As I received the gavel from Kristin Huotari, our amazing immediate past president, this past Tuesday at the ACLEA Annual Meeting, I was honored to have the time to share a few thoughts on what’s ahead this next year for me as president and ACLEA as an organization. Thanks to the many who were able to join us in person, but I want to share these thoughts with the entire membership as well.

Recently, someone I had just met asked me if I traveled a lot. My response began with, “Well I used to travel all the time but then, dot, dot, dot, and now I’m traveling again, but it’s not like before.” It dawned on me that nearly every conversation with a new person included a pre-pandemic, pandemic, and post-pandemic narrative.

The post pandemic story always described how I and my life was different. And when I listened to others, I heard the same thing. “I used to be this, then the pandemic, now I’m this.” That’s true for ACLEA too. The lesson? The opportunity?

All the things that used to define us are now up for grabs. We are no longer burdened by the past—legacy work, relationships, processes, products, or notions of the future state. The old “ACLEA” is dead—the new “ACLEA” is ours for the making.

But I do want to first thank and acknowledge the ACLEA leaders, particularly the past presidents, with whom I’ve had the honor and pleasure of working for nearly 20 years and who helped me get to this place in ACLEA where I have the honor of being your president for the next year. Those presidents as I started volunteering as a speaker at conferences and webinars and joining some of the committees and task forces that work for ACLEA’s benefit, then as a leader as I chaired different SIGs and Committees, and finally through my many years on the ACLEA Executive Committee and as an officer:

• Alix Wong, Diane Morrison, Jeanne Heaton, Una Doyle, Karen Lee, Lucas Boling, Jennifer Flynn, Vince O’Brien, and most recently and importantly, Kristin Huotari.

Kristin, too, recognized that with so much change happening around us in the world, ACLEA needed to shift and adjust. We needed to refocus and ensure that our number one priority was engaging our members to guarantee that they saw the value of membership in a meaningful way. Under her leadership, we have moved the needle tremendously and will continue to work on the projects and the priorities we determined will best support the association and you, its members.

We can continue to create, with intention, the organization we want to be. But I can’t lead this organization like I would have done in pre-pandemic times because that organization and the people and members that worked for it no longer exist.

Throughout the pandemic, we had the opportunity to see a different side of our colleagues, peers, and other ACLEA members. On every video call we saw their lives through a tiny window – the spouse, dogs, kids, paintings, unmade beds—or maybe that was just me? We saw behind the corporate and social media curtain.

Our own lives as leaders, just as chaotic, got put on the backburner while we tried to protect our staffs’ jobs and make work a positive eye of calm in the pandemic hurricane of their lives.

ACLEA’s attention, particularly this past year with Kristin as president, has been on engaging our members, and while that will continue to be the north star to which the work we do points, I want to be sure that not only are we are looking at ensuring that you find value in your membership with ACLEA, MY main goal and focus this year will be to create a sense of belonging and connectedness for each and every one of you.

After more than two years of organizational disruption, physical separation, global health and environmental crises, a renewed call for racial justice, and divisive political rhetoric, what people want most is to be a part of something bigger than themselves. Like food and shelter, belonging is a basic human need. It represents a connection with people or place. For many of us, myself especially, our connection to our work, our colleagues, and ACLEA has been a haven from chaos; a place—and a community—to belong to.

Belonging puts a focus on how members feel.

As individuals, we are craving to be part of a wider community. Some want to lead, some want to be led, but we all thrive in an environment where there is a sense of belonging, in a place where we can share our knowledge and form positive, lasting relationships.

We belong when we are:

1. seen for our unique contributions;
2. connected to our colleagues;
3. supported in our daily work and career development; and
4. proud of our organization’s values and purpose.

This starts with making clear to the entire organization—and repeating the message often—that belonging is an essential value. And the more I talk about belonging, the more aware you, our members, will be that I’m committed to helping you feel it.

One of the most important approaches to building a sense of belonging is taking note of members’ contributions and achievements. When members have knowledge of the outcomes they help to produce, they become more aware of their successes and failures, improving their ownership and future quality of their work, and connecting with the beneficiaries of their work, increasing their sense of meaningfulness as well.

Throughout the year, I plan to regularly share success stories of individuals and of the organization. I plan to increase opportunities for connection, both formal and informal, so that members may provide feedback and learn from and teach and support and recognize the contributions of one another. I will work with the Executive Committee to act on feedback where possible and inform the membership of outcomes.

