Know Your National – A series

By Kerri Loudoun, Communications and Marketing Portfolio Leader (kerri.loudoun@skipatrol.ca)

This is a new article series to help you learn and understand about the different groups working at the CSP national level – and how they work alongside members at the division, zone and patrol levels of our organization.

Each month, we will showcase a group, delving deeper into the purpose of that group, its general responsibilities, and showcase the individuals currently volunteering within that specific group.

General overview of the structure of our organization

To start, let’s provide a bird’s eye view of the CSP with our current organizational chart.

Here you can see how each level of the organization connects with the others.

To simplify, we have four core levels of the organization:

1. National level
2. Division level
3. Zone level
4. Patrol level

Overview of how the national level of CSP is structured

Within the national level, the subgroups are:

1. The board of directors
2. The national management committee (NMC) comprised of:
   1. The co-executive directors and office management team.
   2. The training and development portfolio.
   3. The translation portfolio.
   4. The communications and marketing portfolio.
   5. The finance portfolio.
   6. The member services portfolio.

Governance board vs. operational board

The CSP’s board of directors currently operates as a governance board versus an operational board. This traditional style of board will oversee the strategic direction of a non-profit or charity by regularly meeting to discuss and vote on the affairs of the organization. The board members are typically under term limits, so there is a turnover of members and therefore turnover of ideas. This style of board is distinct from an operational board. It is a governance board, not a management board. This is the difference between high-level strategy, oversight, and accountability versus day-to-day operations. A traditional board of directors separates governance and management. The outcomes of its decisions and votes guides the actions of the co-executive directors and their portfolio leaders.

National management committee

With the strategic guidance from the board of directors, the co-executive directors work closely with all portfolio leaders. Each portfolio strives in multiple ways to achieve the strategic goals outlined by the board.

Portfolio leaders have a number of smaller teams within their portfolios to help the leader achieve actionable tasks. In addition, the NMC meets every other week to help address challenges that arise throughout the year, brainstorm ideas around efficiencies and modernization, and provide opportunities for portfolio overlap. Members of the NMC also sit in on regularly scheduled division presidents’ and zone presidents’ meetings to offer a direct line to these levels of the CSP and help keep them in the loop of what is happening at the national level. The involvement of the NMC members with division and group meetings also allows two-way communication for issues and ideas to be brought upwards within the organization.

Supporting committees that report to the board of directors

Adjacent to the national level are core committees that help to inform a variety of facets of the overall organization:

1. The human resources committee
2. The governance committee
3. The financial oversight committee (FOC)
4. The IT advisory Committee (ITAC)
5. The medical advisory committee (MAC)
6. The equity, diversity and inclusion committee (EDI)

These committees may include non-CSP members. For example, the MAC includes members who are trauma physicians, paramedics, and registered nurses. They also include CSP members from across the country to ensure the best representation of our membership in terms of demographics.

Ad-hoc committees

Throughout the year, it’s not uncommon for a need to be identified where an ad-hoc committee must be stricken. The most recent example of this is the EDI committee. The need for an ad-hoc committee (which could be a long-term or short-term need) typically stems from discussions happening at the board of directors level.

When an ad-hoc committee is deemed necessary, members will often see a call for volunteers to apply to join the committee. Much like applying for a paid position, members are asked to provide a resume and cover letter outlining their experience and skills and how they align with the needs of that specific committee.

Interested in volunteering at the national level of the CSP?

If logged into the member’s website, on the home page you’ll see an icon for Volunteer Opportunities.

Here you will see a listing of current openings for volunteer positions with the national level. From openings within a specific portfolio, to ad-hoc committees seeking volunteers, this link is updated regularly.

The CSP strives to ensure members of the NMC, national committees and the like have professional experience in skills that apply to the needs of these groups. It is important to note, apart from the co-executive directors and the office management team (a team of two), all other individuals working at the national level of the CSP are volunteers.

Next issue

Next month, we will go into a bit more detail about what the board of directors is responsible for, along with sharing profiles of our current directors.