Three Essential Virtues for Volunteer Organizations

December 19, 2023

Three years ago, Chad Allen sent me an email that caught me off guard. He let me know that the nominating committee of the KSCPA wanted me to enter the officer rotation allowing me to become Chair of the Society this year. I was honored to accept and now I am the new KSCPA chair. Ninety people have served in this role before me. I want to acknowledge their service to the KSCPA and the profession. Their leadership and commitment to the organization is an inspiration.

Organizations like ours depend on two stakeholder groups to help it accomplish its goals, staff that we hire and volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering, see the KSCPA volunteering opportunities on the society website. We need volunteers to engage with organizational service opportunities so the KSCPA can accomplish its mission and make a difference for their members and the accounting community. We need volunteers that Patrick Lencioni in his book The Ideal Team Player identifies as, humble, hungry, and smart.

Lencioni notes that team players having humility lack excessive ego or concerns about status. He points out that humility is the most important characteristic of a great teammate. Humble people have a quiet confidence in their abilities and skills. They are not arrogant nor discount their own talents. Humble folks share the credit. They concern themselves more with “we” than “I” and regularly express their appreciation to others.

Lencioni notes that the second virtue is Hungry. He indicates that hungry people are always looking for more. They are self-motivated and diligent. They do not let work become too important and strike a balance between their professional life and personal life. These folks are manageable, sustainable, and committed to doing a great job. They are willing to go the extra mile when needed.

Finally, Lencioni writes great team players are smart. They have common sense about people. They understand group dynamics, ask good questions, take the lead when needed, listen to what others are saying and understand the impact of their words and actions. They can read the climate of the group. They are cautiously bold responding to colleagues with directness and grace. Great smart people use their intentions for the good of the cause. When you put all three virtues together, the combination is powerful.

The challenges the profession is facing require everyone’s involvement. We need your ability and availability. Each of us has the capacity to serve and each shares some passion about issues facing the profession and the KSCPA.

Let the staff or the board know what the KSCPA is doing well or not so well. Let us know how we can improve our services to the membership. Let us know how the organization can improve the state of the profession in Kansas. Then lend us a hand in addressing the issues the profession and the KSCPA face. We need Humble, Hungry and Smart people to step up and participate. To those of you who are actively engaged, thank you from the bottom of my heart, for the rest of you don’t miss the excitement and benefit of making a difference.

Years ago, when President Obama started or finished a campaign rally, he would use the phrase “fired up, ready to go.” The board and the staff are fired up, ready to go. Join us as we work to make a difference for the accounting profession and the KSCPA.

God Bless

Norm Hope

Portions paraphrased and excerpted from The Ideal Team Player How to Recognize and Cultivate the Three Essential Virtues. Patrick Lencioni. Hoboken, New Jersey. 2016. Pages 157-161.

Norm has spent the past thirty-nine years in higher education as a faculty member at McPherson College and Tabor College. Norm served as Chief Financial Officer of Tabor for 2 years during his Tabor College tenure. During his academic career, Norm has continued to be a practicing CPA, working for David O’Dell CPA, LLC; Adams Brown; Accounting & Financial Initiative, LLC; and Knudsen, Monroe & Company, LLC.

Norm received his BS in accounting from Manchester University, an MBA from Emporia State University, and a PhD. in adult and occupational education from Kansas State University. Norm is the current Vice-Chair of the KSCPA Board of Directors and served four years on the KSCPA Educational Foundation Board of Trustees, including two years as chair from 2009-2014. Norm previously served on the KSCPA board of directors from 2015-2018. Norm and his wife Julie are residents of McPherson, Kansas. He has two adult daughters, a son-in-law, and four grandchildren. In his spare time, Norm plays bass in a 15 piece jazz orchestra and at church.

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