IABC Chapter Management Awards Category: Leadership Development Chapter: IABC/Calgary (large chapter) Contact: Jennifer de Vries (Past president; jenndevriesiabc@gmail.com; 403.510.2374) Background IABC/Calgary is a prominent and active chapter in IABC. As the second largest chapter in the world, the chapter is the dominant member organization in the Calgary and area market for communications professionals. IABC/Calgary volunteers and board have worked hard to ensure the chapter demonstrates member value, but is also a presence in the profession in and around Calgary. For IABC/Calgary, volunteerism is the way our chapter has become such a successful chapter. The organization s volunteers have played an active role locally, regionally and internationally for many years. Leadership development means training, sourcing and mentoring volunteers to help support member value at local, regional and international levels. In the 2014/15 board year, our leadership team comprised of 17 board members supported by portfolio managers and 70 volunteers. Volunteerism and chapter leadership go hand-in-hand with membership value. Our board and volunteers are assisted by an association management company (Associations Plus), which we pay to provide administrative services, including booking keeping and event registration. During the year, our volunteers accomplished a lot: Growing a mentor program Growing special interest group meetings for members Adding a new co-director of Career Services to assist in growth of member value programming in the above two points Recruiting a high performing and highly engaged board for the entire year Recruiting a full board for the 2015/16 board year Recruiting three new directors when the original directors stepped down for personal reasons Developing a new chapter website, which was launched in the 2015/16 board year Publishing a newsletter every other week in the summer, then weekly for the ten months from September to June Executing two open board meetings, four workshops, five member professional development events and four networking events, including one event co-hosted with the local Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) chapter, and two new member events This submission describes activities from our July 1, 2014 to June 30, 2015 board year. Strategic goals and objectives - the 2014/15 plan IABC/Calgary works toward quality content, supporting and enhancing member careers, raising awareness of communications as a profession and operating with effectiveness to preserve and grow IABC. In 2014/15, the IABC/Calgary board approved a three-year chapter strategy, building upon the original three-year strategy developed in 2013/14 that was approved in October 2014.
Key measures Strategic results Goal: A sustainable and well-managed chapter IABC/Calgary Three year strategic members see plan is updated and accountability approved and performance from IABC/Calgary s leadership team, through a defined plan and ongoing updates Fiscal, efficient practices for all key operations, with financial transparency Submit for chapter management awards Well attended open board meetings to demo transparency Cross collaboration between portfolios with member needs as goals Review chapter processes, including a roles & responsibilities check list Review of chapter bylaws updating & ratifying as necessary. (Executive) Develop a three-year sponsorship plan that takes into account the multiple events happening over the three years. (Sponsorship) Development of a three-year budget Notice to Reader examination of finances The executive team held a one-day planning in June 2014 with the board to review and start the process to update the three-year plan. Year two objectives from the 2013/14 plan were reviewed as new year one objectives and a new year three was added to the plan. (See Attachment 1 IABC/Calgary strategic three year plan template) All directors were required to submit a three-year plan as their strategic planning document. The President collapsed the plans into one three-year strategy by fall, 2015. (See Attachment 2 IABC Calgary three year strategy summary 2014/15) Submitted five chapter management awards achieving three awards of excellence (financial management, leadership development, membership marketing) and two awards of merit (Communication and student involvement). Two open board meetings were held one in the fall and one in the spring. Portfolio directors cross collaborated to create member value. For example, Professional Development worked with Volunteer Services to host an event to both kick-off the new board year with a networking event, but to also help recruit and recognize volunteers. Developed for the onboarding of the 2015/16 board and used at the one-day strategy session in June 2015. Chapter bylaws were reviewed in September 2014 with changes proposed to membership and approved in November 2014. These changes included: Shortening the voting time required for board elections to allow for the onboarding process to start sooner. Changing financial review requirements to from a financial review down yearly to a financial review down every third year and notice to readers for the years in between. After best practice research it was determined this would still allow for accountability to members, but also save member money. This goal was moved to Year two 2015/16 board year. Sponsorship director focused on sponsorships for the 2014/15 board year which helped the Professional Development team offer events at a lower cost to members and assisted in negotiating an agreement with an external contractor for the development of a new chapter website. Three-year budget approved in October 2014. Notice to Reader examination of finances carried out by independent accountant, arranged through administrative management company. Final budget from 2013/14 shared with members to ensure accountability and transparency.
