By Christine Jourdain

Executive Director, American Council of Snowmobile Associations

Fall is in the air, snowmobile meetings have started, snow shows have started, dealers have their floors stocked with shiny new sleds and snowmobilers have started tinkering and planning for the coming winter.

It’s definitely fall. Snowmobilers are getting ready for the next season.

As clubs and associations begin to hold meetings, the leadership also begins looking for volunteers to work at upcoming events. Volunteers can be either new members or members that have been around for awhile. Getting people involved is the best way for your organization to continue to thrive. New blood and new ideas are always a good way to start the new season.

Volunteers often think they are just helping out on one event, whether it’s selling tickets or helping to move equipment in and out of a snow show. Often, that one time volunteering turns into one more volunteering experience, then another and another.

Those volunteers are the people that club and state association leadership need to be looking at as future leaders. As leaders, one of your duties is to always be looking for new  people to move into leadership positions.

Moving into a leadership capacity is a big step. Leadership is a change in lifestyle.

The fundamental requirement of a leader is getting others to be willing to follow. The challenge is to get on the right path from the very start.

People get promoted to leadership positions because they are the best doers. But once the best doers are leaders, doing is not enough. Leaders need to guide and encourage great doers. 

Seasoned leaders need to offer advice to new leaders. They need to be part of the support system for the new leaders. 

A truly powerful leader’s intention should not be to gain power, but to help others discover their talents. It’s about moving the organization forward.

Everyone has different styles and new approaches. Leaders must recognize the strengths individuals bring and help them improve their undeveloped strengths.

And as leaders of these organizations, we must always remember, that everyone got involved in snowmobiling for the fun of the sport. They didn’t buy snowmobiles so they could attend meetings to protect their access or to talk about finances or to argue about bylaws. They bought snowmobiles for fun. They ultimately joined your organization to seek other fun people who own snowmobiles and to plan fun rides and trips.

Too often we get wound up in the details of keeping trails and riding areas open or pending legislation or litigation and forget about fun. We can’t forget about fun for our members and for future leaders. We need to have balance.

Balance is often hard to find. There is always work to do, there are always battles and challenges that need our attention. But some how there needs to be balance.

As leaders of your clubs and state associations, I challenge you to start identifying future leaders. I challenge you to bring in new members as volunteers. I challenge you to shuffle volunteers around committees and events.   

Let’s start off the snowmobile season looking forward … and having fun. It’s up to you to look forward—and the Snow Gods to provide ample snow for a great season.

For more information on ACSA, log onto www.snowmobilers.org.