BNI chapters throughout the country have recently changed their leadership teams.
This changeover that all teams are going through isn’t a time to restart things with a new group. Instead it’s a time to build on the great practices and momentum that your chapter has already gained through contributions by the previous leadership team.
New people will be coming on board and so as we move into the final quarter of the year it’s a great time to sit down as a leadership team and chapter and work out your goals.
One Auckland chapter has recently set themselves a very big goal. BNI Epsom wants their chapter to become NZ famous.
Malcolm Taylor has recently taken the opportunity to become president of the BNI Epsom chapter and it’s his hope that their group can become nationally recognised. Not all chapters will want to develop such a lofty goal as this, but it’s great to see such ambition coming out of a chapter and from a member that joined this year.
Malcolm had some great advice for other BNI groups thinking of setting goals including:
1. Make sure that you have a team approach that is conveyed to all your members. Think about your language. Focus on the “We” rather than the “I” and use the word team to help guarantee that everyone is involved – not just the leadership team. Create a team atmosphere that strengthens your chapter.
2. Set your goals together as a chapter. Make sure your goals are tangible, measurable and have timelines associated with them. Set 4 or 5 goals and make sure they are visible to all members. Go over the goals periodically. Be ambitious in your goals – nothing ventured, nothing gained.
3. Make sure the leadership team is working closely with the Education Coordinator so that the learning piece read out each week can become a theme of discussion for the entire meeting. Wrapping your messaging around what is being discussed by the Education Coordinator will make your message so much more powerful.
4. Recruitment should be a goal for every chapter. Visitors bring energy and a sense of fun to a chapter. How will you recruit new people? Think about this and discuss it as a chapter. Be specific about your action plan for recruitment – it may be time to organise a Visitors Day.
It’s tempting to think that when the leadership team changes, everything should change. This isn’t the case. Use the enthusiasm that your new leadership team brings to make your goals “to be continued” goals – so the next leadership team can take them on. Grow and get better as a chapter over the long term.
