The following are leadership and succession planning tips from a "Recognizing Leadership" presentation by IAAP Education & Professional Development Manager Susan Fenner, originally presented as the 1999 District Conference activity.
“Organizations must take proactive steps to plan for future talent needs at all levels and implement programs designed to ensure that the right leaders are available for the right jobs in the right places and at the right times to meet organizational requirements,” says William Rothwell in his book, Effective Succession Planning: Ensuring Leadership Continuity And Building Talent From Within.
Arthur Deegan, who wrote Succession Planning: The Key To Corporate Excellence, stated, “The continuity of the organization over time requires a succession of persons to fill key positions.”
What Is Succession Planning
Superior-performing leaders view succession planning and leadership continuity as top priorities. They link an organization’s continual improvement to individual development. Succession planning should support strategic planning and be the starting point for personal and professional development programs.
Succession planning may be defined as any effort designed to ensure the continued effective performance of an organization, division, department, or work group by making provisions for the development and replacement of key people over time. It is a deliberate and systematic effort by an organization to ensure leadership continuity in key positions and encourage individual advancement. It occurs when procedures are in place for the identification, development, and long-term retention of talented individuals, according to Lynda McDermott, author of Caught In The Middle: How To Survive And Thrive In Today’s Management Squeeze.
Why Succession Planning Is Vital To An Organization
Succession planning is like a relay race...it has to do with passing on responsibility. Leaving leadership development to chance will not work any more. We cannot take for granted members who are both high performers in their present roles and those with high potential for future leadership positions. There is a tendency for high-performers to shoulder more of the burden and to get more work, often with less resources, while in most cases, the rewards they receive are non-existent or at best remain constant. Without some change, these top performers are more likely to become dissatisfied and leave the organization...more so than their less-productive peers. To avoid this, organizations must take active steps to reward high-performers and advance them in a manner commensurate with their increased skill development.
When succession planning is left informal and not well-planned, incumbents tend to identify and groom successors who are remarkably like themselves in appearance, background, and values. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, noted for her insights into corporate cultures, states that the people who lead tend to reproduce themselves in kind, eliminating the very people that could bring vigor, diversity, and new innovations to the job.
Succession planning, whether in organizations or associations, is important for:
• identifying career paths for individuals and groups.
• establishing personal development and training programs.
• focusing skill paths and leadership options.
• communicating throughout the organization.
• creating a more comprehensive people-planning system.
• implementing the strategic plan.
• encouraging the advancement of diverse groups.
• enhancing people’s ability to respond to changing environmental conditions.
• improving morale.
• coping with effects of everyone having more to do.
How To Promote Succession Planning Through Leadership Development
There are many things that an organization can do to be assured that it will have capable leaders, now and in the future. Rate your chapter and division on the following points.
• Have a clear understanding of the mission of the organization. Everyone should know what business the organization is in. The purpose for forming the company, or business, or association should be obvious, clear, and universally known. It is the criterion against which all future successes are measured.
• Have a recently revised and understandable strategic plan at all levels of the organization. All organizations should have a plan to indicate where they are going. The plan should start at the organization’s highest level and drive plans for all other units or divisions. There should be a common goal and it should be related directly to the mission of the group. All members should be aware of the plan and buy into it.
• Have a realistic vision of essential association jobs. Just as in any work unit, the overall organization should know what jobs it takes to get the work done and how everyone’s efforts mesh. In associations like IAAP, there are certain tasks that need to be performed to maintain the association. Some are related to the day-to-day operation of the association, others are directed toward fulfilling the organization’s mission, mostly through programs and services for members. Not all jobs now being done need to be done. Like any successful organization, we must streamline our processes to get rid of outdated jobs and invent new ones that better serve our needs. It is vital that we give our members a sense of satisfaction.
• Conduct job and task analyses. Every chapter and division should take the essential jobs and carefully look at all the associated tasks. It may be that certain tasks can be eliminated or that other tasks have to be added. Each job, or committee, or office should periodically be scrutinized to pass the test – Is it necessary? Is it effective? Is it efficient? How could it be done better, faster, cheaper?
