NAHB Associate Senior Leadership's Future
It seems like only yesterday that we were trying our most recent attempt to bring associates into senior leadership for our federation. As one of the national associate members who was out front of this initiative I was met with quite a few different opinions on this subject. Quite a few members were against the idea of an associate senior officer. The associate senior officer debate caused a rift in long time and valued friendships.
As
you may know I can be strong willed and my goal for an associate to be a senior
officer shut down my ability to listen to others’ thoughts that differed from
mine. As time went by, and further from the IBS board meeting where the vote
eventually took place, I had the opportunity to sit down and have discussions
with a few builders to learn that their opposition wasn’t that associates
should not be a non ladder senior officer. It
was that associates needed to be considered for senior leadership the same way builders are considered; a
principal of the company they work for and the same financial and business
audits for certification. If the associate candidate is an employee,
a minimum two year employment contract
(coinciding with leadership term), with NAHB activities allowed and included under the contract, for the company
they work for.
Imagine,
for a moment, an NAHB actively engaged associate, who became the associate
senior officer, and their employer either saying they can’t attend national
anymore (happened more than a few times) or, worse, were laid off (think the
last several years). How embarrassing for that associate as an individual? How
damaging is that for the image of NAHB? I never took that into consideration
when this proposed position was being hotly debated, and if I had listened to
some of these builder leaders more carefully,
I would have asked the moderator of the 2011-12 National Area Chairmen and National Associate Chairman,
who brought this proposed bylaw change forward, to modify or table the recommendation, so
the criteria that was being suggested could have been thoroughly discussed. In
fact, a great percentage of members didn’t listen carefully to each other and
valuable lessons were learned.
You
know me and you know I’m direct and will say what’s on my mind. There are no
hidden agendas with me. You also know that I believe that I have the best
interests of our federation at heart and I will always follow the best path for
builders to have opportunities to build so associates can have opportunities to
work.
When
I am wrong, I say I am wrong….. I was wrong.
Mike
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