Category: personal reflections

A Year in Photos

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE

My resolution in 2012 was to do Photo365.

I started a little before January 1, 2012 and took at least one photo nearly every day for the entire year. I know I did miss a handful of days (likely about 5, without going back to confirm), but many days I took more than one photo, resulting in 688 posts to the blog

Most of the photos were taken in and around DC, although there are also photos from New Orleans, rural Virginia, the Philadelphia area, the Jersey shore, rural Maryland, Indianapolis, Omaha, St. Louis, San Diego, Kansas City, Portland, Fort Lauderdale, Dallas, etc.

I tried not to take pictures of myself (two, neither of my face) or people in general (very few), my meals (although there are food photos), or my cat (less successful there).

So what did I learn?

I’m not much better as a photographer. But that wasn’t really the point. If it had been, I wouldn’t have been taking all the photos with the camera on my iPhone.

The point was to be the see-er, not the seen, and to document the world around me.

What I mostly learned was to notice things. A pretty flower. An interesting line. A great shadow. Beautiful light. Scenes from my neighborhood. The passage of time. Outlaw art. Big things. Small things. A fallen leaf. Great architecture. Stunning gardens. A funky tree. A bee. A spider. Holiday decorations. Funny signs. Sunsets. Clouds. House projects in process (everyone takes pictures when they’re done). Snow. Hurricanes. Birds. Doors. Interesting things on walls and sidewalks and streets.

Mostly, it made me SLOW DOWN and PAY ATTENTION.

What will you do to remind yourself to SEE in 2013?

Book Review: The Back of the Napkin

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE

Yes, I know this book was published in 2008, and it’s been sitting on my “to read” pile almost that long.

Fortunately, the Association Chat book club got me to bump it to the top of the pile, and I finally read it last month.

The book’s subtitle is: solving problems and selling ideas with pictures, and teaching you to do that is author Dan Roam’s ostensible goal.

Short version: it’s a great concept, but I’m not quite sure how to implement it.

Longer take:

According to Roam, there are three types of people: black pen types (who LOVE to draw ideas), yellow pen types (who are quick to jump in to edit and add), and red pen types (“I can’t draw”). Confession: I am definitely a red pen type.

On the other hand, I also LOVE visual representations of information. I love infographics. I’m always the one urging colleagues to use fewer words and more pictures to share information with senior leadership. I think every organization’s board status report should be a series of 5-10 key metrics that are tracked over time and shared in graphs or charts. I’m the person who infamously talked a panel  for the 2009 ASAE Annual Meeting into doing a presentation with NO words on the slides (that didn’t go over all that well).

So what I’m saying is that, while I am a red pen, I’m also someone eager to be persuaded that representing problems visually can help us solve them and to learn how to do it.

I’m just not sure that this book can get most of us there.

It’s not that Roam doesn’t provide plenty of information and explanation. He spends almost 150 pages explaining six key ways of seeing and five key ways of showing, then placing all that into a grid (page 141 if you have the book handy) that can tell you, based on the type of framework you need and a short series of either/or questions, which type of picture you’re going to need to explain what’s going on and spot a solution.

The second half of the book uses a single case study to work readers through the ways of seeing and showing, the framework, and the questions to get to, in chapter 15, a not-immediately-obvious solution and description of how one would present that solution to a team of executives.

But I still don’t feel like I would be able to apply the techniques he describes successfully the next time I’m faced with what looks like an intractable problem at the office.

Maybe I just need more practice. I have, in my last two positions and since hearing Roam speak at ASAE’s Great Ideas Conference a few years ago, insisted on having a white board in my workspace. I even use it sometimes. And once in a while, it doesn’t even feel forced.

The book does, however, make a GREAT case for hiring Roam to help your organization solve big, hairy problems, assuming you can afford him. And maybe that’s really the point.

Examining One’s Habits

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE

Although I celebrate Mardi Gras every year with gusto, I’ve never taken the next step: making a Lenten resolution. No doubt, the fact that I’m not Catholic has something to do with that.

But I do like the idea of a defined annual period of time in which to consciously examine and focus on one’s habits.

