A View from the Woods.

My mother often told me to practice what you preach. At six, that didn't mean much to me. However, as the years have passed (and we need not count them for the illustration of this story), I have learned repeatedly the meaning behind those words.

To be a superb association, we need to practice what we preach. We promote the competencies achieved through the camp experience. Those competencies are good for any business!

The Community: We are always talking about the camp experience as the opportunity to feel a sense of community. That concept is critical to an association:

* To create a culture of acceptance where one group need not feel marginalized by another.

* To acknowledge our differences yet celebrate what we share.

* To embrace a culture of trust and shared values.

Each camp and every cabin group strives to build such a community. We can as an association as well, thus growing in size and capacity.

Caring Adults: Each summer, camps mobilize superior humans to model the best an individual has to offer:

* To discover a safe place to practice conflict mediation.

* To be heard with assumptions set aside and without judgement; this form of dialogue fosters creativity and innovation.

* To acknowledge a shared passion for the work one does on a day-to-day basis.

Group synergy can carry us through the tough times. An association can harness such energy to impact needed change and not only survive but thrive.

Risk Management: The camp community acknowledges that no environment is riskfree. However, we do feel we can manage the risk in a way that potential harm is greatly diminished. Healthy environments recognize and plan for risk and seek the lessons learned from mistakes to improve. Knowledge and learning are a part of our evolution. We welcome healthy risk-taking as a means to growth. This, too, is true of a healthy association.

I believe when ACA, as an association, practices what camps preach, we can be a better organization. We need a movement that causes people in the camp industry to recognize shared strengths and to have the courage to unite their voices. Our value is too great to splinter our efforts and lose our voices in a cacophony of shouts. We need the beauty of a chorus -- a community, if you will. We need not argue points of difference but discover shared values and outcomes where we can focus all of our efforts toward those achievements. Debating the finer points may be an exciting academic practice after the goal has been established; however, myopic vision can often cause us to miss the total vista. We must care enough to suspend prejudices until people have been heard.

Finally, association business is not risk-free. We need to acquire an appetite that can tolerate a level of ambiguity. We are functioning in a business world that is rampant with change and unknowns. We must take the lessons we've learned and boldly step forward, To hesitate too long in today's world can cause one to be left behind. Remember, learning plus risk has been called managed opportunity.

So, upon reflection, my mother wasn't so far from the truth after all.

Peg Smith, ACA Executive Director