Securing your own legacy of leadership.

Association executives piloting organizations of all sizes and in all areas of the world are pinpointing recruitment, development, and retention of motivated and committed volunteer leaders as challenges ranking among our most difficult. Today's much-lamented labor shortage, particularly of highly skilled and talented achievers, must certainly count association elected leaders among the most elusive of its talent pool. This deficit, however, presents a unique positive for those of you now in volunteer leadership positions. You have the opportunity to place leadership perpetuation as a cornerstone of your own term of office.

Your staff team is charged with the overall responsibility for executing the program of work as authorized by the governing body, be it in budget development and sound fiscal management; organizational operations and systems improvements; effective communication and advocacy programs; professional development programs for your members; or membership recruitment and retention. As you and your fellow elected leaders take on policy development and issues particular to your industry or profession, consider also tackling the expansive goal of leadership development.

The task reaches well beyond your own term of office and recognizes the increased demands and reduced time that conspire to move the search process into unfamiliar territory. Finding and training successors for future leadership no longer involves a simple passing of the torch. You'll have to develop a structured plan while being certain to create the kind of environment that will entice the best in your field to your boardroom.

But the payoff can be substantial. By advancing an agenda that places greater priority on leadership recruitment and training, today's elected leaders stand a better chance of drawing top talent to the table. Such a strategy can create lasting results in a self-regenerating continuum of organizational growth, success, and synergy at all levels.

Today's association leader is a role model for all members in the organization and thereby has a unique window of opportunity to reach out to those with leadership qualities and professional stature, encouraging them to consider future leadership roles. While your term as a volunteer officer or director may be brief, it includes the opportunity to be remembered as the leader who chose to focus on the association's future leadership needs by securing the commitment of fellow members to build on your own accomplishments in the years ahead.