It was an idea that I heard many years ago—call your board members on a regular basis.

Outside of scheduled board meetings, I thought it was a great idea, but I had no clue how to make time for these conversations. After all, association executives are busy people, and I couldn’t even imagine adding one more to-do to my weekly schedule.

But one year later, as I was going through old notes to take care of unfinished business, I realized something rather obvious. I have 11 board members and quickly knew that I could make time for three to four calls with each individual person if I scheduled them once per week across a year.

These calls have become my most treasured time each week. It’s one-on-one time I get to spend with board members who are spread coast to coast. I think it’s hard to get to know individuals during board meetings and retreats—or at conferences when the time is at a premium for peer-to-peer networking.

I’ve also discovered a lot through these one-on-one calls, from learning about my board members’ families to insights about their day-to-day jobs and focused feedback on association programs, projects, and my performance as CEO.

These calls have become my most treasured time each week. It’s one-on-one time I get to spend with board members who are spread coast to coast.

One call with a board member provided feedback on a pricing structure. It was an opinion that he didn’t want to relay during a committee call out of concern that it may have deflated the committee’s feelings of progress and excitement at what was a potential revenue source.

By relaying his thoughts to me, I was able to schedule one-on-one conversations with the rest of the committee, which resulted in a shared understanding that the pricing model was indeed too expensive.

That single phone call saved us so much staff time and thousands of dollars in marketing material development, production, and distribution. It also gave us the chance to course-correct and deliver a product at a much more palatable price point. That’s both a win for members and staff and, of course, the committee that had the original idea.

Even if I didn’t get this great feedback, I still cherish the time spent with the volunteers of my association’s community, getting to know and understand them as human beings.

If a bunch of phone calls feels daunting to you, I would suggest starting with one call per month. Start with your executive council or start with your board president. It doesn’t matter where or how you do a check-in, but I suggest starting one soon.