Change Management with Liz Horton

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability and to correct obvious transcription errors while preserving the meaning of the original conversation.

Episode 70 — Change Mangement with Liz Horton
Clean Speaker-Labeled Transcript
Guest: Liz Horton
Automated QA: Passed

00:00.15 Brandon Burton
Hey there, just real quick before we get into this episode, this is Brandon, and I just wanted to share a quick message. If you are listening to this, chances are good that you are a chamber professional. And guaranteed, if you're listening to this, you also listen to podcasts. Have you considered creating a podcast for your chamber and all the benefits that that can bring? Check out my free chamber podcasting guide at chamberchatpodcast.com slash podcasting. To learn how you can get started with your own chamber podcast. This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.
00:47.032 Brandon Burton
And now your host, his favorite ice cream was well Rocky Mountain Road, but now he settles for chocolate peanut butter cookie dough. He's my dad, Brandon Burton. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. Thank you for joining us today. This is episode seventy of Chamber Chat Podcast, and I am your host, Brandon Burton. It is my goal to introduce you to people and ideas so you can better serve your chamber members and your community. This week
01:15.018 Brandon Burton
Our guest is Liz Horton, who's the senior vice president of the Greenville Chamber of Commerce in South Carolina. Liz has over 18 years of chamber experience. Just prior to coming to Greenville, South Carolina, she was a CEO of the Kershaw County Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, where in 2011 she was named Chamber of Commerce Executive of the Year. For South Carolina by the Carolinas Association of Chamber Commerce Executives. In 2012, Liz graduated from the U.S. Chambers Institute for Organization Management, earning her IOM designation. And in 2014, she received the designation of certified chamber executive of the Carolinas. Liz originally hails from Hanukkah, Virginia, and has been in South Carolina since 1998. She's been married to her husband, Derek, for almost 27 years, and they have a nine-year-old son named Huck. It during our discussion today, we're going to address the topic of change management. And right now, across the country, chambers across the world even are seeing a lot of change that needs to be addressed at their organization. And in our discussion today, we're going to cover some of these strategies about how to implement some change management. And we'll get into this discussion as soon as we get back from hearing from our sponsor.
02:47.128 Brandon Burton
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04:00.632 Brandon Burton
All right, Liz, we are back. I wanted to welcome you to the show and have you say hello to the audience and share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little bit better.
04:11.81 Liz Horton
Thank you, Brandon. It's great to be with you all today. well I think my bio explained a lot about me, but I am what I call an accidental chamber employee. I don't think anyone sets out to say that they're going to be a chamber exec. And so I fell into this almost nineteen years ago and fell in love with it and have been with it ever since. And this is my fourth chamber over that 19 year period. discovered early on that if I wanted to progress in my career, that I had to be willing to relocate. So my family has made a couple of moves with me over the years. Just recently relocated to the upstate of South Carolina about three and a half years ago and absolutely love it here. but just happy to be with you all today and just a little bit about me personally. I love to cook. and entertain and so a lot of my friends out in the chamber world have been encouraging me to start a chamber blog or a cooking blog. So we'll see if that ever comes about.
05:17.303 Brandon Burton
Yeah, that would be good. I'm sure there'd be some followers that would see what what food inspirations you have to share.
05:26.092 Liz Horton
A tease people, I said we could name it, it's not chambered chicken, right?
05:29.388 Brandon Burton
That's right. Anything but chambered chicken.
05:33.294 Liz Horton
Of course I think I actually kinda miss chamber chicken right now. I think
05:37.952 Brandon Burton
Yeah, I was having a thought just the other day about, you know, right now there's a lot of chamber chicken that's not being eaten. We're we're recording this mid mid-uh April two thousand twenty. So a lot of people are in you know stay-at-home orders and self-quarantine and stuff from COVID nineteen. So a lot of chamber chicken is not being prepared or eaten right now. But so as I kind of alluded to in the
05:58.446 Liz Horton
That's great.