• Cut the extraneous. We live in a fast-paced world today. We have more demands on our time, our money, and our energies. Everybody is looking for the greatest return on his/her investment. If something has outlived its usefulness, even if it is traditional, consider doing without it. If something costs more than its worth, reduce it. If something takes up more time than it returns in value, cut back. Focus on the important and the essential.
• Establish priorities. We’ve learned that we can’t do it all. With a finite number of people, funds, and energy, we must discover those things that are most important to us and focus on them. Priorities may and should change periodically, according to the needs and interests of the members and even changes in the workplace. Where we spend our resources today may not be where we need to spend them tomorrow. When and how we spend our time should be a conscious decision.
• Make succession planning a formalized, vital activity. If we leave leadership to chance, that’s just what we’ll get – a chance at succeeding. But we can guarantee success by planning a system to ensure that the most capable people will be ready and willing to do the jobs we need to have done.
• Seek input. The only way you can get people to work with you (and for you) is to have them buy into the common goals. And the only way you can get them to buy into the common goals is to have them be a part of the process whereby the goals were formulated. It doesn’t work any more to tell people what to do (and it’s doubtful that it ever did). They have to see the value in the activity and see the benefits for themselves. Asking, “What’s in it for me,” is not selfish, it’s good sense. The more we understand what we stand to gain from doing a job, the better we’ll do it.
• Train candidates for the job. Many times we expect members to take over jobs without ever giving them the proper skills. We put the emphasis on the performance, rather than on the performer. Mistake. We can more easily get people to volunteer or accept assignments if they feel comfortable that they can do a good job.
• Keep an eye on the future; learn from the past, but don’t be tied to it. The older we get, the more sentimental we are about the past. But if we keep living our lives in the past, or using outdated approaches that might have worked before, we’ll never get anywhere today. There is a saying, “If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got.” But that’s no longer true. In the 21st century, old solutions to new problems no longer work. We need to look at problems and evaluate them on a one-by-one basis. Yes, it is easier to do what feels comfortable and familiar, but that might not be the right thing to do.
• Provide accurate job descriptions, giving people the skills they need and the resources they require. The biggest mistakes organizations make are assigning people jobs or asking them to volunteer to do something, then not telling them what the job entails and making sure that they have the necessary skills to be a success. For each office, committee, or project, create an accurate behavioral description of what it takes to do the job as expected. What is the goal? How will success be measured? How long will the job take? How much of a time commitment will it require? Will the person work alone or as part of a team? Will there be a final report? Written or oral? What skills are required? And most importantly, do you have these skills or do you need to develop them? Every time we make an assignment, we ought to ensure that all the people on the team have everything it takes to excel. Identify end results, don’t dictate job processes; give them what they need to do the job, then turn them loose.
• Select co-chairs and officer-elects where appropriate. The way to expand someone’s comfort zone with a job is to give him/her an opportunity to watch someone else do the job, to practice parts of the job, and to get a feel for the overall activity. By pairing an experienced chair with an inexperienced co-chair, the novice will have the time to get up to speed on skills and processes needed to succeed. It takes the pressure off both leaders. And, it gives the organization breathing space, knowing that the position has been covered for two terms.
• Develop strong mentoring programs. One of the greatest concerns in organizations today is “brain drain.” Over the years, companies invest great amounts of money, training, and energy in employees. But most employees fail to pass along vital things they have learned to future workers or others who will eventually replace them. The last thing most of us have time for is creating procedures manuals or updating our resource files. One way to solve this problem is by establishing mentoring programs. By having experienced members work closely with inexperienced ones, information and experiences can be passed along. It also gives the newer worker confidence to assume increasing responsibilities, as well as widening his/her networks by meeting colleagues of the mentor. But the proteges are not the only ones to gain. Mentors learn new things too and derive satisfaction from giving back to others. In chapters, mentoring programs can be important vehicles for developing new leaders. And, keep in mind that computer networks allow entire organizations to relay information by having workers post questions and letting anyone who has an answer respond online for all to see. This is an excellent modern-day mentoring systems that goes beyond chapter boundaries.
