The March 2005 Edition – Seeking Direction
In this issue
Presidents Message
Strategic Directions – The $5000.00 Question
Recent Events
Knowledge Management Retro-Innovation - Ken
Goes to
New Members - IFMA NAC Welcomes
Mark Your Calendars for Upcoming Events
NAC Sponsors
The Editors Note
Presidents Message – John F.
McLaughlin, CFM
On
A true
multitasker, I would love to get interrupted, just once in a while, during my
day, by an IFMA member calling and asking - what can I do to help? Or even by a
member calling and complaining about the things in this newsletter. Anything to
let us know there's a pulse out there. My number is 917-7487. I've tried the
opposite tactic - I personally phoned 29 members last fall to come to a free
lunch with me, with a 4% success rate. I called every single one of you to come
to the free Christmas party, with similar results. If this chapter folds, it
won't be for lack of trying.
By the way,
while I have your attention:
Anne Marie - I still
have your Christmas present from Santa (come & get it). He said you've been
naughty (no surprise there).
Caroline -
You need to get “AROUND TO IT”, i.e. joining.
Gerald - Is that a
promotion I see from your latest job title? (it's about time)
Cody - Are you going to
be ready to rejoin the board in the fall?
John F.
McLaughlin, CFM
President
2004-2005
Strategic
Directions – Investment for the Future
The
$5000.00 Question?
It sure is
nice to have this opportunity to talk about spending some money on investing
for the future of the IFMA NAC. A long time ago this chapter took the
opportunity to participate in the development of the PM1000 course with the
potential that those efforts would pay off in the future. Well, the future has
arrived and our Chapter, as one of the partners, in that PM1000 venture has
just received $5000.00. Therefore we are now asking you as members of this
chapter to let us know how we should or can spend this money. There are
parameters to be respected of course and those parameters reflect the Vision,
The Vision
– To serve as the resource and representative for facility management.
The
The Purpose
– IFMA is a member-centered association that exists to guide and develop
facility management professionals. In support of its members, IFMA promotes the
Facility Management profession by providing leadership, recognition and
standards of excellence.
The
Question.
How best
can IFMA NAC utilize $5000.00 to support the Vision,
Please send
your responses to the attention of the Vice President Ken E. Stepan, CFM at ken.stepan@pwgsc.gc.ca on or before
What will
happen with your response? The IFMA NAC Board members at the May 2005 Board
meeting will review the responses received. Following that review the funds
will be appropriately utilized by IFMA NAC to support the Vision,
Ken E.
Stepan, CFM
Vice
President
Recent Events
Mr. Simon Knight, Director of Energy
Solutions Alberta, an initiative of Climate Change Central was our presenter in
January.
We also took
three minutes at the beginning of the January meeting to review how to reduce
your email by 75% - as identified by Bill Jensen in The Simplicity Survival
Handbook.
Knowledge
Management Retro-Innovation – Ken Goes to Hollywood
Ken goes to
(IFMA Leadership Conference 2005, January 27-30).
Thursday,
The day started early, earlier than usual, but it was okay.
I was on my way to
Friday,
The radio came on, it was supposed to. The paper was at the
door; it was supposed to be there as well. Things were falling into place.
Starbucks was there. That was good. Coffee is good. A large coffee is even
better.
The first event was the Council Round Table; it started at
The wonderful Linda Beverly and Leslie Scantlebury,
glowing as always, started the Council Round Table off with introductions so we
could get to know each other better and put face and name to Council. What
followed was a financial workshop. It is always good to have a refresher on
finances, especially if you do keep both sets of books for the organization
(just kidding, only one set of books). We also took a look at the growth of
Councils and the graphical representations show an upward trend.
That brought us to the next part of the Round Table. Mr.
Matt Dawson and Mr. Dave Brady presided. After the hellos it was right into the
best kept secret. That secret is Councils. It is a secret that very much needs
to get out. Now the sixteen (16) Councils of IFMA are a vast untapped and
hidden resource that needs to be promoted, touted and branded as an essential
component of the IFMA experience. Not only is this group within IFMA
knowledgeable about FM, this group is knowledgeable about your industry
segment. That is like two-for-one knowledge, an incredible deal, but it doesn’t
stop there. There is more, much more than that. Councils are working together
to bring more benefit through the development of local Council networks at the
Chapter level. This advancement is an active element of the PSFC. There are
presently, and I think I heard the number correctly, 5,000 of the roughly
17,000+ IFMA members involved in Councils. That means that there is an
opportunity for at least twofold growth from just within the membership of IFMA
proper. Wow what an opportunity. Seize it and make your Council Grow and Grow
and Grow. Do This. Do this NOW.
