Get on the Bus!
There were many exciting moments and events at this past year’s AORE Conference in Portland. I especially want to
thank the PDX host team, National Office and all the member volunteers who delivered us yet another amazing
conference. I heard from many friends and colleagues that there seemed to be a new buzz of energy throughout the
conference venue; from the keynote speakers and dynamic workshops to the ridiculously awesome VooDoo
doughnuts.
One highlight for me at this year’s conference was being a part of the AORE’s first ever Leadership Institute. On the
Tuesday before the conference, Committee Chairs and active volunteers who move the AORE forward were invited to
attend a ½ day leadership development workshop where we focused on and started to craft the vision for the future of
AORE. I was inspired to be in a room with 25 other AORE members who want to help the AORE grow and innovate our
profession. After a community lunch of getting to know each other, we broke into small groups and reviewed the
Strategic Plan. The groups, representing all five of the AORE committees, started to pull out the action items requested
through our member survey and align them within their committee goals. We were committed to turning the Strategic
Plan into a 5-year strategic reality. From the work of the small groups, each committee now has annual goals for 2015
that are aligned with the strategic plan. Hopefully, this is a process that we repeat each year.
Prior to the Leadership Summit, I never really thought of the NO Staff, BOD and Committee members as one collective
leadership team. Funny? We teach leadership and teamwork through our programs but I totally missed this parallel. To
set the tone for the Leadership Institute, we introduced leadership guru Jim Collin’s model for transforming good
teams to great teams, which is exactly what we are hoping to accomplish through the Strategic Plan and the Leadership
Institute. We want the AORE to be nationally recognized as an influencer in areas of education, public policy for land
use and inclusive recreation that is accessible to everyone.
In his book, Good to Great, he uses the metaphor of a bus. For an organization to become great, he says we need to get
people on the bus. The Leadership Institute became the AORE’s bus on that Tuesday before the conference. But getting
people on the bus is not enough, we need to get the right people on the bus… AND sitting in the right seats! By this we
mean that members need to feel comfortable knowing where the AORE is