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CLUB MATTER

November 2003

by Marla Mangeot Brown

Club leadership schools provide incredible benefits for those who attend

by Marla Mangeot Brown

"This really works!" is the title of an afternoon session on fundraising at U.S. Figure Skating's Club Leadership and Business Management Schools. But that title applies to more than just the fundraising session. Most participants agree that the entire weekend of seminars and discussions is what really works.

10 CLUB LEADERSHIP SCHOOLS PLANNED FOR 2003-2004

For 2003–2004, there will be 10 Club Leadership and Business Management Schools, one for each region. Regional schools allow participants to commute to the sessions each day, making the weekend affordable at $75 per person. Host cities and dates for upcoming sessions include Los Angeles, Feb. 21–22; Chicago, March 13–14; and San Diego, May 3–4 (in conjunction with Governing Council). Prior sessions were held in Dallas, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Buffalo and Detroit. In addition to reaching more participants, the program's goals for 2003–2004 include adding two new breakout sessions to the agenda: a parents' education track and a testing track. Rose Snyder, senior director for membership development, said the parent session will focus on how to be a supportive parent, will include some information on the sport, but is "mostly an opportunity for the parents to share and ask questions." She said the test sessions will be a think tank as well as an opportunity to see and try out the new online testing program.

Learning and Sharing

"I think it's extremely important for every club to attend one of these," said Diane Murphy, a participant in the October 2002 session in Cleveland, Ohio. "You get so much for your money; it's just unbelievable. Every club will come away with something."

Murphy is administrator for the Cleveland Skating Office, an organization that includes 13 skating clubs in Cleveland.

Rose Snyder, senior director of membership development for U.S. Figure Skating, started the schools in September 2002 to provide an opportunity for skating club board members, coaches and rink personnel to learn and share new ideas for building strong leadership teams, crafting club missions, and learning more about governance, fiscal management, risk management, fundraising, volunteer recruitment and communication.

"I think the main benefit is the board retreat idea — being able to focus in on their own goals and tips for making themselves a better board," Snyder said.

Murphy said understanding how a club board should work is the biggest benefit that is gained during the school.

"You understand what goes into running a board, which is very helpful," she said. "It's not just for new clubs; old clubs got a lot out of it, too."

The day-and-a-half-long weekend is a required step for those establishing new clubs (within 12 months of becoming a club) and voluntary for others.

Greg Gibbs, publicity coordinator and a board member of the Broadmoor Skating Club, said when members of his board attended together, it helped motivate them and helped them realize that they were thinking the same things at the same time.

One exercise that helps build that cohesiveness in a board is the SWOT Analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It is a tool that helps boards discover these areas in their clubs and build their goals and priorities around them.

"One of the big helps was the SWOT report," Murphy said. "When we all got together and made lists and discussed those (areas), it helped all the clubs understand what they needed to work on and where they could do better."

Connecting People

As of August 2003, more than 20 percent of U.S. Figure Skating's member clubs have been represented at the weekend schools with 350 individual participants. The 10 regional sessions planned for the 2003–2004 season are an expansion of the program over the five sectional sessions held in 2002–2003.

The opportunity to network with other clubs is a major benefit of the weekend retreats. Snyder said new clubs and long-standing clubs can learn from each other, and the club education schools are the perfect setting for that to happen.

Longtime U.S. Figure Skating member Ben Wright agrees.

Club participants take the Myers Briggs Type Indicator and do a SWOT Analysis. Both exercises help board members work as a unit.

"Interfacing with people of like mind and like interest is in itself a benefit," said Wright, now vice president of The Skating Club of Boston. "This seminar provided a means by which old clubs and new clubs could find common ground."

Murphy said the networking is great since newer board members and club leaders come away knowing people they can contact to discuss feelings, problems and ideas.

Many participants found it especially helpful to hear how other clubs handle volunteer recruitment and retention, fundraising and communication.

"We also got some good information on insurance and liability issues, taxation, rink/club coordination and relations — some things about personality styles that would help us in a variety of situations," Gibbs said. "What we learned wasn't just conflict resolution but avoiding conflict."

