March, 2006

What Rechartering's All About

by John Hedtke, Region 7 Director

Okay, I was going to write something about where we are with the Transformation process - and there's some interesting stuff to relate, don't get me wrong - but I know that a lot of the Region 7 chapters haven't gotten to rechartering yet and I want to give you some additional information about what it is and why it's a good idea and I'll talk about Transformation next time.

Rechartering is an opportunity for STC communities to re-examine themselves. The process helps the communities analyze their strengths and focus on ways to build upon and enhance those strengths to better meet their members' needs.

Very simply, rechartering requires each community to discuss its vision, goals, finances, and volunteer resources. These goals should include ways to:

Increase and retain membership
Revitalize the networking effort
Improve professional offerings to their membership

At the end of the rechartering process, the communities should be able to focus on their goals for the next 1-3 years.

Unless your community has done something like this recently, the rechartering process is going to take a little time and a lot of discussion. You want to determine what it is that your community does well, what you want to deliver to the community's members, and where you want to go. It's going to be a pretty interesting discussion and, based on the communities that have completed the process, there will be some surprises in store.

Still unclear about how to proceed? There's an example of how another chapter has already completed the rechartering process and what they produced: take a look at "Chartering, Re-chartering, and All That Chat" by Brian Martin, Past President of the Trans-Alpine Chapter, who described what his chapter went through and shows what they sent off to the Board. You can find this article on the STC web site at http://www.stc.org/transformation/article12.asp. There's also a great article by Linda Oestreich, a Transformation maven, in the November 2004 Tieline. You can download the rechartering questions at http://www.hedtke.com/STC/rechartering_questions.doc.

Does rechartering matter? Yes. Periodically revisiting your community's scope and purpose is a Good Thing. Many communities have no specific strategies for their future and they don't have a clear idea of who their main audience is. Going through the rechartering process makes sure that the community is doing things that matter to its members and doing them effectively. Perhaps the best reason for rechartering is Magid's Law: "It doesn't matter how you get there if you don't know where you're going."

John Hedtke is the Region 7 Director. He lives in Eugene, OR, and is a member of the Mid-Valley Chapter. He can be reached at john@hedtke.com. Special thanks go to Sherry Michaels and Linda Oestreich who were invaluable in creating this article.

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