(Finance, All) Launch of financial processes document Due to a change in leadership in the Finance Director role the launch of the financial processes documents were pushed to Year 2 the 2015/16 board year. Goal: Engaged and motivated volunteers through proactive recruitment and recognition Objective: Finalizing and Excellence in launching volunteer volunteer on boarding program management Quarterly review of volunteer database Review/update volunteer recognition (monthly vs quarterly) Conduct a volunteer survey Establish volunteer outreach program On-boarding document is finalized for the Volunteer program and implemented. Monthly portfolio reports were adapted to address reporting challenges to give key volunteer updates. Volunteer Services used this monthly information in their quarterly assessment of the program. Upon review the recognition was moved from monthly to quarterly. Quarterly allowed more time for volunteers to shine in their various longer-term projects. Also, a month was easier to manage time and resource wise. Year-end volunteer survey was completed. See Attachment 3 Volunteer Survey Results - 2014-15 Four opportunities for volunteer recognition are developed and a process for application is formalized. All board members are acknowledged during the board year through the STAR program. Mid year review survey: 76 per cent of board members indicated they agreed/strongly agreed to the statement I feel my contributions and work are recognized. In four out of the six categories, board members rated their experience on the IABC/Calgary board more favourably than in the previous year. (See Attachment 2 Mid Year board survey results 2013-2014) Recruitment and retention success engaging the right volunteer for the job and proper recognition for all contributions; ensuring active involvement from more members Provide on-boarding process for new board members Develop chapter leadership by sending members to leadership conferences A formal recognition strategy plan utilizing social media for volunteers of the month who agreed to be profiled on our website. Working in partnership with our social media team, our acknowledgement of our winners continued on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter as well as posting their unique stories and experiences on our member newsletter. In 2014/15, we started early with the on-boarding process for our leaders. As soon as the board slate was announced, we scheduled two transition planning events: one where new board members could meet their predecessor for one-on-one advice and provided a template for sharing the information; the other where the full board meet for the final board meeting of the year a one-day strategic planning session travel to the Canada West Region Dare to Lead experience Two members (vice-president elect and the president elect) attend Leadership Institute in Florida in February 2015. 13 members of the board attend Dare to Lead in Winnipeg.
Talent management strategy is developed to ensure the best possible board for IABC/Calgary s future. We retained 11/17 board members from the 2014/15 year into 2015/16. To fill those empty roles we recruited five new board members. Four of the five new board members had served in different volunteer roles. These portfolio volunteers were grown and encouraged to take the next step in their volunteer career and take on a board member role. NOTE: Prior to the new board year one board member stepped down due to personal reasons. Her replacement was recruited over the summer. The board recruitment strategy was updated including timelines to reflect the new chapter bylaws and the nomination package. (See attached) Board is engaged and feels supported to meet their goals. (Executive) A mid-year survey was done with a 100% response rate from our board members. Executive did not participate as this survey also helped gauge their leadership and work with the board members. The results in January 2015 showed a marked improvement over results from January 2014. Volunteer Recruitment Program Volunteers are fundamental in IABC/Calgary s management and programming. IABC/Calgary member value is largely brought to members through local programming. We like to market volunteering as a means to increase a communicator s network and a way to get value for membership. In 2014/15, Calgary encouraged board members to parse their jobs into small volunteer opportunities, to engage volunteers in the system and build a culture of volunteering. By doing this, we feel we can ensure we have people in the system to meet our three year goals. We recruit volunteers through a number of methods: An active recruitment of new members held twice a year for new members, our New Member networking event encourages volunteer involvement as soon as a membership is purchased. Chapter website postings our website hosts job posting information. Members are encouraged to apply for positions through our volunteer service volunteers. Ongoing volunteer recruitment through direct recruiting opportunities/networking/events this is an effective method of recruitment. We ensure members are asked to volunteer at our events, acknowledged at our events and through our newsletter. Board members and directors actively use their own IABC networks to recruit volunteers. The executive team and members of the board are also approached directly by members and non-members inquiring about IABC and the benefits of volunteering. Returning to the well - we asked people to participate who hadn t been involved in the chapter for a while. We ensured our requests were small and the volunteer opportunities were tailored to someone who knew the organization and could contribute easily to the chapter. A try before you buy volunteer opportunity. Tied to recruitment, we allow non-members to volunteer with the chapter for six months, in the expectation that we will win over our volunteers and they will see value in membership through their experience. Reinforcing volunteer opportunities in the President s new and renewing member emails. The president also sent an end of year message highlighting what had been achieved from July to December 2014 and thanked all volunteers and encouraging others to join in. The president sent out a message during National Volunteer Week to thank volunteers and encourage members to think of volunteering. Natural succession planning through the board structure. Almost every portfolio has managers who assist the portfolio lead deliver their strategic contributions. This provides an opportunity to share the workload and provide a transition plan so portfolio leads identify potential leaders within their teams and actively encourage them to consider board positions or leadership roles at the regional or International level. As soon