• Have leadership training programs separate from chapter educational programs. It is important to have leadership programs separate from regular chapter programs. The association has the mission of providing leadership opportunities and training. By having a formal system in place and promoting it as leadership training, everyone in the organization can see the changing skills required of leaders and have the opportunity to participate and update their skills. If you offer a generic “Leadership Workshop” as an annual or public event, say during Administrative Professionals Week, some people will say, “Been there, done that.” That’s why it is better to have a specially designed action-packed leadership workshop that focuses on leadership skills not only within the association, but also made transferable to the workplace. Make your leadership training specific and focused. Best yet, develop a curriculum that will take your members through several years of training, offering them various levels so that you don’t lose the interest of your experienced leaders. While some chapters and divisions have retreats for new officers, that isn’t enough. Leadership training is more than telling people what forms to use and noting deadlines. It also involves how to deal with people whose work styles may be different from your own, tips for managing complex projects, and resolving conflicts among members.
• Make your leadership programs relevant and keep finding new material that will work for them. Devise visible and valid recognition and rewards for your leaders. Have you ever heard the phrase, “Different strokes for different folks?” It’s true! What is a meaningful reward for one, may be punishment for another. How many times have we seen good students get rewarded for completing their assignments ahead of time with yet more work? Or how many times have we had to help out procrastinators because we finished on schedule? Not only is it unfair but it can penalize workers from doing “the right thing” in the future. Be sure that the reward you choose for a person is really something that person values. A plaque may be fine for some, but others may appreciate a glowing letter to their executive, or being released from a future committee assignment. Know your folks and know what strokes work for each of them. You have a lot more strokes available to you than you’re using!
• Focus on future skills needed and aspirations of potential leaders, not past successes of past leaders. In today’s fast-paced world, if you rest too long on your laurels, you’ll be bypassed by the competition. You can’t move forward by always looking behind. Yes, it is good to recognize the past, but it won’t lead you into the future. Keep your members headed in the right direction by initiating a Futures Committee. Make sure that you have an active Strategic Planning Task Force. Continually assess your members’ needs and ask for their input on what they see as future trends, where the association needs to be headed. Remain proactive and remain viable.
• Remove tenure requirements. The new generations of workers are often not willing to “wait their turn” to have a go at leading. They have been brought up to feel that it’s not the title that gets you respect, it’s your skills. In the past, we could expect to have a member for a lifetime. That may no longer be the case. It may be unrealistic to expect achievers to work their way through the ranks and faithfully serve seven or eight years before they become chapter president, then laboriously move through the division offices for another five years, to at last be elected to the international board and contribute for an additional ten years to “reach the top.” Time served does not equal proficiency. In fact, the longer some people are in a position, the more rigid they can become and the more they may have invested in maintaining the status quo. So if your organization uses tenure as a criterion for leadership, you need to rethink your system. You could be losing the brightest and the best.
• Don’t set impossible standards. Make sure that what you’re asking the members to do is doable. If others haven’t been able to do it, or if you haven’t been able to do it, then why should you expect a miracle? Be reasonable and realistic in what you ask of others. Give them goals that are achievable and meaningful. Build on the work of others. Provide opportunities for stretch, but don’t make assignments impossible.
• Spotlight leaders and indicate individual benefits. Make leadership something that is valued by the chapter. Recognize and reward successful leaders, but invite everyone to participate by showing members that they either have the skills to be successful too or that they can gain the skills they need through chapter programs, mentorships, or leadership training. Don’t focus on the individual, as much as the process. Our mission is to create many leaders, not just a few stars.
