We recently shared Ten Things Every Association Executive Should Stop Doing, focusing on eliminating the things that we routinely do that distract us from the real priorities we should be addressing. And while the goal was to help make your plate a little less full, we also want to share useful tips and resources that you can implement as part of your own 2014 strategy.
As the adage goes, “you need to keep learning to keep earning.” And with that in mind, we’ve asked members of our Thought Leadership Team for their recommendations, highlighting two areas: Things You Should Be Doing and Books/Videos You Should Be Reading/Watching. There are plenty of great ideas to consider. Choose one or several to share with your staff or a colleague, so you can shake the cold and ignite your New Year.
5 things you should be doing now:
Mary Byers, CAE
- Keeping up with technology changes and asking how technology can help you create systems and processes to help you work more efficiently.
- Asking, “How can we help members work less stressfully, more profitably and more productively?”
- Attending industry meetings and asking how you can adapt what you’re seeing for your association.
- Looking at the concept of “purposeful abandonment” and how it can apply to your association. Sometimes, it’s more effective to create a “stop doing” list than it is to have a “To Do” list.
- Find someone with your job title in a different industry and see how they do things—and ask, “What can I learn from them?”
Jamie Notter
- Schedule some fake meetings for a few hours every week to give yourself time to think.
- Pick something you can do to improve the culture at work within the next 30 days, and make sure it gets done within 30 days.
- Find a way to give crystal clear guidance to others so you can offload some of the decisions you are now making.
- The next time you think of a point you want to make in a meeting–but thinking about saying it out loud makes you scared–make the point anyway.
- Manufacture a reason to collaborate with someone from another department and do it.
Willis Turner, CAE, CME, CSE
- Engaging your members online in social communities
- Engaging your members offline – telephone, social events, meet-ups and events
- Talking about the Elephant in the Room – you know the ONE!
- Doing all things SEO daily: Blogging, META, keywords, photos or otherwise known as feeding Google
- If you’re not doing the above 4, then run for the hills!
Peggy Hoffman, CAE
- 5 belly breaths
- Crawl
- Laugh
- Create a to-do list that you can manage, update, and follow
- Drink a big glass of water
Velma Hart, CAE, FSAE
- Investing in yourself
- Having a plan (one that allows flexibility so you can respond to opportunity)
- A “kitchen cabinet” of trusted confidants that offer you truth and honest advise when life presents crossroads.
- A time to rest
- A plan to be disciplined in all matters financial
5 books/videos you should be reading/watching
Mary Byers, CAE
- Free Road to Relevance webcast
- Good to Great by Jim Collins
- The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
- Uncovering the Common Structure of the Great Communicators – Nancy Duarte
- How Great Leaders Inspire Action – Simon Sinek
Jamie Notter
- Humanize: How People-Centric Organizations Succeed in a Social World by Jamie Notter and Maddie Grant
- Open Community: A Little Book of Big Ideas for How Associations Can Navigate the Social Web by Lindy Dreyer and Maddie Grant
- Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh
- The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning by Henry Mintzberg
- The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer
Willis Turner, CAE, CME, CSE
- Running the Gauntlet by Jeffrey Hayzlett
- Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
- To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink
- Delivering Happiness A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh, CEO for Zappos
- The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization by Peter Senge
Peggy Hoffman, CAE
- Leading the Learning Revolution by Jeff Cobb (because the world around us is changing and we can change with it!)
- 10 Lessons for Cultivating Member Commitment by James Dalton & Monica Dignam (because it’s really about engagement not recruitment)
- The Decision To Volunteer by Beth Gazley and Monica Dignam (because we finally have to admit we’re in the volunteer management game)
- Any of James Patterson’s The Women’s Murder Club (because its fun to read how other solve mysteries and do it as a team!)
- Climb Like A Pro! Your Essential Training Guide To Cycling Hills FASTER: Be fit, fast & FIRST and feel TERRIFIC for it! by Rebecca Ramsay (because we all have to climb hills at some point!)
- We Love Live…
Velma Hart, CAE, FSAE
- Ted Talks (many are relevant regardless of description)
- The Top Ten Leadership Commandments by Hanz Finzel
- Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek
- Break Out!: 5 Keys to Go Beyond Your Barriers and Live an Extraordinary Life by Joel Osteen (I am a fan)
- Anything that feeds you personally and professionally