And somewhere in all this excitement my coffee got spilled.
My good coffee, my large and tasty coffee. It is a very good thing that the
conversation was lively, intelligent and reflected an understanding towards the
ongoing and continued success of the future of Councils within IFMA. So, short
on coffee (at least I was), we adjourned and went to lunch. Oh and thanks Matt
for facilitating the last half of the meeting. You did an excellent job.
Friday,
With the chiming of coffee cups in the background, Mr. Bill
Crawford took the stage. He spoke about things that get in the way –
expectations, time constraints, culture, no money, spam, resources,
personalities and difficult people. He talked about reactions, the overwhelmed,
the stressed, the frustrated, the discouraged, the apathetic, the angry, the
hysterical (muwhhhaaaha), and the health issues. We
need to look for the link and break the cycle of reactions before someone walks
into the wrong washroom because they missed the little details.
We need to get back into the zone of productivity and move
our thought process through a downshift. Fight and flight is good in some
instances and absolutely the wrong thing in others. Therefore review your
thought process and take that moment (it is only a small moment) to think about
what it is you must do. In other words let the neocortex
get some control time in. Take a deep breath. Good. Now deal with the
situation. Do things on purpose, respond, be calm, be humorous, be confident,
be motivated, be direct, be compassionate, and be reliable and flexible.
On to the next session - Communications and Public Relations
with Don Young and Karie Cortés-Costa. This was good.
It was basic and that is important. When it comes to dealing with
communications it is important to keep it clean. The key points are the seven
C’s of Communication. Credibility. Context. Content. Clarity. Continuity and
Consistency. Channels. Capability. The other primary piece of great information
had to do with Do’s and Don’ts. Do - Always tell the truth. Don’t – Say “No
comment”.
Karie closed the session with a review on Websites. Again
planning and understanding what you wish to achieve plays a key part in having
a successful website. Know your audience, understand the purpose, know your
budget, keep the content relevant and meet your deadlines (please). Also look
for the new www.ifma.org in the near future
with new branding and intelligent navigation. Above all, keep the website
simple, clean and organized.
The Town Hall meeting was next on the agenda with Matt Dawson,
David Brady and Linda Beverly front and center. Key messages – Twenty-fifth
Anniversary, membership marketing via MGI, bylaw templates for both chapters
and councils, strategic planning, balanced scorecard, clarity of vision and
goals, leadership and experience, the value of collaboration with other related
associations around the world, the hidden value in councils and how this must
be exposed, and a question “What are we doing with retired members?”
Friday,
Turn left at the FedEx booth, cut through the loading dock,
go outside and into the next building, take the elevator up 11 floors, exit
into the IFMA office. The bars are at either end of the office, the food is in
the middle, and the staff are scattered about for your convenience. Of a most
interesting note the fine people of IFMA HQ cleaned up their workstations so
that everything, and I mean everything, was spotless. Wow, I have not seen a
whole scale cleaning of office workstations from the debris of operations in a
long time. Impressive, scary, what was it really like before we arrived? By the
way, the food, the drink and the people were marvelous. Thank you.
Saturday,
Good Morning
Making Membership Count with Richard Whalen and Christine
O’Donnell of Marketing General Inc. (MGI). A very good session and a reality
check about the world of membership marketing and retention strategies. The
message is about the value of membership – each member is worth more than their
dues. The lifetime value equation (Dues + Non-Dues) X Tenure = Lifetime Value.
And for IFMA currently that is equal to $1735.00 on average. That is the
calculated monetary value of each member that stays for five (5) years with
dues of $297.00 and non-dues of $50.00. The true key for membership success is
to get members involved in their first year because, as active members, their
renewal rate is higher.
Ask this question to your Chapter or Council. IFMA means
what to the rest of the world? The answers you receive indicate the current
perceived value. Can you expand upon that value? Can you better that value? Can
you sell that value as membership? The efforts that need to be implemented for
membership recruitment and retention involve a commitment in the form of a
written plan, involving other volunteers and taking advantage of IFMA’s
membership marketing efforts (i.e. let IFMA HQ know about the member prospects
you are targeting and let IFMA and MGI help). Communication and frequency of
contact are the keys.
