Delegating Effectively

MSAE's Young Professionals Networking Group had a lively discussion about Delegating Effectively and why it's an important skill to learn.

Delegating is a skill that takes practice, communication and follow through.  

Here are the top takeaways:

1. Are you delegating or dumping?  If you are delegating that means you are still held responsible for the task to be completed.
2. Delegating is important as it shows your ability to manage people, tasks and using your resources.  It gives practical and professional benefits.

What hinders someone to delegate?

1. Lack of staff/volunteers to delegate to
2. Time
3. Trust
4. Training
5. Work Styles
6. Fear of Letting Go, Control
7. Lack of follow up, checking in or follow through
8. Lack of authority to delegate

Tasks that are good to delegate are those that are reoccurring.  If a task is never going to be repeated, consider if it should just be completed or delegated.

Follow up is one of the most important parts of delegating. Give deadlines. Schedule touch base meetings. Have the person you are delegating to set the touch base agenda so all of their questions, concerns and touch points are covered.

Other delegating points:

• Delegate the objective, not the procedure.
• Give deadlines, simply saying "when you have time to complete" is not going to work.  There are no clear expectations of the task.
• Give credit and be sure to say thank you.
• Communication is key - know the person you are delegating to and properly explain task.
• Allow for a different view, approach and be open to new solutions you may not have thought of.
• Think long term. Training someone now, can save time in the future.

And remember the difference between delegating a task or dumping a task!

Confidence Compounds

On March 27, 2014, a group of MSAE’s women members gathered to hear Jill Johnson discuss Confidence Compounds. Jill addressed progression, preparation & presentation.

Top Takeaways:

1. Go for it! Ask for it! Be bold!
2. Remind your self that you belong.
3. Success comes in steps. Take calculated risks to move yourself forward.
4. Find people who challenge you to do better.

Our topic for the next Women’s Leadership Connection, Tuesday, April 24, will address How to Communicate More Effectively With Those That Drive You Crazy.

Professional Development and Certifications

MSAE's Young Professionals Networking Group met to discuss the various certifications one can receive in the association and hospitality industry as well as where to get professional development courses, credits and classes.

• CAE (Certified Association Executive)
• Consists of 100 multiple choice questions based on 9 domains.  Each domain is content from different areas of association management and weighed based on importance. 
• Exam is given twice a year (May & December).
• Fees associated with application, study materials and re-certification.
• CMP (Certified Meeting Planner)
• Consists of 250 multiple choice questions based on a series of course content.  Content based on the meetings, convention and exhibitions industry. 
• This exam is given five times a year and has different windows to apply by.  
• Fees are association with application, study materials and re-certification.
• Professional Development
• MSAE offers a variety of education and courses to help earn credits towards either one of these certifications.
• You may get credits for online or in-person education.

Tips:

1. It helps to get buy-in from your company to help you along in this process. Whether it be in fees or flexible time to study.

2. The knowledge you learn from obtaining a certification can be directly transferred to your job and in turn help out your organization.

3. You have to make the commitment to taking an exam.  Once you make the commitment put 100% into in.

Ask an Executive Director, A Panel Discussion

MSAE's Young Professionals hosted a panel discussion on November 18th. The discussion gave audience members a chance to learn from three successful executive directors and ask them the tough questions about how to thrive in association work.

Panelists:

• Mary Detloff, MN Society of Professional Engineers
• Paul Hanscom, Ewald Consulting
• Derek Hazeltine, PLUS

Here are the top takeaways from this meeting:

1. Make sure to develop your interpersonal communication skills. Especially the ability to communicate difficult messages with tact.
2. Have realistic expectations of your volunteers. Communicate requirements up front, and don’t be afraid to let something fail so volunteers learn to take ownership.
3. Learn from your failures by taking responsibility and offering solutions to correct the problem.
4. Learn about all areas of association management
5. Get in person networking and education
6. Think about getting your CAE - Institute is another great opportunity
7. Tackle challenges head on
8. Be a thinker and idea generator
9. Volunteer on a board of directions to see the other side
10. Clearly communicate your expectations with volunteers up front

Resources:

• How to Make Friends and Influence People
• Bob Harris (boards), Ron Rosenberg (marketing), Ed McMillan (finance)
• 7 Measures for Success
• Race for Relevance
• Toastmasters (improve your public speaking)
• Daniel Pink
• Steven Covey (older books)
  

Tips from CEOS

Panel discussion at MSAE featured three experienced CEOs who shared tips and techniques: Derek Hazeltine, PLUS, Mary Detloff, MN Society of Professional Engineers, and Paul Hanscom, Ewald Consulting:

Listen more. Learn something new or meet someone new everyday. Get your CAE. Tackle challenges head on. Foster teamwork. Empower others. Delegate. Serve on a board to experience being a volunteer. Encourage employees to grow. Focus on solutions.