as board members are in their role, they are encouraged to plan to replace themselves. With the retention of 11/17 Board members there was also opportunity for consistency for directors to provide knowledge and support to their successors in their former role. We have noticed our volunteers have less time (supported in part by the 2014 membership survey, which stated lack of time (47%) and work conflicts (37%) as the top two reasons why people do not volunteer). Since 2011, IABC/Calgary has used a formal process for volunteer recruitment. We use a job description template to clearly define the role, experience level required, the expectations and time commitment. This template is mandatorily used by the board members to send in their request to help identify the right volunteer. The next membership survey will be taking place in 2016 and we are hoping to see the results of the work that has happened in the past years show positively in this survey. The recruitment process is centralized under the Volunteer Services portfolio. As general requests for volunteering keep pouring in, the Volunteer Services portfolio creates a database of prospective volunteers with their interests. Every time there was an opportunity or request from the board member, the Volunteer Services portfolio matched the job requirements against the database and connected the board member with the potential candidates to ensure right fit. In situations where the right fit wasn t identified through the existing database, the volunteer job opportunity would be posted on IABC Calgary website, announced across social media channels like LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter. Another significant element of completing the recruitment process is ensuring the incoming volunteer is settled in their respective role and is able to contribute quickly. In our evaluation of our program at the end of the year, we have determined a growth plan for our volunteer recruitment program improved on-boarding activities. In 2014, we finalized an on- boarding package that will enable the volunteer to better understand the IABC s mission, chapter goals, respective portfolio goals and finally the expectations of the job. Training and Development Program The role of leader at IABC/Calgary is taken seriously. We encourage every one of our volunteers to treat the member experience as theirs to influence, create experiences so members see value in their membership and provide customer service for our members in a timely fashion. We have a rigorous training program for our board members, to ensure our leaders will contribute to our organization quickly. There is on-going opportunities for training and development for IABC/Calgary board members. Through a combination of a regional conference and leadership institute, chapter leaders are oriented to International, Regional and local board information as quickly as possible, to ensure their effective contribution to the board. Once a member joins the board they go through a multi-step orientation process. This process starts with a welcoming call from a member of the executive through to a one-day strategy session held in June before the board year officially starts. To help ensure members are educated on their new role the following is done: Role descriptions are defined in the nomination process, to ensure a complete outline of the job exists prior to application. All board members are given the chapter bylaws, a board basics document, role procedures document and copies of the previous three-year strategy prior to their orientation session. New members to the IABC/Calgary board were invited to attend a board transition meeting prior to Dare to Lead and the strategic planning session. This was an opportunity for both the outgoing and incoming boards to meet and was very well received by people leaving the board, as well as new members as a means to effectively hand off their knowledge and information. The one-day strategic planning session held in June 2014 balanced both sharing new to the board information and getting board members started on the process to update their three-year strategic plan. This session also allowed board members to meet face-to-face and get to know each other more and see the connections
between different portfolios. These connections helped encourage cross collaboration throughout the board year. Dare to Lead Conference IABC/Calgary is lucky to have the Dare to Lead conference, produced by the Canada West Region board, for board training and development. This conference is held annually every May and invites chapter leaders to start their board year with strength. Leaders share ideas, learn best practices across the region and network with fellow board members who hold a similar position in another city. IABC/Calgary regularly sends the largest number of board members to the conference through grants at both the chapter level and the regional level. In the nomination process, an expectation to attend Dare to Lead is set as part of the nomination package. Once the board slate is announced, board members are encouraged by the president-elect to plan to attend the Dare to Lead experience. All attendees indicate the development of team through travelling together for a weekend is key to board involvement and nurturing relationships for effective board engagement. Leadership Institute Since 2011, the chapter has sent two people to Leadership Institute: the vice-president elect and the president elect. This opportunity allows two members from the executive leadership track to attend sessions, idea share with fellow board members from other chapters and develop a working strategy for the board year ahead. IABC/Calgary gets a grant from the Canada West Region to send one person to this conference; the chapter budgets to send the second person from their own resources. Vice President recruitment The recruitment process for vice president was updated with a call for volunteers and membership vote happening prior to Leadership Institute. The recruitment announcement is started at the Board level (to ensure best chance for succession and consistency) and also opened up to IABC members. This was done so that the incoming vice president who attended Leadership Institute was someone the membership had ratified. Strategic Planning Three-year strategic planning was started in the 2013/14 board year and continued in the 2014/15 board year. Board member goals IABC/Calgary is diligent to connect the chapter goals with the larger IABC International goals, to determine proper focus and alignment. Board members were asked to review the plan from the previous year to see what goals had and had not been accomplished and to assess what was planned for year two and three. Members then updated what was year two to be their year one and added a new year three. This way the chapter is looking at more than one year at a time and can plan for longer term goals and multi-year projects. After the board planning session, board members were asked to develop a three-year portfolio plan to align with the larger IABC/Calgary goals. They were to identify measureable objectives, opportunities for volunteer resources and any budgetary and sponsorship requirements. Any resources or committee partnerships are to be identified in the plans. Plan review Portfolio plans are vetted by the executive leadership group prior to finalizing the strategic plan which is shared at the first board meeting in September. Then, to emphasize the continued commitment to fulfill the strategic plan, we scheduled a strategic update as part of the agenda every other month during the board year. At the end of the year, all portfolios had to submit a year end summary of goals.