The remainder of the day focused on Getting Members Active –
Three Things Every Leader Should Know led and directed by James. S. DeLizia. We covered a phenomenal amount of ground related
to getting members active. The topics of discussion looked at micro-commitments
(short term opportunities for members), barriers to activity (too many to
mention so I will not), opportunities for: education, networking, stories,
mentorship, solutions, friendship, certification, expectations, idea sharing,
volunteerism, involvement and for belonging to part of a community.
Saturday
The crowd thinned as the day progressed and then it was time
to evaluate IFMA’s 2005 Leaders Conference, hand in the appropriate forms and
adjourn. For some the conference ended there and for others it was just
beginning as they took away the ideas, the concepts and the opportunities to
choose to lead and grow IFMA.
Sunday,
It is
Sunday
With my carry on bag in hand and the 2005 IFMA Leader
Conference binder tucked securely inside I approached the Canada Customs
Officer.
“Anything to declare?”, he said.
“Yes. I had a marvelous time and learned a great deal in
Houston.”
Ken E. Stepan, CFM
New Members - IFMA NAC Welcomes
Leszek Boczek, Government of Alberta
Gerald J. Haracsi, Interface
Flooring Systems
Dick Polowaniuk, Dinamax
Consulting Ltd.
We thank these new members for choosing the full option of
chapter membership in the NAC. These new members are entitled to the full range
of Chapter and IFMA benefits. Thank you for supporting the Northern Alberta
Chapter of IFMA. And for those IFMA base members, well, we still like you and
value your contributions, but just cannot extend any special benefits to you.
As always, if you are a member and brings a potential new
member to a meeting there is movie pass in it for you and your guest. This is
just another example of the great value and benefit of being a member of the
NAC.
Mark your Calendars for these
upcoming Events
Please check the NAC website for the most up to date details
for program events - http://www.ifma-nac.org/program.html
March 23, 2005 – Occupational
Safety and ~ Health More Than Just Legislation
Occupational
Health and Safety is more than legislation. It is about doing things that
create a work environment that fits the way do you business. It ensures that
when a worker goes to work that they have a chance to return home at the end of
their day. This event will be of interest to you if you are an employer,
supervisor or a worker. If you are involved in an occupation then you are one
of the above.
Topics for
discussion are:
OH&S Legislation
Due
Diligence
Contractor’s
Responsibility
Employer,
Employee Responsibilities
Working
Alone
Hazard
Assessments
Emergency
Preparedness
Our speaker
will be the fabulous Mr. Michael Miller and the following is our introduction
to Michael.
I have been
working in the OH&S environment since 1976. I have worked in the
Agriculture, Transportation, Environment, Forestry Protection and manufacturing
industries. I presently work for as a Workplace Health Consultant specializing
in OH&S for the Alberta Government in Personal Administration Office. I
have my CRSP and my Adult Education certificate. I have taught such courses as
OH&S Course for BOMA, Defensive Driving and St. John's First Aid.
For my
hobbies, I trained as a clown, magician and I am now a professional Santa for
Children's Corporate Christmas Parties. I also took Auctioneering School and
now do Auctioneering for Charity functions.
See you all
at the March Event.
And of
course there is World Workplace 2005 in Philadelphia, Pa. October 23-25, 2005.
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The Editors Note
Spring. Glorious Spring. Let the snow turn to water, the
ruts form on the side streets and the potholes appear.
We have $5000.00 just burning a hole in our pocket. What
investment will be the most beneficial to our Chapter? This is your opportunity
to be part of the process that helps grow our organization. Get involved. Let
us know your opinion.
There are other good things to consider as well. We have a
great future presentation on Occupational Health and Safety. Be sure to take
that event in later this March. Additionally the PSFC local group will be
gathering together again (look for notices on that to come out shortly now that
I have survived another federal budget).
Also remember it is not all doom and gloom, just a touch of
frustration. We just need to hear from you. So please pick up the telephone and
call John and let him know what you think. He put his telephone number in the
newsletter for a reason.
If you would like to have your articles or comments
presented in the Newsletter please do send me an email at ken.stepan@pwgsc.gc.ca. Many Thanks.
Ken E. Stepan, CFM
The Editor.
Lead where we can ~ follow where we must ~ listen always ~
understand patiently.