Leading the Way - February 2010
Membership
As each Chapter and State Board begin the process of reorganizing for the
2010-2011 year, new opportunities, along with new challenges present themselves. Once
the new Board members have reviewed the file from their predecessors and
reviewed the existing Bylaws and Standing Rules, the time is right for
an initial Board Meeting to formulate the strategic planning process, set
a calendar, and begin working together as a Board.
What are the Board's goals and priorities? What will they focus on
for the next year ahead? How will they try to increase membership and
encourage members to continue to renew their memberships? What events
will they plan? How will their progress be measured?
A simple way to start the strategic planning process is to send out a simple questionnaire to the membership, which will begin to include them in the pre-planning process. You may want to give the membership the option of signing their names to the form or leaving it blank. Some members may be timid about getting involved, but their ideas are still welcome and very much a needed part of the process. Brainstorming is encouraged... new ideas and suggestions are welcome from every member. The questionnaire may include questions such as:
- What programs would you like to see our Chapter initiate in the coming year?
- What programs do you think we should eliminate?
- Are you aware of all the benefits of a NALS membership?
- Are you getting all you should out of your NALS membership?
- Would you like to know more about what NALS offers our members?
- Would you be interested in attending a joint meeting with a sister Chapter?
- Do you have any suggestions for a project we can submit for a NALS Grant?
- How can we give our members more "value" for their NALS membership?
- What kind of legal education seminars are you interested in?
- Are you interested in Certification?
Once the questionnaires are completed and returned, the Board should work
as a committee to consolidate and review the responses. Without too much
effort, the strategic planning process has begun! When reviewing the
responses, the Board may again “brainstorm” when discussing some of the suggestions. You
may be surprised how many wonderful ideas can come from this process.
What ideas can you suggest for the coming year? Do you have a
policy of offering discounts to your membership? Why not start small
and organize an outing where your members are given the discount and non-members
and guests pay the regular price. Every time you discount your member's
cost of attending a function you give more value to your NALS membership. Perhaps
your Chapter may think of sponsoring the bus to a shopping outlet and only
charging the non-members for the bus fare. This may be another way
to recruit members if they see how much "discount" they will be
granted by joining the organization. It will become obvious to the
non-member that it may be “worth their while” to join as members, rather
than to keep paying the "regular" price for a non-member. It’s
a new way of thinking….but it works!
You may need to consider the make-up of your membership when setting up
your outline of projects for the coming year. Do you have more "retired" members
who may prefer to schedule a bus trip or outing or does your membership consist
of “working mothers” who may be interested in legal education but their time
is limited due to family commitments? What about your student
members’ interests?
The Board may now be ready to set goals and formulate the steps necessary to achieve the goals. Decide what, where, how much, etc., and then work backwards to formulate your steps. For example, if one of your goals is to host a State meeting, what must happen first? You will need to set a date, decide on a location, and decide on an interesting speaker. But before that, you will need to suggest a few available dates and then submit a bid to host the meeting, select a chairperson, and contact hotels and conference centers for availability and pricing. You may also need to book a speaker and decide how much you will charge, but before that, you will need to put committees in place for decorations, tickets, boodle bags, etc., and the list goes on and on. Strategic Planning is a part of everything we do. Make it work for you!