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Sonoma County Alliance Looks to the Future

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So, where do we go from here?
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Last fall, we were developing our three-year strategic plan, while calmly and confidently integrating member survey data into our strategic goals and tactics. Little did we know that several months later, we’d be in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, which stifled our local economy, forced all our meetings into a virtual world and completely changed our daily lives. We’ve had a national political dialogue that created division and anxiety in almost every conversation. As if that wasn’t enough, add a tumultuous summer with deep internal self and community evaluation, regarding diversity and Inclusion within the Sonoma County Alliance. Altogether, it became clear that the strategic expectations we had originally planned for 2020 had wildly missed the mark.

So, where do we go from here? After organizing two new task forces to address Organizational/Board development and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) within the Sonoma County Alliance, our board of directors has approved significant structural changes to how we will operate. Perhaps most important is converting our DEI Task Force into an active committee that will meet on a regular basis. With tremendous leadership from a passionate and diverse number of members and non-members, our task forces have positioned DEI to be the lens that our committees and boards must look through during all our discussions, brainstorming, and policy considerations for business advocacy.

Membership growth during the pandemic (and resulting health orders) is the most challenging task any dues-based organization will have, including the Sonoma County Alliance. Along with multiple DEI goals around membership growth, we aim to establish a younger average age within our active member group. In recent years, our surveys show that scarcely more than 5 percent of the respondents are under age 40, and 73 percent of our members are older than 50. Hiding behind the notion that “50 is the new 30,” isn’t going to cut it for the future of our organization.

The Sonoma County Alliance has been blessed with a leadership commitment from our past presidents that no other organization can match. The inherent knowledge, experience and commitment that these women and men provide to the Alliance is immeasurable. It is a huge reason for our past success in membership growth and community influence. However, we clearly can’t deny a likely correlation between our seasoned leadership over the past four decades and the current demographics of our membership.

The board of directors has closely examined and acknowledged all of our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and recently approved a new leadership structure, including changes to the makeup of our board. Since the inception of the Sonoma County Alliance, fiscal and policy management has been handled by our executive committee. We will turn those responsibilities over to a newly formed board of directors. Elected directors will have terms, term limits, and a balance intended to create inclusivity at all leadership levels. Our imminent charge is to fill the director openings with new and existing members of our current Board, attracting a combination of age, professional and cultural diversity. Our new board will have 25 directors, including our officers, past presidents, and directors.

In 2021, the Sonoma County Alliance will form an advisory council. The council will be similar in structure to our prior board of directors and will include representation from our organization and sustaining members, along with a number of at-large members. The advisory council strives to represent the diversity of the community served by the Alliance and assists the board in the mission and achievement of its vision. The advisory council acts as Alliance ambassadors to influentially advocate and engage the community for the betterment of Sonoma County.

We couldn’t have created and implemented these changes without the outstanding help from the professional consultants at Inclusion-Inc., as well as Scott Ormerod and his team at Leap Solutions. “Inclusion: The Competitive Business Advantage,” is the organizational foundation of our consultants who guided our board and membership through a series of diversity trainings and sessions to acquire acknowledgement and understanding of the DEI issues that the Alliance, community, and other organizations are all facing. We thank Scott Ormerod for his patience and guidance through a strategic planning process that took a couple of detours and extra time to enhance and fine-tune our guiding principles for the years ahead.

Despite the challenges that the pandemic has brought to the Sonoma County Alliance and every one of our members, we are blessed with numerous opportunities ahead. Business as usual, is never going to be “usual” again. We’re living in a dynamic world where flexibility, creativity and ingenuity will be imperative. With great success, the Sonoma County Alliance has followed the motto of “Business Advocates for a Healthy Economy, a Healthy Community, and a Healthy Environment” for more than 45 years. That focus, along with additional priorities of diversity and inclusion, will position the Alliance to continue being a leading community organization for many decades to come.

 

Brian Ling is the executive director of the Sonoma County Alliance. He can be contacted at (707) 525-8377, or write to him at ed@sonomacountyalliance.com. For more information, visit sonomacountyalliance.com.

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