Succession Planning - An Introduction

It seems that many clubs take their leadership challenges lightly and don’t plan for replacing their current leaders.  Having a succession planning process in place is vital by ensuring that the club is positioned to meet future challenges.

Simply put, succession planning is a process whereby the club ensures that members are recruited and mentored to fill club leadership roles – from event chairmen to committee chairmen, and finally club president.  Through your succession planning process, the club recruits excellent members, develops their knowledge, skills, and abilities, and prepares them for advancement into ever more challenging positions.  Through the succession planning process, the club also retains members because they appreciate the time, attention, and development that is invested in them.

For succession planning to be successful in your club, you must first identify the club’s long term goals. The club needs to identify and understand the needs of its members as well.  Good orientation programs and strong mentoring are all keys in helping members grow into the roles they are being developed to fill. 

Clubs need to focus resources on educating their members about Zonta.   We need to encourage members to learn about the organization at all levels – club, district, and International.  Since these are our leaders of tomorrow, these members should be exposed to as much of the Zonta world as possible. 

Succession planning is one of those initiatives that most clubs do not find the time to start until it's too late---and we find that we have a lack of leaders willing to step forward. 

Clubs that understand the need to manage the development of their members are well-positioned for the future.  The effort required to establish a leadership development program for future club leadership is worthwhile because it creates a motivated and skilled group of members who are ready to step up when called upon. 

(Next month, more on succession planning.)

Plans are nothing, planning is everything - - Dwight D. Eisenhower

To Multitask...Or Not!

According to a study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, it can take up to 50 percent more time to complete tasks when you switch between them.   Think about using the 10-minute rule instead.   The rule says that you should try working on a task for at least ten minutes.  If, after, that time you cannot finish the task (or don’t feel like finishing the task), you can quit without feeling any guilt.

Often the hardest part of any task is getting started; this rule helps you to get going on something you might otherwise push aside. And, more times than not, once you’ve gotten past the ten minute mark, you’ll keep going.

Finding a key to managing our time is extremely important.  These keys may include organizing, prioritizing, and planning our lives.  Have you ever considered a time budget? 

In developing a time budget, we need to make conscious choices about how to spend our time and then stick to those choices.  Determine what tasks you do daily, weekly, and monthly along with how much time it takes to do them.  The best way to truly understand how much time you use, is to record your time on these tasks for one week.  You’ll be surprised at how much or how little time you actually devote!

After understanding how your time is actually spent, ask yourself a number of questions:

• Did you overspend or under spend your time on any particular category?

• Are you putting the important things first?

• Did you allocate enough time overall for your budget (don’t forget to include
  important things such as family time and sleep)?

• Are you being reasonable on the amount of time you are allocating for each task?

• Are there key result areas that you initially overlooked?

• What things can you abandon?

• Do you feel your life is balanced?

Re-do your time budget to make it manageable and don’t forget to bank some time for you!

Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.  ~ William Penn

Effective Listening

"We were given two ears but only one mouth, because listening is twice as hard as talking." Unknown

In today’s world, we have numerous ways of communicating – yet many people still state that communication issues are one of our greatest challenges. For our clubs and committees to work, we must still be vigilant on the way that we communicate with one another. To effectively communicate we need to focus more on listening.

Expressing one’s wants, needs, thoughts, and opinions clearly and effectively makes up only half of the communication process---the other half is listening and comprehending what others are trying to communicate to us. Successful communication can only exist between two people when the receiver interprets and understands the sender’s message in the same way the sender intended.

Club and committee meetings can be particularly challenging as we are often trying to do a lot in a short period of time.

Sample Speaker Difficulties:

• Voice too low to be heard clearly

• Trying to make the message too complex by including unnecessary details or too many issues

• Body language or nonverbal cues that interfere with the intended verbal message

Some Listener Difficulties:

• Being preoccupied and not focused on listening

• Being so interested in preparing their response, that they are listening only for an opening to respond

• Not asking for clarification

• Evaluating or making judgments before the speaker is finished

There is a real difference between hearing the words and really listening for the intended message. When we listen successfully – we understand what the person is thinking and saying from their perspective. While our own viewpoint and experiences may be different, as we truly listen we begin to understand more fully. To listen effectively, we must be actively engaged in the process and not just a passive participant.