Generations

Tips from the Meeting Management Education Council - 12.10

1. Be flexible in your communication style. A one-size-fits-all method of interaction no longer applies.

2. Recognize that generational discussions often pigeonhole people. Keep in mind that an individual’s generational context is only one piece of their profile (i.e. personality, family background, etc. also need to be considered).

3. When dealing with your board of director or committee groups you need to find a way to make the Baby Boomers feel that they are still necessary and important while creating opportunities for the younger generations to come in and make their mark.

New Year. New Board

As we head into a new year. Here's some tips on working with your board:
Establish parameters with them; communicate frequently.
Be flexible and willing to change.
Anticipate board questions, know their hot buttons, learn their personal motivations.
Know what hill you are willing to die on.
Create an environment of trust so that real teambwork happens.
Develop your listening skills.
Invest the time and resources to train the board to look to the future.
Be consistent.

Ask an Executive Director, A Panel Discussion

To end a great year of discussions, MSAE's Young Professionals hosted a panel discussion with three executives directors. This discussion gave audience members a chance to hear three successful executive directors stories into association work, learn what daily tasks an executive directors faces as well as see what it takes to be an executive director.

2010 Panelists:
Kathy Johnson, MSAE
Bob Fitch, MN Nursery & Landscape Association
Dara Rudick, MN Commercial Association of Real Estate

Here are the top takeaways from this meeting:

1. Say what you are going to do and do it
2. Make 1 + 1 = 3
3. Have systems in place, you can always fall back on them
4. Build personal relationships with your board members
5. Have a clear chain of command
6. Remember you are not alone, there are others out there to help
7. Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forward
8. Choose your battles
9. You are going to wish you knew what you know now, back then
10. Don’t sweat the small stuff
11. Make sure to have work/life balance
12. Never stop learning
13. Build relationships, network – build on these relationships when you don’t need anything, because one day when you need something they will be there for you
14. Don’t ask, demand or request without bringing a solution or suggestions with you
15. Understand constructive criticism makes you stronger

This was a great discussion with stories, examples and wonderful audience participation. MSAE looks forward to another executive director panel in 2011.

A truism

Responsibility is a big responsibility!

Making the most of change

The MSAE Board of Directors, in preparation for the planning retreat, read "Managing Transitions" by William Bridges, PhD. Since change is inevitable, it's good to take time to remember that the psychological transitions that accompany change are stressful. Organizational transitions affect people, it is the people who have to embrace a new situation that will eventually lead to the change.  This book is an excellent managerial tool for navigating through these tumultuous, uncertain times. 

"Our moral responsibility is not to stop the future, but to shape it...to channel our destiny in humane directions and to ease the trauma of transition" (Alvin Toffler, Futurist)

Freedom

We celebrate our freedoms this upcoming 4th of July weekend. "It is not our affluence, or our plumbing, or our clogged freeways that grip the imagination of others. Rather, it is the values upon which our system is built. These values imply our adherence not only to liberty and individual freedom, but also to international peace, law and order, and constructive social purpose. When we depart from these values, we do so at our peril."
J. William Fulbright

Top Performers

Top Performers
Radically engage
Invite participation
Embrace innovation
Have goals

Carr Hagerman built on these points at the MSAE EXPO. Suggested that we all look at the boundaries we put up to change - and consider how our own prejudices affect what we do.

Blue Ocean Strategy

Blue Ocean Stategy, book by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. That's what we discussed at the recent MSAE Board Retreat. If you haven't read it - try it. It's not an easy read, but it has some practical, unique and easy ways to look at our organizations and steer them into the blue ocean of an uncontested marketplace.

Most of us spend our time in the Red Oceans:
Focus on existing customers
Compete in existing marketplace
Beat the competition
Exploit existing demand
Make the value-cost trade-off
Align the system of activities with the strategic choice of differentiation or low cost.

We should be striving for the Blue Ocean:
Focus on non-customers
Make the competition irrelevant
Create and capture new demand
Break the value-cost trade-off
Align the system of activites in pursuit of differentiation and low cost.

The MSAE board has committed to reconstruct market boundaries. Focus on the big picture. Reach beyond existing demand. Get the strategic sequence right. We will be looking at what we do that will allow us to eliminate, reduce, raise and create. Ideas? Let me know.

Leadership

Just read this in 180 Ways to Walk the Leadership Talk by John Baldoni: "GET LOST! Occasionally make yourself unavailable and inaccessible. Let people know that when you're gone, you expect them to assume responsibility and make decisions. This technique is great for fostering leadership." And so, I am out of here, traveling for a family get-a-way at Lutsen. Back next week.