Key to increasing a sense of belonging and connectedness with our members will be me being relentless. Momentum takes time and energy, and involvement requires passion. You may have heard this several times recently, but I was once described as “aggressively friendly”—and while I’m fairly certain the speaker did not mean this as a compliment, I chose to see it so. I will keep pushing and getting better. Over time I believe these efforts will pay off.

Organizational involvement often starts small, and as a member recognizes personal value from the organization, they begin to make more of a personal investment back into it. Some of you will grow to become volunteers and board members. Some never will, but many of you will at least renew every year, and occasionally take a small step to help grow and strengthen the organization.

Every member has a role. It takes engagement and connection and a sense of belonging to help you to identify and play that role. And my role this year is to be “aggressively inclusive” and assist you in finding that connection within ACLEA.

Whether you’re reading this in the new e-newsletter or on the website blog, you’re probably noticing something different. In the Loop has a new look! After years of maintaining a separate newsletter and website blog, ACLEA is bringing its two main communications channels under the same brand—and giving that brand a snazzy new design.

In the Loop:  The website blog

As part of the rebranding effort, ACLEA’s Blog will now be called In the Loop. In addition to all the quality content that has always resided on the blog, the rebrandedblog will also house the columns and articles that previously only appeared in the In the Loop newsletter. These articles will be posted on a continuous basis so that members can check in on the blog from time to time and always find new content.

In the Loop:  The e-newsletter

While the ACLEA newsletter has always been called In the Loop, it now has a new design and format.  Instead of being formatted as a PDF newsletter that is posted on the ACLEA website, the new In the Loop e-newsletter has a sleek design that features headlines and teasers that link back to the In the Loop blog, where all the content now resides. The redesigned In the Loop e-newsletter will be emailed to members every other month.

Get Involved

As always, ACLEA is hungry for member-written content to feature on the blog and in the e-newsletter. To submit content or make content suggestions, simply email me at tslating@isba.org. Also, if you’re looking for a low-commitment way to get more involved in ACLEA, the Communications Committee is always looking for new members—feel free to reach out to me to volunteer or ask any questions you might have.

I hope you like the new look for In the Loop!

Whether you are a current SIG/Committee Chair or are interested in becoming one, be sure to check out our recently posted information video and sheet for SIG and Committee Chairs http://www.aclea.org/page/sig_committee_main

Longstanding member Peter Berge stepped down from ACLEA’s Executive Committee just a few months before he was to become ACLEA’s President. In recognition of his involvement in ACLEA’s Boot Camp, where he has taught both technology and marketing to new members and his countless contributions to ACLEA over the years, not only as a member of the EC, but as co-chair of the Technology SIG, speaker/presenter on many occasions, and above all as a strong advocate of the goals and values of the organization, the EC is pleased to announce the annual “Peter Berge Boot Camp Scholarship”.   

This scholarship acknowledges Peter's exceptional and ongoing dedication to ACLEA and recognizes his significant role in our signature member orientation program, the ACLEA Boot Camp.  

The scholarship is intended to reflect many of the values that Peter holds dear to his heart – continuous learning, mentoring and giving back to the organization.   

We thank Peter for his commitment and generosity to ACLEA.  

The scholarship will be in place for the 2018 Mid-Year Meeting.  

For further information, contact Laurie Krueger, Executive Director at aclea@aclea.org

At the Mid-Year meeting in Nashville, ACLEA recognized the contributions of two well-known, highly respected members, Pat Nester and Larry Center.

Pat was presented with the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award and Larry was presented with the President’s Award to recognize their contributions to CLE and the association over the years.

When asked to describe Pat and his contributions to the CLE profession, Larry provided me with the following,

“Pat has been a friend and mentor to so many of us within the CLE profession for more than 30 years.  He is respected, admired and, dare I say it, beloved, by dozens of us who have been fortunate enough to come under his influence.  He has both a pioneer and an innovator in continuing legal education. His leadership style is unmatched. His thoughtfulness is remarkable. His insight and wisdom have driven our profession. His passion and compassion continue to be the foundation of his decisions. We are all so lucky to have had Pat in our lives.”

Pat provided me with the following when asked the same question:

“Larry was probably the most frequent speaker at ACLEA programs over the last twenty years and deservedly so. His frequent focus was on the personal traits that CLE professionals need to lead and succeed. I think all of us experienced CLE folks think of Larry as the moral leader of ACLEA with the courage to see the underlying problems that we confront and to ask how we can change ourselves to deal with them. When you think about it, that’s what good education is all about, and Larry gave us--and me--a great model to emulate. Plus, putting aside CLE and ACLEA, Larry is just an excellent human being, and we are all privileged to know him.”

Thank you Pat and Larry for all that you've done and continue to do for CLE and ACLEA.