Summit Award

BOMA Georgia was recognized by the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) with a 2022 Summit Award in the Diversity and Inclusion Category. The Summit Award is the highest honor an association can earn from ASAE. In 2022, only six associations earned a Summit Award, each in a different category, through ASAE’s Power of Associations Awards program.

BOMA Georgia received the award for creating the Inclusive Leadership Certificate Program. The program was created to help individuals build skills that are essential to be inclusive leaders. Prior to launching the program, BOMA Georgia conducted a gap analysis to determine what skills and knowledge commercial real estate professionals needed to be more inclusive leaders. This resulted in the identification of four specific areas: Generational Fluency, Intercultural Competency, Emotional Intelligence, and Intentional Culture Creation.

This resulted in the development of four, two-hour virtual training modules, as described below:

• Generational Fluency: With the fast pace of change in American society, each generation has grown up in a different world, resulting in social and cultural differences that shape mindsets and expectations. Without the right understanding, these perspectives can collide and cause conflict, even when everyone means well, and wreak havoc on workplace morale and bottom-line results. In this foundational and interactive session, theoretical, historical and practical insights will be leveraged to present a high-level view of the generations in the workforce and how to bring them together for greater understanding – and more effective working relationships.
• Intercultural Competency: Our personal backgrounds influence our perspective. Among a wide spectrum of backgrounds within the workplace, it’s no wonder different perspectives can sometimes cause conflict or misunderstanding … even when everyone means well. It doesn’t have to be that way. With the right understanding, our different views can serve as our greatest strength. In this session, participants will learn how to break down barriers that divide and build up awareness that unites and empowers all people to create a more inclusive and innovative future.
• Emotional Intelligence: Empathy has become a leadership buzzword, and yet, that’s only one facet of emotional intelligence mastery. Understanding how to read and handle our own emotions, while functioning from our intellect is hard enough. Learning how to “read the room” of others and coach them to emotional intelligence is yet another leadership skill that is essential for success in the 2020s. Marrying emotional intelligence with becoming a powerful creator of the world you want to live in through the judicious use of language will illustrate your effectiveness, influence the experience others have with you, and help you thrive in a complex environment. Coaching others how to do the same will make your team irresistible and your company a magnet for talent.
• Intentional Culture Creation: Belonging, a sense of fitting in, is a basic human need that, according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, is necessary before self-esteem and reaching full potential and optimal performance. Among a diverse mix of perspectives in the workplace, it’s challenging to create a culture where all people belong and are empowered to thrive yet strive towards a common goal. In this session, you will learn how to design a culture conducive for diversity of thoughts, backgrounds, and experiences while ensuring a shared language and expectation set, and movement towards a common goal.

After marketing began for the first offering of the program in 2021, it quickly gained national attention throughout the BOMA federation. This further enhanced the value of the program with individuals throughout the nation participating, providing a variety of geographic perspectives. Additionally, feedback from participants in the certificate program was so positive that the program was produced several more times.

“The association community continues to experience rapid change and disruption, and association leaders continue to be quite agile and innovative in serving the needs of their members as a result,” said Mark A. Vasquez, CAE, senior program manager, IEEE TechEthics, and Chair of ASAE’s Power of Associations Awards Committee. “The committee was impressed by the scope of the activities recognized in this year’s Power of Associations Awards, which illustrate how associations continue to lead in challenging times and frequently go above and beyond their missions to benefit society and improve our quality of life.”

At the time the Summit Award was received, ASAE was a membership organization of more than 45,000 association executives and industry partners. Additionally, over the course of more than a century, ASAE grew to become the premier source of learning, knowledge, and future-oriented research for the association and nonprofit profession, providing resources, education, ideas, and advocacy to enhance the power and performance of the association and nonprofit community.