Each January people set goals for themselves - commonly known as resolutions. While many resolutions end up being dropped, folks often make progress on others. Although most resolutions focus on personal issues, let me suggest some potential professional and organizational options in addition to the personal resolutions for the coming year:

Volunteer

Volunteerism provides great opportunities for professional growth. Whether you connect with your church, a local service organization, your professional association or another group, volunteerism gives you a chance to practice your leadership skills and other management skills, all while contributing to your community or association.

Staff Development

We are in a field that relies heavily on staff, and if staff is our most necessary resource, then investing in staff makes good business sense! Most organizations spend less than 1% of their budget on staff education. Numerous organizations, including LeadingAge Texas, offer a variety of professional development opportunities along with scholarship options for those who have tight budgets.

Network

Plan to network more with your colleagues in Texas and nationally. As you know, most ideas for improving your organization and your work don’t just come spontaneously – they are a result of exchanges between you and your fellow professionals. Be on the lookout for more information about our upcoming spring network meetings and our annual conference, both great options to meet with your peers.

Collaborate

Look for opportunities to collaborate. This is a new age and partnering with others often leads to market advantage and cost savings.

Benchmark

Participate in surveys. Increasingly, aging services organizations are becoming more data-driven. Filling out surveys, while tedious, can give you great benchmarking data to improve your operations. This data is going to be used in the future for payment enhancements, so get used to benchmarking – it is here to stay!

Advocate

Increase your advocacy efforts. Advocacy matters much in our field - we are heavily regulated and rely on government for much of our funding. There are dramatic changes taking place in the aging services field and only by advocating for policies that are beneficial to us and our consumers, can we expect better results. Contact Alyse Meyer, our Director of Public Policy, for more information about how you can become involved in our advocacy efforts, including becoming a Key Contact for your community.

Register today for our upcoming Public Policy Workshop & Capitol Day on January 25-26!

Staff Recognition

Value your staff. We all know that an excellent staff makes all the difference in our field. So if staff is one of your organization’s greatest assets, then act accordingly.
Spend time and resources to develop their skills, acknowledge their talents through awards (plan to nominate them for the 2016 LeadingAge Texas Award Program) and
other recognitions. Most of all, simply find ways to show appreciation for the work they do.

Lead

Take steps to be a better leader. One of the best ways to develop leadership skills is
to volunteer (see #1) for leadership positions (your association provides great opportunities for that.) Chairing a committee or being a project lead gives you valuable leadership experience that will translate into other aspects of your career. Needless to say, being well-informed on the issues affecting your organization is necessary to lead in today’s times.

Register today for our upcoming annual Leadership Conference: "Energizing your Personal and Professional Presence” in February!

Be Informed

As has been stated often, we are in an age of dramatic and rapid change. We need to stay on top of issues and trends if we want to survive, let alone thrive in the future. Read the newsletter, attend educational programs, attend networking meetings, and call your colleagues to discuss how they are dealing with change.

Be Healthy

Maintaining your health and the health of your staff is important so you can be effective in your work. Find ways to get grounded and stay balanced with vacation, quiet time, outside interests, exercise, and a healthy diet.

This list is by no means complete. Help me add to it by leaving a comment below - I would be very interested in hearing some of your professional resolutions for 2015.

Wishing you a prosperous and healthy 2015!!
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George Linial, CAE, CASP
President & CEO, LeadingAge Texas