From Sheree Anne

Essential Leadership Skills for the Chamber of the Future

What got you here, won’t get you there. We hear this when rising up the professional ranks, but it also applies to how leadership styles have to adapt to changing dynamics. With chambers taking on more prominent leadership roles in our communities, and engaging in new, trickier issues, the skills needed to achieve success and have more impact have also changed.

When we think about organizational leadership, it’s how our teams lead, but also how our volunteer leaders approach their work. For those of you who have been around for a while, I wrote about leadership skills for this magazine back in 2021. Much has changed since then. In this new world order, these three skills are among the most critical to leading through these dynamic times.

Trusted Source | Trusted Partner

“Earn trust, earn trust, earn trust. Then you can worry about the rest.” – Seth Godin

Modern chamber leaders must think beyond being just a convener. Increased polarization, deepfakes, fake news, information overload and other issues impact trust. For a chamber to effectively bring together disparate parties in a way that creates an optimal environment for positive outcomes, your chamber must be among the most trusted entities in your market.

In today’s world, this often requires listening more than we talk, particularly when building relationships. To get at the heart of other parties' interests, we need to dismiss assumptions and grow trust through mutual understanding.

Are you listening to select voices in your region, or can all voices be truly heard? Inclusive leadership and welcoming all perspectives increases trust across your stakeholders and ensures you’re making decisions with the broadest array of insight possible.

Trust is also built on consistency. Are you showing up regularly, listening even when it’s difficult and showcasing transparency around decision making? Modern chambers must go beyond being collaborative. Now we must be artfully skilled at building strategic and lasting partnerships.

Future-focused, Nimble & Resilient

“The world is changing very fast. Big will not beat small anymore. It will be the fast beating the slow.” – Rupert Murdoch

Uncertainty abounds, whether it’s economic, geo-political, civic unrest, political shifts… change is happening at a faster pace than ever. We must reassess how we deliver value, serve our constituents and affect change. This doesn’t mean following the next shiny object. While our missions may not shift much, strategies and tactics will need to change.

Many chambers are the architects – or at least the conveners – of their community’s vision. Gaining alignment from all local stakeholders highlights your chamber’s role in shaping the future of your region, but it also positions you as that quintessential trusted leader and partner.

To be nimble and resilient requires setting clear boundaries. We try to do too much, as chambers and leaders. Your chamber should have limits – tied to your mission, vision and strategic plan – for what you won’t take on and how to prioritize your work. As a leader, you also need boundaries. Boundaries for your time, when to say no, what is deemed free vs. paid counsel to your members, and setting aside the space needed for rest, development and strategic thinking.

Authentic Leadership Guided by Emotional Intelligence

“…If you don’t have self-awareness, if you are not able to manage your distressing emotions, if you can’t have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far.” – Daniel Goleman

A key to authentic leadership is strong emotional intelligence. Understanding how you impact others, a clear sense of your values, motivations, communication skills and self-regulation all contribute to your ability to relate to and empower others.

In our complex world, the need for skill building for what have been called “soft skills” (I call them essential skills) is more important than ever. Successful leaders of next generation talent need to prioritize professional development. In fact, in order to ensure our leadership understands the importance of EQ in our roles, our entire senior team at ACCE underwent emotional intelligence assessments and training leveraging the book, “Emotional Intelligence 2.0.”

Leading with emotional intelligence means being true to your values. Our team co-created our staff values at a retreat two years ago. We recently revisited them to see if they’re still a fit, and to seek ways to improve our accountability at holding the team true to those values. When you hire and manage against a shared set of commitments to one another, it can strengthen connections and allow a diverse team to align on how we’ll do the work we do. It’s a powerful connector and leadership tool.

How are you embracing change at your chamber? What leadership skills have risen to the top as essential for you and your team? And how can ACCE help you advance your work? I’d love to hear from you.