06:04.45 Brandon Burton
what the topic for our discussion is today around change management as this is being recorded in in April twenty twenty. there's obviously a lot of change that will need to be addressed as chambers start getting back to what will be more of a business as usual as doors start opening and businesses start opening up again. And I think there's, you know, some of these self-assessments for organizations to look at and see what they need to do, what the needs of their businesses are. their members and then, you know, what what kind of adjustments they need to make. And some of those adjustments will be made internally as well. But Liz, I know they're at the Greenville chamber, you guys have gone over quite a bit of change recently. Do you want to maybe explain what some of these changes are that you guys have gone over and and we can get into some more detail on some of them?
06:56.878 Liz Horton
Sure. when I took over operations in 2016, I was tasked with overhauling our dues model at the Greenville Chamber. there was a hybrid tiered model that had been put in place but never really fully implemented. So we took a lot of steps and measures getting committees and volunteers together to help us vet our tiered dues structure. and benefits and we implemented implemented that slowly over a two-year period of time. It is now fully implemented and has proven to be very beneficial to our organization, particularly now that we're seeing folks businesses that may be struggling to pay membership dues right now now have options of perhaps switching to another tier level versus dropping altogether. And one of the major changes that we implemented into that was we take we took our private sector fueled economic development initiative, which we call Accelerate, and actually incorporated the funding for that initiative into our tier dues model for the investors that are at the higher levels. and it became easier to sell our mission and vision. And so we started selling more of our higher tier level membership. So our average dues per investor did increase quite drastically over that two-year period as a result. We also implemented a new strategic plan during that time, which now it's actually time to update again. And again, we utilized ad hoc committees and consultants to help us and members to determine who we serve the best. Who we should continue to serve, what programs should we continue to offer? Our team actually goes through an exercise each fall when we're planning for the following year in our budget process, where we take all of our events and programs through an event decision matrix. And you ask a series of questions. Is it vision? Is it on vision? Is it on mission? Does it garner support? Whether it's financial or volunteers or participation.
09:13.89 Liz Horton
Are there others in the community doing similar things? Do you do it better? And then by the time you get to the end of this matrix, you determine whether you should continue doing that event or whether you should end it. And we worked really hard to try to stick to that matrix each year. I know in my history with chambers, there's sometimes a lot of events and programs that people are hesitant to give away or to get rid of because they've been doing them for so long and it's just expected of them. but when you really start looking into all of the staff time and whether it really fits your vision and mission, you have to make a decision should you really be doing those things. and a lot of times they're really not yielding a whole lot of margin once you consider the time that it takes to put that together. we also moved to a new chamber facility this past fall, in November, right before Thanksgiving. we had been The chamber had been housed in a building since 1972 that they owned. And again, we utilized a committee to help us vet whether we should stay in the current facility and do a capital campaign to renovate, which would mean incurring more debt service. And would we get that return back at another 10-15 years, or whether we should tear it down and build new somewhere, or should we actually look at moving? Which is ultimately what the committee decided to do. We actually lease now new space. And that was an interesting process. I actually have a pretty thorough RFP for anyone out there that's looking to do something similar to get a broker. We actually wanted one broker to help us with the disposition of our building as well as finding new a new location. So I have that should anyone ever need it. I actually reached out to a lot of chamber professionals before I started to see if someone already had something and I didn't get any response. So now we do have something and I'm happy to share that with anyone who needs it.
11:20.514 Brandon Burton
We'll we'll be sure to get your contact information in the show notes for this episode. So if anybody wants to reach out to you and we'll we'll have you share that towards the end of the episode as well. But that would be a great resource.
11:32.32 Liz Horton
And of course, as you can imagine, there's been a lot of recent changes with the COVID nineteen developments and making some staffing decisions temporarily till we get through this crisis. So there's just been a lot of changes that we've had to adapt to and You know, just being willing to embrace that change instead of fighting it seem, you know, has helped us. The moving interning facility has been great for us. sad that we're not there to enjoy it right now, but we really did a good space analysis to determine what which of our team members and collaborated more so we could lay out our space more efficiently. and we're now in the heart of our downtown, which is really nice. So
12:18.838 Brandon Burton
That is nice. I always think it's good when you can s have a presence for a chamber of commerce downtown. It it's not always feasible, but where when it is possible, I think it really helps. so you had mentioned with the strategic plan, kind of taking a look at some of those events and everything, and and I know it's important to barbecue some of those sacred cows every now and then. And I although I know South Carolina barbecue is pig, so I'll I'll respect that. But
12:48.546 Liz Horton
Barbecue isn't so bad either.
