Good morning friends and colleagues!
Today’s blog post is an interactive one and I’d ask you to start a conversation across our state by commenting below.
A week ago, I was lucky enough to travel to Chicago to attend AADE’s state coordinating body training where AADE state board leaders from across the country all gathered in a room to brainstorm how to better engage our members in 2018.
I should backup and tell you a little about me: I am new to the board and the state of Arizona in general. When I first moved to Arizona, I was looking to form colleagues and looked on the AZAADE website where I didn’t find much activity or events but did find the names of the board members. I had come from a state in which there was more activity than I could handle in the AADE Diabetes Community. So being persistent, I reached out to our AZAADE president, Virginia Boomershine, to figure out when the next meeting was or any other ways I could get to know other diabetes educators in my state. Quite to my surprise, she not only eagerly shared this information with me but also asked “would you like to sit on the board? We have open positions.” So in a matter of minutes I went from not knowing anything about the Arizona chapter to helping run it. Like most diabetes educators, I have a little bit of what I call a “Yes problem” and this is why I’m writing to you today as an AZAADE board member.
So being still fairly new to the state and attending this training last week, it led me to many questions and not many answers (as a training is supposed to do). The top 2 questions I had were:
1. Why did I have to contact the Chapter President to access information on activities AZAADE was holding in the coming months?
2. Why, when I inquired about getting information, was I offered a board position? Weren’t there a long list of folks already in the state who would love this opportunity?
I’m still not 100% sure on the answers to either of these question, but my gut is telling me it has to do with member engagement. We all have very busy lives with very busy careers and patients schedules and meetings, etc. I completely can relate to this... but I for one, also think we can do a little better. If you think about it, you’re paying AADE money each year. Being fairly frugal, I always want to get more bang for my buck- don’t you too?
So just imagine if someone didn’t take the initiative to reach out- they wouldn't know how to get involved. So as a solution perhaps we should list more activities in the Diabetes community on our website. However, going back to the 2nd question I asked- we have a vacancy in our Technology chair position, the position that would normally take care of this.
So clearly we need involvement from each and every one of you to create meaningful experiences for all members. Much like I do when I provide counseling to my patients, my first step in figuring this out is doing an assessment, so here goes (the interactive part):
1. As a member of AZAADE, what do you want out of 2018? Would you like to see more:
A. Education and if so, in what form: in-person, electronic, hands on, etc?
B. Networking and colleague support: perhaps a more robust AZAADE network page or an ask AZAADE network electronic box or a Facebook/twitter page.
C. None of the above and just fun activities: let’s face it, we work really, really hard and sometimes it’s just nice to bond with other professionals who know exactly your struggles, challenges and successes.
D. Are there other things that would benefit you from professional standpoint we haven’t thought about?
Now, here’s where the hard part comes in for you- as a small group sitting on the board, we can’t go at this alone. We need each and every one of our members to play an active role. Now that might not be as much of a time commitment as you think. A small role might be as simple as writing a blog post every few month- 200 words on a topic that interests you for which you want to get your state colleagues input. Maybe it’s being the photographer and capturing all the fun we have here in Arizona. Perhaps it’s hosting a morning coffee and discussion with colleagues on a hot topic in diabetes care. If this article is eliciting even more excitement in you, maybe you’ll take on a slightly more significant role and sit on the board in one of the multiple vacant seats we currently have. Whatever it is, I challenge and encourage you to get involved. We all have our own individual talents we can share and we will not be able to make our chapter more robust without more member involvement.
Now if you are thinking about the board, and I truly hope you are, the question you have is likely the same I had when I was considering getting more involved- time. We all want more of it and we never can seem to get enough of it. Honestly, in my 1 year tenure as Finance lead, I have to say that the time commitment is fairly minimal. On average you can expect to spend about 10 minutes per week. A very small investment on a very big return in the form of colleagues, learning and camaraderie. I have heard from others in the state the desire to have a more robust Arizona chapter. Again, much like I do when I work with patients, I will encourage baby steps but I know if we all pull together, we can do this AZAADE thing better! It truly is going to take all of us though! Please leave comments below so we can get this conversation going!
In health,
-Lynn Lanza, MS, RD, CDE