Call for Nominations – GANZ President

Dear Colleague

By now you may have seen the formal notification that the GANZ AGM will be held on  

Sunday 22 November 2020

7:30am AWST (WA) / 9:00am ACDT (SA) / 9:30am AEST (Qld) / 

10:30am AEDT (NSW, VIC, ACT, TAS) / 12:30pm NZT (Christchurch)

Full details available here

One of the important parts at the AGM will be the elections, and as you may be aware the President’s role is currently vacant. This is a pivotal role both for GANZ as an organisation and the GANZ Council, yet in its current form may not be the most attractive role for people to step into. In writing today, it is my hope that people who are interested in a role on the GANZ Council might shift from thinking “no thanks” to “well I could do that”. 

It seems that part of the problem with the President role as it stands now is that the title and constitution create an image of a leader who holds power in a hierarchy and who comes in to the organisation with a vision that others follow for an extended period. This isn’t consistent with  the reality that the emotional investment and sense of ownership of GANZ belongs between council, members, elders, training providers, and other stakeholders. It also doesn’t reflect the current reality that council members, including the president, will come and go every 2 or so years. It may also be that the role of President is weighed down by GANZ’s old history and conflicts from GANZ’s time as a regulatory body, during which the President role did have different powers and responsibilities.

The reality of how the current GANZ Council functions is quite different. We operate a very flat and collaborative power structure. A collaborative leadership model also sits better with Gestalt relational values. Martin Buber’s distinction between a collective and a community is relevant too, where “members of a collective surrender their autonomy to achieve a common goal, whereas members of a community create a network of friendships that support the development of individuals within the context of shared values” (1). 

In the lead up to this AGM, the GANZ Council will be writing more about our vision for GANZ for 2021, but for now I would like to say that the current and previous Councils have no shortage of ideas – although we are short of hands on deck to implement them. 

The discussion the GANZ Council has been having around the President’s role is part of a bigger conversation about the future of GANZ that we will bring to members in the lead up to the AGM. For now, while the constitution remains as it is, a President is required for the Council to function. There are some basic responsibilities that this role is currently required to perform, which I will outline below, but beyond these set of responsibilities there is scope for changing how the President’s role is undertaken in practice. 

The basic set of responsibilities, drawn from the constitution,  the Associations Incorporation Act 1991-46 (which provides the legal framework for the constitution) and the organisation policies are:

• To share responsibility with the Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary for a small number of compliance activities. Specifically annual returns need to be lodged with Access Canberra, as do any changes to the Council members, public officer, registered office, and constitution. None of these tasks are particularly time consuming for the President (although the annual return does involve some work for the Treasurer and auditor), but do need to be kept an eye on.
• To have an equal vote on the Council and the opportunity to contribute to all GANZ tasks.
• The Constitution as it stands specifies some minor duties, some of which can be delegated. These are to chair general meetings, to hold the seal of the association (i.e. a GANZ stamp for official documents), and to coordinate sub-committees (there are none at the moment apart from the executive committee)
• The constitution also requires that the President “should have a high level of training in Gestalt Therapy and substantial experience as a Gestalt Therapist and be eligible to be listed on the publicly searchable practitioner register”.
• The bank also requires the President to be a signatory to the account.
• To be involved in complaints processes, should they occur. This is not to say that the President needs to take on complaints processes by themselves. The current practice is that a Complaints Officer holds responsibility for contact with a complainant and for holding confidentiality in these processes, and the whole Council responsible for guidance and decision making. External consultants are also available if the need arise.

Beyond this, the role could be fulfilled in a range of ways. The current Council envisages this role to have an emphasis on relationships. For example, key duties of a president could be to:

• Strengthen relationships between GANZ and the training institutes.
• Support a shared leadership model on Council.
• Support relationships within Council.
• Take on projects of interest to them.

In short, while there are some defined parts of this role, there is plenty of space for someone to come in creatively and be  supported.

Finally, I would like to add a personal note that I have found that Aicha, Annie, Eric, Julia, Marc, Michelle and Nathan are warm, good to work with, able to balance cohesion and dialogue, strongly interested and engaged in Gestalt practice. They have my respect. If you missed our recent series of Facebook posts re-introducing the Council Members you can read about them here.

Nominations for this position must be received on the attached form by 1 November 2020 addressed to: The Secretary GANZ Inc, PO Box 398, Fairfield, Vic 3078 Or by email to: julia.werner@gestaltpathways.com.au

If you are interested in discussing this role, please contact Anthony Jones at anthonyjones@psychotherapy-centre.com.au

Anthony Jones

GANZ Vice President

(1) Buber, M.(1979) Between Man and Man. Glasgow: Collins. p 50 – 52.  Quotation taken from “After Buddhism” Stephen Batchelor, Yale University Press