April.6.2017

President’s Message: Update From the Board

In August, your board sat down for two intensive strategic planning sessions (facilitated by BPW member Shelley Keyes of SK Transitions), where we accomplished setting our goals for the 2016 – 2018 term. These goals are:

1. Raise the profile of BPW Saskatoon so we are recognized as the ‘go to organization’ for the voice of and resources for working women

2. BPW Saskatoon has a sustainable and diverse membership that supports our members to grow and thrive

In January, we met again with Shelley to help us set our ‘Decision Making Criteria’. She lead us in a team development and brainstorming activity so we could dig deeper with our goals determining ‘what is working’ vs ‘what isn’t working’, and ‘what is missing in action’. Armed with post-it notes and sharpies, we came up with strategies to achieve those goals as a team. It was a very productive meeting! At our most recent meeting, we organized our collection of post-its of which strategies would fit together, which ones needed more explanation, and which categories did each goal fit under. We then prioritized them as high, medium, and low. This is all leading to an action plan to carry out these strategies.

So what are some of those strategies? Here are a few: to provide funding to send a non-board members to the National AGM as a delegate on behalf of BPW Saskatoon, re-vamp the BPW website to able more user and carry-out friendly administrative duties, succession planning for upcoming available board and committee positions, how to attract engaged members who want to be part of BPW committees, and how we can build and foster partnerships with other women’s’ groups in Saskatoon. Let me tell you that as someone who has never sat on a formal board before, this whole process has been eye-opening and very educational. At times it has been tough, especially due to the length of the processes, but the progress made has re-energized us and we are excited to be moving on to the next phase. We will have board positions opening up this year; Programs Director, Young BPW Director, Secretary, and Vice President, so if you are interested in gaining board experience, I highly recommend you reach out. It is truly an incredible opportunity, especially with the amazing women and support network that is BPW Saskatoon.