Recognition Programs IABC/Calgary has a number of recognition programs. We define recognition in both monetary and non-monetary experiences. Listed below are the programs. Chapter Volunteer of the Quarter Chapter volunteer of the quarter is an acknowledgement for volunteers who are stepping up. Board members nominate volunteers as part of their monthly report and the Volunteer Services portfolio selects one Volunteer of the Quarter. The winner is informed via a congratulatory email. The winner also receives a thank you letter from IABC and a gift card. With permission, the winner is acknowledged on IABC/Calgary s newsletter The Current, on our website and through our social media channels - LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Star Recognition program for the Board Every month at the board meeting the president took time to recognize those board members who had gone above and beyond. Previously who received these awards was decided by the president, but in 2014 we decided to add a section to the monthly board report so that board members could nominate each other. There by recognizing the work done cross collaboratively between portfolios. Awards were small a thank you card and a small gift (often homemade). Volunteer of the Year Awards This is an annual event where volunteers are recognized across four categories : a. Long Standing Volunteer of the year b. New Volunteer of the year c. Student Volunteer of the year d. Volunteer of the year The categories have pre-defined criteria approved by the board. Board members are requested to send in their nominations to the Volunteer Services portfolio. The Volunteer Services portfolio evaluates the nominees based on the criteria and presents the results back at the board meeting, where the board members vote to decide the winning volunteers. The winners are announced and recognized at the year-end event and awarded a certificate of appreciation and a gift worth $100. The acknowledgement continues on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter as well as posting their unique stories and experiences on the chapter s newsletter. In 2015 we recognized volunteers in three of the four categories. Unfortunately, no one was nominated in the student volunteer of the year category so an award was not presented. This low number of student volunteers was recognized and is a part of work happening into 2015/16 to boost student involvement. Election Procedures The process for board recruitment was updated in 2014/15. While the majority of the onus for recruitment falls on the president-elect, the past president leads a team to ensure the nomination process gives a strong list of candidates to build the board. A full board slate was presented to our membership in March 2015 for ratification. The new plan included Recruitment with the end in mind challenging people to confirm their intentions for the board, strategically assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the board with the anticipated vacancies determined, then having a plan for the upcoming year to ensure overall board strength. An on-boarding process (orientation, Dare to Lead conference attendance suggested), which culminated in the strategic planning session in June. Nominations are opened up to the general membership and this year Calgary built a small social media campaign with a nomination video: https://youtu.be/zoofwh8muhw Board members are ratified by a nominating committee who selects the final board slate, for vote by our members. Members have 15 days to ratify and endorse the proposed slate.
Number of positions and percentage of total membership: Our board leadership team consists of 17 board members, who are supported by portfolio managers and numerous operational volunteers who implement a number of key initiatives to ensure our members see value in their membership. This team represents 2.5 per cent of our membership. IABC/Calgary has a leadership executive team of president, past president and vice-president (part of the 17 board members). There are four board officers, who hold signatory responsibility for the chapter. A new position was added in 2014/15 a co-director of Career Services in recognition of the new programming that was started in the 2013/14 board year and the extra work involved in managing the programs and the large team of volunteers for both. See Attachment 4 IABC/Calgary 2015 board nomination package and timeline Budget for Leadership Development initiatives As demonstrated in this budget, leadership development is an investment for IABC/Calgary. Expenses are significant, to ensure an investment for a valued Board and strong volunteer program. Expenses Revenue Dare to Lead $6,732.05 $6,000 Leadership Institute $4,326.24 $4,000 (CWR grant) Board development $163.50 Volunteer recognition $596.16 Strategic planning session $423.84 Board recognition $297.82 TOTAL $12,539.61 $10,000 Analysis IABC/Calgary does a lot to ensure it recruits, supports and manages the best future leaders. While we do have big plans to support and continually improve our entire volunteer program, we have many processes in place to ensure our volunteers have templates, information and recognition for a job well done. Our volunteers do an amazing amount of work to ensure IABC/Calgary is an outstanding chapter, with extraordinary local programming to ensure member value. Supporting documents: Attachment 1 IABC Calgary strategic three year plan template Attachment 2 IABC Calgary three year strategy summary 2014/15 Attachment 3 Volunteer Survey Results - 2014-15 Attachment 4 IABC/Calgary 2015 board nomination package and timeline