By: Eric Adams, Adams + Beasley Associates
Happy Summer to everyone! We made it to another season of sunny days and breezy nights here in New England. I truly hope as everyone manages their busy schedules, that you are taking time to reconnect with people that have slipped away as well as reaching out to make new acquaintances. I was reminded last week during three separate meetings of the power of in-person relationship building. As we continue to emerge and evolve from the new ways of working that COVID forced upon us, it has been easy to simply schedule Zoom meetings and lean extra hard on emails and texting. But, the impact of face to face connection, a shared meal, a visit to a new office or potential project, amplifies the energy, the humanity, and the outcomes in ways I certainly had forgotten.
Especially now, as I scour the news daily for some piece of good economic news and cross my fingers and toes that we do not fall into a recession, the importance and impact that building new relationships can bring to your business is transformational. Make time each week to reach out to the world and you’ll be surprised what it returns to you. It could be the difference between staying busy or wishing you were.
Switching gears, I would like to formally invite all those reading this letter to help us in our search for a new Executive Director for PRO-NE. As most of you know, our previous ED left some years ago and since then we have had a couple failed attempts to fill that seat. As I have found time and again in my business, the best employees come from the people who already work with us. It is inherently a self-selected bunch and usually results in a faster hiring cycle, a longer tenure, and most importantly a better fit, right from the start. So, with that in mind, at our last Board meeting, we agreed to give this methodology a try. This is a full time role to help our organization meet its financial goals, keep the strategic mission in focus and support the members by helping all our committees align their activities to the larger goals set by the Board each year.
We have updated the job description and will happily send it to you or anyone you think may be interested and qualified for the position. With the help of our amazingly talented and dedicated members, we hope to find better candidates than Indeed would uncover and serve up to us. Additionally, members of the Board have agreed to provide a finders fee of $1500 to anyone who refers a candidate that is hired and successfully employed for at least six months. Crowd-sourcing works for so many things, so let’s work together and see if we can find a great person to help maintain the benefits and structure of our organization while simultaneously helping us grow to meet our common goals.
Lastly, I wanted to thank all those who sent in their financial data from 2022. We were able to collect and tally 18 member companies, totaling just over $60 million dollars of spending. The next step is to slice and dice the data and extract the most valuable nuggets that can be used to help our current corporate sponsors understand what our members are spending with them, and more importantly use it to attract new sponsorships to help fund educational forums and ongoing training, workforce and youth development, women in remodeling, and bolster the strength of PRO-NE so that we can continue to expand the offerings we provide our members.
As always, I encourage everyone to get involved! Everyone is encouraged to join a committee, help plan or sponsor an event, be on the lookout for new members that you feel share our values and could both use some help and guidance and contribute new perspectives and fresh energy! Have a great summer and I look forward to seeing you soon at an upcoming event!
Humbly,
Eric Adams