How will you ensure the needs of all .CA registrants are considered at CIRA?

[Frank]

Great question, Daniel. Just one comment first – I do think the industry is currently underrepresented on the board and I think it’s great to a number of candidates with industry background in the running this year.

As this topic is a recurring theme for the elections and for CIRA in general, it remains a theme going forward. I think the first step for registrants to be represented could be for more of them to become members. I also hope for a way to hear, poll and consider their opinions more, beyond talking to a subset of current registrants.

[Daniel]

Thank you, Frank. I have a tendency (I think like many members) to see C-suite nominees and think ‘industry’, but that is not actually the case. I think the tendency of boards to be C-suite heavy is a problem[1] (though I understand the logic in terms of needing to understand the financials and business / organizational demands), but a separate problem from industry needs vs the needs of the majority of registrants (where they differ; I would hope they also often overlap since industry should be meeting the needs of registrants, or the industry becomes irrelevant and disappears). I think part of getting more registrants to participate involves having more opportunities for a membership that can actively enhance ‘the mission’ of CIRA and feel rewarded for doing so. That starts with more opportunities for existing members to be active members since word of mouth is still vital to any growth strategy. Does that resonate with you?

(I allude to this a little in another of my questions which might be a better place to go into detail on how to ‘activate’ the membership).

For that matter, if the board is light on industry participation, I’d think similar considerations to improving that as well.

[1] I’d guess that most CIRA registrants are SOHO/SME (and the occasionally indie sites like mine, although I am now working on starting a small business and fit into both of those categories) and that this is not necessarily reflected in who, how, and what decisions are made at CIRA. That’s based on the reality small business makes up a huge part of the business economy in Canada, even though the concentration of money and labour tends to result in larger entities (I suspect) being over-represented in decision making. That’s all a bit of an aside to explain my thinking on this, rather than a specific ask.

[Robert]

Many thanks for the question, Daniel.

Two primary items to consider to this question:

a.) I agree with Frank that CIRA needs more domain industry representation on the board. Meaning board members who see beyond CIRA and have a good operational understanding of industry influence factors that impact registrants worldwide, not only .CA registrants – E.g. registrant verification (processes, complexity, what works/doesn’t, industry standards, explored approaches). Having Board members who understand what other country-code Top-level-Domains are doing allows them to have more meaningful discussions on the various topics and should result in better outcomes for Canadian Registrants, or at minimum, be on par with the general trends of our industry.

b.) Member Engagement: It is imperative that CIRA regularly revisits member engagement to ensure registrant interests are well represented from all segments of registrants and the country. In understanding our registrants are likely busy and focused on their own goals, appealing, simple, meaningful, and educational communications are key – as is showing registrants what we do with their feedback (to further build trust and continued engagement by proving that we are actively listening and action driven). The current processes for member engagement will need to be reviewed and discussed

[Daniel]

Since there is not a thumbs up button for comments; thank you both for your replies, they’ve been informative and helpful.

[Shaheen]

I believe a board of directors of any organization cannot be successful unless it represents the interests of all its members. One way to achieve this is to ensure that board composition is representative of its members across many aspects including industry, expertise, geography, gender, ethnic and racial backgrounds.

Another key element is strong member engagement. From my experience, the most effective way to represent the interests of a particular group is to ask them! I agree with Robert’s comments about finding strategies to demonstrate to members the value of their engagement given that most members are likely already at full capacity focused on their own business goals.

[Frank]

@dfd wrote:

I think part of getting more registrants to participate involves having more opportunities for a membership that can actively enhance ‘the mission’ of CIRA and feel rewarded for doing so. That starts with more opportunities for existing members to be active members since word of mouth is still vital to any growth strategy. Does that resonate with you?

That resonates very much with me – CIRA should continue to find ways to engage stakeholders, especially members and registrants, more at the table. The ideal path here hasn’t been found yet and maybe it’s just that it’s a path, a process, and there is no final solution, but we need to continue exploring.

As @Shaheen and @Robbie are saying, Directors should always consider and include the views of all the stakeholders/members.

• This reply was modified 2 months, 2 weeks ago by  Frank. Reason: formatting