Does your bar association listen to you Chris? I bet they would love to read your posts. What are your insurance premiums a year?
Listening, Really Listening
A Message from the Executive Director
by Jan Michels
WSBA Executive Director
janm@wsba.org
Listening is more than hearing, and more than being able to parrot what was said. A good listener picks up context and nuance, observes body language and tone — that is, works to understand what is being communicated. "Active listening" is a term of art for the skill of reflecting back what was heard and clarifying it until both speaker and listener agree that the message was heard. It’s the kind of listening that can yield real results.
This issue of Bar News is full of the results of the listening exercise that the Long-Range Strategic Planning Committee and Board of Governors have undertaken these past six months. The Board started with the premise that we want to hear what members want from their State Bar. The primary listening tools we used were the member survey (March Bar News, p. 19) and Town Meetings. We added a call for individual comments, performed an internal assessment of the WSBA’s strengths and weaknesses, and took advantage of as many Bar Association and section meetings as we could attend, asking members, "What kind of Bar Association do you want?"
Over 1,000 members took the time to comment. They assessed current services, suggested changes to the WSBA purposes in GR12, asked for new or different programs and services, told us about the trends they saw in the profession, detailed what they liked about practicing law and about what kept them up at night, and described what they thought the Bar should do about all of this. This issue of Bar News is our "active listening" exercise about strategic issues to the WSBA — did we hear you? Is your message reflected in the summaries? If not, please e-mail oed@wsba.org to comment further, or to clarify what we seem to have missed or misunderstood.
We are also interested in hearing about practical, everyday aspects of the legal practice. Many members have helped shape WSBA programs and initiatives already. Judge Thomas Zilly, for example, asked, "Can you develop a CLE on Professionalism?" Doug Dunham requested consistent and usable records-retention advice. Russ Speidel suggested a statewide Law Day event. Kathleen Hopkins asked why more women than men leave the practice. Tom Wampold wanted a WSBA that was "relevant." Terry Rhodes described why the WSBA feels more like an oppressor than a protector to him. Christopher Hodgkins wants value for his money. And Randy Gordon calls for "court reform, please (among other things!)."
Responses to these concerns and suggestions pepper our 1999-and-beyond work plans. All these questions and input are included in the strategic issues list that the Board and staff will work with to develop the WSBA Long-Range Strategic Plan. Although we wish we could have heard more from disenfranchised members, military members and out-of-state members, we must proceed. There is always an open invitation to these members to talk to us. The nature of a strategic plan is that it is dynamic.
So now it’s on to the work of evaluating and prioritizing the strategic issues, picking those that are do-able, determining where we can make an impact, and designing an implementation program that is within our means. Stay tuned to the WSBA website (www.wsba.org) for ongoing information about this process.
And lastly but most importantly, thank you for talking to us. Your interests and ideas motivate us. You can have the Bar Association you want!
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