Here’s a frustrating situation: a member of your organization has come up with a great idea, but you don’t have the time or resources to make use of it. When this happens, an idea parking lot—a place to capture ideas that can be followed up on at a later date—can come in handy, suggests Association Success’ Chelsea Brasted.
Brasted highlights Jessica Johnson and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), who have taken advantage of the strategy and created a physical space to hold ideas. Their space, which began as a board with sticky notes on it, eventually moved online and became a spreadsheet organized by priority level, whether something is in progress or has made progress, and what’s worked or hasn’t.
“Not only is it a place where Johnson, who serves as the director for education and meetings, can regularly turn to seek new priorities and a bank of ideas, but it’s a place where members can physically see that their concerns are being taken seriously,” Brasted says.
SHEA’s parking lot of ideas is updated about every month, and it regularly gets referenced during staff meetings, according to Brasted. With the document, ideas remain even as staff and board members change.
“It’s a living, breathing document,” Johnson told Association Success. “My executive director will update it with what she has, send it to everyone, then go out and update it.”
Please select this link to read the original article from Associations Now.