ATTACHMENT 4.2
NATIONAL SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERS
Implementation Task Force
Report to the House of Delegates
July 11, 2006
What we’ve achieved:
A detailed list of all the various accomplishments over the last year that have helped us move forward is beyond the scope of this report. However, we will highlight some of the major efforts and accomplishments of the past year below. The word “we” stands for the collective NSPE family (National staff, State Society staff, National and State Leaders and volunteers). Everyone deserves credit for the progress made to move NSPE forward with the new vision and mission.
· We created the Seamless Delivery Advisory Group (SDAG) comprised of national and state society staff, to improve communication and identify ways to leverage the strengths of both the national and state societies to improve member benefits. While the group has been created, much work remains.
· We have improved the monitoring of state legislation and reporting/coordination with states through the use of the CapWiz system and other initiatives.
· We have launched a new flagship magazine “PE – The magazine for Professional Engineers”, which celebrates our new focus on the professional engineer.
· National leaders and the Board of Directors contacted new Chapter Society leaders to welcome them to their leadership roll and let them know the programs, information and other resources that are available to them to help them perform their duties. The feedback from this effort was so positive, it will become an annual early fall event.
· We recently completed an extensive market survey to better understand just what our members want and value. The results of this survey will direct much of our efforts this coming year.
· We performed a comprehensive review of our products and services to determine which were either underperforming or no longer aligned with our new focus, in an effort to focus our resources on what truly matters.
· We created a template for the creation of virtual chapters, a forum that will prove to be very successful in the State Societies; and has already been successful in California where the concept was created.
· We have continued to create new professional and technical course offerings, including web-based offerings for our members.
· We have created the template for the creation of interest groups to augment and enhance the work being done by our practice divisions.
· We have created a “value calculator” to succinctly articulate what you get for your dues dollar. While still in a simple form, this “value calculator” is scheduled for a major overhaul with a focus on benefits received at the State as well as National levels.
· We have created the Branding Advisory Group comprised of National and State Society staff members with marketing expertise to develop a core value message and “brand” for NSPE and our members. The work of this AG has just started. We expect outcomes over the coming year.
· We have created an electronic and searchable database of Board of Ethical Review opinions spanning more than forty years, as a member only resource on ethical practice.
· We have created a master newsletter template for use by States and Chapters for electronic and paper publication to improve and enhance communication with our members.
· We have continued to refine our member recruitment and retention programs to grow our numbers and expand our influence.
· We have converted to a new Association Management System that will greatly expand our ability to serve our membership with a web-based software program.
· We have started the process of creating a brand new web-site for NSPE, which will be more user friendly and navigable, with the additional focus of integration with the State Societies.
· We have developed the systems necessary to continuously review and evaluate our performance through member satisfaction surveys and other methods for measuring the outcomes of our actions. This is significant in a number of ways. We are now doing a much better job of spelling out our expectations and then holding those responsible accountable for achieving those objectives (a culture of accountability).
Our focus for the coming year:
Our focus for this coming year must be to improve member benefits. We can achieve this essential goal in a number of ways.
1. We can expand and improve on the quantity and quality of our course offerings for continuing professional competency. We can expand our use of web-based training opportunities. We can expand our portfolio of offerings to technical as well as professional content. We can also offer these sessions at low or no cost as a valuable member benefit.
2. We can expand our networking and mentoring capabilities through the effective use of interest groups. The formation of interest groups should exploit one of NSPE’s greatest strengths, the fact that we represent Professional Engineers of all disciplines. This distinction sets us apart from virtually all other professional and technical societies that we compete with for members. The goal for each interest group should be to bring individuals with common interests together to improve their competency in their common interest. It is likely that many new topics and sources for course offerings will come from these interest groups.
3. Through the seamless delivery of services, we can reach our members through the chapter, state and national organizations. Every member should feel the “touch” from every level of the organization. This can be achieved through a coordinated effort of the national and state society staffs working collaboratively, giving each other credit where credit is due.
4. We also need to grow our membership to increase our resources and to truly represent all professional engineers. Being able to clearly and concisely articulate the benefits of membership is primary to this objective. As the leaders of NSPE we must all set the example for all the members of NSPE, by “walking the talk”. Every National Officer, member of the Board of Directors and member of the House of Delegates should take on the personal obligation to recruit at least two new members this year. If the leaders of NSPE can’t recruit new members, how can we expect others to?
How we got started:
The Implementation Task Force was formed in July 2005, with charges to “implement the action steps and value proposition as outlined in the FDTF Action Plan”, which was endorsed by the NSPE Board of Directors, on July 12, 2005. Our charges were further refined to include:
1. Review and evaluate the action steps and value propositions in the NSPE Action Plan.
2. Develop a schedule for roll-out.
3. Communicate the schedule with the various stakeholders of NSPE.
4. Refine the action steps with feedback from states, members and staff.
5. Report progress on a monthly basis.
6. Develop a schedule for roll-out post 2005-06.
The NSPE Action Plan defined and outlined a new direction and focus for NSPE, some would say an old focus, revisited. NSPE’s focus would be the professional engineer. We would no longer try to serve the larger community of engineers. While our focus narrowed, the work necessary to truly achieve this change is daunting.