12:50.4 Brandon Burton
That's right. That's right. so as you went about the the strategic plan, for example, was there any changes with staffing as you looked at the the new strategic plan or were things able to stay kind of in order how they were as regarding staff?
13:08.27 Liz Horton
For the most part, we did do some realigning of duties to fit more in line with our strategic structure and plan. And we do strength finders with our staff, Clifton Strength Finders. I know a lot of organizations are doing that now. And we work really hard to try to focus on the strengths and talents of our team members and to put them in positions to where they can apply those strengths better. so we did modify some positions. and just did a little bit of restructuring. So we did have some staff changes in the beginning and have since then added some new positions. We now have a workforce and talent solutions director, which is really part of our accelerate economic development initiative. we split up how we do our Membership development and engagement. We actually have dedicated retention managers, one for members who are in their first through third year of investment versus those who have been with us for three years or longer. So that has those were some of the changes that came out of our strategic planning process. And another thing was also when we determined what types of businesses we serve the best, we actually, for lack of a better word, profiled our membership to determine what types of businesses. have been with us the longest and also invest at the higher dollar amount. And so now we focus our recruiting on those sectors of businesses. it's not that we turn away anyone who's not in those sectors. It's just that our recruitment efforts are more focused on the types of businesses that we know that we serve the best and have been with us the longest.
14:51.722 Brandon Burton
You're able to listen to your data and and worked work smart around the data. so this question, hopefully without rocking the boat or anything too much, with these changes or with the the COVID nineteen being kind of top of mind for everybody at the moment, have there been any changes that you see on the horizon for your chamber that you could speak to that You may need to to address or or things to consider for other chambers to consider as they look forward trying to get through this in the recovery efforts.
15:29.262 Liz Horton
Well, for us, I mean we had a f a fairly large team compared to a lot of chambers. I think one thing I guess I didn't share in the beginning, our chamber is about nineteen hundred investors. our community is about sixty eight thousand in the city and about a little over five hundred thousand in our county. And we had twenty six staff members prior to the COVID nineteen outbreak. effective yesterday, we did have to temporarily furlough some of our team members, eight of them actually. It is our hope that we won't have to go deeper than that. And the way we made the decision on which staff would fall into that furlough group were the ones that had the most in-person contact, I I guess you'd say, for lack of a better word, with investors like our front desk team. Now that we're working remotely, we don't have customers coming into our office. our team members, we have one team member who manages all of our communities that come to our community for inter-community leadership visits. of course, we're not doing those right now because travel has been suspended. so we looked at those everyone's job. We looked to see what their responsibilities were to make that determination and all the also. The ones who would be kept the most whole with the unemployment. And it was very important to us that we were able to continue to provide health benefits during this time as well, which is why we chose the furlough versus layoff. And it is our hope that we can bring everyone back eventually. So those were some difficult decisions. What we're working on now is a plan for how we will phase back in our operations. In-person versus teleworking. I imagine we'll still be doing a lot of teleworking for a while. but what does it look like when we do return? Is it staggered staff hours? do we split our staff? So I'm working on that plan as we speak. and then just hygiene measures, annotation practices, how we handle in-person meetings and events.
17:48.448 Liz Horton
And then we're going to have a thorough discussion soon about all of our events because a lot of them we've postponed in the fall, but we know we're not going to be able to do all of them. So our next steps will be determining which events we continue to do, which ones we conduct virtually. are there opportunities for us to combine some things? so we are working through those plans as we speak. and also just the revenue model has changed. A lot of our
17:54.062 Brandon Burton
Yeah.
