To me, Member Value is not a buzzword and Strategic Alignment is not a catchphrase. To me, the only reason that the PMI Central Indiana Chapter exists as an organization is to provide real, meaningful, value to its members. And I interpret Strategic Alignment as a reality check that helps us to ensure that we are orienting our resources, limited as they are, on the activities that will provide the most value to our members.

I've been on the Board of Directors a long time, so I've had the opportunity to influence the chapter's strategy and its activities over the course of several years. But this year is different. This year, I'm President, so I have the opportunity - and the responsibility - to guide the chapter according to my standards of quality, my interpretation of value, and my vision. In the next few paragraphs, I will share with you the details of that vision.

Our 2010 Strategic Objectives

During the Strategic Planning session, held in August of 2009, the PMI CIC Board of Directors established these Strategic Objectives for the 2010 year:

1. To Increase Member Satisfaction
2. To Strengthen the Volunteer Base
3. To Become a Focal Point for Career Development for PMI CIC Members
4. To Improve Operational Efficiency and Business Continuity

These are very strong objectives, and very ambitious. However, I believe that they all serve to further define the primary objective, which is always going to be Member Value. We want "To Increase Member Satisfaction" because that is our ultimate measurement of Member Value. We want "To Strengthen the Volunteer Base" because doing so will allow us to deliver even more value, over a longer and more sustained period of time. We want "To Become a Focal Point for Career Development for PMI CIC Members" because we believe that doing so will provide real, meaningful value to our members in this time of economic strain and employment uncertainty. And we want "To Improve Operational Efficiency and Business Continuity" because, as a volunteer workforce, we want to focus our efforts and our precious time on activities that truly add meaningful value, rather than on re-inventing the wheel over and over again.

Managing Our Business like a Business

In my approach to the execution of these interrelated strategic objectives, I am looking at the chapter as a company with several departments, rather than a club with several committees. I am looking at the synergies that we can gain if our departments are encouraged to specialize and then provide services to one another. In support of this approach, the elected officers of the chapter have voted to re-align the Directorships, not only to support the strategic objectives, but also to enable this cross-functional, collaborative approach to doing business.

For example, our Programs Director and Education Director will now be working closely with two new Directors, Speaker Acquisition and Facilities, allowing each Director to specialize in a different aspect of event management. We expect this specialization to improve quality while also helping "To Improve Operational Efficiency and Business Continuity."

As another example, several Directors are involved in our efforts "To Strengthen the Volunteer Base." Our Volunteers Director will be making use of volunteer recruitment "best practices" obtained from other PMI chapters, our PMPlatform Director will be designing a Volunteer Management module within our chapter management system, and our Mentoring Director will be engaging our mentors to assist in the development of our volunteers into stronger project managers and leaders.

There is No Success Without Metrics

It might be fair to use the word "experimental" to characterize some of the changes that we are implementing. We have performed our due diligence, of course, benchmarking with other chapters and proven business practices, but it is absolutely true that we are breaking new ground this year. In our next Board meeting, the chapter officers will discuss how we can enable our Directors to be successful in these challenging new endeavors. But... in order to define success, we must first have a way to measure it.

Earlier this year, we distributed a general Member Satisfaction survey. While we received fewer responses than we hoped, the results are critical in establishing a baseline. Throughout the year, we will use multiple surveys to determine whether we have, in fact, succeeded in our strategic objective "To Increase Member Satisfaction." And, as I said before, Member Satisfaction is the ultimate measurement of Member Value.

In Summary, Let's Blow the Roof Off!

It's ambitious, I know, but that is my vision, and here are the three elements that I think will enable the PMI Central Indiana Chapter to reach the next level (or, blow the roof off!):

1. Strategic Alignment: We will align our activities, and our leadership team, to deliver on our Strategic Objectives.
2. Business Management: We will employ surveys, specialization, collaboration, outsourcing and other management methods to ensure that the performance of those activities meets a superior standard of quality.
3. Member Value: We will be unrelenting in our drive to infuse each and every one of those activities with real, meaningful value for our members.