Can? Can't? Why? Why Not?
Deborah Sowery-Quinn
Burlington, Ontario, Canada
From: LEAVEN, Vol. 37 No. 2, April-May 2001, p. 34
The application is a time
when a mother prepares for the work of a Leader. It is also a transition
time during which the Applicant moves from participating only in member-oriented
activities and exercises to involvement in those intended to help LLL
Leaders. The LAD representative you are working with will probably suggest
ways an Applicant can broaden her involvement and learning opportunities.
- She can prepare and
lead the enrichment portion of an Evaluation Meeting. The Applicant
can practice most of the skills a Leader needs in order to lead an
effective Series Meeting by leading a discussion about a breastfeeding
or mothering topic at an Evaluation Meeting. She will need to decide
on the approach (conversational or more directed); how she will get
the discussion started (will she use a round-robin question, visual
aids, a "game"?); and help it continue on track. She may
want to mark some references in published resources (an interesting
quote from THE WOMANLY ART, for instance). During the discussion,
she may need to encourage people to talk to the group rather than
to her, to respond to each other rather than look to her for answers
to questions, to allow others to talk.
- She can participate
in the planning of Series Meetings. By planning Series Meetings
(or helping a Leader plan), the Applicant becomes familiar with the
purpose and information for each meeting and gathers meeting ideas.
She may also observe carefully at the meeting as she watches "her"
ideas in action.
- She can write up the
monthly reporting form(s) to be read and signed by a Leader. The
Applicant practices for important Leader responsibilities as she does
this: keeping and reporting from accurate Group and one-to-one helping
records. She can also, along with the Leaders and other Evaluation
Meeting participants, use the information to assess the effectiveness
of the Group and talk about how to maintain or increase it.
- She can attend District
Workshops. Most sessions intended to help a Leader keep up to
date or practice a skill will also benefit a Leader Applicant. In
addition, sessions are usually scheduled that are specific to preparation
for LLL leadership.
- She can participate
in HRE sessions. As she participates perhaps she can be alert
to enhancing skills specific to one-to-one helping or leading a discussion.
- She can present a short
book review of a new library acquisition or a Group Library book relevant
to the meeting topic at a Series Meeting. While giving a book
report is more like public speaking than leading a Series Meeting,
they both require us to remember information and to communicate that
information when we are the formal center of a group's attention.
- She can do anything
an LLL member can do within the Group. Although, as a Leader Applicant,
how she sees an activity and how she does it might change because
of her different focus.
- She can attend Chapter
Meetings.
But there are also some things a leader Applicant doesn't do. A Leader
Applicant does not represent La Leche League, give breastfeeding help
in the name of LLL, or lead LLL meetings (for instance Series, Toddler,
and Couples meetings). To avoid the possibility of confusing mothers
about whether they are receiving personal or LLL assistance, Leader
Applicants do not identify themselves as such at Series Meetings or
in any public way (in publications or online chat groups, for instance,
except those intended specifically for LLL Leader Applicants).
What if there's a mother
in your Group who wants to be an Applicant but isn't quite ready to
make that commitment? Perhaps her baby is too young or there's too much
going on right now and she anticipates having more time in a few months
or next year. She continues to participate in member-oriented exercises
and activities. In the same way as the Applicant does work to prepare
for LLL leadership, the member can be doing work to prepare for an application
for LLL leadership. And, in the same way as the Applicant does not do
Leader work, the member does not participate in exercises and activities
intended for Leaders and Applicants. She does not, for instance, participate
in District Workshops, Chapter Meetings, or Leaders' planning meetings.
The member can, however,
take on a Group job and begin working on the required and/or recommended
reading on the LLLI Applicant Reading Information sheet included in
the Application Packet. She can participate in Evaluation Meetings,
in the management of the Group, in helping to plan ways the Group can
increase its effectiveness at Series Meetings and in the community.
She can help keep meeting discussions on topic or recommend books and
pamphlets/leaflets she's found helpful. She can provide a great deal
of the information, support, and encouragement - mother-to-mother -
that is basic to La Leche League.
Member, Applicant, Leader.
. . each has a different kind of commitment to and relationship with
La Leche League. Each of these commitments and relationships is important.
While the member relationship might develop into an application and
the Applicant's relationship will probably become the Leader's, whether
or not it evolves into something else, let's help make each role all
it can be.
Page last edited Sun Oct 14 09:32:09 UTC 2007.
