The Buffalo County Community Partners’ Board of Directors gathered for their annual board retreat on January 11. The four-hour retreat was packed with insightful questions, great conversation, and decisions on how best to work together for the organization’s mission.
Board members welcomed new members by hosting an excellent conversation about the strengths of individual board members and how those strengths balance out to create a strong team. Executive Director, Denise Zwiener, led the conversation to the strengths of the board, as a whole, over the last year.
Board Members Left to Right: Janelle Grabowski, Jade Brown, Kathy Gosch, Kelly Bartling, and Judy Schultz tell each other what strength they are going to bring to the board this year. Community Partners celebrates each board member by identifying their strengths as individuals.
The board discussed how common strengths can be used to overcome challenges, which led to deciding what goals the board will be focused on this year. “Pairing the goals with our collective strengths moves the community toward the 2020 Vision,” stated Zwiener.
“To aim our collective strength, we must understand what our data is telling us,” commented Zwiener. “Sustainability, urgent health issues, and the board’s goals must align to the 2020 vision to set our course for the year.”
The group decided to cut monthly meetings to one hour to be more efficient with the board members’ time. The conversations switched to creative thinking with a discussion about Community Partners’ brand identity. The group tied the strengths and challenges from previous conversations to the public perception of the organization to develop communication strategies for the coming year.
Zwiener wrapped up the retreat by asking board members how they will use their strengths to overcome challenges in the organization and how their strengths will create opportunities in 2017.
“Our monthly meetings are typically standard business so our board enjoys this time together to learn from each other and renew and guide the organization into the future,” commented board chairman, Crystal Winfield, executive director, UniNet.