC to support an event for the greater Queensland area that would help to promote unity in the fellowship

Challenges that the Board have faced include:

• The timing of the November 2018 Local Service Conference has been contentious in its limited notice as the Board has placed some expectation on this conference being driven by the Group Service Forums in its planning, with the Board actioning the Conference to go ahead in November as planned without direction otherwise from the GSF’s.
• The Board continue to discuss how best to reach out to the NA community of QLD and various options to improve this two-way communication.