Why Leadership Team Training

By Dr. Ivan Misner
BNI Founder & Chairman

Why Do I Need To Go To Leadership Team Training?

This is a question I’ve been asked fairly often over the last two decades. The answer to the question starts in 1980; five years before I started BNI.

I was hired by the President of a transportation company in Los Angeles to join his team in helping to turn the company around. For my first day on the job, I showed up to work excited about the prospect of this new opportunity. Unfortunately, I found that the President was called to Sacramento at the last minute to testify before a state legislative committee on transportation. I was met by the HR Director who proceeded to give me a brief tour of the offices. She showed me around, took me to my office, explained the phone system, told me where the bathroom was, and then said, “the President won’t be back for three days, I have no idea what you’re supposed to be doing but, good luck!” And that was it! That was the full and complete orientation that I had to the company. I remember sitting in my new office with the big window behind me overlooking the Hollywood Sign and being very excited about the job but, having no idea what I was supposed to do.

I learned two extremely valuable lessons from this experience. The first, was about the value of creating relationships by meeting people and asking those magic words; “how can I help you” but, that’s a completely different story. The second lesson I learned was about the importance of a thorough orientation and training when taking over any new position. I remember sitting in my office and thinking – if I ever run my own company, no one should ever come on board without a thorough orientation.

You cannot expect great results from anyone without providing guidance and training on what the expectations of the organization are. Later, I learned that it was equally important to train on the “traditions” of the organization as well, because these are the characteristics that create a corporate culture of support and success.

Imagine with me if you will, boarding a large plane to take off somewhere only to find out that your pilot was not trained to fly the plane! That of course would be ridiculous. But think about this, the Leadership Team members of a BNI Chapter are the pilot and co-pilots of your group! They are the ones responsible for flying the Chapter.

Granted, flying a plane is more serious business than running a chapter but, running a chapter is still “business” and that’s why we are all part of BNI – for BUSINESS. This is not a social group or club. It is a business referral organization and in order for it to fly – the leaders need training.

But, “What About Those People Who Have Been To Training Already?” some people ask me.
Well, we live in an ever changing environment. I had the opportunity to hear a Director for one of the largest competitors to BNI recently say – “we haven’t changed anything since it was developed by our founder many years ago. Not one thing – we follow the same system as it was originally devised.” Well, at BNI we think differently than that. BNI adds ideas and material all the time. Our manuals are updated and revised with almost every Leadership Team training. Our system is constantly being improved. We have more than doubled the content of our manuals in the last six years. It is critical that Leadership Teams “brush up” on the things they’ve learned. All quality professionals get refresher training of some kind and BNI’s Leadership Teams are no different. Plus, the input from Leadership Team members who have experience doing this can be a valuable resource to other people at the training. That’s why we believe it is critical for everyone to attend training before taking over any role on the Leadership Team (even if it is more than once).

People say that hindsight is 20-20 and I must say that one of the things that we got absolutely right in the beginning of BNI is requiring training of our Leadership Teams. No one and I mean no one, spends as much time educating people on how to run a networking group successfully as BNI does. Last year, we spent OVER 100,000 person hours in Leadership Team training alone!!! [Take the number of chapters, times the number of LT members, times the length of training, times twice a year.] That number doesn’t even include Membership Committee training, Visitor Host Training, special trainings, or Director Training!!!
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Education is one of the core competencies of this organization. It is one of the things that sets BNI aside from other networking organizations and it is absolutely an important element in the success and wild growth the company has seen world-wide.

BNI works when people know the system and understand how to implement it. Don’t accept anything less! BNI without a trained Leadership Team is “BNI-Light.” So, if you ever hear someone in your group who wants to be on the Leadership Team but doesn’t want to go through the training – give them this article and tell them you want a “trained” pilot to fly your plane!

Here are some benefits of attending BNI’s Leadership Team Training:

Why go to Leadership Team training?
1. Gain valuable contacts with other members of Leadership Teams whom you can call for info or to bounce ideas off of-
2. Learn the responsibilities of your Leadership Team role
3. Learn common errors and how to prevent them
4. Get your specific questions answered
5. Receive the Leadership Team manual and learn about it in depth
6. Learn the “hidden elements” of the meeting – WHY we do what we do
7. Bond with the other members of your Leadership Team outside the meeting
8. Learn what other local chapters are doing
9. Get good ideas about how to “energize” your meetings (i.e. meeting stimulants)
10. Get to know your Director(s)
11. Network with other BNI members
12. Hit the ground running when you take over a leadership role in the chapter
13. Learn how to handle chapter problems or complaints (skills which help in your own business also!)
14. Gain access to BNINet (BNI’s database system)
15. Gain access to the Leadership Only section.
16. Get a nifty Leadership Team ribbon for your name badge!
17. Help your chapter grow and prosper
18. Get updates on the organization and changes to the manual
19. Share your knowledge and experience (especially LT members who’ve attended before)
20. Have fun!
21. Cross-train people on the different positions
22. Make sure your plane has a pilot!

If you have some other positive reasons why your Leadership Teams should attend training, email them to me at [email protected] .

Footnote by J. R. Chick Gallagher:
Founder, CEO, and Executive Director, BNI Delaware Valley Regions

In 2007 BNI Delaware Valley Regions spent just over 4,800 man-hours of formal classroom training for Leadership Teams, Educational Coordinators, and Membership Committees. (This figure does not include any of the training we did at the chapter level.)

Our training program is so extensive, and covers so much material, that it is almost impossible to learn it all in the time allotted for training. It is the equivalent of pouring the contents of a 55-gallon drum into a 5-gallon bucket. There is going to be overflow. Each time you attend training you have a new bucket, and the opportunity to catch some of the overflow you did not catch at the last training.

We have many members who have been through Leadership Team, Educational Coordinator, and Membership Committee training several times. They all recognize that they have learned something new each time they attended. More importantly, they leave energized to do a better job for themselves and their chapter. (We had a member recently attend training for his 13th time since joining in 1996.)