May was an incredibly busy and fruitful time for the ONS Board of Directors. It’s one of the few months in which the Board meets twice to discuss strategic initiatives.
On May 1, an hour after the ONS 41st Annual Congress ended and as everyone was packing up or saying their goodbyes to beautiful San Antonio, the ONS Board was meeting, guided by our new president, Susan Schneider, PhD, RN, AOCN®, FAAN. With three new board members and Sue’s new role, it was a new board altogether, and just like any new team, we needed to get to know one another and “form and storm” as a group before we could “norm and transform” the organization. We enjoyed time learning about individuals and the general make-up of our board, considering our strengths and weaknesses for the future.
It didn’t take long, though, for us to jump right into the business of our work reviewing potential new collaborations, discussing our earlier meeting with the Nominating Committee and looking to the future as we transition to the Leadership Development Council, and preparing for a year’s worth of regional and national meetings divided among the directors.
Just three weeks later, our May 24 scheduled conference call continued many pieces of conversation from the previous meeting as we revised our governance policy to align with our new bylaws, developed annual Board goals based on member feedback, updated an ONS position statement to reflect ever-advancing cancer care, and affirmed ONS staff discussing opportunities with several organizations to advance our strategic plan.
Our monthly conference calls last two hours, and thanks to our timekeepers each meeting, we stay very much on target; I am always amazed at the end of the meetings how much we are able to accomplish and the baby steps as well as gigantic steps forward we take to propel the strategic plan forward. May’s work was no different. What a bright, bright future we have ahead of us!