Conversation with Lance Novak

 CKC, Executive Director

I contacted Lance last week and asked him if he could find time on his schedule for an interview for my blog.  I asked him the questions I hear talked about across every sector of membership and event interest.

He generously allowed me to ask him anything.  He is soft spoken, articulate and warm.  I found him to give thoughtful answers without a need to be political.  I have confidence in Lance’s ability to listen intently to all issues and to prioritize them in order of importance.  I believe that he will systematically work

through many of the issues that concern our membership to the satisfaction of most.  Lance brings 20 years of non-profit management experience to the CKC . He is strong enough to admit what he doesn’t know and willing to learn.  He has the experience and understanding of the latest technology and how to implement it, so the CKC is better positioned to make the improvements in so many areas such as registrations, points maintenance, better communication and improved processes.  Lance is a professional that thinks like a member, but performs with the business acumen needed in today’s tricky financial atmosphere.

Now, the membership needs to throw their support behind him.  Allow him to do what needs to be done.  Be an active, involved member that forgets personal agendas and works for the common goal for the group.  In a very short about of time, Lance is making huge strides toward improvement. Let’s put a moratorium on griping and complaining.  Let’s give our new Executive Director the confidence to make our CKC the world class organization it can be.

Donna:  I understand that you are an Irish Wolfhound owner.  Have you ever done conformation or any other dog sporting events with them?

Lance:  I have not done conformation or any other competition with my dogs, but  I have owned ten Irish Wolfhounds spanning over the past 30 plus years.  I find them to be great companions.

Donna:  You have had a successful career, coming from Ontario College of Trades and Canadian Standards Association.  What attracted you to this position at the CKC?

Lance:   I thought it would be a good marriage of dogs and helping rebuild the CKC.  The CKC has gone through some difficult times, and I think it is exciting to help stabilize a company and take it in new and positive directions.

Donna:  Your bio picture makes me believe that you are a pretty laid back and informal person.  How do you describe your management style?

Lance:   That is a good way to describe me.  I believe in empowering my staff to make decisions.  We all should share the problems and as a team find solutions.

Donna:  You have only been the Executive Director for five months.  What is your assessment of the condition of the CKC?  What do you think is currently working well and what do you thinks needs improving?

Lance:   I realize that I’m no expert in the sport and I have a lot of opportunities to learn.  It seems to me the sport isn’t thriving and we need to look at other similar organizations to see what they are doing that works.  This is a multi-layered organization that we must make work successfully individually and as a whole.  We want to find ways to make some immediate changes, like our last Board meeting where we made 50 rule changes to Agility.  Those changes  will keep our rules consistent with other organizations’ rules, which makes it easier for participates to understand and work within one basic set of rules.

We need to attract people back to the sport.  We, also, need to improve our services, processes and website.  We are in the early stage of redesigning our CKC website to make it user friendly.  The Board approved the budget to hire consultants to design a new system and to update our website. As an example of another improvement, we will be offering on-line balloting for our members in the near future. 

We will be reviewing our current processing to see which are working and which must be improved to allow quicker and better service to our membership and general public.

Donna:  I would like to discuss CKC finances.  What is the plan to bring the CKC out of this financial slump and get it back in the black?

Lance:   A major step toward financial recovery was achieved by closing Apex Publishing.  That left their office space available and we recently signed a multi-year contract with Intel Canada to lease that space.   We are always looking for ways to cut cost without jeopardizing service improvements.  CKC’s finances are not the concern they were a short time ago.

Donna:   Peta, USPCA, Puppy Mills and local SPCAs get a lot of news coverage and many times it points a negative finger back at Pure bred dogs and their breeders.  What will the CKC be doing to bring stronger, more honest public attention to CKC breeders and the dog fancy?

Lance:   I understand the need to promote the CKC and its members.   We are looking into ways to keep our Organization and members in a positive light with the general public.  We recently attended a tradeshow in Manitoba.  The CKC hasn’t attended a trade show in years and we got a lot of great feedback from the visitors to our display.  There were more than 100,000 visitors to the show.  We want to look for other venues and opportunities to be more visible to the public.  Redesigning our website to be more user friendly and updating our brochures have also been a start to improving communications with the public and membership.

