In this issue:
Important Leadership Dates
A Message from the CEO - Leadership and Time Management
Resources for Leaders
Lists Changing
Is the Date Correct?
Membership Chairs Tools for Success
75 Free!
Coming Soon
Annual Conference 2007 Call for Courses
Mark Your Calendar for the January Leadership Summit
Will Your Unit Meet at Leadership Summit? ? Reserve Space Now
| 25 August 2006 | Call for Courses |
| 21-22 October 2006 | SLA Board of Directors Meetings, Monterrey, CA, USA |
| 31 October 2006 | Scholarship Deadline |
| 24-27 January 2007 | Leadership Summit, Reno, Nevada, USA |
A Message from the CEO - Leadership and Time Management
For some of you, this will be your first issue of Leadership Connections. I want to thank you for your commitment to SLA and the time you devote above and beyond the norm as a leader. Time is a valuable commodity, and once lost, is irrevocable.
I encourage you to utilize time-saving practices so that you make the most of your volunteer time. Some examples of time savers are: managing the decision-making process, not the decision; establish short-, mid-, and long-term priorities; ensuring all meetings have a purpose, time limit; focusing on the initiatives important to your unit?s members and eliminate those that no longer are a priority; delegating everything possible; and above all, keep things simple. Keeping things simple was one of the driving forces in crafting the model governing documents for chapters and divisions.
There are a number of examples of time wasters, too. Think about your leadership style and try to avoid these examples of pitfalls to managing time: thinking, worrying, putting off (indecision); procrastination; poor organization; ineffective meetings; micro-managing instead of letting others perform and grow; lacking priorities, practices and procedures.
Now might be a very good time to scan your unit's practices manual. If your unit does not have one yet, reference the chapter and division recommended practices which contain charts of association action deadlines and position descriptions which will help you in planning for the next several months.
Our goal is to give our leaders the kinds of experiences and skills you can transfer into the workplace. So use this year to spread your wings and try some of the best practices available to you.
---Janice R. Lachance, Chief Executive Officer
Resources for Leaders
The SLA Web site is a wealth of information for the new officer. Take a moment now to bookmark the Leadership section of the SLA Web Site. Bookmark this handy URL for future reference: www.sla.org/leaders. What are the key planning and action dates? Look at the Chapter and Division Recommended Practices. The Leadership Training Center is a Web-based orientation for the other key officers in your unit. You can also order mailing labels, rosters, emails.
While many of you are planning to survey your members at some point during the year, traditional techniques (paper or telephone) are too time consuming, costly, and difficult to analyze. The Association's Leadership Department offers an online survey tool to make your job easier and at no cost to you. We've set up an account for you to use an online survey tool at www.SurveyMonkey.com. Your sign-in e-mail is: leadership@sla.org; and password: slaunits. If you have any questions, concerning Surveymonkey, please contact Leadership Services Associate Natalie Gozzard (+1.703.647.4937 or ngozzard@sla.org).
Leadership Connections are distributed via the Leadership discussion list and the Governance discussion list as well as being posted to the Web site. It is intended for you to either cut and paste selected items to your appropriate leaders, forward in its entirety or reference the Web site posting.
Lists Changing
The Leadership discussion list is a closed list. Included on this list are the current chapter president, president-elect and immediate past president; division chair, chair-elect and immediate past chair, caucus conveners, the SLA Board and Committee Chairs. I hope you will be an active participant on this list and utilize it to pose questions to other leaders about what is working as a success in your unit, what you need assistance with, as well as information from your cabinet chairs, the Board and SLA staff. This is where Leadership Connections is distributed.
Anyone who is interested in SLA leadership and governance are encouraged to subscribe to the open list, SLA Governance.
Division Chairs and Chairs-Elect will be auto subscribed to the Division Cabinet Community of Practice and Chapter Chairs and Chairs-Elect will be auto subscribed to the Chapter Cabinet Community of Practice. Please remember to set up your profile and set your notification preferences in order to be alerted when something new is posted.
Is the Date Correct?
Some of you may have noticed that the leadership dates shown in your member record appear to be incorrect. All offices expire 31 December but are shown as expiring one month later. That is necessary to allow us time to collect all of your newly elected officers and committee chairs and input the nearly 2,000 leaders who serve SLA each year.
Membership Chairs Tools for Success
The Membership Chairs Communities of Practice has been newly redesigned and enhanced. This private community is the home for your unit?s membership chair. Here they can find membership reports, template prospect e-mails, hyperlinks to answer your unit members' questions and answers to their questions.
75 Free!
Do you have an upcoming event that will attract non-members? Ask your membership chair to order SLA membership brochures from SLA's membership director, Jill Calabria, jcalabria@sla.org.
Coming Soon
As each SLA Unit has created their own marketing materials for your upcoming programs, events and membership, SLA is listening! Soon each of your Unit's membership chairs will be able to insert text into an editable PDF document that matches the new SLA membership brochure.
Annual Conference 2007 Call for Courses
The 2007 Call for Courses is your invitation to contribute to the information profession. By presenting a CE Session at SLA 2007 Conference in Denver, CO USA, you have the opportunity to share knowledge and experience. The deadline for proposals is 25 August 2006.
Mark Your Calendar for the January Leadership Summit
When SLA's leaders gather in January, it's more than a meeting; it's a Leadership Summit. Chapter and Division Cabinets, Committees, the Board of Directors and many Division Boards will come together in Reno, NV, USA, for the SLA Leadership Summit. Watch for more details to be released very soon. Whether just beginning in a leadership role, mid-career, or experienced, you will learn in this enhanced environment. Encourage other leaders or aspiring leader to attend; it will be a truly valuable experience. So mark your calendar for 24-27 January 2007, and plan to be there.
Will Your Unit Meet at Leadership Summit? - Reserve Space Now
If your chapter, division, committee or caucus is planning to meet at the 2007 Leadership Summit in Reno, NV, USA, please contact Leadership staff for program development and function room reservations. Contact Linda Broussard, Chief Community Officer at lbroussard@sla.org, tel. +1.703.647.4938, or fax +1.703.647.4901. Please reserve your space as soon as possible so that we can assure adequate space and time for your meeting. The Saturday of the Summit is the norm for unit meetings.
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