Chapter News: What Do You Do When the Only Direction to Go is Up?

That was the exact situation in the spring of 2009, when a chapter’s educational committee chair was asked to serve as chapter president. The chapter was in turmoil, membership numbers had dropped, it had more than $12,000 in debts, and, unfortunately, the president had just resigned.

Many would have said the situation was hopeless, especially with the decline of the real estate market and home inspectors leaving the profession for steady paycheck jobs. One never knows if the decision to ask the education chair to serve as president was a stroke of genius or just dumb luck.

Nevertheless, it turned out that Tim Buell was the perfect choice for the situation, and I am sure the selection was based on leadership and management skills exhibited by producing successful continuing educational events for the chapter and growing the membership at the same time.

Needed a team

Tim realized he did not have the time, energy or stamina to do what needed to be done alone. His first step was to build a core group of leaders who established common goals they believed would let them achieve what most would believe was impossible. The core group included Carl Patterson, David Argabright, George Basista, Ken Harrington, Marty Eblin, Jim Thompson, Howard Snyder, Rick Szeles, B.K. Thompson and Tom Horning. All knew Tim believed in empowerment. He did not micro-manage, he set goals, assigned responsibilities and made each person accountable.

Add value for members

The vision for the chapter was to add value for membership. To achieve this, two goals were established: Get members more business and provide quality education. Before the Board made any decision, it asked: “Will this decision add value for our members?”

When the chapter goals were written, the leaders recognized they had to stop the turmoil and conflicts by improving communications. The only way to survive financially was to pay off the debt, build money in the chapter coffers and build back the chapter. It also was imperative to grow the membership.

Use email to build unity

To build member unity and involvement, the chapter elected to use one of the simplest options: email. When approval of items was needed, discussions or new ideas were posted and email was used for all to share their opinions, ideas or suggestions. In this way, everyone was able to voice his or her opinion, support or object in a non-confrontational manner. All could read the emails at their leisure, take time to think about the subject, form opinions and build on other suggestions to arrive at the best decision for the chapter. Also, Tim started monthly conference calls to discuss chapter business.

Promote the Profession

In addition to better communication, the leaders wanted to promote the profession by including all the home inspectors in Ohio, regardless of their affiliation. So, Tim invited North Central ASHI and Ohio NAHI chapters to participate in providing quarterly continuing-education events. The past two Spring Continuing Education events have been successful and have attracted attendees including NAHI’s president and vice president, ASHI’s past-presidents, the ASHI executive director/CEO, the current president and board members of each organization.

Learn More Next Month

To learn more about how this chapter accomplished a turnaround that, at one point, looked like a lost cause, come back next month. I promise you this is an inspiriting story for any chapter facing challenges big or small.