President’s Message

By Stephen J. Mastro, CPM, MPA, CRA
smastro@csum.edu

Change or Evolution – Which is it?
We are currently living in a time of unprecedented change in both business and government. There is no “business as usual.”  For those who do not like change, this has created apprehension and even fear. For those who embrace change, it has created opportunity to experience the exhilaration of implementing new ideas. Organizations are finding a need to make minor to major changes to remain viable in today’s economy. Are these really changes, or is this the ever-increasing speed of evolution in our technological world? How might this affect AACPM?

As the time approached to prepare the fall newsletter, I began to read the committee and society reports that are submitted in preparation for the House of Delegates (HOD) meeting held at the conclusion of the annual AACPM Professional Development Conference. The House of Delegates consists of three representatives from each active society, the current elected Board of Directors (BOD), and the four preceding Academy past presidents. This body sets the direction for the future of our organization. Committees work on specific issues during the year and, in their reports, make recommendations for changes in policy, procedure, or direction. These are often the topics of discussion during the HOD meeting and, in some cases, these recommendations require endorsement by the HOD prior to implementation by the BOD.

In 2009, two Ad-hoc Committees were created. The first – the Strategic Planning Committee – is gathering information from CPM stakeholder groups and boiling it down to goals and objectives the Academy will attempt to tackle so that it might remain relevant in today’s world of public management. Strategic planning is a very labor intensive process that involves a lot of work by a lot of people. Although the committee will have preliminary information to share in Orlando, it will take several more months to complete this task. When complete, this new strategic plan may indicate the Academy should move in new directions to better serve our current and future members. Is this change or is this evolution?

The second committee – the Academy Restructuring Committee – was established to discuss/study if the Academy/Society structure/relationship of our organization should be changed and, if so, how might the future look and how would the change benefit our members. This is a conversation that should take more than one year. There are many hurdles to overcome during this conversation, and we must not hurry to reach them before we are ready and able to overcome them. I believe it is possible this committee may take two or three years of discussions and investigations of ideas before the HOD is comfortable with some of the possible recommendations that could come from this conversation. Will this result in change or is it evolution?

We also have some standing committees that have done outstanding work leading to proposed changes. The Leadership Institute (LI) initiative was begun nearly 10 years ago and has struggled to gain traction in the acceptance of the notion that CPMs should be required to maintain current management knowledge through continuing education. Every other relevant professional designation requires documented continuing education on some multi-year schedule for its members to continue to use the achieved designation on their professional correspondence. The LI Committee is recommending changes over a two- to four-year period to achieve this for CPMs. Is this change, or is this evolution of our professional organization to meet the needs of our current and future members?

The Management Practices Committee is responsible for ensuring CPMs with selected outstanding projects are honored with the Askew Award. These medallions have been awarded at the AACPM banquets with few of the Askew winners in attendance. The proposal is for the Academy to continue to procure the medallion, for the CPM program to continue to submit the name and project title of the Askew winner to AACPM, and for the Management Practices Committee to supply the medallion to the CPM Program. This will allow for presentation of the Askew Award at a state graduation or other public event where the recipient can receive that award in front of their agency administrators, peers, other CPMs, and most importantly their support network of family and friends.

During my term as Academy President, I have encouraged discussions that I knew could not be completed during my term. I have encouraged committees to look at the future and make recommendations that would improve the future. It is not my intention for change to happen immediately, but that we define future goals and set a path over time to achieve this future. I want to see the Academy evolve to remain as relevant in the future as it has been in the past.

The vision of the Academy is that CPM graduates become world class leaders and managers for the public sector. The Academy’s mission is to promote professional excellence and quality principles in public management through the endorsement of dynamic leadership, high ethical standards, training, and continuing education. I believe we can, and must, do this by embracing change and using evolutionary processes to adjust our course so we may evolve into a stronger national organization.

If you are an Academy member, you are getting this newsletter. Share it with other CPMs who are not Academy members. Ask them what the Academy and your society can do to be relevant in their professional lives. Then take this information, pass it along to your Society President, and ask them to share it with your delegates. This would be valuable information for delegates to receive and it should influence the discussions held in the HOD in 2009 and into the future. If you wish to share these thoughts directly with me, my e-mail is smastro@csum.edu.

I hope to meet you in Orlando this September.

© Copyright 2009, American Academy of Certified Public Managers®