• Highlight the benefits for candidates; don’t concentrate on job details or trying to sell activities to be done. In marketing, it’s called promoting the benefits, not the features. A feature is what a product does or has. A benefit is why someone should buy it, or what it can do for them. The former is informational, the latter is personal. Would you spend $50 for an emollient night crème that contains 35% lanolin or $50 for an overnight facial that will take 5 years off your age? Most people want to know what’s in it for them. If you’re smart, you’ll put the benefits up front. And the more personal and individualized these benefits are, the better. You’ll never “sell” a committee by telling members that it meets every two weeks and publishes a monthly newsletter. But you might get attention if you say that volunteers will learn PageMaker from a professional in advertising, in a small-group setting, at the chapter’s expense, and have access to a laptop computer for 12 months. See the difference?
• Model other successful organizations. Don’t reinvent the wheel every year. If someone does a great job at something you can do only marginally, join forces, ask their advice, or copy their techniques. No discovery comes about because of one individual. Every invention is built on the creativity of inventors who have come before.
• Change with the times. There is a saying, “If you’re not changing, you’re dead.” Well, it’s as good as true. If you’re not changing, you might as well be dead. Everybody will assume you’re dying and soon will be dead. Change is a part of everyday life. To expect otherwise is foolish. Embrace change and look forward to the challenges of learning new things. After all, would you rather do one thing a hundred times, or one hundred different things once? Most of us would prefer the latter because it builds our skill base.
• Initiate, support, and welcome change. It is easier to be a critic than to be an artist. Why? A critic just has to know that something doesn’t work. But the artist has to come up with the idea, create a new form, and put his/her reputation on the line. Anyone can be a naysayer. But not everyone can come up with a new creation. If you can’t suggest how something could be better, then maybe it’s okay as it is.
• Listen to what members are saying. For some reason, as children, we all think that becoming an adult means that you get to tell everyone what to do. You get to do all the talking, all the ordering about. But just like successful corporations, the # 1 leader is usually the one who does the most questioning, the most listening. Never assume. It can make an “ass” out of “u” and “me.” Get it? If you give people what they want, you wouldn’t have to force them to buy it, attend it, or volunteer for it. They will do it willingly. How do you know what people want? Simple. Ask them and they will tell you. Now what could be easier?
• Target outsiders for special skills needed. Don’t think that you’re in this alone. If your chapter needs special help or skills that none of your present members possess, recruit for it, buy it, or ask for help with it. Teach the members so that your chapter will have it next time. Advisory boards, panels, networks, barters, are all ways you can get the skills you need if your members don’t as yet have them.
• Use past leaders and retired members. Don’t let valuable resources go to waste. Use past successes where they can be useful. Retired members may not want to serve on the membership committee, but they might enjoy helping out with on-site seminar registration. Don’t feel you must recycle a past president to fill an open presidential spot. But ask one to be available for consultation with a new president-elect. It will work if you focus on the big picture and the skills needed -- not specific details about past individual accomplishments.
• Celebrate successes. Create reasons for the team to celebrate. Some groups even have a celebration chair, whose job it is to find success stories and create excitement in the chapter. Don’t wait for success to happen, make it happen. And most importantly, don’t wait until a job is completely finished to celebrate. Mark the steps along the way with celebrations and goodwill.
• Assess performance. Give constructive feedback. Build it into the system. Have everyone expect it and welcome it. Use what didn’t work as a starting point for what did work and what will work even better next time. If things didn’t go wrong, it usually means you didn’t do much. Allow the group to assess itself first, then solicit feedback from the participating membership so that past and future workers will know how to improve.
• Coach, don’t critique. Show people how to do it better. Don’t tell them to “just do it.” And if you can’t do it yourself, find someone who can or be quiet.
• Value the role of followers. Don’t put so much emphasis on leadership that you forget that every group needs workers and good followers. Not everyone can be the boss. Haven’t you seen what happens when there are too many bosses and not enough workers? Success depends on people directing and people doing, people taking and people receiving, people teaching and people learning. And if it ever stops, your organization is in big trouble. The best organizations are ones where the roles keep changing and everyone gets a chance to be lead dog at some point and everyone gets the chance to serve as a supportive team member. Remember, it takes the whole team to win. A great leader can’t be great without a great team.
