What is a Networker?
by Sylvia Shives, Parliamentarian
At one time this was a well-known term in LWML. It was first used by (national) LWML to designate a person in each society to receive information from the national and district leaders and disseminate it to the ladies in her society.
Do we still have networkers? Yes and no. While the function of the networker remains, the term itself is no longer used at the national level. Just as recent bylaw changes no longer use the term “society” to refer to women’s organizations in a church who are part of LWML. Oh, and by the way, the term “ladies” is considered outdated, preferring the term women.
The recent update of the Chesapeake District bylaws followed the LWML bylaws in using the term “group” for women’s organizations. Although the group may choose to call themselves whatever they wish. Your group can still be called a circle, a guild or even society if that is what you have always called it.
Do we NEED a networker? Yes and no. The function remains, but the individual may be called by any term you choose such as “group contact person”, “news gatherer”, “mail lady”, “information passer” or even “networker”. The function of this person is to receive information from the district or the zone and see that it gets passed on to the women in their church, it’s that simple.
Why can’t the group president do that? She can if she plans to be the president indefinitely. Presidents tend to change so it works best if the person who serves as “networker” is someone who is willing to do this job over several years so the information goes out even as other officers change. The person who serves as “networker” may certainly hold another office in the group since “networker” is a function, not an office as such.
So, to answer the original question:
A networker is someone in the group who receives district and zone information and passes it on the everyone in their group in a timely manner.
Yes, we still have networkers, but they may hold some other office or function under a different title.
Do we still have networkers? Yes and no. While the function of the networker remains, the term itself is no longer used at the national level. Just as recent bylaw changes no longer use the term “society” to refer to women’s organizations in a church who are part of LWML. Oh, and by the way, the term “ladies” is considered outdated, preferring the term women.
The recent update of the Chesapeake District bylaws followed the LWML bylaws in using the term “group” for women’s organizations. Although the group may choose to call themselves whatever they wish. Your group can still be called a circle, a guild or even society if that is what you have always called it.
Do we NEED a networker? Yes and no. The function remains, but the individual may be called by any term you choose such as “group contact person”, “news gatherer”, “mail lady”, “information passer” or even “networker”. The function of this person is to receive information from the district or the zone and see that it gets passed on to the women in their church, it’s that simple.
Why can’t the group president do that? She can if she plans to be the president indefinitely. Presidents tend to change so it works best if the person who serves as “networker” is someone who is willing to do this job over several years so the information goes out even as other officers change. The person who serves as “networker” may certainly hold another office in the group since “networker” is a function, not an office as such.
So, to answer the original question:
A networker is someone in the group who receives district and zone information and passes it on the everyone in their group in a timely manner.
Yes, we still have networkers, but they may hold some other office or function under a different title.