Here are some suggested listening tips:

• In meetings and gatherings of 20 or more, make sure to use a microphone. Do not let the person say “Oh, I don’t need one!” They may not need one, but others in the room need the microphone.

• If you’re the speaker or group leader, consider a summary statement at the end of your presentation that clearly captures the important points.

• Practice paraphrasing and using your own words in verbalizing your understanding of what the speaker has said.

• Discourage side conversations – wait until they’re through

• Ask questions for clarification

• Avoid interrupting and wait until the speaker is through before forming opinions or arguments

• Send nonverbal messages that show that you are listening – such as eye contact and head nodding

• When it’s time for discussion, ensure that all participants get a chance to speak and offer their opinions and insight

Listening takes practices and more practice and is something we can get better at. So stop talking and listen!

TAKE YOUR CLUB TO THE NEXT LEVEL -
A BRIEF PLAN FOR JUMPSTARTING 2009-2010

As a new Zonta year begins June 1, 2009, here are some suggestions to help you get off to a great start:

 1.       Provide for continuity in leadership including the concept of succession planning.

 2.      Review the club’s strategic plan – if there is not one in place put together a team to begin building a new plan.

 3.      Appoint committee chairs and co-chairs.

 4.      Distribute job descriptions for each committee

 5.      To ensure all members fell involved and informed, plan an orientation program for all members

6.      Request suggestions from the club membership for programs for the coming year, especially those that promote
         the ideals of Zonta

7.      Prepare a plan to increase the membership of the club as well as retaining current members 

Good club leadership can help clubs realize many benefits.  First and foremost, good leadership ensures that all members have a chance to voice their opinions on the future directions of their club.  Secondly, we want to simplify our operations to give ourselves more time to focus on service, fundraising, and fellowship.  Finding ways to encourage a greater involvement by the members helps develop our future leadership.   Remember – involved, informed members stay and participate more. 

A reminder:  Area Directors are eager to assist you in your club's planning.  There are numerous modules in the Leadership Institute Website for your assistance.  If you need further help, please call or e-mail Karen Macier or Rita Cousino Co-Chairs Leadership Institute. 

The very essence of leadership is that you have to have vision.  You can’t blow an uncertain trumpet. 
-Theodore M. Hesburgh

Great Meetings Take Time & Preparation

 1.      Be prepared.  A great meeting takes preparation ahead of time.  What is the meeting supposed to accomplish?  Are we solving a problem, planning, clarifying issues, sharing information, assessing our progress or some combination of all of these?  Understand what you are trying to accomplish and how you will go about it.  Here’s a great tip for preparing your agenda – set times for each item and indicate whether you are informing, updating, or deciding.

 2.      Build your agenda.  An agenda is an absolute must to running an effective meeting.  This will help your meeting flow and stay on track.  Make sure that you put the most important items first so that you have enough time!

 3.      Allocate enough time. Be realistic about what you are hoping to accomplish in the time that you have.  Trying to do too much is ineffective and discouraging for all involved.   If an item seems to be taking longer than you expected, check in with the group to see how much more time they would like allocated.  It’s okay to table items to deal with later.  And, you must be prepared to move the meeting along though it’s not always easy it is necessary.

 4.      Deal with the personalities!

 5.      Finish strong.

a.      End on-time or agree to run longer

b.      Review your list of action items and the responsible person(s)

c.      State what needs to be covered at the next meeting

d.      Thank everyone!

 6.      Follow-up and prepare for the next meeting.

IMPROVING THE STATUS OF WOMEN THROUGH NETWORKING

Many of our Zonta Clubs promote the “Status of Women” feature of our organization during the month of March. Whether this program is conducted in March or at any other time, let us this year, during these very difficult economic times, remember networking works!