• Don’t expect a constant level of stretch or volunteer commitment; it will be impossible to maintain long-term. Cut people some slack. There is nothing wrong with taking a leave of absence from chapter duties or refraining from committee work for a period of time. A worse case scenario is where someone accepts the job, then either doesn’t get it done well or on time or at done at all. We’re in the people business. So treat your people like people. Everyone should be allowed to cruise in neutral at times. It’s how we recharge our batteries.
• Build in self-appraisals. Allow individuals to grade themselves. Most of us are much harder on ourselves then we are on others. We tend to have a higher standard for ourselves than we do for others. Oftentimes, you don’t need to tell someone he/she isn’t performing up to par. Just ask for their self-assessment and you may be surprised at what you hear. You might even find yourself defending them.
• Have past committees/leaders provide critical analyses and recommendations to upcoming ones; suggest but don’t mandate. Have each committee and outgoing officer evaluate the jobs they did in relation to the goals they set and then pass along recommendations to those who will follow. Don’t expect that the new leaders will apply every suggestion, but at least they have a place to start. Don’t keep making the same mistakes. Make new ones.
• Constantly inventory your talent pool. Still waters run deep, as the old saying goes. Don’t use only your observations or a member’s past accomplishments to spot talent and potential. Most of us are too humble to toot our own horns. We all know of perfectly brilliant lights that remain under baskets for way too long. So figure out creative ways to tap members’ expertise and identify talent. Network directories are useful, so are listings of volunteers who are willing to counsel or answer questions on a specific topic. If you ask everyone to sign up for a coaching area, you may find a few hidden treasures in your membership rosters.
• Add technology applications to the chapter jobs. If you introduce technology into the jobs you need to have done, you’re more likely to get volunteers. Technology make things go faster and it’s more fun. Besides, people can learn new skills that are marketable in their workplaces. Consider having a chapter software library available for members doing particular jobs.
• Have individuals sometimes seek and find their own replacements. If you have leaders suggest their own replacements, they will have a greater stake in searching out talent and training them for new roles. But be careful, we tend to select people just like ourselves when maybe we need someone with new or different skills. Leadership skills can change with the situation and the group’s characteristics. So be open in the selection process. Someone you least expect may turn out to be the most effective leader for that particular situation.
• Measure results, not time spent. Don’t equate time spent getting the job done with results. Encourage members to do things efficiently and effectively. If one person can do the job, why have six on a committee? Bigger is not necessarily better. As in technology, there can be a lot of power in something small.
• Prepare individual development plans. Allow and encourage members to complete yearly development plans. Have them list the skills they gained from the past year and the skills they would like to develop in the year to come. This can be a help to the nominating committee when choosing leaders or sending someone to a chapter-paid training session.
• Track member skill development/experiences/education. One group I’m familiar with has members update their chapter records at the beginning of each year. Members sit with an “advisor” and complete forms listing the skills and experiences they gained over the past year. It makes for an excellent resume reminder when they need to recall all they’ve done and learned through the years. Few of us take the time to write down all our achievements and give them the positive spin that someone else might. It also serves as a record of skills within the chapter. Then when someone is looking for a member with newsletter editing or training experience, he/she will know just who to call on for help.
• Outline career paths within the organization. Create leadership career paths. Let people know what it takes to move up the line and aspire to a higher positions. Most of us will not self-select for leadership positions. So, give members the vote of confidence they need to risk going further in the association. Encourage them to seek higher offices and move into division and international roles.
• Diagnose learning needs. Help members feel comfortable enough to accurately assess their skill gaps. Identify needs that a number of members have in common, then offer special learning sessions for them. If you have a number of members who feel uncomfortable speaking in public, give them information on the nearest Toastmaster’s club or offer to find a professional speaker who will present a three-hour evening session for anyone interested. Be proactive. Don’t have them fail to recognize new skills they need to learn.
• Create sub-groups of learners with similar goals. Initiate the concept of interest groups. Some monthly programs can be handled by splitting the members into two groups, with each meeting in a different location and having two different programs. Create interest tables where the topic of conversation is indicated by a table tent and tablemates agree to talk and share information on that subject.
