Nominations Committee - [Pilot Phase]

Nominations Committee - [Pilot Phase]

TERMS OF REFERENCE
NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE - [PILOT PHASE]

Endorsed during the 63^rd Session of the Advisory Committee (June 2002)

Procedures for the Election of the 2004-2007 Executive Council

1. BACKGROUND

The establishment of a pilot Nominations Committee (ICOM-NC) is one of the most significant recommendations approved by the ICOM General Assembly in Barcelona, July 2001. These Terms of Reference take into consideration the rigorous discourse which has resonated throughout the last three years within the Advisory Committee, Executive Council, Reform Task Force and on ICOM-L.

1.1. AREA OF AUTHORITY

This committee's role is to assist the Advisory Committee to better fulfil its mandate according to Article 21, 1 (c) of the ICOM Statutes to 'select the candidates for elections to the Executive Council'. This is imperative to ensure the effective governance and leadership of ICOM, by achieving an able Executive Council that is well skilled and broadly representative of the membership. ICOM-NC's major responsibilities are:

To investigate and make recommendations on the structure, time frame and definition of ICOM's nominations process.
To examine and articulate, for the benefit of the Advisory Committee, those skills, abilities and experiences, which would best serve the overall governance of the organisation, as required/defined by the Executive Council's stated Job Brief and Principal Tasks (see attached).
To conduct an in-depth review of the electoral process in ICOM and to propose strategies and make recommendations within the existing statutory requirements to ensure the achievement of a transparent and satisfactory election procedure.

1.2. REPORTS TO

Advisory Committee [through the Chairperson and/or Elections Officer of the Advisory Committee]

1.3. COMPOSITION

The Nominations Committee shall comprise nine (9) members, drawn from within the Advisory Committee[and may also include no more than 3 persons representative of the broader membership]. [More opened ended discussion based on the Committees reports will be encouraged through electronic means.] The Chairperson or his/her representative will participate in an ex-officio capacity. The Secretariat will also participate fully in these deliberations through its designated respresentatives.
The ICOM-NC will name its own Chairperson at the first meeting of the Committee in June 2002. Members must also be aware that ICOM does not have the resources to facilitate meetings of the Committee, other than during the specified periods associated with the Advisory Committee meetings, and possibly other meetings. Therefore, much of the work will need to be conducted electronically.

2. SPECIFIC AREAS FOR INVESTIGATION

The Nominations Committee (ICOM-NC) is asked to review and make recommendations on various issues identified in the Tool Box as indicated. The approach to these issues should be exploratory, and seek to provide the Advisory Committee with useful analysis and recommendations, within the scope of the current statutory requirements, and as necessitated by the parameters of the Executive Council's Job Brief.

The ICOM-NC will:

Review ICOM Reform recommendations R25, R31, R32, R33 and R34 as passed at the ICOM General Assembly, Barcelona - July, 2001.
Identify abilities relevant and desirable to the Job Brief and Principal tasks of the Executive Council (as attached) which should/could be taken into consideration when nominations are being made for the officer and ordinary member positions, and advise thereon.
Assist the Advisory Committee with a thorough examination of the range of skills, experiences and capacities to be secured and formulate procedures to be followed for reflection or adjustment if needed.
Develop, in conjunction with the Secretariat, appropriate mechanisms for communicating the abilities needed to implement Principals tasks of the Executive Council, and to launch a broad-based campaign designed to educate and encourage ICOM members to participate responsibly in this most important process, through good nominations and candidacies for Advisory Committee consideration.
Should it become clear that there is a shortfall in the optimum number of candidates proposed for nomination (i.e. 30) prior to the requisite selection of candidates by the Advisory Committee, the ICOM-NC will/may assist the Elections Officer in stimulating further suitable nominations and/or candidacies for consideration by the Advisory Committee taking cognisance of R34.
Examine, in conjunction with the ICOM Secretariat, existing procedures for Executive Council elections as well as any recent changes in this process, with a view to proposing mechanisms for more efficient and effective elections to be put in place for the next elections in 2004.
Offer recommendations, for the consideration of the Executive Council, on possible statutory revisions relating to both the nomination and election processes, articulated as part of the comprehensive redrafting of ICOM statutes already envisaged.

3. TIME FRAME

The mandate of the pilot Nominations Committee is prescribed as 2002-2004. Progress reports should therefore be tabled with the Advisory Committee on a regular basis. However, the following critical schedule must be adhered in order to satifactorily meet ICOM's statutory requirements:

Recommendations on the nomination process should be completed no later than [December, 2002];
Review of the list of candidates, if incomplete will be at the discretion of Elections Officer [prior to June, 2003];
Proposal for revisions to ICOM Statutes to be tabled [no later than June 2003];
Final recommendations to be tabled to the Advisory Committee by [December, 2003].

Prepared by Alissandra Cummins,
Chairperson - Advisory Committee
2 January 2002

[Approved of the Advisory Committee in June 2002, see Draft Minutes.]

