THIRTEENTH DECORATOR SHOW HOUSE ASTOUNDS

NEW TRAINING INITIATIVES FROM THE ORGANIZATIONAL
DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE
BY SARAH NEEDHAM, WHITNEY SWEENEY AND MOLLY TOWNE
The Organizational Development Institute (ODI) is an annual training conference that is designed to help Junior League
members develop their potential as League leaders through various workshops, plenaries and networking modules. This
year, Sarah Needham, Whitney Sweeney and Molly Towne attended the meeting in February in Grapevine, Texas. The
members attended different focus groups based on their current and future roles within the Junior League of Hartford (JLH).
Molly and Whitney attended Membership Development: Creating Tomorrow’s Community Leaders, and Sarah attended
Achieving Community Impact: Creating Lasting Changes for Healthier Communities.
The Achieving Community Impact segment of the ODI training, presented by Vicki Clark, was an interactive presentation
that focused on how to best engage league members to achieve a high-level of member satisfaction and community impact.
Emphasis was placed on the importance of understanding what drives our members and how to utilize this knowledge to
ensure successful endeavors. Vicki also stressed that developing the potential of league members must stay at the forefront
during each phase of our community-based projects. The critical principles of research, policy development, issue identification
and selection, as well as collaboration with our local community and program development, were also explored.
The Membership Development Breakout group centered on creating tomorrow’s community leaders and was presented by
sustainer Naomi Chaves Peters of the Junior League of Palo Alto-Mid Peninsula. This group focused on how to create a
lifetime member by trying to adjust the culture of our League. In order to do this, AJLI suggests that each League focus on
being a learning organization. We also focused on how to increase membership retention by better incorporating advisors
and mentors into our organization.
In addition to the formal programming, the weekend afforded the delegates an opportunity to meet and brainstorm with
members from other Junior Leagues across the country
to compare notes on successful initiatives. These ODI seminars
are a critical tool for keeping the JLH practices current,
as well as strengthening our relationships with other Leagues
across the country. Thanks to the opportunity to attend events
like ODI, the JLH continues to operate efficiently and effectively,
thus maximizing its positive impact on the Greater Hartford
community.
JLH MEMBERS SARAH NEEDHAM, WHITNEY SWEENEY
AND MOLLY TOWNE ATTEND ODI TRAINING IN TEXAS
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