• Aim for a learning, supportive environment. We all know that children learn best in an environment that is supportive, one that encourages them to stretch and do their best, but one that also allows for failures and risk taking. Address your chapter’s stance on creating this environment. Don’t just applaud the winners. Applaud anyone who is willing to run the race. Consider them all winners.
• Specify objectives for learning and tasks. Let people know when they are done. Set reasonable objectives and let them know that when they’re done, they’re done. If they can work smarter and therefore faster, encourage that.
• Use outside consultants when needed. Most of us are bad about this one! We tend to want to “do everything ourselves.” When you don’t have the expertise or the time or the interest, consider hiring someone to do it. It will be money well spent.
• Consider on-the-job training. If we all waited to take a job until we could do the job perfectly, we’d all be unemployed. Sometimes you just need to get people in place and then train them as they go.
• Have planned rotation programs. Didn’t your mother ever tell you that you must take turns? It’s true for organizations too. Don’t always let some members get the high-visibility, high-reward jobs and relegate others to sorting, keying, or report writing. Make sure that everyone has an opportunity to do a variety of jobs. It makes us understand the viewpoints of our fellow workers better if we’ve been in their shoes.
• Sponsor in-house training programs. You don’t have to wait to have a seminar on the topic or arrange for a speaker as part of a chapter program. If there is something members need to learn, schedule a special session outside of chapter functions and invite an expert in that area in to do training.
• Send members to off-site training functions. We used to get hung up on being careful “not to inure to the benefit of an individual member.” Well don’t. It makes good sense to send someone off to training and have them come back and share what they’ve learned with the group. Provide financial support for needed training and require that anyone who goes to receive it return and conduct a similar session for the chapter…a sort of “train the trainer” training to benefit the entire chapter. It works. It’s a good return on the investment of chapter money, while giving members experience in training others in the process. After all, isn’t it our mission to develop individuals? Don’t make the mistake of building up large surpluses of money in your chapters and divisions. Invest it in developing your members.
• Encourage off-site mentors and role models. All your role models and leaders don’t have to be within the chapter. If there is someone you greatly admire outside the organization, approach him/her. Everyone is flattered when someone recognizes his/her worth and contributions.
• Visit and observe other successful groups. Yes, Virginia, some groups do do it better than we do. Learn from them. Share and exchange. Think cooperation and teamwork. Don’t be scared off thinking “competition.”
• Tie volunteer skills to employment skills. The nature of our organization is closely tied to work-related skills. Even chapter functions can be made relevant to work situations. Don’t leave your members in a vacuum. Show them how their leadership experiences in IAAP will benefit employers. This is especially good when employers support membership. It should be prominent in your promotional literature.
• Create a leadership library and keep it in a permanent and easily accessible location. Although this can get messy, it doesn’t have to. Find someone with permanent space, either at work or home. The more neutral the territory, the better. Then, as members need leadership material, they will have a library of valuable resources available to them. Perhaps a company would let you use their resources (and provide an answer to the housing problem) if you help them add to their library each year. Annually budget money for this purpose and let members select items they would like to see included. Include tapes, books, workbooks, magazines, and videos. Headquarters can steer you to some resources and even sell them to you at a discount. And wouldn’t it be fun to serve on the training resources committee and review items for purchase?
• Build self-esteem. No one will join IAAP, let alone be a leader, if he/she does not feel good about himself/herself. Build self esteem into every chapter function. People don’t have to feel invincible, but they do need to feel they have worth. Look for the good and highlight it. Member profiles and success stories are good ways to get started. And you just may learn something new about a colleague.
• Have faith in others to do a good job and tell them. Not all of us have the luxury of having someone to delegate tasks to. In fact, the nature of the administrative role is to support others and take their direction. But being a leader requires that you trust people enough and have the confidence in them to let them do the job. Holding on to power is control. It is not good for leaders or workers, not to mention the organization.
• Eliminate ineffective positions that you can’t fill. If no one will accept a position, ask yourself why. Maybe it’s a crummy job. Maybe everyone who tried to do it in the past failed or was discouraged (and then talked about it). Unfilled spots can tell you something. Listen to what they have to say.
