For Board & Committee Leaders
For the leaders
carrying the weight of
a year of real work.
If you serve on the board, chair a committee, lead a Roundtable, or volunteer at the operational level of NAWBO Columbus, this is the most direct page on this site.
Three Commitments
The leadership culture we are building
01
One unified leadership team.
Not siloed committees doing parallel work. Not VPs working around each other. The work crosses boundaries — programming intersects with corporate partners, membership with communications, public policy with everything — and our culture should reflect that.
02
Volunteer time will be respected.
Most of you are running businesses, raising families, holding down careers, and serving on top of that. Meetings will start on time, have agendas, and end on time. Asks will be specific. People who quietly hold things together will not be invisible.
03
Succession starts immediately.
Every committee chair should be thinking about the next chair from day one. Every VP should be developing leaders behind them. The strength of this chapter cannot rest on the same handful of people carrying everything.
The First 30 Days
Alignment, not initiatives.
The first month of this presidential term will focus less on launching initiatives and more on building alignment. Specifically:
- One-on-one conversations with every board member and committee leader to understand what is working, what is not, and what each leader hopes to contribute
- Clear shared expectations around engagement, communication, and accountability
- Alignment on a focused strategic framework for the year so we are not chasing every opportunity that crosses the desk
- An honest evaluation of committee structure and where additional volunteer support is needed to prevent burnout
- A few achievable short-term wins that build momentum and confidence
You can read more about the strategic framework on The Year Ahead.
The Asks
What's being asked of committee leaders
Run your committee like a small business.
Set goals at the start of the year. Measure progress quarterly. Communicate results. Make it easy for new volunteers to plug in. Committees that operate well attract volunteers; committees that drift, lose them.
Connect across committees, not just within yours.
Programming should be talking to Communications about visibility. Membership should be talking to Roundtables about retention. Standing connections create the kind of coordinated work that lifts the whole organization.
Develop the leaders behind you.
Who chairs your committee next year? Who leads it the year after? If you do not have answers, that's the first thing to fix.
Recognition
How appreciation works this year
The work of leading committees and serving on the board is real work. The incoming president is committing to recognition being intentional, consistent, and personal — not reserved for year-end and not reserved for the most visible roles.
- Regular member and volunteer spotlights
- Leadership acknowledgements during chapter events
- Personalized thank-you communication
- Opportunities to elevate your business and expertise through chapter visibility
- Pathways to deeper involvement when you want them
Appreciation should also go sideways, not just top-down. If you see a peer leader carrying something, say something.
If something is not working
Tell us. Directly.
A culture of accountability requires the freedom to surface what isn't working without fear that you are damaging your standing in the organization. If a committee is under-resourced, say so. If a partnership isn't producing for members, say so. If communication is breaking down, say so.
The mechanism is simple: talk to your VP, talk to the president, or talk to the chapter manager. We will address it.
Looking Ahead