Sigmund Miller, DC, executive director of the Association of New Jersey Chiropractors (ANJC), and Thomas Sidoti, DC, a board member, detail the organization’s unification

One year ago, six New Jersey chiropractic associations united and formed the Association of New Jersey Chiropractors (ANJC). With close to 1,000 members, this precedent-setting organization is protecting and promoting the New Jersey chiropractic profession and its patients.

The ANJC was developed over the course of 5 intense months with the help of a skilled mediator: Gene G. Veno, executive vice president of the Pennsylvania Chiropractic Association. In the end, six organizations came together to develop an innovative organizational model that equally represents each one’s various chiropractic perspectives.

The dilemma facing the New Jersey unity effort was to develop a workable organizational model that would allow differing chiropractic factions to openly express and support widely disparate chiropractic viewpoints within the constraints of a single board of directors. Hiring Veno to mediate the unity talks acted as a catalyst to the development of the ANJC unity model. It soon became apparent that without his neutral voice of reason, this endeavor would have never left the ground.

The primary breakthrough in the unity process was the recognition and acknowledgement by all organizations that unity was not synonymous with merger. It was obvious that a new model had to be developed. With four organizations choosing to merge and two organizations wanting to remain autonomous, the objective was to establish a single organizational structure that allowed each organization to be equally represented.

The key factors that made unity a reality in New Jersey was a unanimous agreement that any organization could remain an equal autonomous partner within the new organization as long as standardized membership and financial requirements were maintained; and an additional agreement that independent legislation, regulation, or legal action could not be initiated without ANJC board approval.

Once an agreement had been reached on the standardized requirements, all New Jersey organizations could partner with the ANJC as equally represented regions regardless of whether the organization had merged or remained autonomous. The ANJC is now comprised of three merged regions and two autonomous regions. A crucial aspect of the organizational structure is that it permits all members to run and vote for all leadership positions in their local region, as well as ANJC president and vice president. This required that all members had to transcend their philosophical, practice, organizational, and personality differences to collectively achieve unity.

Other important agreements that allowed unity to occur included: allowing all regions in the ANJC to have equal voting rights, no matter how few members they had or how much money they initially contributed; allowing each region to be assigned one voting member on all committees to ensure that all regions had an equal voice on all activities; and allowing all regions to be equally represented on the board of directors through open elections by the membership.

The final barrier to unity—lack of trust—was overcome by each member’s mutual respect for one another and their acceptance that everyone involved truly wanted to bring the chiropractic profession to the higher level it deserved. Philosophical and organizational tolerance was achieved by actually going through the process.

After a 3-month nationwide search for an ANJC executive director, Sigmund Miller, DC, accepted the position. His experience and expertise includes a wide variety of chiropractic programs and communication systems. Miller is also the founder and editor of www.ChiroViewPresents.org and president of www.HealthyPracticesOnline.com.

Miller believes that attracting and keeping members is largely based on offering tangible benefits that help members successfully prepare for and deal with the challenges of everyday practice, and to tap into the wellness marketplace valued in the trillions of dollars. These benefits should be available only to members; and with this mind-set, new members are being attracted to the ANJC in record numbers. The ANJC stands ready to assist any state that desires unity. We believe it is time for a change in how state associations are serving their members, and judging from the reaction of many members, we are on the right track. CP

Sigmund Miller, DC, ANJC executive director, can be reached at (732) 264-4200; sig@anjc.info; www.anjc.info.