Leadership Team Nomination

Succession planning is the process of identifying the critical positions within your organization and developing action plans for individuals to assume those positions.

DLC Committee

Immediate Past District Director Sapna Ohri, DTM has been appointed as the District Leadership Committee Chair by 1st Nov 23 and the committee members have been appointed by 1st Dec 23.

Nominations

Nominations are now open for the following positions for the 2024-25 Toastmasters Year: 

• District Director
• Program Quality Director
• Club Growth Director
• Division Director for Divisions (A, B, C, D, J, M, S and U)

Guidelines

Each nominated candidate for all positions must be a member of a club that is within the boundaries of the district they wish to serve. Please ensure you have referred to the eligibility criteria [Article VII] before submitting your nominations. 

The geographies of all 8 Divisions will remain the same as they are for the nominations unless the District Alignment Committee suggests any changes during the Council Meeting scheduled between 24 and 26 May 2024.

In our District, the District Director appoints the District Administration Manager, District Finance Manager, District Public relations manager and Area Directors. Hence the nominations for those positions are not sought at this point.  

Nominations will close on January 10, 2024, 11:59 PM IST. You may ask a fellow Toastmaster to nominate you, or you may also self-nominate.  

Applicants are requested to go through the documents linked in this email before applying for the positions above. These documents would contain the eligibility criteria for each of the roles and will also help you understand the competencies required for the respective posts. 

1. Call for Nominations
2. District Leader Competencies 

Expression of Intent

Candidates are additionally requested to complete the Google form and attach the outlined forms below, duly signed on or before January 10th, 2024, 11.59 PM.

1. District Leader Agreement and Release Statement
2. District Leader Nominating Form 
3. District Leader Biographical Information
4. Candidate Application Form

Kindly note that this process needs confidentiality. Do not mark any current or past District Officer, or any member in the district, either in Cc/Bcc. The exception is when a member is nominating another member.  

The District Leadership Committee will schedule interviews on Zoom. You will be contacted to set up a mutually agreeable date and time by the District Leadership Committee.

Code of Conduct

Please note that the District Elections Code of Conduct has been put in place from December 11, 2023, as per Protocol 9.0 . This protocol would restrict activities on District Handles and during District Events for all the candidates who wish to apply for any of the above roles. The protocols are effective 11 December irrespective of when the nomination form is submitted.

Please additionally note the following:

• The protocols do not prohibit any officer or member from accomplishing their assigned tasks till the end of the program year.
• The protocols do not prohibit any member from taking up additional responsibilities unless explicitly mentioned otherwise. For instance, candidates cannot serve as contest officials.
• Candidates should refrain from using current positions or future appointments to gain extra visibility or promote their candidature
• The following instances can be considered a violation
  • Increase in comments on the official social media handles of D98 (including WhatsApp groups)
  • Increase in taking up roles/ educational sessions outside the home club
  • The intent of any communication will set precedence while dealing with the Code of Conduct

At this point, there will be no additional restrictions outside of what is outlined in Protocol 9.0 i.e you can visit clubs and attend events but ensure you do so as an officer (if required) or member and not as a candidate. Please inform my office at least 7 days before attending any such meeting/ event. In case you have campaign members, please notify the District Director’s office in advance. The District, to the best of its abilities, will provide all candidates an equal opportunity to interact with members at specified District events – details of which shall be notified at a later date.

We’ll share more updates/ FAQs on the District website shortly.

A campaign communication is any message, in any form, such as phone calls, postal mail, email, and social media, unsolicited by the recipient that promotes or publicizes a candidate. This would also include in-person interaction at club meetings/ club or District events.

In case of doubt, please get the same clarified with me/ Sapna. Ignorance of protocol cannot be grounds for any exception.

Club Executive Committee Members have an additional responsibility to double-check before inviting any external member to conduct educational sessions/ fill up meeting roles. They can reach out to me for clarification/ confirmation.

Additional Information

Any member who wishes to stand from the floor for any of the roles mentioned above should have gone through the nomination and evaluation (DLC Team interview) process.

Only those who apply as per the instructions outlined in this email before the deadline will be interviewed, and no further nominations or interviews will take place for the 2024-25 District leadership position elections.

Those who have not gone through this nomination and evaluation process cannot stand from the floor during the elections (unless permitted as per governing documents). 

Please contact District Director via email at dd.hardik@district98.org for any questions/concerns regarding the nominations.