Baby Steps to Reforming a Chamber

It has been nearly month since CIPE’s ChamberL.I.N.K.S. program participants have gone back to their own chambers and associations.  When they met in Washington their minds were buzzing with new ideas and approaches to improve their own organizations.  They eagerly shared their experiences gained at local chambers of commerce in the U.S. with one another and with the CIPE staff.  Through their discussion they came to commit themselves to work to change their own chambers of commerce and associations  from the inside out – improving membership services, broadening their organizations’ reach and scope, performing more effective advocacy,  and becoming the premier business organization in their area.

But now that they are back at their own organizations, transformed by the experiences here in the United States, they are facing resistance from their own colleagues on implementing their new ideas en mass.  So they have begun by taking baby steps towards change, choosing those new programs that cost the least and promise visible results – perhaps by holding a new member orientation or a weekly coffee catch-up for members to improve communication and gain feedback on chamber initiatives.  The point is that these young chamber and association professionals are not disheartened by their colleagues timid response to their new ideas, they are taking action where they can in the present and laying the groundwork for real reform in the future.

When I receive their emails that tell me the details of the challenges they face in reforming their chambers and associations I can not help but notice there is always a sense of optimism that comes through.  You can read between the lines – if we can change just one small thing, greater changes will soon follow.  In the line of work CIPE is in that is all any of us can hope for.

Published Date: June 22, 2009