To truly achieve the vision, mission and goals of the “new” NSPE requires a significant change in the culture and thinking of our organization. We have begun the journey and have made significant strides over this past year. This report is intended to provide an overview of our actions and progress to-date and our strategies for moving forward over the coming year.
Getting Started – Quick Hits:
While the ITF recognized that much of the work necessary to realize the vision, mission, goals and objectives of the NSPE Action Plan will take time (years) to fully implement, the membership and our State Society partners were and continue to be anxious to see positive action. With this in mind, the ITF identified several action steps that could be quickly implemented to demonstrate our commitment to act nimbly and move immediately in this new direction and to achieve the new vision and mission and better meet member needs. We identified and accomplished several “quick hit” action steps that we could accomplish during the first three to six months of the 2005-06 administrative year. Although each of these actions was completed, it is acknowledged that they need further refinement for full implementation. The “Quick Hit” action items included:
ü Contacting Chapter Leaders to let them know the resources available to them in their leadership position.
ü Creating a template for a master State or Chapter Newsletter that could be used on a monthly basis to assist smaller State Societies and Chapters that want to produce a newsletter, but don’t have the resources.
ü Created an accounting template to assist smaller State Societies and Chapters that have difficulty managing and reporting their financial status.
ü Created a “Value Calculator” to highlight the member benefits you receive for your dues payment.
Gaining Buy-In:
While the good planning and hard work leading up to the endorsement of the Action Plan by the Board of Directors was well known prior to its endorsement, the specific plan and challenges facing NSPE to implement the Plan were not.
As part of the immersion process, three distinct workshops were conducted with the various stakeholders of the organization.
The first workshop was conducted with the NSPE staff in Alexandria, VA. The staff was asked to study the 160-page Action Plan, break it down into logical implementation components, prioritize action steps in terms of relative importance and logical sequencing and start the process of re-thinking how NSPE will achieve the Plan objectives. The outcome of this workshop was a carefully crafted list of Action Steps from the viewpoint of the national staff.
The second workshop was conducted in Chicago, IL with the NSPE leadership, Board of Directors and Committee and Task Force chairs, to again review the Plan and break down the Action Steps as they saw their relative importance. The outcome of this workshop was a carefully crafted list of Action Steps from the viewpoint of the volunteers in the organization.
The third workshop was conducted in Austin, TX with representatives of the State Society Executive Council (SSEC). This group represents the Association Executives that run the majority of our State Societies. This workshop crafted and prioritized the Action Steps from the viewpoint of the needs of the State Societies.
Prioritizing/Assigning the Action List:
The product of the three workshops was a master list of nearly 200 different action steps identified by at least one of the stakeholder groups as an implementation activity! The ITF compiled this input in an Excel spreadsheet format, combining those activities that were similar, prioritizing the action steps based on their perceived level of importance, logical sequence and ability to achieve in a timely manner.
Finally, the ITF assigned responsibility for each task to at least one NSPE Department and one NSPE Committee or Task Force. In many cases, these “assignments” contradicted old duties, assignments and charges. We have had to contend with this dynamic. In several cases, NSPE staff assignments have changed to reflect this new focus. Charges given to various committees and task forces were also updated to reflect these new assignments. That said, there was still a lot of inertia that needed to be overcome.
Liaison with Committees/Task Forces:
With the tasks distributed to each respective NSPE Department, Committee and Task Force, an ITF member was assigned to each NSPE Department, Committee and Task Force as a liaison to help the group understand the intent of the assignments and to keep the ITF informed of the progress made toward implementation.
The liaison could also serve as a buffer and communication link between the ITF and their assigned groups to clarify intent and resolve conflicts.
Quick-Base Project Management:
Working with the Action Steps in an Excel spreadsheet proved to be cumbersome and problematic. It worked well to sort tasks by group, but was not easy to update and communicate through. NSPE found a better tool to track implementation progress and communicate between departments, committees and task forces (Quick-Base project management software).
This web-based software enables us to efficiently track and report progress, post results and better coordinate between the various parties. The NSPE leadership, key NSPE staff, Committee and Task Force chairs as well as the ITF members each have licensed access (at varying levels) to this software.
Updating/Revising the Action List:
In April, the ITF met to review the progress made over the prior nine months and to refine the Action Steps and assignments based on the feedback we received from our liaison assignments. Each ITF member reported on the questions and concerns relayed to them by the department, committee or task force they were assigned to.
With this information, each action item was reviewed to determine if it was clearly stated, assigned to the proper department, committee or task force and whether the priority level was realistic. Changes to the description, assignments and priority level were made in “real time” as we reviewed the list, task by task. This revised list was communicated to each Department, Committee and Task Force in late April 2006.