With the holiday season approaching, it’s also the time of year when many associations transition to new leadership. If you’re a board president in 2018, here are three New Year’s resolutions to help you have a successful term.
- Address the elephant in the room. Perhaps your profession has seen industry disruptors, or maybe your membership is aging. Maybe you’re losing market share or feeling like you’re not meeting member needs. Whatever the hot button issue is for your organization, find a way to put it on the table and determine how the board can work together to address it.
- Stay focused on your strategic plan. If you already have a strategic plan, ensure that the board knows it, regularly reviews it, and uses established metrics to measure success. As new ideas come up, evaluate their potential outcomes to determine if they will create meaningful results and generate value. And if you don’t have a strategic plan, make it your goal to create one. Our e-book can help.
- Focus your leaders in the same direction. Strong leaders ensure goals are met. If leaders don’t agree on what success looks like, efforts to reach it will not be successful. While there may be discussions and debate in the board room, the board should be united when speaking to the membership. Support one another while you work on the issues that matter. Spend time individually with each board member so you can get to know them and understand what they are looking for with their board service.
If you’re a board president in 2018, what would you add to this list?