H appy New Year! I can’t believe almost a quarter has passed since we last “spoke” via Peer to Peer. The old saying about time flying when you’re having fun is certainly true from my perspective. I have been enjoying every minute of meeting with the citizens of ILTA-land: members, volunteer leaders, business partners, and ILTA staffers.
In my last note to all of you, I promised that I would spend my first few months with ILTA listening, listening, and listening. You all have accommodated me, giving of your time, your insights, and your creativity. Thank you a million times over! So, what did I hear? A few highlights appear below:
- The most consistent theme across all of the conversations is the deep and abiding love everyone bears for ILTA.
- The second theme is the spirit of volunteerism. To me, this is the essential element that makes ILTA – well – ILTA! And this spirit goes beyond the volunteer leaders. The members who contribute on egroups, host meetings, or provide content in Webinars, article, and blog postings (to name just a few channels), the business partners who go above and beyond by providing thought leadership, and the staff who are true servant leaders with the passion of volunteers. Thanks to all of you!
Beyond the two key themes above, I’ve heard your concerns about some operational and organizational areas. Most of these concerns were, not surprisingly, about people. In my experience, most conversations ultimately end up being around people. [Pardon the aside on this, but I think we can all agree that the secret sauce for any organization are skilled, motivated people who know what success looks like in their role and how they fit in the larger mission of their organization.]
- Volunteer development, including onboarding, orientation, clear communication of expectations and deliverables, and regular and meaningful feedback
- Clarification of roles and responsibilities, both among volunteer groups and between volunteers and ILTA staff members
- Championing of diversity in its myriad forms – work role, gender, generation, racial/ethnic
Further, many of you challenged ILTA to deliver more “knock your socks off” programming. Despite consistent praise for the content ILTA provides, our citizens want our programming to aspire to a new level. Some suggestions included more deeply technical programming, more “tiered” content (101, 201, 301), and more actionable content, with concrete takeaways. Greater involvement in content development by thought-leaders from business partners, press, academia, etc., was an undercurrent to all the above.
Finally, I have heard about improved communications. Carrying forward the metaphor from above, communication is the secret ingredient that ultimately makes the secret sauce so spectacular. One of the challenges around communication is ensuring that information is provided in a number of formats, using a variety of delivery methods. The ILTA staff is committed to more previewing of communications. (A shout out here to the PAC members who have been beyond wonderful in providing pre-distribution feedback on communications to our business partners.) We are also focusing on timeliness of communications, with more “what’s coming down the pipe” content. Going into 2019, we will be erring on the side of over communicating: just let us know if it is TOO much.
One last word about communication, and this ties back to passion and love for the organization: Communication is most effective where it is respectful and actionable. We can all share in our commitment to those principles of good communication.
Please keep the communication coming. My favorite emails are the ones that begin, “Do you have a few minutes to speak?” Because listening isn’t just about the first 90 days: it’s where all improvement and innovation begin. Drop me a line at joy@iltanet.org. Hope to hear from you soon.
Here’s to a wonderful 2019! ILTA