Chapter Leadership: Eliminating "Ownership Attitudes"
By Russ Finney
1999 Austin Chapter President
May 1999
This month I'm going to talk about a sensitive issue in our Association - our local chapter leaders. AITP has some serious problems in this area, and I want to lay these issues out for all of us to consider. I promise that this will be my only negative column in this series, but it is important to face this issue as a reference point for discussions of future Association growth.
In my opinion, across AITP we have a number of chapter leaders who have developed a destructive attitude. Many of these people are not even aware that this attitude shift has occurred. Some of our members have characterized the attitude as "negative", and others have branded a few local leaders as "AITP nay sayers". I read about it often in many emails from ordinary chapter members who are honestly concerned about the leadership direction of their local chapter officers. No question - a real attitude problem does exist in AITP.
But frankly speaking, I still have yet to meet any of these negative nay sayers I keep hearing about...
What I have found is a huge number of dedicated and loyal AITP chapter leaders who have invested many years of themselves into our Association. These folks (including me - I joined in 1986) have been though years of chapter experiences, and many have spent countless hours keeping our Association alive. Our long term members are really what sets our Association apart from other groups. We are truly enriched by this wealth of experience, and we should count our blessings for this base of talent. We are after all an all volunteer organization, and each person makes a huge difference within AITP.
Time to Look in the Mirror
But what I am noticing more frequently these days is a serious case of what I call "ownership attitude". Many of our long term leaders feel that by serving in a leadership role at the chapter level for a significant number of years, that somehow the chapter now belongs to them at a personal level. In rare cases, this "ownership attitude" may even extend to ownership of the chapter funds which were derived directly from their local IT professionals dues and meetings (clearly this is not acceptable).
AITP has become their own personal club, and they demand tight control. While this "ownership attitude" is a natural part of all Associations, in our case I believe it has become a destructive and negative force which prevents us from evolving our Association to meet the genuine needs of our local evolving AITP communities. More often than not, these are the voices on our local boards calling for a break from the national association. Separation from AITP takes the "ownership attitude" to its complete fulfillment (I'll talk about the advantages of national association affiliations like AITP in a future column).
Facing this Unpleasant Reality
We should all be grateful for our members who have served at the local level for years. They have done a AITP a great service by keeping a local organization in place, and by being active members of their city's community. But I find myself increasingly worried when some of these folks seem to have lost sight of the primary evolving mission of our Association.
In order to thrive as an important and relevant part of each city's IT community, the local chapter must reflect a representation of this community within its membership base, and more importantly, on its local Board of Directors. AITP leaders who let "ownership attitude" dominate their approach to the business of the chapter run a serious risk of alienating the very community which they are attempting to serve. I believe that this has been occurring for the last several years at some of our chapters.
Fixing the Problem
In a recent posting to the AITP Leaders Listserv I wrote:
"Chapter BoD members should view themselves as the representatives of their respective community into the AITP organization. Too many of our local board members view themselves as an INDIVIDUAL rather than as a REPRESENTATIVE. This is a huge turn-off for potential members".
I still stand by this statement.
If you are sensing that you may one of those with have a mild case of "ownership attitude", and you are currently entrusted with a leadership responsibility for your local chapter, it may be time for you to do a self assessment. Can you change your thinking to be one of "I am a representative of our IT community" as opposed to one of "I am the owner of this chapter"? If not, you are standing in the way of our evolution as an Association into a cutting edge organization for the next millennium. Today's busy IT professional has little interest in joining someone else's personal IT computer club.
The following steps must be taken at a local level to reverse the negative effects of "ownership attitude":
- 1. Recruit new members to your local AITP board who will in fact represent the interests of your local community. Make sure that these include IT departmental employees, local vendors, educators, and consultants. Keep your board members balanced between these groups.
- 2. If you can't get over your own personal "ownership attitude" then consider resigning from your board position. Turn it over to others who have a sincere desire to build the local AITP chapter into THE meeting point of your local IT community.
- 3. Commit your energy to gathering and organizing the IT professionals in your area in the spirit of COMMUNITY rather than INDIVIDUAL chapter ownership.
Getting rid of our destructive "ownership attitudes" will go a long
way to rebuilding our Association into a relevant and important force
in Information Technology. The first step is an assessment of your
own attitude within your chapter.
Please share your thoughts and comments regarding this feature. You can do so by posting to our AITP Members Forum or by writing me at webadmin@itmweb.com.
Copyright © 1999, Russ Finney, All Rights Reserved. Originally written for The Information Executive.