So this year, I am giving up swearing for Lent. Those of you who know me personally will realize this is not a simple challenge I’ve set for myself. But the point isn’t perfection – or at least, again, not being Catholic the point *for me* is not achieving perfection. So, no, I don’t plan to keep a “swear jar” or anything like that.

My goal in doing this is to become more conscious of how I use words and express myself and the impact that, in turn, has on the people around me.

Is there a habit in your personal or work life you’d like to examine more closely? Is there something you do out of habit that no longer serves you? Or something you’d like to become more conscious of? Is there something you’d benefit from adding? Can you take the next 40 (OK, technically 39 at this point) days to focus on it?

Although it’s traditional, I don’t think that a Lenten resolution would necessarily have to be about giving something up. It could just as easily be about adding something positive.

Maybe at the end of 40 days, I’ll resume my regular speech patterns. But maybe I won’t. Either way, I’ll have thought about it, which is saying something.

“PR by Ostrich”

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE | 1 Comment on “PR by Ostrich”

Two major scandals have been ALL OVER the news media recently: the Herman Cain sexual harassment allegations and the Jerry Sandusky pedophilia accusations.

What do the two have to do with each other?

Cover up.

This is not a screed against Herman Cain, even though I do happen to think he’s an idiot – why do people persist in thinking that President of the United States is a good entry-level job in politics? – or against JoePa, even though I think he’s morally culpable for knowing what was going on and not doing more to stop it.

What it IS a screed against is the idea that paying people hush money and/or doing the minimum that is “legally required” is EVER a good idea.

The other thing that both of these scandals have in common is that they occurred when the Internet was still relatively in its infancy and social media wasn’t even a gleam in Mark Zuckerberg’s eye.

So maybe the parties in question – the leadership at the National Restaurant Association and at Penn State – could at least be understood for thinking, “Well, these are, in fact, CRIMES we’re talking about here, but we should be able to sweep it far enough under the rug that it will NEVER come to light.”

OK, probably not, but you get my point.

How about, instead of lying and denying and spinning and trying to shut people up, both organizations chose to be open, honest, and transparent, and let the chips fall where they may?

Sure, Jerry Sandusky would likely be in jail, and the Nittany Lions would’ve lost a great linebackers coach. Which is probably a good thing, because the way it’s falling out now, it looks like the leadership of the school decided that winning football games was more important than children’s safety. Think on that for a minute. Result? The entire leadership of Penn State has completely lost everyone’s respect and their own credibility and integrity. And, shortly, their jobs. And JoePa’s previously sterling reputation has been irredeemably tarnished.

The National Restaurant Association might have gone through an ugly court case – although realistically, it would’ve been settled out of court, since that’s what almost always happens in sexual harassment cases – and they would’ve fired Cain and moved on to their next CEO. AFTER THE FIRST GO-ROUND. And then, when all this came out as part of his presidential bid, as it inevitably would, they wouldn’t be giving a black eye to the entire association community. They could’ve pointed back and said: “One woman made allegations. We went before a judge. The case was settled. We fired Cain. End of story.” And Cain could’ve gone on to harass women someplace else, most likely, but the NRA would’ve been O-U-T.

Look, if burying your head in the sand was EVER a good idea, it’s not anymore. Now this kind of behavior, besides being wrong, is just dumb.

Thanks to Shelly Alcorn for the title of this post, derived from an exchange we had on Twitter.

 

Are Some More Equal Than Others?

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE | 2 Comments on Are Some More Equal Than Others?

Yep, it’s another post about Joe Gerstandt’s awesome How to Fly Your Freak Flag session as #ASAE11.

One of the exercises consisted of Joe reading a variety of statements and asking us to stand up, purely voluntarily and only if we wanted to share that information about ourselves, when any statement that was true about us was read.

Some of them were fairly obvious, about gender and race/ethnicity. Some were less obvious, like being raised in a rural community or by a single parent.

One of the statements he read was: “I have a disability.”

I thought about it for a few seconds, and stood up.

No, this is not going to turn into some heart-warming “coming out” story. I’m a GenXer – I don’t do heart-warming.

