IABC Chapter Leaders Orientation session: your time to shine!

February 8th, 2013 IABC Leadership Institute 1

Presidents Orientation Session

Your Time to Shine: Tips to Make Your Mark as a Chapter President

February 8th, 2013


Session Objectives

� To provide you with simple tools and tips (experience based guidelines)

� To help you leverage experience from past chapter presidents and leaders

� To offer resources that will boost your confidence!

� To help you have some fun in the job!


Agenda

� The Chapter Presidency� President-Elect: Two tips to maximize preparation� President: Seven tips (and some fun meeting ideas) to help drive

passion, production and results

� Where to Seek Help: Available Resources� International� Regional� Local


President-Elect

� What are you doing to prepare?


President-Elect: Key Tips

1. Evaluate the incoming board!

� Compare notes with current president about board structure and effectiveness. What’s working? What isn’t? Why? (Recommended mid-term)

� Talk with current/departing board members about their roles. What’s working? What isn’t? Why? (This assumes board transition reports not already in place / recommended mid- to late-term)

� Evaluate pending vacancies and required skills, which aids recruiting by nominations committee (Mid- to late-term)

� Revise and clarify board member job descriptions as necessary to fit skills and strategic needs!


President-Elect: Key Tips

2. Prepare your goals!

� What do you really want to accomplish as president? Focus on 1-3 goals (Recommended late-term)

� How do your goals match with chapter’s strategic objectives, board talent, and the chapter’s overall market environment? (Recommended late-term)

� Ask yourself: “Will these goals move the sticks?”

� Identify potential successor(s) and develop those relationships! Succession planning is critical.


The Chapter Presidency

� What challenges and opportunities do you anticipate?


The Presidency: Key Tips

1. Get your board on board!

� Focus on relationships. Help new/carryover board members get to know each other (board retreat, luncheon, etc.)

� Focus on planning. Based on analysis of the past year, using some of your president-elect conversations (or board transition reports) as a discussion guide.

� Focus on strategy: Introduce your board priorities and invite conversation on how they support/don’t support overall goals. Leave with consensus on a strategic framework for the year. (Recommended first month of term)

� Be aware of cultural nuances when managing an international board!



2. Set clear expectations!

� Strategic expectations: focus on board/individual accountability to goals and how those elements will be measured. Be clear and consistent. (Recommended first month)

� Procedural expectations: focus on schedule/attendance for board meetings, networking and professional development events, cell/smart phone use in meetings, etc.


3. Balance passion, practicality!

� Passion is a valuable tool. As chapter president, you set the tone. Want better member outreach, better PD offerings or improved financial results? You can use passion to set that tone.

� When used well, passion creates energy, fosters a culture of accountability and gives you a personal stake in board/chapter performance.

� But . . . don’t overreach. Remember, it’s a fine line between dictating and leading. Temper passion with realism and humanity. A little self-deprecating humor works, too!




4. Handle board conflict!

� Almost every president has (at least one) unpleasant surprise.

� Be proactive. If you pick up signals that board conflict is brewing, get to the source.

� Be fair. If an issue involves dueling board members, hear both sides before taking action.

� Be assertive. If something blows up in a board meeting, call time out. Then, set a time to facilitate discussion/resolution elsewhere.



5. Reward board accomplishments!

� Be social. Periodically, consider buying lunch or coffee for individual board members as a “thank you” for their efforts.

� Be consistent. At each board meeting, recognize “wins” by board members and their teams. Make sure these are recorded in meeting minutes.

� Be creative. At the end of a board year, consider little gifts that speak to a board member’s specific accomplishments. Or, consider fun forms of recognition at meetings and events.

� Be promotional. Provide visibility & recognition to your board members at PD events or via online platforms (LinkedIn, etc.)



6. Conduct transition reports!

� Ask about strategic accomplishments. Allow all board members to share specific views on what worked/didn’t work during the board year (and why).

� Ask about the experience. Were board members pleased/not pleased with their time on the chapter board (and why).

� Ask for recommendations and nominations. Encourage board members to make specific suggestions for improvement and to recommend promising committee/volunteer members for consideration as future board leaders.



7. Have a (non-IABC) life!

� Being chapter president is not a 24/7 commitment!

� Learn to delegate. Represent the chapter at major events or activities. You don’t need to attend every event.

� Learn to back off. You don’t need regular involvement in every board committee or portfolio. Let your VPs/portfolio leads do their jobs. If you don’t have VPs/portfolio leads, consider expanding the board structure and volunteer pool.

� Learn to set boundaries. Create your own personal plan to allocate time for family, paid work, personal activities and IABC.


The Presidency: Fun Ideas

� One president cooked a meal for each chapter board meeting (trust us, it wasn’t McDonald’s).

� Another president started meetings with a review of positive chapter happenings and public “thank yous” to all involved.

� Another leader anointed a “Cheesehead of the Month” for a board member or portfolio lead who had achieved success.

� Yet another leader used fun icebreakers to open meetings (i.e., what’s the one thing you’ve done in life that other board members would be surprised to know about?”)

� Finally, one president made a point of involving her board in quarterly public service activities (i.e., soup kitchen support, school reading programs, etc.).


Where To Seek Help

� Quiz Time!


International: Key Resources

� Presidents Orientation Kithttp://www.iabc.com/leaders/presorientationkit.htm

� Leader Center’s Presidents Guidehttp://www.iabc.com/leaders/presguide.htm

� IABC Staffhttp://www.iabc.com/about/staff/

� Chapter & Regional Leaders http://www.iabc.com/about/leaders/

� Presidents eXchange http://presidents.x.iabc.com

� Presidents Calls


IABC Regions: Key Resources

� Online resources. All IABC region websites have contact information for regional leaders. Remember, most regional leaders have substantial chapter-level board experience!

� Chapter advocates or liaisons. Some region boards have designated members whose main role is chapter leader support. For example, Pacific Plains has five chapter advocates, who support 19 regional chapter leaders.

� Regional chapter leader workshops. Like LI, some regions also produce their own chapter leader development workshops, hosted one or two times each year.

� IABC Council of Regions. This group is the conduit between chapter leader concerns and International processes.

IABC Local: Key Resources

� Past presidents. Former chapter presidents are a wealth of local knowledge, insight and chapter history. They’ve also sat in the chair you now occupy. Put their knowledge to work!

� Members and former members. Want to know what’s working / not working in chapter activities? ASK. This can be a formal survey, or far less formal coffee meetings or other casual outreach. chapter leaders.

� Related trade association leaders. PRSA, AMA, YP, WIC, AdFed…While IABC competes with those (and other) trade groups for members and resources, local market leaders often have common concerns. Talk with them. You might be surprised what you learn (and can get inspired from)!



Questions?

Claudia Vaccarone

� President, IABC Francehttp://france.iabc.com

� Board Member, IABC Europe, Middle East and North Africa (EMENA)http://europe.iabc.com

� Head of Market Research & Customer ExperienceEutelsat SAParis, FRANCEMobile +33 6 77 35 34 [email protected]

Brett Pyrtle

� Board Chair, IABC Pacific Plains Region http://pacificplains.iabc.com

� Past President, IABC Minnesota http://mn.iabc.com/

� Principal Turning Point Communications LLCSt. Paul, MN (USA)651.592.6369 (office/mobile)[email protected] www.turnpointcomm.com


Presidents Orientation Session

IABC Chapter Leaders Orientation session: your time to shine!

Leadership & Management

Transcript of IABC Chapter Leaders Orientation session: your time to shine!