Donna:  Talking about the CKC website, I have heard it described as boring, difficult to navigate and overall failing to attract readers.  What improvements do you have for it?

Lance:   We have heard the same comments.  We actually agree.  Our system is old and can’t support much of the newer programs.  In order to make the necessary improvements to the website and to improve our processes, the Board has approved the money to hire professionals to build us a better overall computer system.  That will allow us to make the website more user friendly, provide more online services for registrations and better navigation.

The CKC wants to offer more online services for our membership.  We are making plans to make the website easy for visitors to navigate and for it to contain more information.  We have heard a lot of our members say they like the AKC website and format.  We are looking at many organizations’ websites to see how we can improve.

Donna:   I hear a lot about poor customer service at the CKC office.  Are you looking into improvements there, too?

Lance:    We don’t want anyone dealing with the CKC to get less than excellent service.  That is one of the reasons we feel strongly about improving our website and computer system.  We have realized that we get a lot of phone calls because people can’t find the information they want on our website.  The phone calls bog down our phone system and causes undue delays for people to get the help they need due to being placed in queue. 

We have made improvements to our website a priority.  These improvements will allow the public and our members to find forms, fees and information at their convenience and without much of the old stress.

Donna:   Where exactly does the CKC stand on Cropping and Docking?

 

Lance:    After careful consideration and reviewing information from all viewpoints, we believe that the decision to crop and/or dock is a personal choice. We have called on all the breed clubs to update their breed standards to include the natural dog.  We need to include that information for judges to use in the conformation ring.  We want and need the club’s assistance with this information.  The CKC has no intention to ever ask its members to discontinue cropping and docking.  It’s important to remember that not cropping and docking should also be an allowed personal choice.  I hope stating this here, helps to alleviate all the worry and fear that some members have over this issue. 

Donna:   How can the CKC be sure that CKC breeders are reputable, not puppy mills and not selling sick and dying puppies?  How can we police ourselves?

Lance:     That is a good question.  There are any numbers of issues that need to be addressed.  Right now, we are looking at the issues and prioritizing them. I don’t have a definitive answer to this issue, but it is one that should be put on the list.

Donna:   Do you have plans to be more visible to the membership?

 

Lance:     I have been out to a few shows.  When people realize who I am, I get swamped.  I hope to get out more.  I am still learning and I like to come back to the office to explain what I’ve seen and learned.  Meeting the members, seeing the various events is a learning experience for me.  It’s rewarding to see a membership that wants to be involved and can give me suggestions and makes me aware of important issues.  If you don’t see me at an event and there is something important you think requires the CKC’s attention, remember the Zone Directors are there as conduit to me.  They are there to answer questions and to listen to concerns and ideas.

Donna:   I pay the $100 membership.  Why should I have to do that when my only benefit is receiving my paperwork in a timely fashion?

Lance:     It is a reasonable expectation as a member to submit your paperwork and have it completed and returned in a timely manner.  No one should have to pay more for what should be good service.  What does that say about the $50 members?  That sends the message they are lesser members or less deserving of great service.  I agree that this is a mistake and we will be abolishing the two tier membership, soon.

Donna:   A common complaint among all exhibitors is poor judging or unfair judging.  We are a group of very political individuals that carry our own personal agendas to the events.  There have been many suggestions on how to level the playing field for all exhibitors when it comes to judging. In the USA there is a different judge for breed and group, instead Canada’s method where the breed judge immediately goes straight into the group ring to judge the same dogs he has just awarded the breed win.  Is there a way to stop judges from campaigning for more assignments and handlers, both pro and owner, to stop shopping shows for judges?

