Professional development dominated much of the IDA story last year. Beyond the record-setting Annual Conference & Marketplace in Chicago, participation in online learning and specialty programs such as IDA’s Citywide Small BID Support Conference, co-hosted with the New York City Department of Small Business Services, suggested a couple of things. First, it signaled a priority for growing professionalism, most likely connected to talent retention. Second, the pandemic is clearly in the rear-view mirror, and knowledge sharing around today’s issues is at a premium.
IDA’s staff focused much of our professional development on creating team values. The work explored both individual and group dynamics to clearly articulate our team culture, enabling us to deliver the greatest value to IDA members. The team-building approach proved critical, allowing us to begin developing new tools for becoming even stronger – or, in the words of organizational development expert Jim Collins, to go from Good to Great.
We continue to operationalize our values of collaboration, resourcefulness, optimism, inclusion, respect and integrity, advancing the team’s collective strengths to deliver more timely solutions to the evolving post-pandemic challenges city building faces. Just this month, we confirmed that 64.4% of IDA members make education decisions between 3 and 12 months in advance, with almost half of those taking at least 6 months. This is why the Seattle conference dates were published early, and the comprehensive registration portal for Seattle, complete with all content, will be available in early May. This is one illustration of the team’s collaboration and resourcefulness to complete the work, coupled with a respect for the needs of IDA members.
So, thanks to all of you who responded to the recent education needs survey. Through your collaboration with us, not only was the timing of professional development decisions confirmed, but we also learned a great deal about the most pressing issues we need to address in our education and which knowledge resources are most helpful. We remain optimistic IDA and its members can affect the change needed to address these issues. I invite you to consider the myriad ways you can contribute to IDA, be it by attending an event, engaging in research, or participating in the new advocacy work. Visit the upcoming events webpage and keep an eye out for the Tuesday e-blasts announcing the new openings. But if those e-blasts go to your spam filter, consider relying on our integrity to deliver only purposeful content to your inbox and authorize IDA communications to get through your defenses. And remember, IDA is your organization where only through inclusion can we all learn from one another.