Snyder said they bring the skeletons out of the closet and help people deal with the tough issues.

"[We spend] a significant amount of time on how to deal with the 2 percent of difficult people on boards," Snyder said. "It's really important to put personal agendas aside and do the best thing for the clubs."

What to Expect

The first activity of the weekend asks each participant to do a Myers Briggs analysis to understand his or her own motivations and behavior and to understand the behavior of others in order to improve communication.

"We talk about different personality types — whether you're a big picture person vs. a detail person, how relationships and personalities come together, and how you can capitalize on different strengths to make a stronger team," Snyder said.

Communication is important and something that needs constant improvement. Gibbs said the Myers Briggs test helped focus on communication.

"We speak about communication a lot, but we never really break it down into key components," Gibbs said. "Understanding learning styles goes a long way in improving communication."

Most of the sessions during the weekend are lead by Snyder. Part of Saturday morning is spent with the Myers Briggs Type Indicator. The second half of the morning utilizes strategic planning, including looking at the club's mission and performing the SWOT analysis. Saturday afternoon is spent discussing club administration (governance, board building, financial management, risk management and fundraising) and working with volunteers.

Sunday begins with an overview of U.S. Figure Skating (including membership, committees, programs and athlete funding), club programming (including the importance of a strong Basic Skills program, which is the main feeder system for clubs; the Bridge Program; and events and competitions), and rink relations (including the STAR program, which is U.S. Figure Skating's partnership with USA Hockey). The Sunday sessions often include visits from guest speakers including Susi Wehrli, director of membership development for U.S. Figure Skating, who speaks on the Basic Skills and Bridge Programs, and Pat Kelleher or Dave Wescott from STAR.

Snyder varies the style of each session to keep participants motivated, utilizing small group exercises and open discussion. Wright and other participants feel that Snyder has a talent for helping people feel relaxed and comfortable.

"She kept the momentum going well," Gibbs said. "She was a lively instructor who encouraged participation. She got people doing things — got them up and about — not just sitting. Sometimes it was like a game and other times more contained."

Participants are given a resource notebook that contains additional information not covered during the weekend. Much of the information comes from BoardSource, the national center for nonprofit boards.

"They have been kind enough to provide a lot of great materials for our participant notebooks," Snyder said.

More information about BoardSource may be found at www.boardsource.org.

How It Started

Snyder said U.S. Figure Skating started the Club Leadership and Business Management Schools for several reasons — as an outreach to stay connected to members, as a way to meet an education/orientation requirement for new clubs, and as a way to make all clubs, even long-standing ones, stronger.

"If new clubs are going to have a chance at success, they [need] to look at their club as a small business, not just a parent-run 'club,'" Snyder said. "We feel that if our clubs are stronger, it will ultimately lead to an increase in membership. Clubs that have solid programs in place will retain more members.

"The other side benefit is that while we educate board members at the club level, this education and experience makes them more qualified some day when they serve as the volunteer leaders of U.S. Figure Skating."

While the school is mandatory for new clubs, the benefits of the program are reaped by any club that attends.

"It was just as much a value to an old charter club as to a new club," Wright said. "All the constituencies in a club need to be looked after and taken care of ... they're all working together to further the sport."

Snyder said the clubs that get the most out of the school are the ones that bring most, if not all, of their board members. She feels the most important thing participants take from the school is "a sense of appreciation for their role in their club."

"It's really interesting and sometimes a little frightening for people to realize the responsibility," Snyder said. "After attending a school they have a better understanding of their job."

Gibbs said the benefits gained from the school outweigh the investment.

"It's tough to set aside a weekend for anything, let alone a volunteer association," he said. "There were things you could take home with you to work that could be applied outside just skating or club responsibilities."

Murphy said the school she attended was extremely successful and encourages others to attend.

"You don't want to miss this; it's really worth attending," Murphy said.

Marla Mangeot Brown is a freelance writer living in Maine.