I was honoured with a term (April 2019 till March 2019) as the Chapter President of BNI in Melaka (Smart Biz). Throughout the entire journey, I have experienced all kinds of situation and issues. A lot of ups and downs. In short, I enjoyed it very much. I am glad that I was given a chance to take up this leadership role. As such, I wish to sum up what I’ve learnt from taking up this position.
TO BE VISIONARY
Being a President is not merely chairing the meeting itself, but also to take up the role of setting the vision, the mission and the proper culture of the chapter. Leading the chapter is never easy as BNI consists of entrepreneur, business owners or leaders that came from different background and having different mindsets. Every one of them are successful leaders. I always asked myself, “WHO AM I? AND WHY SHOULD PEOPLE FOLLOW ME?”. Why should the leader do what I’ve asked them to do? Why should they follow me? As such, being a President in a chapter, it is always a challenge of making leaders follow me (as a leader). It is all about how to enroll all the leaders in the chapter to be in my vision, or I should say, the chapter’s vision. Life is an enrollment game. It is about setting the alignment of the chapter.
HANDLING DIFFICULT PERSON
It is fair to say that being a President, the onus was on me to handle the difficult person in the group. In BNI’s policy and system, handling the issue of the member falls under the task of the Membership Committee or the Vice President. However, being a President, it is always the last resort to ensure that particular issue was handled. Furthermore, it is the implied role of the President to work through people, i.e. to delegate or instruct any suitable person to deal with the difficult issue or the difficult member in the chapter. Sometimes, we know the right way for us to handle that situation, but we may not be the right person to handle that situation. The challenge was for us to choose the right person to handle the situation right.
DECISION MAKING
A Chapter President requires to make plenty of decision during the term. Most of the leadership team will refer every single decision to the President. President is always responsible and accountable for every decision made. Not to forget, certain members may also exercise their means to obstruct the decision made by the President. It is the challenge and the role of the President to ensure that the decision made had to be implemented. President should always be the person who do what they say and say what they meant. I always reminded myself to WALK THE TALK. I honour my words with my action.
KNOWING THE RIGHT SPOT
Being the Chapter President, it is important to be sensitive enough to know which right spot to hit. I learnt to be aware and alert on what exact remark to say and what information that I should deliver at the proper situation. At certain occasion, we cannot over do certain action. I learnt to say the right thing at the suitable moment. This is because most of the members came from different background or having different mindset. Certain words may sound right to certain people. Choosing the proper word and the proper action was essential for me when facing different members.
TO BE REALLY FOCUS
Life is full of distraction. While being the President of the Chapter, I realized that at certain times, distraction came easily. I do have feelings and emotions that may distract my decision making, however, my feelings and emotions do not dictate who am I. Only my vision, commitment and promises dictate my ways of being and actions. I stand firm with my core values and also the core values of BNI. I was entrenched with my vision and my goals that I’ve set for the chapter, and I am proud to say, I had achieved the goals that I’ve fixed at the first day. To be really focus to the goals that I’ve set at the first place and always debrief the result that I’ve achieved throughout the checkpoint before reaching the goals.
RESULT-ORIENTED
I learnt that to measure the success of the role, I have to be sensitive to the numbers. BNI is a structured and positive programme that enables the business owners to increase business through meaningful relationships. This system existed in the world for 35 years. I am proud to say that the system developed a matured monitor structure to measure the referral transaction given and the business closed among the members. I’ve learnt to adopt the system and make sure that I confront myself with the numbers before me in order to know whether I’ve led the chapter on track. The numbers stated in the system clearly showed whether the chapter is healthy or on track. Thus, being a President had allowed me to believe on the numbers shown. It is always about letting the result speaks.
FULL OF POSSIBILITY
Knowing that leading the entire entrepreneur is not easy, I still believe that gathering a group of business elite will definitely achieve a unique result. Many people had the thought that different business owners from different backgrounds will be difficult to create results. However, the truth is another way round. Being in BNI is all about farming the relationship and not about hunting for business at the first place. The relationship-based referral only comes when the members trust each other. Only when the trust happens, the possibility will occur.
In short, being a chapter President is full of enjoyment and yet it is challenging. I urge all the BNI members to take up leadership role, and if possible, do take up the role of Chapter President. It may sound difficult, but I had experienced that being a member in BNI, is totally relevant to how you run your business. BNI works together with every business. If you are doing good in BNI, you will excel in your business. Taking up the presidential role reflects how you lead your business or your industry. Never afraid to take up the leadership role in BNI because it works well together with your own business. I am grateful that I was given a chance to take up this presidential role. I am really thankful to my members who supported me throughout the year. Namaste...
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