On Friday and Saturday, January 11th & 12th, I had the opportunity to attend the AADE Leadership Forum in Chicago, Illinois. This day and a half conference was held at the beautiful Gwen Hotel in downtown Chicago. The conference was designed to help prepare volunteer CB & COI leaders for their roles in AADE Leadership. It provided networking opportunities with other volunteer leaders in order to facilitate sharing of ideas on best practices in diabetes education, resource management, and policy development. Specific tools and information were provided which are designed to enhance the leader effectiveness and performance in working with group members. The conference also helps align volunteer leaders goals with the organizational goals, advance the role of the Diabetes Educator, raise awareness of the AADE’s new VISION for the specialty, build leadership skills, and develop additional ideas for effective advancement of the vision.
Some forum highlights included Chuck McFarlane and Karen Kimmis’ session on Leading Change: Your Role in Advancing the Specialty and Lawrence Hedbloom’s session on Leadership – Goal Setting, delegation and measuring outcomes.
Tips for your CB colleagues & effective planning they have used with their CB was presented by Kellie Rodriguez and Barb Kocurek (Texas delegation). They effectively described the importance of membership engagement, monthly CB and LNG calls, challenges in the CB structure and outlined a structure for improvement of your CB. Assisting & encouraging new state members to sign up for LNG announcements was also part of their strategy to increase engagement.
Ken Zielske spoke on Utilizing Your AADE resources and encouraged keeping a spreadsheet on each CB & LNG’s yearly accomplishments. There are currently 25.5 free CEU’s available to members because of the generosity of corporate sponsors. These CEU’s currently include 6 hrs each on Continuing Glucose Monitoring and Individualizing & Optimizing SMBG’s, and 4 hrs on The Insulin Solution: Overcoming Barriers to Insulin Use.
Finances & My AADE Network Reporting: Nuts and Bolts of CB finance management was presented by Brad Neal, AADE Chief Financial Officer and Cindy Wilson, AADE Volunteer Engagement Coordinator. The fiscal year begins Jan. 1 and ends Dec. 31. AADE National is the central financial & accounting department for the state chapters. A sample annual financial plan is available from Patty Mangano in the 2019 Leadership Forum Presenter Slides.
Elaine Lober presented Growing LNG’s: Opportunities and Challenges. She spoke about MODE which is the Michigan Organization of Diabetes Educators which was an early organization of educators and which later became a chapter of the Michigan AADE. They publish a yearly resource manual for diabetes educators and have 6 LNG regions. They also have professional liaisons which include a member from each of the following organizations: the ADA, Michigan Department of HHS, and the JDRF.
Lisa Hodgsen presented on New York’s Model of local ADA chapter. Their state has 4 LNG’s which she states make for a stronger Coordinating Body. Many times officers for the CB are recruited from the LNG’s. She emphasized knowing your role, creating a plan, keeping members engaged and informed, being a good listener, empowering members, keeping in fresh by always looking for new leaders, celebrating successes, expecting challenges, making it fun, and keep moving forward.
The conference was really excellent and was a chance to connect with other AADE state leaders, refresh & renew enthusiasm for your upcoming leadership role, and enjoy the beautiful hotel, great restaurants, and even shopping that was very close and convenient. Additionally, there was a great deal of helpful information and networking. Consider volunteering or running for election with your local Coordinating Body. Missouri has a few open positions and we would love for you to have this GROWTH opportunity.
Susan Felten, FNP-BC, APRN, MSN, CDE
Missouri Coordinating Body Grassroots Coordinator