• Have members sign letters of intent when they accept a new job. When people take on association jobs, have them sign something. It could be the job description of their committee or an outline of their office duties. It indicates that they know what they were getting into when they agree to do the job. Formalizing the agreement can solve many problems that may come up later. Both the individual and the chapter should keep a copy. If questions arise, you both know the terms of the agreement as they were discussed when the job was accepted. Obviously, it is important to update agreement terms each year and be as specific as possible.
• Don’t assume that a higher level within the organization is the best model; use the most effective one. Don’t automatically assume that the higher up in the organization you go, the smarter you get and the better you do things. Good work is not related to the level of an organization. Good work is dependent on good people getting good results. And sometimes, people closest to “the action” know best what works and what doesn’t work. If anyone has a good idea, talk to them and learn from them…even people outside the organization. Remember, it takes more time and energy to turn around a supertanker than it does a row boat. Most problems can and should be solved from the lowest level, not the reverse.
• Reward leadership development skills in members and praise those who participate in finding and developing new leaders. We’ve all known managers who would not promote someone because he/she felt it would be too hard (or too much work) to replace them. Make sure that your chapter rewards developing talent. Encourage and recognize the teacher who allows students to soar beyond him/her. One of the greatest and most valued commodities is being able to spot talent, develop it, and be called “teacher.”
• Constantly verbalize the chapter’s leadership philosophy. Remind, remind, remind the members that IAAP is in business to produce leaders. If we’re not doing this, we’re not doing our jobs and giving members what they have come to our association for. Encourage different leadership styles to surface, prod people to take on lateral, as well as horizontal challenges. If your chapter hasn’t had someone move onto the division or international board, ask yourself why and get busy. Leaders can be found everywhere. After all, they are made, not born (although in truth, it may be a bit of both).
• Don’t expect perfection; our purpose is leadership development. To try and say this any better would be reaching for perfection. Enough said.
• Anticipate; forecast needs. Don’t wait for the roof to leak to fix the shingles. Figure out what you need in the years to come and go about finding it, building it, or aligning with it.
• Don’t force people into positions they don’t want or need to be talked into. Twisting arms may fill a position, but it will never solve the problem. Don’t force people to do what they don’t want to do. They will be resentful and hold it against you.
• Use folklore to highlight successes. Let your successes be results, not people. Don’t list the names of past presidents or award winners. List the achievements of the chapter, the milestones accomplished. It’s a team effort, remember? No one person could accomplish it alone.
• Create new challenges for proven leaders. Don’t lose your best by not having new challenges for them. Stimulate their interest by finding them new jobs and new roles.
• Don’t reward poor leadership. Whatever you do, don’t reward poor behavior. Only reward those things that are genuinely praiseworthy. Reward accomplishing goals. Don’t reward time spent. Make your finish mark clear and achievable. Whatever you reward today, you’ll see repeated tomorrow. Reward only what you want modeled. (That’s why it isn’t a good idea to hold up a meeting waiting for latecomers. You’re reinforcing the wrong behavior and punishing the right behavior, i.e. being on time.)
• Think in terms of teams. Leadership is a team sport. Results cannot be achieved by one individual. That’s why we join associations, to be a part of something that is bigger than ourselves. Think teams, talk teams, reward teams.
• Involve IAAP families and employers where possible. Don’t forget the people outside of IAAP who support us. Involve them, show appreciation for them, and include them whenever you can. They are a very important part of the organization.
• Think about cyber-workers to round out a team; teams can meet online. It used to be that you could only played with kids in your neighborhood, only had friends from the same school, only married someone from your home town, and remained lifelong in the same community where you were born. Not so today. You can correspond with a friend in France, chat with someone online in Australia, call up an author of a software program to ask for help anywhere in the world, and learn from a colleague in another company…without ever having to meet them face-to-face. Reach out beyond your chapter, your division, your district, and your association. The world has become a very small, friendly place. Take advantage of it.