ICOM Reform recommendations passed at the ICOM General Assembly, Barcelona - July 2001

Recommendation 25: That the Executive Council's role and core tasks be more clearly defined, stressing its overarching responsibilities for central issues of governance, upholding of professional values, ethical standards, organisational leadership and attention to the long-term future of ICOM.

Recommendation 31: That the Executive Council should establish a structural profile and positions description of the whole Council, incorporating both officer positions and ordinary members, and outline the expertise required on Council for ICOM to be both well governed and able to take a leadership position on museums and cultural heritage issues, and to ensure that ICOM's policies, programs, and strategic development proposals are implemented.

Recommendation 32: That on the basis of the structural profile and definition of the Executive Council's required expertise for governance and leadership of ICOM (R31), the Council should empower the Advisory Committee to establish a pilot Nominations Committee and process for the period 2001-2004 - independent of any present member of Council's involvement - to explore ways in which an enlarged slate of 30 able candidates is better prepared for election of a well capacitated Executive Council at ICOM's General Assembly in 2004. If this pilot process proves successful, it could be recommended for use as a regular instrument in ICOM in the future. In the course of its work, this same pilot committee should conduct and in-depth review of the electoral process in ICOM.

Recommendation 33: That, in order to prevent any conflict of interest, no person who has served on the Advisory Council's pilot Nominations Committee within the forthcoming triennium may be eligible to be nominated personally for consideration as part of the slate of 30 candidates that goes forward to the General Assembly in Seoul, 2004.

Recommendation 34: That the Nominations Committee will accept nominations from any eligible person, and not itself determine whom the Advisory Committee finally chooses as its preferred slate of candidates to go forward to the General Assembly for elections to occur; however the Nominations Committee should report and comment (without mention of any specific individuals) on the desirable balance of nominees to be achieved when the Advisory Committee chooses its slate of candidates for the Assembly's electoral ballot to occur.

JOB BRIEF FOR ICOM EXECUTIVE COUNCIL MEMBERS

The principal responsibilities of the Executive Council are to focus on the totality of what ICOM is and does, in terms of good governance of the organisation. The Executive Council is the key body on which ICOM depends to maintain an active, whole-of-organisation vision of its future, and a whole-of-organisation approach to its performance. This gives the Executive Council a few central tasks, as the peak governing body of ICOM, which should always be kept in focus and provide priorities for its own functioning.

The Executive Council needs to be able to function well in a co-ordinated way. This does not inhibit diversity of backgrounds or viewpoints - in fact diversity enriches the total capacities offered by the Council. Neither is it anticipated that all members would have a range of capacities in equal measure - most likely, some members would be much stronger in some desirable skills and capacities than in others.

It is the collective capacity of Council as a whole that is important, and the collective readiness to assist in focusing on a group of core tasks and central responsibilities, rather than be diverted by one or two issues in isolation from the whole.

Extract from 'Tool Box' report on ICOM Reform (Section VIII: The Executive Council)

Principal tasks of the Executive Council could be summarised as follows:

stewardship of ICOM's history, and leadership in upholding ICOM's core values, mission and ideals as an international professional organisation;
provision of a clear framework of policy definition for ICOM's operations, activities and programs and ensuring that this is well communicated (internally and externally);
fiscal accountability and legal probity throughout the organisation;
ensuring - through general oversight - that ICOM is well managed, is service-oriented in its administration and programs, and that each part of the organisation has a clear sense of its role, responsibilities and key tasks;
envisioning and forward planning for the organisation's future ("headlights on high-beam…the larger landscape…the longer journey");
resources review and resources development (financial, human, intellectual and technical resources in overview);
safeguarding of ICOM's reputation, international esteem and public regard.

Notes
Abilities relevant to these tasks should be carefully considered when nominations are being made for the four EC Officer positions, together with nominees for the Ordinary Member positions, to compose a slate [list] of good EC candidates for elections to occur at a General Assembly.

It is imperative for the quality of ICOM's governance that the Advisory Committee - through its key role in the electoral process ("to select the candidates for election to the Executive Council" [ICOM Statutes 21-1(c)] ) - should look carefully at the slate of candidates it finally proposes to go forward to the General Assembly. (It should be noted that the nomination process currently begins at least three months prior to the Advisory Committee's meeting to review the results, and finally choose a list of (maximum) 30 candidates) [ICOM Statutes 27-2 & 5].

The Advisory Committee should examine thoroughly the range of skills, experiences, and capacities being secured on the slate of candidates for election - for the choices made by the AC will inevitably shape the Executive Council that results. Furthermore it is important to stress such factors again (later) in communication with the National and International Committee executive boards, in advance of the electoral process that finally occurs at the General Assembly of ICOM. [See also (Part B) Section VII : on the ADVISORY COMMITTEE in the 'Tool Box Report' on ICOM, May-June 2000]

Prepared by: The Executive Council, December 2001