Sign In
Upcoming Event
Free Newsletter
Looking for resolutions? Try board service
Looking for resolutions? Try board service
Listen to this article
During the holiday season, people focus on what they can do for one another, but the week after New Year’s Day is when people think about how to improve themselves.
For years the most popular New Year’s resolutions have dealt with eating better, being more active, spending smarter and, in recent years, cutting back on screen time. For young professionals the new year can also come with hard conversations about bonuses, performance and ways to focus on ourselves at work. It is also a good time to look at how being a member of a board of a nonprofit can improve your status at work and help with more community engagement.
This column has featured individuals from all different types of legal and professional fields who serve on boards. However, what is often overlooked is how the conversations that will happen with associates across the legal world over the next month can be a fantastic opportunity to improve your position at work with a position on a board.
Many firms and companies in the Baltimore area will match your contribution to a board if you serve on it. Many more will help promote and donate to projects that you facilitate as part of your board service. It is a fantastic way to learn give back as you try to enhance your position in the office.
Another important part of board memberships is that you learn new skills. You have the ability to hear from people from different points of view and different professions about how to best run an organization. If you are a lawyer, this might be your first experience with the nuts and bolts of running a successful business — if you work in the business world this might be your first experience with liability issues, etc. You have the opportunity to meet people and engage about issues outside the workplace that can help you with business inside the workplace.
So take this opportunity in the new year to ask about how your organization feels about you serving on a board, if they will help to place you, etc. It could be your chance to self-reflect through service. And while it might not help you with some of your other resolutions, it will help you embrace a new challenge in the new year for a better you.
