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 Questions, Questions, Questions
By Greg Hyland, CPM, AACPM President Elect
Greg.Hyland@YumaAz.gov
Those of you who have been around the Academy for more than six months know that we’ve been talking about some of the same issues for the last several years. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired of hearing about them and not receiving any recommended solutions.
At this year’s House of Delegates meeting, I decided to utilize some of the Master Thinker training that we’ve been using in the Yuma community. I wanted some answers and alternatives to some of those nagging issues that just never seem to go away.
So, we asked the members of the HOD to answer five (5) short questions and write their responses on an index card. Once their responses were completed, they handed in their cards and we moved on to the business of the HOD. In other words, we didn’t have a long drawn out discussion the way we’ve had in the past.
As the cards were passed in, I promised that I would report the answers received to the entire membership. This article will attempt to do just that.
Question #1 dealt with the issue of the lack of candidates for Academy Officers.
What techniques can be used to encourage people to run for Academy Board Seats?
- Guilt
- Honesty, no game playing, team, CPM training applied, no good ole boys
- Better letter requesting nominations – explanations of roles, explanations on costs to state employers
- Solicit from Society past presidents and presidents
- Explain what financial support would be available to them from the AACPM, should they seek and win a national office
- Think outside the box and come up with innovative ways to make members more excited about opportunities at the national level
- Openness, communications, ethics by the board, ask people to consider
- Obtain agency support
- Ethics is #1 priority
- Personal contact by AA Board / committee members (5)
- Self motivation
- Session at annual conference and at local societies explaining the duties and responsibilities of the position (2)
- Communication – communication Ethics is #1 priority (4)
- Posting nomination via e-mail or web
- E-mail and newsletters
- Marketing
- Open house to AACPM Board Meeting
- Phone, e-mail, meet with state society members to encourage and develop interest for subsequent elections
- Ensure all understand and report AACPM actions so people will want to participate
- More knowledge regarding the level of time commitment
- Communication with membership as whole – transition planning/ succession
- Better advertisement of successes of board and board seats. Then better movement of this inform to and through societies
- A more transparent and accountable board. Why should a person run?
- Personal outreach, hard copy letter requesting interest
- Mentoring
- Pay for professional development training opportunities
- Ask people that are not currently involved in board. Explain what will be expected
- Technology used to encourage people to run for academy seats
- Accessible internet options
- Get information out to state organizations on time
- Send out e-mails to all members describing the offices available and how to be nominated
- More diversity – young, old, black, white
- More information on positions
- Support and network
- Market the benefits of being AACPM Board Member
- Personal contacts
- Personal contacts after open period
- Written communication
- Succession planning
- Networking more at conferences and during the year by e-mail and web
- Self nomination
- Recruit early
- Speak with new attendees to national conferences
Question #2 asked for specific names for candidates for Academy Officers.
Suggest who could be considered for an Academy Officer (include yourself). I will be in contact with each of the recommended candidates prior to the call for candidates for the 2008 election.
Question #3 tried to address the issue of missing information, unpaid dues and assessments from the state societies to the Academy. As societies age, and corporate memory fades, things that used to be second nature are not getting accomplished, such as paying dues/assessments on time, reporting membership information, reporting an accurate count of members, etc.
It’s important for each state society to understand their responsibilities to the Academy as a whole. When would be the best time to train state societies?
- Annual conference (10)
- Beginning of Annual conference (2)
- Orientation session at conference
- Webstream whenever it’s done
- During regular conference, Sun afternoon or at President’s lunch but include all officers and committee members, make a working lunch
- 1 day prior on AACPM Annual meeting (2)
- Annual as there are new boards (2)
- Leadership session at Conference, before HOD, @ HOD
- 3 months before the start of the new year
- During mentorship phase, as soon as they officially join the Academy
- At state events, conferences, graduations etc.
- Whenever it is convenient for the State Academy and American Academy
- At conference, specific assigned training classed for society officers (3)
- During regular monthly society board meeting (conference call, video conference or in person
- December of each year and July provide refresher training
- Late fall, Early January (4)
- Year round – devote time and effort to each newsletter and e-mail to societies and all members if possible.