18:16.824 Liz Horton
programming that'll be delivered digitally, how do we price those and figure out how do we ask for sponsorship dollars at this time. So we're working through all of those things as we speak and creating plans that go along with the guidelines that have been passed down to us from CDC and the White House for this phased approach.
18:25.88 Brandon Burton
Mm-hmm.
18:43.768 Liz Horton
But we understand, I mean, we're gonna have to change venue sizes for a lot of our events to allow for adequate spacing. so there's gonna be a lot of changes that we're gonna have to deal with in the coming months.
18:54.636 Brandon Burton
For sure. I I know I keep reminding myself that you know, through this crisis that money doesn't disappear. And it may be good for your, you know, business members to realize that too. It doesn't disappear, it just changes direction. So it's finding where the money's landing. And you talked about finding those sponsors for these digital delivery systems of events and so forth. And and there's some businesses that are doing really well through this. And then obviously a lot that are not. But some some businesses I think would be jumping at the opportunity to to sponsor something like that. So it it is a a change of thought process and maybe mindset of how we go about doing things, but definitely things to keep on the radar as we try to navigate our way through. So
19:46.374 Liz Horton
And identifying those companies that are not necessarily struggling right now. we've actually had a quite a few investors join in the past week online. And it's interesting to see the types of companies that are joining right now versus the ones that we're having to offer, you know, temporary deferments to. everyone knows retail and restaurant industry is the one that's hurt the most right now. Yes.
20:12.494 Brandon Burton
So I think that is that is something of value. I is there a couple business segments that stood out to you that have been joining recently?
20:21.374 Liz Horton
cleaning companies. that one sticks out to me the most. and then IT companies, you know, companies that provide IT services during this time.
20:23.522 Brandon Burton
Yes.
20:33.55 Brandon Burton
Sure.
20:34.968 Liz Horton
So I think that now that folks have been used to utilizing all of these various platforms, whether it's Zoom or Microsoft Teams, I'm not sure that that's going to go away even once we get back to or adjust to this new normal. I think people are going to find ways to continue to use and grow that. I imagine that we'll
20:57.132 Brandon Burton
Yeah. I think Go ahead.
21:01.944 Liz Horton
I imagine we'll also con see continue to see a lot more teleworking.
21:06.19 Brandon Burton
Yeah. I think there's a segment of the population that'll be anxious to get back to the in person, you know, face to face. And then there's a certain segment that really is digging this, you know, whole remote working and zoom calls and everything. And it'll be hard to put that toothpaste back in the tube, if you know what I mean. Now that people can see they can be effective at home, it'll be a shift for sure. So as we look at these different changes.
21:31.032 Liz Horton
Yes.
21:35.394 Brandon Burton
that the Greenville Chamber's gone through and and the experience you've had in the, you know, your eighteen years or so in the the chamber industry. Are there certain strategies that you employ when you go about change to make sure that the process goes through smoothly and with the the least amount of hiccups possible?
21:55.246 Liz Horton
You know, we we utilize ad hoc committees. And the reason I like ad hoc is because they have a beginning and an end and a specific purpose and objectives. But we make sure that we have good representation and diversity on those committees. For example, when we put together our facilities committee to make the decision whether we decided to sell our building or stay. we included folks that were in favor of us moving and then also those who had expressed concern or you know thoughts that they we should stay where we were to make sure that we had these varying diverse opinions on this committee and then made sure that we provided them with all of the data to make a really informed decision. So we worked with our investors who were in architectural design, space planning, and had them put together like in construction companies, like the quotes. This is what it's gonna look like if you decide to do option A and stay here. Here's how much it's going to cost. So providing them with the data so that they felt good about the decision that they made. And then also having this committee made up of various board members and members. made it easier when they brought a recommendation to our full board. The board felt comfortable voting, knowing that it had been vette vetted and it was based on data and information. and then at times when we need to to utilize consultants to help us gather that t data and information or just to bring it all together, we did utilize that We recently took all of our leadership development programming through what we call a reimagine process. It took us about 18 months. But we vetted each individual leadership development offering that we had and determined whether we should continue doing it, what we needed to add, where the gaps were. And we utilized a consultant to help us, but we had focus groups with alumni, with investors who send people through our programs and companies that don't.
