By Michele Gillis
Staff Writer
Many years of leadership experience have made Selby Kaiser of The Legends of Real Estate and Bonnie Siecker of Century 21 Dames Point Real Estate a natural duo for their latest task.
Who better to lead the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors members on a new adventure into the NEFAR Leadership Development Academy, designed to give Realtors more opportunity to get involved in the association?
“We want to encourage new faces in leadership positions in NEFAR, Florida Realtors and the National Association of Realtors,” said Kaiser. “It has value on two sides. One, to the association by bringing fresh ideas and new people into the organization. Two, it also has value to the individual as far as personal growth.
“They will learn alot about themselves and how to relate to other people. The team building exercises help teach how to relate and work well with others.”
Siecker is the chair for 2009 and Kaiser will be the 2010 chair, but as past NEFAR presidents both women have been working hard this past year developing classes and a schedule for the accepted participants of the academy.
“We want to raise awareness of opportunities for Realtors to serve NEFAR,” said Kaiser.
Though the academy doesn’t officially begin until January, it has been in the works for about a year.
Twenty people applied but only 17 were accepted. The applications were reviewed by either the association executives or members from outside boards who did not know the applicants.
Though it costs $99 to enter the Leadership Development Academy, Siecker said the commitment is really about time.
“You give up yourself, because that is exactly what it is,” said Siecker. “But, the rewards are awesome.”
The goal of the academy is not necessarily to find the next NEFAR president. First, they want the participants to get involved at the committee level at NEFAR or the Northeast Florida Multiple Listing Service.
“We just have so many committees that need people,” said Kaiser. “People don’t even know all that they can do. It’s to raise awareness throughout our membership of opportunities to lead in NEFAR. It takes years of toiling in the fields, training and serving on committees before someone is really qualified to lead the organization.”
Siecker said she has been contacted by people who wanted to get involved, but they just didn’t know where to begin.
The schedule for the participants in 2010 includes classes such as requirements and commitments with team building, Florida Realtors and NAR benefits and parliamentary procedures, communication and spokesperson training.
The participants also will attend events such as Great American Realtors Days in Tallahassee, Florida Realtors Convention Super Sales Day, NEFAR Budget and Finance Committee meetings and board meetings to acclimate them to what is involved in leading in an organization such as NEFAR, Florida Realtors or NAR.
“It’s just about an activity a month,” said Kaiser.
The obligations are about once a month, and the participants must be there. If they miss more than four hours of classes or events, they are removed from the program and must come back next year to make up the time to graduate.
Kaiser attended a FAR Leadership Development Program in 1991 and found it very useful and wanted to bring it to NEFAR. Siecker attended a Leadership Academy at FAR (now Florida Realtors). Together, the two developed the Leadership Development Academy.
As the outgoing chair, Siecker will be going through each of the activities with the participants.
“That way we can critique the process,” said Siecker. “We are just developing this so there is always room for improvement.”