Lynn Minnick

By Lynn Minnick

I was lucky enough to have been picked to participate in NAR’s Leadership 200 and 300 classes this week at my association.  I say lucky enough because we’re the largest association in our state and there were only 35 seats open.  Last summer I was involved in our two-day strategic planning session, which was a first for me and pretty much blew my mind.  (Rumor has it we “younger” members have an in because they’re grooming us to become the future leaders of the association!)

While the courses are definitely aimed at becoming leaders in your association, the information and experience was much more than that, as it should be if you’re going to take an entire day away from showing and listing appointments, right? The classes covered topics such as how meetings are run, Robert’s Rules, strategic and operational planning, conflict resolution, and more.

These are the messages that resounded with me:

1. Always keep your association’s strategic plan at the top of your mind in committee meetings. For those who are serving on association committees, how is what you’re doing going to advance your association’s strategic plan?  If it isn’t, it shouldn’t be on the agenda at all.  Shouldn’t we be keeping that same focus in our own personal work agendas?  Also, do we have the metrics in place to track our progress?

2. Plan more, worry less. Continue reading »