Talking Stick - November/December 2008 - 6

Vision Using Knowledge to Power Direction Rebecca Chan and Cindy Felice at the Executive Board Strategic planning session (above) and Learning and Knowledge Summit participants David Vaillancourt, Perry Hacker, and Gwen Dungy (left). Successful associations require strategic planning to identify and reach their goals. Successful planning requires knowledge and guidance. All these elements came together recently as ACUHO-I members launched a process that will guide the association for years to come. In September, 40 ACUHO-I members gathered for the Learning and Knowledge Summit to analyze how to deliver educational resources that are consistently grounded in theory, research, and practice. For two days, they envisioned how ACUHO-I could move its professional development opportunities forward. Needless to say, there was no shortage of ideas or opinions, with valuable dialogue spilling over and extending to dinner conversations – and probably beyond. The following week, 30 participants gathered for the Strategic Planning Retreat. Information from the Learning and Knowledge Summit carried over to inform the strategic planning process. The group aggressively identified strategic initiatives for the association to consider. Again, many ideas were generated, and the strongest of these were shaped and directed in fruitful conversations. In the coming months, the Executive Board will review these to determine the next steps. The fruits of these conversations will be seen for years to come. While it is still too early to point to specific initiatives (though you certainly will hear about them as they become concrete), there were certain topics that came to the forefront. Chief among these was the means by which knowledge is developed and distributed. ACUHO-I members count on the educational resources the association provides. But it was stressed repeatedly that ACUHOI members are also the catalysts of and repositories for this knowledge. The challenge is that the association must provide means beyond one-on-one phone calls or conference conversations for this knowledge to spread far and wide. Connected to that was the determination that the use of technology must expand as a means to promote the sharing of knowledge. Not everyone was comfortable with new words like Twitter, Delicious, blog, and the like. But we also knew that the technology the association has already put into place – like the ACUHO-I blog, social network, and the digital version of this magazine – are just the tip of technological possibilities. These are invigorating times. To echo my comments from the 2008 Annual Conference and Exposition, we were professionally engaged. Now, as we move forward, I encourage all of you to engage with the profession. As an example, think of responding to the call-for-programs (open until November 21) for the annual conference. There are also many more ways to become engaged with ACUHO-I, and they will only continue to grow. Search them out, and do your part to make your association the finest it can be. Norb Dunkel ACUHO-I President, 2008-2009 Talking Stick

Talking Stick - November/December 2008

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