Good governance creates a great organization
Edward P. Salek, CAE, Executive Director | TLT Headquarters Report February 2009
STLE’s new Constitution and Bylaws deserves your enthusiastic support.
Enacting STLE’s new bylaws is the right thing to do and has been done in the right way.
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STLE members currently are voting to endorse a new Constitution and Bylaws for the organization. The message from President Robert Bruce in this month’s TLT lays out the specific and compelling reasons why the society needs to take this step as the society approaches its 65th anniversary on March 3.
As executive director of the organization, I do not have a vote in this process. But I want to join the dialogue on this issue and add my point of view as a certified association executive and a management professional. The message is quite simple: This is the right thing to do, and it has been done in the right way. STLE’s new Constitution and Bylaws deserves your enthusiastic support.
What makes me so sure about this? While association management is not an exact or empirical science, it is a business discipline where best practices are captured by organizations such as the Association Forum of Chicagoland, the nation’s oldest society representing association management professionals.
Since 1996 Association Forum has used a peer-review process to create and revise a series of professional practice statements. There are now 20 statements in use by the profession, including one on bylaws.
The statement, which can be found in full on the STLE Web site, is helpful in explaining the purpose and content of bylaws as well as how they should be continuously reviewed and periodically modernized. It says in part: “Simply put, bylaws are the fundamental rules by which an organization governs itself. Bylaws can be considered the organization’s contract with its members. They state, interpret or implement the
general governance policies of the organization. They determine the structure of the organization, the rights of the participants in the structure and the framework within which those rights are exercised.
The statement goes on to explain that bylaws should be tailored to the specific needs and expectations of the organization, be easy to understand and reasonable to implement and be clearly and concisely written, avoiding unnecessary legal jargon. Finally, it emphasizes that, “The board of directors and key staff should be the primary driver in developing and amending the association’s bylaws.”
On April 1 I begin a one-year term as chair of the Association Forum. In addition to being an honor, there is also an interesting coincidence associated with this role. For the past year, Association Forum also has been reviewing and revising its bylaws. In fact, STLE’s legal counsel is also counsel to the Forum. My Forum board colleagues, who assisted in the effort to revise the bylaws, were impressed to learn that STLE has achieved broad involvement from many sectors of the society as we seek to modernize and create a mechanism for intelligent change. They regard this as evidence that all good organizations adapt to the times in much the same way.
Let me cite one more fundamental principle of association management: good governance leads to good outcomes. To quote the Professional Practice Statement one last time, organizations should “approach the process in a strategic way to ensure that the bylaws support and advance the organization’s ability to achieve its mission and respond effectively to its environment.”
I urge you to read the documentation that’s presented in this issue of TLT and also available online on the STLE Web site. The comments are transparent and compelling. Then vote yes with the confidence that you are part of an organization firmly focused on evolving and adapting to pursue our mission and meet the needs of members in the future.
You can reach Certified Association Executive Ed Salek at esalek@stle.org.