I don’t have depth perception, which people who know me well tend to be aware of. Thing is, I never had it in the first place, due to some serious eye problems I had as a baby/toddler. So although people who lose their depth perception later in life, particularly if it was *after* they learned to drive, tend to see themselves as disabled, that’s not an identity I generally claim. But in fact, I do have a non-apparent disability. And it felt a little scary to stand up in a crowded break out session room and claim that.

And it got me thinking: are some types of diversity easier to own in our world?

Example: in the association world, there are lots of fabulous – and fabulously out – gay men in prominent positions, both paid and volunteer. But how many out lesbians can you think of in power positions in associations? I can’t think of many. Doesn’t that seem odd, given that association work is largely female-dominated?

What about people with disabilities that aren’t visible? Hell, what about people with disabilities that *are* visible? I’ve worked in plenty of ADA-compliant buildings in the past 14 years, but I’ve never, to the best of my knowledge, worked with a person who had a disability that required ADA-covered accommodations. Several years ago, I worked on the floor *above* a disability rights organization, so I shared plenty of elevator rides with people in wheelchairs, but none of them were coming up to my floor to work for my organization.

Or think about religious minorities for a minute. Many organizations are open to our Jewish colleagues taking vacation days to celebrate their holidays, but what about other religious minorities (or at least minorities in the US)? We’re within the last few days of Ramadan this year, and summer is a tough time for Ramadan, because that sunrise to sunset fast lasts a LONG time. Are our associations open to making accommodations in work schedules or responsibilities for people whose energy levels might be low by late afternoon because of religious observance?

I quote my esteemed colleague Jeffrey Cufaude: “We have got to start walking the talk on diversity.” Also: “You won’t get different results for diversity & inclusion if you don’t even ask the question as a part of your regular work.”

Are you asking the question yet? If not now, when?

Innovation: Small Staff v. Large Staff

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE | 9 Comments on Innovation: Small Staff v. Large Staff

In the past 14 years, I’ve held a variety of positions in association management: senior staff in a mid-sized professional academic society, senior staff/acting CEO for a small ed-tech association, consulting, and now mid-level management at a large medical trade association.

Each place has had upsides and downsides. The academic society was in my “official” field (from undergrad and grad school), so I was really engaged in the meat of what we did and felt a deep personal connection with my members. I had the opportunity to manage a fantastic team, most of whom I’m still in touch with 14 years later. But tradition weighs particularly heavy on an august association of PhDs. Even though I had good internal support to try new things, there was only so far we could go. And the annual meetings were murder!

The small association was nimble and innovative, and I had pretty much totally free reign to try anything I wanted. We turned on a dime and had an AMAZING mission and community. Unfortunately, resources – staff, time, money, capacity, space – were a constant problem. Comes with the territory, but we constantly struggled to figure out ways to push all our great ideas forward on the cheap (or preferably, the free).

Consulting brought lots of fun, exciting variety, and I got to meet and work with terrific people from all sorts of associations, finding out about worlds I never would have encountered otherwise (and I got to work with a metallurgy organization staffed and led by a bunch of guys who reminded me a lot of my dad, which rocked – I love engineers!). But I was often in the position of turning over a bunch of (hopefully) useful recommendations that would have an immediate positive impact, with an “OK! Let me know how it goes!” It killed me to mostly not be able to help make change happen.

Large organizations allow you to be more specialized, so you develop deeper expertise in your areas of responsibility. Resources are rarely a serious impediment. And once again, great mission (there may be a theme here). But decision making can be glacial, and it’s often not entirely clear who needs to be involved in a given decision until you’re down the path and someone’s upset they’ve been left out.

So here’s my question for you, association peeps: how does one bring some of the good things small staff organizations enjoy with regards to new ideas and nimbleness to a large organization?

That’s not rhetorical – I’d really like your thoughts.

Blue Mood

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE

You know how some times you get into a pattern where NOTHING seems to be going right? It can happen in any area of your life, of course, but when it happens at work, it seems to hit harder. I think it’s because you have to continue to behave professionally to your colleagues, members, and corporate supporters (whereas your friends and loved ones will often give you at least some slack to pout, rage, cry, get even more excessively sarcastic and cynical than normal, etc., at least for a little while), and they really frown (at least at my office) on replacing the water in your environmentally friendly refillable aluminum water bottle with Bloody Marys.