Lance:    Being new to my job, I have not had the opportunity, yet, to know all the ins and outs of all the events and what the issues are in each sport.  I will say that our sport should be held to the highest standards and each exhibitor should be judged fairly.  This is another issue that deserves attention and should be reviewed for improvement.  This type of issue is how I would like to see our membership get involved in finding solutions.  The CKC is the membership.  My office will never have the time or the manpower to fix every problem or to hear every issue, as much as I may want to.  To make the CKC the great organization we all want requires the membership’s willingness to sit committees, be a part of focus groups and to remember that we all work 

together for the common good and benefit, not to promote individual agendas.

Donna:   There is a Professional Handler’s Association in Canada.  Would the CKC sanction the development of an Owner/Hander’s Association?

Lance:     I don’t believe that we will ever frown on any new dog related association that works off the same principles as the CKC.  If the organization is working toward promoting the sport and acts as an advocate to breeder/owner/handlers to encourage growth, sportsmanship and a high code of ethics, I am certain we would review it very seriously. 

Donna:   Our sport is comprised of an aging membership.  My husband and I believe in sponsoring and supporting the Junior Handling program to help keep young people interested in the Dog Fancy.  We cover the entire cost of our Junior, but  we realize that not everyone interested in a Junior Handler can do this and could be missing a great opportunity to sponsor a Junior.  How can the CKC make Junior Handling available to more young people?  Also, how and where can the club promote Junior Handling to the general population?

Lance:  The sport is expensive and we need to find a way to promote it to all age groups, but you are right, we have an aging membership.  Junior Handling is a great place to gain new and young interest back into our sport.  Capturing the young people audience is included in our plans for promoting the CKC, Purebreds and CKC Breeders.  I also think that this issue needs to be looked at to see if we can provide assistance to the members that want to sponsor/mentor a Junior Handler.  Just throwing out some quick ideas, such as reduced entry fees and improving training for sponsors and Juniors, offering more opportunities for sponsors and Juniors to get acquainted.  Do a good job promoting the Junior Program within our own membership.  I can see where the Junior Handlers can gain a lot of great mentors from our older, more experienced members.  I am thinking that we may be able to find a business partner willing to offer financial sponsorship for our Junior’s Program.

We will be focused on this age group in our new marketing campaigns.  Like so much, it takes time to develop a viable, successful approach.

Donna:   I have covered all the questions I hear around the Dog Fancy and ringside.  Is there anything that you would like to say that we haven’t covered?

Lance:    I want the members to know that we hear you and we are taking action on many of the major problems, now.  We are addressing the computer system and the website.  They are number one priority.  I have added a great Marketing Manager to our staff that is very current in the area of promotions.  We will be looking for cost effective and beneficial ways to get the CKC out to the public.  This is also a high priority.  I want to ask the membership to have patience.  The CKC has gone through some turbulent times in recent years including Executive turnover.  An organization like the CKC is so complex with rules and events and has high visibility.  We must make these changes in a smart manner.  There will be times the membership will think we are doing a fantastic job and other times they will think we are doing enough.  Believe me, we are working hard and with their support we will be successful.

This isn’t an organization of Office staff and Directors and Committees and Judges.  We aren’t just a clearing house for problems and we are not just about keeping statistics.  I know we are first and foremost a membership and we all must pull together.  I hope I can build the confidence in the general membership that they will support most of my ideas for change.  Please go to your Zone Reps and let them know if you think we are doing a good job or if you have ideas on how to make the CKC better. 

I will be coming to the membership asking for help, through online opinion polls, focus groups, specific areas of expertise to call on.  Be a volunteer.  We can’t be an organization where the majority feel left out and powerless.  I want to lead that change. 

We have an awful lot of work ahead.  We will be moving slow and steady and mindful of budget and return on investment.  Make sure to read the Board minutes.  That will help to keep you updated on our progress and plans.  I hope you noticed that at the last Annual Meeting, we had people taking notes from the meeting and updating the minutes in real time so the members that were home could immediately see what was being done and decided. 

I look forward to meeting more members as time goes on and I get more opportunities to travel to different events.  Thank you for your support.

Remember to watch for "Nice Deeds".  They are happening all around us.  Let's talk about the people helping others.   Send your "Nice Deeds" to me at djenkins@shaw.ca 

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