2007 PMI Leadership Institute Meeting Ideas

Below are a selection of some of the strategic ideas from the PMIWDC Board members who attend the annual PMI Leadership Institute Meeting in Atlanta, GA in October 2007.

Have additional ideas of your own? Please let us know. We're glad to get your input.

Create a Balanced Score Card with 10 or less KPIs for the Chapter to coincide with the new PMI Performance Management Framework
Explore the Galveston/Clearwater and Houston Chapters' cruise program known as Seminars at Sea. This is a four day cruise on a luxury liner offering 14 PDUs with sponsors and has been a great success conducted for the past three years.

Nominate Jay Demas as Chapter Assistant Secretary in preparation for her taking over the position in January.
Stagger Board member terms.
Document our record retention plan.
- Investigate Association for Records Management and Administrators (ARMA).
- Document policy that states we will comply with laws and regulations.
- Consider classification of documents as primary, secondary and tertiary.
- Ensure Board roles and responsibly include responsibility for documentation.
- If we write a policy that states we retain documents for 3 years, then we are required to destroy them after that period.
- Contact Sharon Robbins of the PMI Central Virginia Chapter with any questions. They have an excellent policy on their website.
Approve the agenda and the previous meetings minutes along with confirming a quorum at the start of each meeting.

Hold "Meet the Board" happy hours in various locations to meet potential volunteers, to answer questions on our Chapter, to promote activities of the Chapter, etc.
Have greeters at the Chapter dinner meetings to introduce current and new members to each other.
Look into Time Tiger, a volunteer management system that the PMI Southern Ontario chapter is using.
Hold annual volunteers party which invites sponsors (and IS sponsored).
Leaders must find ways to attract NEW leaders who are qualified, enthusiastic, and who can motivate not only the membership but also the leadership team (Board).
Develop "squid eye": the ability to see the 'tell' (as in poker) and the ability to see what the squid doesn't want you to see. Be more attuned to what is really being said/conveyed.
Hold fierce conversations (real); come out from behind the conversation/issue and make it real; not a lot of 'real' going on. Unreal conversations scare us and are expensive to organizations. Careful conversations are failed conversations. Don't be afraid to address real issues.
Be present with the person to whom your talking. This is rare. Be nowhere else. The quality of your conversations/relationships will improve greatly.

Share with Chapter members the ideas that each of our attendees gained by attending the Leadership Institute Meeting as evidence of our responsible stewardship of Chapter funds.

Consider PMIWDC as "Holding Chapter" with "Branches"
Branch should be 250+ members at a location
On organization: high Board turnover is seen as bad!
Finance has three major deliverables - 1 cash flow, 2 balance sheet, 3 income statement (PMIWDC has all three).
Policy and responsibility include "maintain and provide records in the proper place."
Event forms should include our Tax ID#, status as a 501(c) (6) corporation, a copy of tax exempt letter from IRS, w-9 form, insurance policy # and summary information to register event.
Our by-laws should have a "hold harmless" clause.
Expand internal leadership training to three tracks: executive, manager, volunteer.
Provide training on procurement process and managing contracts.

Speakers: Improve sharing of speaker names across chapters, specifically within our Region. Program directors (we go by various names and titles) will maintain contact in order to recommend outstanding speakers that we have seen or hosted.

Develop a PMIWDC clothing item (polo, windbreaker, etc.) for sale as a fundraiser and to increase the identity of our members.
Initiaite a virtual collaboration ability using something like www.userplane.com.
Engage more closely with PMI on their Enterprise Architecture Initiative (EAI).
Highlight a volunteer a month on the website
Stagger Board member terms so we don't rotate the entire Board every 2 years.

This was my first experience at a PMI conference and it was wonderful. I learned a tremendous amount of information. It was an opportunity to meet (in some case) and socialize with the BOD. Thank you for the experience.
Funding permitted, continue to involve ambitious volunteers in events such as this one.
Susan Scott was an energized speaker and I believe we can all apply her comments in our everyday lives. (i.e. Delete the word “but” and include “add” in your conversations)
The PMF is a great idea and I am glad we are participating in the pilot program. This includes understanding and providing what our members need/want.
Participate in virtual communities. Here is a link to log on http://componentleadership.pmi.bluestep.net/ and here is a link to the FAQ http://www.pmi.org/PDF/VCP_FAQs_Final_Atlanta.pdf.
Learning how to complete awards applications.