So when that happens, what do you do to pull yourself out of it?

A few of my tricks:

  • Music in my office. Help me, Thelonious Monk, you’re my only hope.
  • Reminding myself, on a minute by minute basis if necessary, that I can’t control current circumstances or other people’s reactions to them, but I CAN control MY reactions to them, I can choose how I respond, and I want to be able to be proud of being my best self in times of stress, not ashamed of how I took my stress out on other people.
  • Taking a walk. Nothing like a little time away from the computer, phone, etc. out in nature to help provide perspective.
  • Spending some time reading all your big thinkers and innovators in association management. It reminds me of all the good potential and good ideas in our world that sometimes get to win out.

What are your tricks for getting back on track when it feels like the universe has it in for you?

Unplugging, part….3? 4?

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE | 2 Comments on Unplugging, part….3? 4?

It must be that time again. A friend and colleague is updating a resource for ASAE on timesavers to promote work/life balance, and it got me thinking about some of my principles for work/life balance more generally:

  • Give yourself permission to set boundaries. Do the same for your staff members.
  • Beware false urgency – just because you *can* respond in 30 seconds doesn’t mean you need to or should.
  • Your smartphone is supposed to serve you, not the other way around. Unless you’re an obstetrician, under indictment, or the President, default to turning off email synch outside work hours.
  • Spend some time away from technology every day, even if it’s only a few minutes, and outside if possible.
  • Read for pleasure as well as business.
  • Have a sanctuary in your home with no smartphones, tablets, laptops or TVs. Mine is my bedroom (which also promotes good sleep hygiene), but it can be your den, a meditation room, your workshop, workout space or sewing room, your back porch, the spot where you eat breakfast, etc.
  • When you go on vacation, GO ON VACATION. Trust your staff to be able to handle things in your absence. Don’t check in. Make sure at least one person knows how to reach you in case of a true emergency, and make sure that person can actually determine what constitutes a true emergency, and other than that, demonstrate your confidence in your employees’ abilities.
  • Have at least one absorbing hobby or outside activity that has nothing to do with work. I learned this one in grad school. I was in an academic program, which has a truly unique and odd set of pressures, and I quickly noticed that students who had nothing major in their lives to offset grad school tended to lose perspective on a regular basis. You will, too.
  • Get some exercise. You don’t have to get up at 5 am every morning to train for an Ironman, but find some way you enjoy moving your body and do it on a regular basis. What constitutes “regular”? That’s for you to decide.
  • Remember: attention doesn’t scale. Choose carefully where you spend your limited supply.

What do you do to ensure – or at least promote – work/life balance? What does that concept mean to you?

 

Resume Tips for New Professionals

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE

And good reminders for not-so-new professionals.

I’ve recently been reviewing resumes (a LOT of resumes) for a summer internship NACHRI is looking to fill, and I have some advice to offer as a result:

The MOST important thing? On the first pass, I’m looking for a reason to knock you out. Don’t give me an easy one.

In addition:

  • Proofread.
  • If the ad calls for specific experience, make sure your resume talks about that specific experience.
  • Don’t provide too much information. If you’re still in college, you don’t merit a 3 page resume. Really, you don’t.
  • But don’t provide too little, either. I got one resume that was gorgeous to look at – pretty font for the name, lots of white space, beautiful lay out. It included – I’m not kidding – 4 really minimal pieces of information. That’s not enough to help me figure out whether or not you’re worth talking to.
  • Pay attention to the job requirements – if you have to have a specific degree or certification, don’t apply if you don’t have it.
  • I know it’s easier for YOU to just call your resume “Resume.doc” or even “NACHRI.doc.” That’s not easier for me. Call it “MyName-NACHRI-Resume.doc.” See? Easy for both of us!
  • Don’t list “Internet browsing” under your skills, tech or otherwise. Telling me you know how to surf the web is not going to dispose me to interview you. Five year olds know how to surf the web.
  • “Your job is perfect for ME ME ME!” Uh, no. It’s about how are YOU going to help NACHRI, not how NACHRI is going to help YOU.
  • Don’t use a “creative” (aka “illegible”) type font. It doesn’t show me what a special, unique flower you are. It shows me that you don’t care if I can read your resume or not.
  • Did I mention proofread? And not just for things like misspelled words. Don’t write an objective that includes “looking for a job at XX” when you’re sending the resume to “YY.”