24:14.702 Liz Horton
We talk to CEOs of big Fortune 500 companies and small businesses. What do you look for in a leader or when you're planning to promote someone within what type of skills training do you need for your team members that they're not currently getting elsewhere? And then we took that and built a whole strategic framework just around our leadership development programming. And so we have a lot of we have a three-year strategic plan just for. That particular department that we're now working on rolling out. But it's a matter of just pulling the right people together to help you gather the data, have different perspectives and points of view, conducting focus groups and interviews and surveys. And again, I go back to the data, just utilizing it. I think a lot of us we collect it, sometimes we just don't know what to do with it.
25:06.858 Brandon Burton
Yeah. In fact I was wondering even along the lines of data, at some point the data will will play into your dis decision making process of whether or not you need to implement change and what that change might be, depending on how you can interpret that data. Whether it's approaching a new strategic plan or staff realignments or the membership models or whatever it may be, that data can tell you some of that feedback of how to approach some of those next moves you need to make at your chamber. It's not just, hey, I've got an idea and then go and run with it. Although sometimes I'm sure that's how stuff may start, but then you can look at the data for support. But I think it is so key to get those stakeholders involved, those that are even of opposing views, just to to kind of flesh out the whole thought process and make sure that there's buy in from both sides and and make sure there's a a good consensus to be able to move forward and And then those people that maybe are opposed to it originally can turn into some you know type of an advocate for support for the chamber as they explain it to other businesses that are maybe not as excited about the change. So I think those are all really good points to to incorporate with your your change management. are there any other types of strategies that you like to think about or or try to employ as you go about? It maybe about communicating. I you probably need to get specific on what the change is, but any strategies around communication of ideas as change is happening?
26:48.794 Liz Horton
yeah, we found that that was key. we conduct a annual engagement survey with our team members every year as well. And one of the key areas is communication. anytime that you are, you know, we try to communicate with our stakeholders up front, this is what we're doing, this is why. And then along the way, this is what we have discovered based on the focus groups and the surveys, and here's how we're taking this information, and here's what the new plan looks like. So that they feel like that they have been a part of it and that we actually took the data that they gave us and the information that they gave us and we're actually doing something with it. so we did communicate out to the focus groups, just as an example, on our leadership alumni that participated. We did communicate back out to those folks. we heard you, here's what we're doing. and that helps. I mean, you do get, like you said, you get buy in that way. Even folks who had, like you said, had been naysayers, once they start seeing all of the facts and the data, realize, you know, even though they might have an emotional tie to something, it doesn't make sense financially or for the chamber's long-term success to to do, you know, to keep this twenty-four thousand square foot building with all these maintenance issues. And and we really had some key objectives when we set out for that, for example. And that's another thing we always try to. create is what begin with the end in mind, of course, everyone's heard that, but what are the key objectives or goals? And one of our goals in looking at the building, we really wanted our investors' funds to go to mission-centric initiatives, not into a building. So that was very key for us. We also wanted to have be a best place to work for our chamber team. We wanted to be closer to our core business district. we also wanted to better position the chamber financially for the future. And I'll be honest, the sale of our building and the move could not have happened at a better time because with everything that's going on right now, that could have made a lot of our decision making recently even more burdensome. So
29:05.654 Brandon Burton
Yeah. I love that thought that you wanted the the majority of the funds to go to your the goals of your mission rather than just keeping up an old building. I think that's so important to really value the funds that are coming in and think what's the best return for the membership and for the community to really get the most out of that. So that's a a great great perspective to to look with the end in mind. So As we start to kind of wrap things up here, I think you've covered and touched on several key things here. I know with regards to the effective communication, recently I had Sherry Ann Kelly from ACCE on the on the podcast. And she had mentioned how a lot of chambers around the country are calling all of their members to check in to see how they're doing, you know, what the impact is on them, financial impact and And really getting a pulse through their business community with a with a phone call. And I thought that is so amazing. You know, it's so easy to send out a survey and people can click, you know, if they bother opening the email. I know a lot of emails get ignored, but to make that phone call and show the care that the chamber has for each business, especially with the changes that will be coming up, that can really help guide what changes that that your organization needs to make. by getting that effective communication and feedback from your members. But Liz, as we as we wrap up though, I wanted to ask you, based on our discussion today, is there maybe a an action item or piece of advice that you can share with the chamber professionals that are listening that they can do to help take their chamber up to the next level?
