Who Are The Leaders in Your Community?

Are you new to your chamber job?

If you're not from the area, how should you go about identifying the leaders in your "new" community?

At the very least, the following exercise will give you a chance to identify who the community leaders are on your terms, not just from a sheet of paper someone at the chamber gave you in your CEO orientation packet.

Here's a place to start:

• Identify board members of the other local business and community groups;
• Identify business sectors and size (retail, manufacturing, health care, etc); and
• Finally, meet with the leaders of those sectors (i.e., hospital CEO, plant manager of the biggest manufacturing plant in town, etc.).

Once you've collected this information see where the lists overlap. That's a great place to start.

From that list, meet with them individually and ask them questions about the community.  Find out who is in their inner circle of friends by asking them if there is someone they know that you should meet.

Sound familiar, we have a circle of friends in the social media space.

This time meet face-to-face with these folks. You might find that some of these individuals are not current members of your new chamber.

Ask why?

Let them know you're the new leader of the chamber and invite them to join or rejoin.

For a previous blog post on a new chamber CEO's first hundred days go HERE.

Creating a Government Affairs Program

I was recently meeting with a local chamber CEO and they asked the question "How do I start a government affairs program at my chamber?"

It's very simple!

Start by:

• Forming a governance structure, identify a chairman (current member of the board) to head your Government Affairs or Advocacy Committee;
• Survey your membership to identify the issues that are important to them;
• Have the committee discuss the issues; and
• That committee should make recommendations to your full chamber board on what position to take on any legislative issues.

This new government affairs committee does not have to meet every month. I'd suggest quarterly will do the trick as you get started, unless you have a very active legislative session.

Who should you pick as your chairman?

A current board member without an ax to grind and a consensus builder would be a great choice.

Like any chairman, it's important to pick an individual that will put on their "chamber hat" and work on issues that affect all businesses.

And there will be times when you will have members on both sides of an issue, don't worry that's what your committee is for.  My guess, in those situations you won't take a position.

But once the board has approved a position (support or opposing an issue), communicate that position to all stakeholders:

• Your members;
• The legislators;
• The media; and
• Your community.

Chambers were created to stand up for their members and take pro business advocacy positions. We are membership organizations, right?

It's as easy as that.

For a related blog post on Advocacy: Three Elements of an Effective Program go HERE.

Or you can access this blog post titled Advocate: What's Your Chamber's Role HERE.

Effective Messaging

I recently read an article in AssociationsNow magazine that quoted James Carville as stating:

"...for a message to be effective, it has to be simple, relevant, and repetitive. It has to fit all three elements."

So true!

I also recently attended a special training on executive communications.  While there are many keys to an effective presentation, the three themes I learned there were:

• Be yourself;
• Be energetic; and
• Start and finish with the same point/message.

As chamber executives it's important to keep these suggestions top of mind. You remember the KISS theory, right?  Keep it simple stupid.

I'm suggesting the same thing here!

Don't over complicate the message. Keep it in bite size portions so people can digest and understand what you're saying or what you’re asking them to do.

It's like the 30-second elevator speech we're all familiar with and I wrote about in a previous post HERE. All your staff should have that speech down pat when asked what your chamber is known for.

So, continue to educate yourself on becoming the best communicator you can be. Your chamber will be the beneficiary. You'll benefit too!

I'll end with another quote from James Carville from the article:

"...if you want people to know three things about you, have three parts to your message. If you want people to know nothing about you, then have nine."

Who Should You Follow on Twitter?

As a chamber executive, I use Twitter to keep abreast of the latest technology, management and nonprofit issues affecting the chamber/nonprofit industry from people I choose to hear from - influencers.

I only follow about 30+ people.

But to me, those are the leaders in their fields that I want to hear from.

If they send something out and I want to dig a little deeper on the subject matter, I'll click the link that normally accompanies a tweet!