What about you? What advice can you share to help new job seekers?

 

If I Knew Then What I Know Now

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE | 4 Comments on If I Knew Then What I Know Now

It’s not exactly a meme, but recently, Conor McNulty posted a request for advice, thoughts, feedback, etc. to Acronym. Topic: what would you have done differently in your association career?

KiKi L’Italien then picked it up as the topic for a recent #assnchat.

I figured I’d add my two cents.

Looking back on your time in associations to date, what would you you have done differently to better your effectiveness? Your career?

I would’ve chosen a different mentor. The person I initially hooked up with was working for an association at the time and knew a lot about the field I’d studied in grad school, but her allegiance was to the field, not to association management. I learned a lot of my work people skills from her, but she really wasn’t able to guide me in association management per se. Pretty much had to do that for myself (I know – I’m such a Gen-Xer!).

I would’ve attended IOM. By the time I even found about it, it was kind of too late. I was post-CAE and had just changed jobs. My new ED had an IOM certificate on his wall. I asked him about it, and he said good things, but also said that since I already had my CAE, it probably wouldn’t be worth the time investment at that point. I think it would’ve been a good experience if I’d hit it at the right point in my career.

I would’ve gotten more involved with ASAE sooner. I joined, at the recommendation of my first ED, pretty much as soon as I started working in associations (1997), but I didn’t really start getting involved until after I earned my CAE in 2004. That’s a lot of wasted time.

There’s one job I wouldn’t have taken. I got dazzled by the flash and didn’t ask enough or the right questions, and it resulted in one of the most unpleasant periods of my life. But I suspect we all have at least one of those.

What do you see as a common, yet avoidable mistake for young professionals?

Don’t just chase the money. Strange thing to say in associations, I know, but even in our world, it is possible. And it’s SO tempting, particularly when you’re on the lower end of the association pay scale and you have school debt and want to buy a car, get rid of the roommates, get married, etc. and even a few extra thousand dollars would make a HUGE difference. That’s not to say don’t change jobs – definitely change jobs, but be sure that it’s about opportunity, getting you closer to your career goals, fit, broadening experience…AND more money.

Make friends and contacts of ALL ages. It’s really easy to surround yourself, at least primarily, with people who are in similar career/life stages. But reaching out to and regularly interacting with people both older/more senior and younger/less senior than you really broadens your perspective.

Keep your cool, women especially. This is still enough of a man’s world that if a woman gets visibly upset in the office, it’s bad for our career prospects – we’re “too emotional” or “irrational” or “can’t handle tough situations.” Which is all BS, and men get upset all the time, too, and aren’t punished for it, so it’s doubly unfair. But you have to be able to stay calm, at least on the outside, even if you’re sad or angry or stressed or scared or overwhelmed. Go for a walk and call your mom or your best friend or your significant other or your shrink, but do NOT lose it in front of your colleagues, no matter what. And NEVER cry in the office. NEVER.

What tools have you found to be most beneficial for your work?

It’s not a tool – it’s a technique. When somebody hits you up with a request for a favor in a professional context, ALWAYS try to help them out, or connect them to someone who can. Call it good karma, or ninja-level networking, or spreading the love, or paying it forward, or whatever, but people remember that you tried to help them and that you know people. Someday, you’ll need help, and if you’re known as a person who tries to connect people with solutions to their problems, you won’t even have to call in chips – people will line up to help you.

I’m going to add a final question I think is also important: “What would you absolutely, positively do again?”

Study what I wanted to for my grad degree, rather than forcing myself through the drudgery of an MBA.

Take the opportunity to attend Future Leaders when it was presented in 2004.

Earn my CAE.