30:55.191 Liz Horton
I would I would just advise that nothing should be left off the table. When it comes to your programming and what you're providing to your investors in your community, it's I liken it to when you're selling a membership, for example. I could list a hundred reasons why I think someone should join the chamber, for example. But if I don't listen to to what their pain points are or what they're looking for and then pick out the items that we are doing that could address their concerns, I'm not gonna be as effective. And so I feel like it's the same way with all of our program offerings. sometimes we think it's, you know, would be good and this is what people want. And then you do it and you don't get engagement. Or you've just been doing it for so long and by the time you put your staff time into it, your margins are just not there. I really just think that you need to take a a holistic look at your entire portfolio and don't be afraid to make those changes and get the feedback and you know, get rid of some of those sacred cows for lack of better word. because it really will make your organization better for it and more relevant to the people that you are serving.
32:20.214 Brandon Burton
I love that. You've got a hundred reasons why somebody should join the chamber, but really there's only one reason that they need that is pertinent to them and their situation. So listen to see what that need is, and then customize your approach to helping and supporting that business. That's
32:36.559 Liz Horton
And then everything else you offer is just icing on the cake. So
32:40.364 Brandon Burton
Right. That's right. So Liz, as we look to the future, how do you see chambers of commerce and their purpose going forward?
32:51.16 Liz Horton
Well, I think we are on the cusp of a wonderful opportunity to truly be and do what we say we are. you know, our mission is to lead, convene, and mobilize our business community to drive regional economic growth. I really feel like we have an opportunity to create programs and resources and opportunities to actually lead that effort.
33:22.112 Liz Horton
I see all of these recent changes as an opportunity. We're really going to be able to do what we say that we our purpose is. A lot of businesses are going to be struggling coming out of this. What can we do to help them reopen and restaff? And how do we build consumer confidence and confidence that they're going to be safe when they shop in someone's business? So we have a wonderful opportunity to communicate. we recently conducted a f a member wide survey of companies about how this COVID-19 has impacted them and narrowed it down basically to four C's, you know, cash, whether that is access to capital or what can we do from a regulatory standpoint to give them some relief when it comes to taxes and things of that nature. Customers, how do we get customers back in their doors? How do we build confidence? that consumer confidence and then communication. So I think we have a wonderful opportunity right now to be what we say we are.
34:29.798 Brandon Burton
I absolutely. I think there's never been another time in in recent history at least for chambers to show just how relevant they are. So I think it's a a great time and an opportunity for lack of a better word to really showcase what the chamber can do for their business community. So Liz, I wanted to to thank you for spending time with us today here on ChamberThat Podcast and give you an opportunity to share your contact information. If anyone listening wanted to reach out to you. Yeah, with questions or follow up to continue this discussion offline, how might they best get in contact with you?
35:07.342 Liz Horton
Sure, my email would probably be the fastest way is L Horton H O R T O N at Greenvillechamber dot org. And of course I'm still receiving messages via phone, so eight six two three nine three seven two three.
35:29.292 Brandon Burton
All right. And we will get that updated in the show notes page for this episode, which will be found at Chamberchat Podcast dot com slash episode seventy. And again, L Liz, I appreciate you taking time. I know you know we're both working from home at the moment and juggling multiple hats. So I appreciate you taking the time to to step away and and spend time with us on Chamber Chat Podcast. I think you Provided some good value and perspective for everyone listening.
36:01.006 Liz Horton
Thank you, Brandon.
36:04.918 Brandon Burton
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