The Chapter of the Year Award is presented to the Chapter which, by its achievements, goes above and beyond to further the ideals and mission of NAPO. This Chapter provides its members with opportunities to develop leadership skills, prioritize camaraderie and support between and for members, and participate in community outreach projects, by utilizing the talents of its professional and corporate members.
NAPO Michigan received the honor of 2019 Chapter of the Year at the NAPO Annual Conference last year in Ft. Worth, Texas. They are only the second chapter to receive this honor since the creation of the award in 2017.
Awards and Recognition Committee Chairperson, Lori Reese, interviewed Immediate Past President, Leigh MacCready to reflect on their 2019 achievements and to find out what this outstanding chapter is up to now.
Q: You referenced in your nomination application, that you were focusing on the 3rd part of your mission statement, which is “build statewide awareness”. What is your complete mission statement?
A. The Mission of NAPO Michigan is to:
Educate organizing and productivity professionals in order to maintain the highest ethical standards and professional competence for our clients.
Provide networking opportunities for our members and connect our members with those in need of organizing assistance.
Build statewide awareness of organizing and productivity-related services, tools, and events.
Q: What is your goal for the current year?
A. NAPO Michigan wants to increase our membership and reach in the state. We are doing this through:
- The West side neighborhood group, who officially had their first gathering Monday Feb.3rd.
- Four high-level speakers to draw new organizers. (We had a couple last year and it really drew a larger crowd…just harder to afford.)
- Change up the meeting openers (for networking purposes) and shorten the business portion to keep our two-hour meeting length and include better content.
Q: What do you see as your chapter’s biggest challenge?
A: The distance between Detroit and Grand Rapids. We currently don’t see enough members to have two chapters, but finding ways to accommodate our west siders (which is Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and along that coast of Lake Michigan) is tough.
Q: One of the projects highlighted in your Chapter of the Year application was your partnership with a local newspaper to create a “messiest room contest”. How did the concept originate? Had you done a chapter project like this before? Tell us what it’s like to collaborate with fellow chapter members.
A. The idea for the messiest room contest or something similar had been kicked around the chapter before but never done. At our May 2018 strategic planning meeting, we had the board pair off and do what was titled “Vision Cast”. Each person had the three-part mission statement in front of them and had to tell their partner what they thought regarding how we were doing as a chapter in each area of the mission statement. The listener encouraged their partner to probe deeper into what they were saying/thinking. Then they switched roles. In reviews, state awareness became the common weak link.
Betty Huotari, NAPO Michigan secretary, and a founding member suggested the contest and had a connection at the Detroit News, so she made the pitch. We thought it would be a win-win because people like to see before and after with a story behind it.
It was great to be on the 2019 Messiest Room team because even though we all are strong in organizing, we each brought our own unique strengths to the project and in turn learned from and about each other. We even have a retired newspaper photographer chapter member who took photos for the paper.
Betty Huotari & Leigh MacCready 
The Detroit News Homestyle Section Cover 
Mark Steele of Farmington Hills, MI was the winner of the Detroit News Homestyle Section’s Messiest Room Contest
Q: Your programming content also stood out on your nomination application. One example of your programming was “Understanding Women with ADHD”. Coming up with quality program content can be challenging. How do you approach your program planning?
A. Program ideas start after our chapter survey has been collected and read. The surveys include feedback for the entire year of programs. We also collect surveys after each program, but it is helpful to let people review again at the end of the year to see if the program was useful down the road.
We also consider programs by category and make sure we hit certain categories a number of times each year.
Categories include:
● Improve your skills (CEU eligible)
● Manage/market your business
● Personal enhancement
Q: You have a high percentage of CPO’s within your membership. What does it take to qualify a program for CEU credits?
A: Programs should be:
● 60 minutes in length or longer
● Provide proof of attendance/completion
● Provides skills/knowledge to better serve clients. These skills could be what you learn or improve your ability to teach or transfer knowledge/skill to a client.
Q: Another stand out initiative was your Chapter’s utilization of Zoom. Tell us a bit about that. Is it something you’re still using? Do you find it helpful?
A: Zoom has had a few hiccups but we have worked through a lot in order to keep this running because we have a strong group on the west side of MI (Grand Rapids) which is 133 miles away and we want to keep them engaged with us. Two of our board members are in the west and attend meetings this way. We hope to encourage those that are even farther away to join NAPO Michigan because of this perk.
These past few months we found and hired a college student to run our Zoom for us so our members who have normally run it, can also participate in the meetings uninterrupted. This has been a great investment for us and a win for him. He gets a quick $75 for 3 hours plus snacks…always a good bribe.
Many thanks to Leigh, and the entire NAPO Michigan chapter, for representing excellence in our industry and sharing insight into how an outstanding chapter operates.
Nominations for the 2020 Chapter of the Year will be accepted February 27 – March 12, 2020, 11:59 PM EST. Watch for an announcement on POINT, in the NAPO To Do, and on the NAPO Facebook page.
About the author: Lori Reese is the chairperson of the Awards & Recognition Committee. She is the Owner/Founder of Consider It Done, LLC – A Life Management and Organizing firm, based in Harrisburg, Pa.