And, just what is networking? It is the creation and cultivation of business friendships and acquaintances that you can turn to assist with professional development and assistance throughout your career. Why network? While as you’ve heard time and time again, “it’s not what you know, but it’s who you know.” Your ability to create new relationships and foster those relationships over the life of your career is critical to your success. Yet, women often do not have strong professional networks.

Our members may for the first time in their professional careers be losing their jobs or otherwise seeking employment opportunities. So what can we do to help? We might develop a “JOBS WANTED” section in our Zonta Newsletters for networking purposes. Consider presenting a program focusing on utilizing local and state agencies in our respective communities.

Here are some additional “quick tips” regarding networking:

• Always have a supply of business cards handy
• Consider joining a social networking site devoted to professional networks
• Seek out professional groups in areas of interest and attend a meeting or two
• Become known as a resource for others
• Be able to clearly articulate what it is that you’re looking for
• And, don’ forget that networking is about authenticity, building trust, and developing relationships.

And, on the other side, Zontians are often in positions where we can help other women during difficult times. Let’s be proactive and ask our sister Zontians, relatives, friends, hair stylists, manicurists, and anyone we know to tell us of a woman in need of a job. Networking is one of the best sources of successful employment. (A successful job placement could mean a potential new Zontian!) Helping other women get jobs helps the entire family.

Thank-You - Matters

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.” ~ Frank Outlaw ~

Recently, I have read a number of articles that focus on the decline of common courtesies in our world today. The writers went on to bemoan the fact that when we forget to say “thank you” or “please” we are giving up much more than we realize in building and maintaining our relationships. Many people say that their life is just too busy or that life is moving much too quickly to engage in such courtesies. What a shame!

Research shows that the number one reason volunteers leave an organization is because they feel unappreciated or undervalued. Volunteers stay when they feel they are making a significant contribution. So how can saying thank you help?

A simple recognition of one’s effort lets that person know that their effort was noticed and valued. When a thank you is heartfelt and authentic, it creates a new level of trust between two people. Saying thank you helps strengthen both your individual relationships as well as the team dynamics. And, it’s not difficult to do.

A simple thank you from one person to another can warm the heart and make the person sit up and take notice that someone was paying attention. A hand-written thank you note is a memento to treasure. It is always great to recognize a committee or an individual for the work they do in front of the entire club. And, with today’s technology an e-card is just strokes away. Phone calls, certificates of appreciation, or a home-made dessert are all easy, simple, yet meaningful ways to recognize someone.

So let’s not forget – it is important to remember the little things like saying please and thank you!

Do you or your club have a unique way that you recognize the work of your members? If so, please share it with the Leadership Institute so we can share it with others. Thanks!

Zonta Mission

“Mission, like exercise, is most effective when experienced as often as possible. A person exercising his or her strengths on a daily basis is both developing strengths and fulfilling a sense of purpose.” Don Clifton & Paula Nelson, Soar With Your Strengths, Dell Publishing, 1992.

Each Zonta club plays an important role in the life of its community--from providing funds to actual service hours---our communities are made better and stronger by the work that we do.

As we begin a new year, especially one wrought with increasingly tougher economic times, we should be prepared for more requests to serve our communities. Has your club generated some strategic questions to review these requests?

Here are some thoughts for you to consider as you select local service projects and evaluate funding requests:

• How is the request related to Zonta’s mission?

• What social needs, problems, or concerns are of interest to our members? Does this request match with the needs our clubs wishes to address?

• Whom will we serve and is this group relative to our mission?

• What are ways that we can best serve this request – is it a monetary request, a request for hands-on service, or both?

• What will be the end result of our actions? (We will make a difference, how?)

Volunteering makes a huge impact. In 2007 alone, 60.8 million volunteers dedicated some 8.1 billion hours of service to community organizations in the United States alone (Corporation for National and Community Service website). Our efforts matter – make the most of them!

Zonta International District 2

Zonta International
© 2009 Zonta International