In This Edition:
1.
Advisory Boards: Empowerment Formalized
2.
Here's How I do It
3.
Eliciting Participation
Advisory Boards: Empowerment Formalized
Of all the strategies for a achieving managing the pace with grace, for
getting things done, and for attaining Breathing Space, drawing upon the
wisdom of others has to rank high up the list. I have an advisory board of
directors and I suggest that you devise one as well. Your initial response
might be, "Okay, Jeff, you're an author and a speaker. I can see why people
might want to be a member of your advisory board. Me? I simply work at XYZ
organization assembling computer chips. Who would want to be on my board?"
There are lots of people who would like to be on your board!
If you poll most people whom you know, you'll find that they've never been
asked to be on a board in their entire lives. They've heard about people on
boards, but they've been never asked.
Begin to look for people in your immediate surroundings who can be members
of your advisory board. These could include people in local associations,
one or two people from work, perhaps somebody from your church or community
group, perhaps a mentor as well.
Here's How I do It
I'll briefly describe my advisory board so that you'll have ideas as to who
you might choose to be on yours. I have two people from radio, a radio host
and a radio manager. I also have a couple of people from associations, both
national and local. I have a lawyer or two, a magazine editor and a
newspaper editor, a professor, a high school teacher, and three
entrepreneurs.
I invite the whole group to dinner twice each year. It doesn't cost as much
as you might think; you can usually feed everyone for under $180.00. I let
everyone know in advance what career and business challenges I'd like to
tackle at the session.
First we have dinner, usually some kind of smorgasbord or a buffet.
Afterwards, I pass out the agenda, which is a repeat of the questions I
circulated to them in advance before that evening. One by one we discuss the
things that I want to get done and they freely give me their ideas. I turn
on my pocket dictator and capture it all!
I record everything and later carefully transcribe each of those gems. You
might think, "Sure, people will come to my advisory board dinner once or
twice, but would they come over and over again?" My board has met 14 times
and I almost have to laugh because I get requests from people I've never met
who have said, "So and so is on your board and suggested that you might
invite me to be on it as well."
Eliciting Participation
What if assembling an advisory board is bit much for you right now? For
whatever you're trying to accomplish, when you want or need to recruit
others, you can appeal to people's reasons for participating.
The following list, origin unknown, frequently appears in chamber of
commerce newsletters under the title "inducing people to volunteer." The
breadth and depth of the items on the list speak for themselves.
1. Fill time
2. Repay a perceived indebtedness
3. Because someone they love benefits
4. To set an example for children
5. To work as a family
6. Someone they love is also involved
7. To meet people
8. To please someone else
9. To have fun
10. To gain skills
11. To gain experience
12. To be visible
13. To gain credit
14. To express their religion or belief
15. To find happiness
16. Because of tradition
17. To employ otherwise unused gifts or skills
18. As part of a group
19. To maintain health
20. To explore new learning, ideas
21. To heal
22. To avert loneliness
23. Because of interest
24. As a hobby
25. Out of concern
26. To receive a tax benefit
27. To counter-point paid work
28. As an extension of a job
29. Because they were assigned
30. To survive tragedy (cope)
31. To test leadership skills
32. To gain recognition
33. To acquire self-confidence
34. To be a change agent
35. To right a wrong
36. To work in a safe place
37. To save money
38. To have a purpose
39. To be a good neighbor
40. To get out of the house
41. To keep active
42. To experience new lifestyles
43. To feel a sense of power and success source
