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Recognizing that leadership will always be a priority for its future, the Medical Group Management Association, Englewood, Colorado, has made leadership a component of its dashboard indicators and created an extensive leadership development program.

Beginning with the vision that the perfect leader is knowledgeable about the association, understands his or her role and responsibilities, and has good communication and decisionmaking skills, MGMA staff and a volunteer task force identified the related competencies. With input from special-interest groups, sections, committees, and state affiliates, the task force sorted the competencies into six domains: association and leadership roles; relationship management; communication; meeting preparation; organization, management, and evaluation; and decision making and problem solving.

With the help of an outside educational consultant, MGMA translated these into a curriculum that is delivered to volunteer leaders-as well as to interested members not yet on the leadership track. Training modules are delivered online, at regularly scheduled educational conferences, and through leadership and governance sessions at its national conference. "Early on, we made a philosophical decision that this would be a member benefit," explains Adrienne Bien, CAE, vice president of MGMA's Learning and Networking Center. After all, says Bien, "The skills that members learn by attending our leadership training program are transferable.... Our vision is that MGMA [members] will have already gone through our leadership training before they even accept that first volunteer position. This means that they will hit the ground running, be more effective, and enjoy the volunteer experience more."