- When new society is created (2)
- Society annual meeting
- New member orientation
- End of fiscal year to prepare for next year
- Fall of the previous year
- Before an election of state society president and board members
- Continuously
- Late January when new society officers start their service (2)
- Spring @ our state meeting (2)
- Through mentoring (2)
- Every three years due to turnover at local societies
Question #4 asked who, in each society, should receive the training described in Question #3.
In addition to the President-elect, who should attend training as stated above?
- Anyone and everyone (6)
- Anyone interested in running for office (2)
- HOD attendees – even if repeated (3)
- The entire board for each State Society (19)
- Current and former society officers
- Committee members
- Pres-elect of the state society (3)
- Vice President
- Treasurer (4) need to be trained on how to set up books, records and control systems
- Board members who is mentor committee chair
- Presidents of good standing societies
- President of the Academy
- President-elect of the Academy
- All upcoming new board members
- Treasurer, membership, secretary
- Secretary (4)
- Whoever has responsibility with AACPM
- Do training on line
- Have SOP current
- Next highest ranking officer
- Membership Chair
- President of the Society (2)
- Past president for continuity (2)
- A delegate from the Board
Question #5 dealt with the means by which the Academy Board communicates with the membership. Currently the Board communicates with the Society President who in turn passes the information on to the membership.
Currently, the SOP states the Academy communicates to society members through each respective president. Give us three ideas on how to improve the communication.
- E-mail (10)
- Phone calls (2)
- List-serve (4)
- Mail (6)
- Website
- Send to all officers of State Society (5)
- Send communications to both president and president elect (3)
- Teleconference quarterly with pres/pres-elect
- Encourage more members to attend conferences – scholarships and other forms of financial aid may help
- Some type of reply might be requested from president or president-elect.
- Weekly e-mails to full membership
- Require each society to contribute an article to every CPM Connection
- Inform Pres/Pres-elect/Secretary – hopefully 1 position will have a responsible person in that position
- Have a session at every national conference dedicated to communications within the Society
- Communicate to all offices of society
- Communicate to all academy members (2)
- Have communication “tree”
- Have society presidents report to the Academy feedback on information delivered
- Electronic mail to all state officers (1)
- Electronic mail to each HOD rep
- Electronic mail to all society members (4)
- Send e-mail, regular mail to President, President-elect and Immediate past president of each Society (3)
- Mail out to Society requesting name to contact (2)
- Personal contact 1x per year (2)
- Copy delegates on information
- Quarterly e-mail reminder to all society members to click on link to calendar and news from AACPM. Key is news should be succinct and newsworthy 0 we don not have time to read fluff
- Communicate through society secretary
- E-mail flashes to all members
- Hard copy of important stuff
- 1X per year hard copy newsletter
- Including state newsletters through society board
- Newsletter (5)
- Teleconferences
- Video teleconferences
- Semi-annual meetings
- Semi-annual e-mail blast
- Notify more than one officer
- Send to president elect also
- Have info available on web
- Have each society elicit a communications officer who also receives all communications
- More frequent communication (2)
- Better newsletters
- President responsibility to send info down
- State presidents newsletter
- Verify contact info by Society member
- Post info to website timely, and remind members to go out to the site.
- Hold regional one day workshops
- E-mail to three members of each Society to ensure pass down distribution
- Set regular posting dates so members know when to look for new data
- Poll member about form of communication they would prefer
- Quarterly phone conferences
So, what do we do with this information? We need to digest it all and narrow it down to two or three options for each of the areas. I’ve set up quick survey so each person who reads this article can vote for their top choices for each question. Click here to access the survey. Please take a moment and vote for your choices in each category and help us move the academy into the next generation.
Once the information is received, we’ll incorporate the recommendations in our policies and report back to the membership.
If you have any questions, please contact me. I can be reached at (928) 373-5023 – office, (928) 580-4751 – cell, (928) 317-0990 – home, or Greg.Hyland@ci.yuma.az.us.
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