ASPAN Leadership Development Institute

Joy Reece, President CBSPAN

Tanya Spiering, Pat Sendelbach, and I had the privilege of representing CBSPAN at the annual ASPAN Leadership Development Institute in St. Louis, Missouri this past fall. Approximately 75 ASPAN members attended the institute. I found the weekend to be filled with many opportunities to network and to learn. On Friday evening the attendees were divided into the five regions with their regional director as leader. We were asked to list issues and solutions to the problems faced by the components. It was not surprising to see the same issues in all the regions such as retention, getting members to become involved as officers, getting new members, communication, educational offerings, strategic planning, and how ASPAN can help the components.

On Saturday we heard about the touchdown approach to education and conference planning. Start early by selecting a date and location. Work within a budget. Select your speakers and always have a back up plan in case one speaker backs out at the last minute. Vendor support and applying for CEU’s were discussed. A session was devoted to creating a budget. The seven steps to follow in budget preparation are : review mission and goals, determine period of budget, identify programs, projects, services that will be offered, determine the needs of the organization, estimate the cost of the programs, estimate the expected revenues, and summarize information for each line item into totals.

One of the sessions talked about making your component a Magnet organization.

This included the GRAPE principle – growth, recognition, achievement, participation, and enjoyment. It talked about the benefits of being an ASPAN member – national recognized standards of perianesthesia nursing practice, networking, publications, reduced fees at educational offerings, scholarships, recognitions, and awards. Finally leadership practices that foster member retention were discussed – clear standards, personalized recognition, set the example, expect the best and celebrate together.

The last session ended with a dynamitic presentation by Dolly Ireland on making diversity a reality in your personal and professional life. She spelled Diversity as:

D…differences

I…innovation and creativity

V…vision

E…expectations…”raising the bar”

R…respect….’relight the lamp’

S…the S’s of leadership (self-image, self-esteem, self-control, self-motivation)

I…involvement

T…leadership “threads” (courage, goals, prayer, caring for self, challenge/change)

Y…YOU!”

In closing each attendee was given a disc with examples of job descriptions, polices, forms, budgets, awards, bylaws, plus many other items. I have given a copy of this to each district president for future reference and help.