Over the past year, I have been serving on our state REALTOR® association's Governance Committee. Our objective was to review our current governance structure, survey our membership, and make recommendations for the future of our association.
For our Texas Association, we had not updated or reviewed our major governance structure since 2007. When you think back to what was going on all of those years ago, A LOT has changed not only in our society, but also for real estate. For Texas, it was time to take a look at many issues affecting our industry.
What our Governance group tackled was:
- Executive and Board of Directors - numbers, geographical location, and representation
- State Regional Map - a deep dive into the current map of how our Regions are drawn and discussions of what the future Regional map should look like based on the size of our state and where our members serve.
- Leadership Qualifications - we looked deeply into the current qualifications and processes for top leadership positions at the state level. As we all know, this process must be fair and rigorous for those members who represent the organization.
- Nominations & Elections - it was important to look at our current processes for these processes and make recommendations that would create better pathways while improving the current process.
We heard from focus groups from all areas of our association across the state. This information was compiled, discussed, assessed, and recommendations have been made. Today, our Executive Board heard the results of this process and will vote on any changes at our yearly Conference.
My takeaways from being involved in this process:
- Taking time to review any association, company, or group's bylaws, structure, etc. As things change in this world, it is important to take an assessment of many things that drive and govern our associations.
- Hearing from members of any group is important. It is also imperative that members take the time to complete surveys and be able to voice their opinions.
- Being willing to look at things differently. What worked years ago may not necessarily work today.
I was happy to serve on this group and would recommend being involved when you can. Change for all of us is inevitable. Learning to embrace change for positive growth is so important. It will be interesting to see where we land on the final decisions that are facing our association.
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