FIRING THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ‘’WITHOUT CAUSE’’ SENDS TERRIBLE MESSAGES

by Pierre Filion pierrefilion@bell.net

Now that the minutes of Lacrosse Canada’s Board meetings are posted on the website in real time (or just about) the members can have the opportunity to better appreciate the decisions that the Board makes; in itself this is a positive step towards some transparency and some sense of a democratic process. I encourage the paying members to go to Lacrosse Canada’s website and locate the minutes of the February 19th Board meeting. It’s worth the journey as they are revealing!

During the meeting the Board members go ‘’in camera’’ without informing the staff members in attendance of the subject of the in-camera discussion. By tradition an in-camera meeting is for Board members only and the discussions and decisions must remain confidential. The Executive Director (Terry Rayner) who attends every Board meeting was not invited into the in-camera meeting; neither was Jennifer Johnson, the administration coordinator.

The in-camera session lasted one hour and seven minutes and the Board members came out with a motion ‘’That the Board of Directors terminate the employment of the Executive Director, Terry Rayner, without cause, effective immediately, and authorize the Chair to work with legal counsel to negotiate appropriate separation terms’’.

The motion was carried but did not seem to be unanimous.

Now what does that tell us in terms of governance?

The important issue is the one dealing with the ‘’without cause’’ note as it raises concerns and as it sends important messages to the community, to the ‘’released’’ Director, and to the ‘’upcoming’’ Director; and it also sends a clear image of the Board of Directors itself.

Traditionally, in business, ‘’without cause’’ means that an employee’s contract can be terminated without specific reason, justification or fault. It is understood that the employee did not violate policy nor performed poorly and that he is entitled to notice, severance or compensation; on the other hand, ‘’without cause’’ allows the employer to end the contract for business or discretionary reasons.

Now, all this having been said and taking into account that in camera discussions are confidential, the minutes of the Board’s meeting do specifically mention that there were ‘’exhaustive assessments’’ and ‘’significant issues regarding performance’’; namely, lack of financial transparency, lack of communication and mostly failure to execute Board directives.

Lacrosse Canada had a loose cannon bully as Executive Director who thought the Board members were his ‘’volunteer employees’’; which is a ‘’nono’’ in most democratic associations.

The reasons for immediate termination discussed in the Board meeting were serious matters;

- lack of financial transparency

- lack of communication

- failure to execute Board directives.

Now, how could one remain in Office with such serious misfunctions?

And mostly why should these misfunctions (misdemeanors) remain confidential and allow the terminated man to walk away and be terminated ‘’without cause’’ but with compensation pay? What messages are being sent?

1) The Board of Directors is telling its paying members (who bring in 1,894,619.00$ every year in membership fees) that the Director was simply let go and that the Corporation is searching for an Executive Director. Period. Business as usual! ‘’Worry not this is just a personnel change; everything is under control.’’ Yet, the paying members are aware of the one-million-dollar deficit created under the Executive Director’s watch and management. A deficit which will be paid up by the paying members; as always. Nothing related to his termination appears on the Association’s website and most of all the ‘’terminated one’’ did not violate policy nor performed poorly. Tell me this with a straight face and without blinking an eyelash. And in the same sentence tell the members that you ‘’operate with integrity and transparency, accepting responsibility for outcomes and results’’. And expect the members to take you seriously and to trust you.

The paying members deserve a clean explanation concerning the abrupt termination of Terry Rayner’s contract. They need to be more than paying suckers.

2)The Board of Directors is telling their ‘’terminated one’’ that the decision is immediate and final; he has no recourse and is informed that there was an ‘’exhaustive assessment of his performance’’. He should have seen it coming, but bullies and despising people never see themselves as bullies or as despising; they simply are great leaders anointed from above and blessed with unappreciated talents. He’ll get a compensation, paid for by the members again, and will laugh all the way to the bank. His reputation is intact and he will have all the leeway to explain that his ‘’resignation’’ was because his employers were low life employers who had no vision for the game and who never wanted to invest the needed monies to propel the game as a leading North American sport! In private he will know that he has screwed the Association to the bone but that no one will ever mention it in the open. He will carry out his life and will solicit another job showing the ‘’great’’ letter of recommendation he will have ‘’negotiated’’ with Lacrosse Canada!

3)The Board of Directors will also, somehow, be telling the ‘’upcoming Director’’ that whatever he does and however poorly he will perform he will be allowed to walk away without public blame and even with a positive letter of recommendation if ever he is smart enough to negotiate one on his way out. ‘’You can screw the life out of us and we’ll never hold it against you in public’’. That is what the Board of Directors is so clearly telling ‘’the next one in line’’. Now what a comfortable job that is…Is that what is called job security?

4)But mostly the Board of Directors is telling us a lot about itself. They are admitting that they badly failed to oversee their lone employee (the Executive Director) and that they have allowed him to run up a deficit of over one-million-dollar before stepping in and terminating his employment. And the more they will blame the ‘’fired one’’ the more they will be admitting their own weaknesses and failures.

The Board of Directors by using the ‘’without cause’’ clause is telling everyone that they would rather put this under the rug and act as if it’s business as usual. ‘’Let’s not go to the bottom of this as it will be embarrassing for us as Board members. Let’s not tell our members that we failed while he screwed us right, left and center’’.

The Board is choosing not to have its own reputation and efficiency challenged by funding authorities while supporting a smooth change in personnel. ‘’Do not rock the boat; we are so fragile we might drown. Let’s keep this amongst ourselves in order not to scare our sponsors and partners; we have such a great future ahead of us with the upcoming Olympics that it would serve no practical purpose to raise all hell and whatever governance matters that might arise’’.

The Board is telling everyone that it would have much more to lose by openly confronting the issue than by quietly moving on and leaving all this behind us. The Board is telling us all that they are the ones with wisdom; they are the ones who really can appreciate all this and that they should be trusted.

Until someone puts a mirror in front of them so they might really see that they are a failure.