The following are just a sample of who I follow on Twitter:

• Joe Pulizzi
• John Haydon
• Michele Linn
• Nick Bilton
• Jay Baer
• Ann Handley

What's nice about Twitter, in this aspect, is if I like the headline I can go to the full article. Otherwise, I get the headline and move on.

Reading the headlines and finding out if anything is trending is important even if you don't read the entire article.

It gives you a working knowledge of the issues of the day and the topic de jour at your next reception or networking event.

In my humble opinion, the less you follow, the better.  Who's got time to follow thousands of Twitter handles?  Not me.

Something to think about!

Facilitation: Master the Art

Do you think of yourself as a facilitator?

As chamber executives aren't we in the business of facilitating everyday?

Yes, we are and those that have mastered this art are the successful chamber executives across the country.

Whether it's at your monthly board meeting or connecting your members with each other, you're facilitating.  That's the business we're in.

There is an art to facilitation. After reading many articles on the subject, the following themes ring true for me:

• A good listener
• Understand what your members are asking of you
• Getting input from all relevant constituents
• Drawing out people who are hesitant to speak up
• And finally, connecting the dots for all constituents/members

A good facilitator keeps the discussion going in the right direction without interjecting their personal views. That's the key in my view of any effective facilitator.

Think back to the many sessions you've attended where you had a facilitator. What attributes of the presenter did you like? Which did you not?

Spend the time to hone your skills in this great art. Your chamber will be better off for it.

For a great resource on facilitation go to the International Association of Facilitators.

4 Tips For Onboarding New Staff

We all hire staff from time to time and how we onboard that employee into our chamber workplace is a critical first step!

Everyone is busy, but it's important to take the time to have a formal onboarding process that will position your new staff member to be successful.

Here are four areas I focus on:

• Job Description - what a great place to start.  Do you have a detailed job description for the new staff member of your chamber?  You might want to even have an operational manual of the duties that the previous staff member has created to help with your onboarding process.  This manual could be broken down into a day, week, and monthly list of tasks.

• Set Expectations - it's very important to set your expectations upfront. That way there will be no misunderstandings down the road.  I wrote a blog post HERE on that subject matter.  For me there are four: professionalism; positive attitude; strong work ethic; and results.

• Resources - give that new staff member the proper resources that will allow them to excel in their new job.  What do I mean by resources? Your time, the technology to accomplish the tasks at hand and the ability to learn your organizational structure (staff vs. volunteers) and the mission of your chamber.

• Feedback - it's critical to be honest and constructive in giving ongoing feedback on how your new employee is doing based on your expectations and the expectations of your members.

I'm reminded of a staffing concept laid out in Jim Collins' book Good to Great. The book talks about a lot of good stuff but I want to highlight where he talks about getting the right people on the bus.

Do you have the right people on your team (bus)?  And are they in the right position (seat)?

Something to think about!

For a great article by The Bridgespan Group on onboarding and supporting a new CEO go HERE.

Membership Shift

In Sarah Sladek’s book "The End of Membership as We Know It," she discusses three shifts that will have a major impact on membership organizations.

While there have been many books written on membership, some with a doomsday approach, this book, for me anyway, just confirms the fact that you need to adapt to change and be relevant to your members.

The three shifts discussed in her book are:

• Economic recession;
• Demographic change; and
• Technology

And by the way, that's not a new concept.  

She goes on to talk about how we need to solve problems and provide solutions for our members.  That's not a new concept either.

I assume you're already doing that!

So while something’s change, others stay the same.

Remember, it's been said here before that you can't be all things to all people/members.  Decide on what kind of chamber you want to be and deliver on that promise/brand.

What is your brand?  For a previous blog post on that go HERE.

If you can't answer that question, you need to go back to your board and members and survey them to see what they want out of their chamber membership.

That's called a needs assessment survey and for a previous blog post on that go HERE.

Once you know what their needs and wants are, fulfill them!

One thing I do know that's not going to change is the need to be a strong advocate for your members before different levels of government.

Explain how the chamber is in the business of advocating and solving problems for their small business which in turn will help grow their business.

Be an advocate!