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| 2007 Vol. 2 | A Newsletter of the PMI Central Indiana Chapter | June 01 |
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The PMI CIC Board of Directors (BOD) has had a couple dynamic months since the last newsletter. This article focuses primarily on addressing the chapter’s long-term strategic growth. Since these topics are about the future direction of our chapter, we want your feedback on the ideas being considered and your thoughts about where we should be going as a chapter. Your name will be kept confidential so feel free to send candid comments to me at cr@pmicic.org.
Corporate Responsibility The BOD initially planned to focus my role on process improvement opportunities. However, it’s been five years since the chapter bylaws were drafted and adopted. The chapter has grown considerably in size, its operating budget, and fiduciary responsibility. The needs of the chapter have also changed and as a result, so should the bylaws. As a result, my process improvement role was realigned and re-titled into a Corporate Responsibility position where process improvement will be an inherent responsibility of the position unless otherwise defined in the new chapter bylaws. The bylaws project is the first responsibility of this position. The May BOD meeting was all about strategy and the future direction of the chapter. Typically board meetings cover chapter operational topics such as what events are planned, business issues such as the recent mandatory monthly meetings location change, or updates on projects from the various committees. Leading up to this board meeting, David Daily, Matt Bracher, Chris Hanks and I had the opportunity to attend the Region 2 Leadership conference in early May. This was an amazing event to collect and share lessons learned with other chapters. In addition to a very informative session on how the PMI Code of Ethics impacts us as board and chapter members, we spent time in break-out sessions to discuss challenges we felt our chapters faced to meet the needs of our membership. This was followed with idea sharing on how other chapters solved those problems. There were many great suggestions and as a board we plan to consider many of them while we build our 5 year strategic plan. Some of our areas of concern included member retention, volunteer recruitment, succession planning, and strategic goals. Member Growth/Retention
So far in 2007 our chapter has grown 2.27% (132 new members). It is important to the board that we do a better job to recognize when new members join and understand what these members want from CIC. We will use this knowledge to design and implement the right strategic programs. PMI Corporate has also calculated a 7.72% attrition rate for our chapter in 2007. This means 102 members decided not to rejoin the chapter. We want to determine why these members made this decision and what lessons can be learned to improve the chapter and reduce future attrition. It is also critical that we don’t forget the members who do renew their memberships annually. We need to know if we are satisfying our members needs adequately and if not, where we are falling short. On average between 11-15% (150-200 members) of our membership attends the monthly chapter meetings. The PDD hosted nearly 300 participants in 2006. Do all our members participate in a least one activity sponsored by CIC each year? This is something we need to determine. Comparable Benchmarks At the Leadership conference, we learned other chapters had several ideas to address member retention: For existing members: · Conduct in-depth survey so the board knows what the membership wants from CIC. · Offer more advanced PM training. · Provide a kiosk at all CIC events for members to ask any membership-related questions. · At chapter events, provide name tags that facilitate better ice-breaking and networking opportunities. The options suggested are to identify if you are a new member, if you have a PM job opportunity open at your company, or if you are looking for a new PM opportunity yourself. · Offer some socializing games at the chapter meetings, with prizes. · Establish a solid mentoring program where members can gain resume-enhancing experience being the mentor or mentored. For new members: · Offer a new member orientation program so new members feel welcome to the chapter. · Set aside time at a chapter meeting where new members can meet with board members and chapter volunteers to start establishing relationships within our PM community. · Provide new members a welcome certificate to attend a chapter meeting at no cost. · Provide information about how to earn and log PDU’s including where to find PDU information on www.pmicic.org. To address member attrition: · Two months prior to a member renew date, email the member asking if they intend to renew their membership and ask if the chapter is providing them with the expected opportunities. If the expectations are not being satisfied, request specifics so this information can be used in the boards strategic planning. · Contact members who decide not to renew and ask why they made this decision. Is the chapter falling short of your expectations for why you joined CIC? If so, describe in what way. Do you think these programs would improve the chapter’s membership statistics? Send your comments to cr@pmicic.org
Volunteers & Volunteerism Volunteers keep PMI CIC in business. Some people volunteer a lot of time and other people volunteer much less time. The opportunities available to our chapter are only limited by the bandwidth of those who can contribute to the further development of the PM profession. The board’s challenge is how to interest people in a volunteer role. At the Leadership conference we learned the key to a strong volunteer organization is in development of the chapter board structure. The chapters in Chicago, Central Illinois, and Minnesota reorganized over time to divide and conquer their volunteer efforts. They have many people who contribute small amounts of time and together their accumulated volunteer hours make a difference for their organizations without stretching anyone too thin. The volunteers gain excellent leadership experience and enter a feeder system for organizational succession planning. The board is interested in pursuing some programs created by these chapters, including: Developing Volunteer Interest · Create a volunteer orientation program where expectations can be set and questions can be answered. · Define roles and responsibilities of the volunteer position so people know exactly what is expected of them and the anticipated time commitment requested for the deliverable. · Have a central volunteer coordinator that can traffic interested volunteers to the right people within CIC. · Define work opportunities in small time chunks to make it easier for any volunteer to participate. · Post volunteer job opportunities on the PMI CIC web site. · Make project charters available to volunteers so they learn about the projects. · Use the Central IL chapter volunteer development strategy to take advantage of their lessons learned. WIIFM: Give back to the volunteers by showing what’s in it for me (the volunteer) · Offer a corporate discount to CIC events if a company can provide 10 member volunteers who in total supply 100 volunteer hours annually to the chapter. · Explore a system like Minnesota’s volunteer dollars program. This is where volunteers earn one “dollar” credit for every volunteer hour donated to the chapter. The dollars are redeemable for fabulous chapter merchandise, events, etc. The Minnesota chapter primarily funds this program through their Professional Development Day revenue. · Hold a volunteer recognition dinner or provide volunteers CIC shirts for their service.· Establish a volunteer of the year program. Central Illinois has established criteria for their award that could be used as a guideline if we implement this program. · Add a volunteer spotlight column to the quarterly newsletter. · Provide volunteer recognition by displaying volunteer names on the rotating slide show prior to CIC events. · Provide volunteers certificates for their contributions. The success of our chapter is dependent on active members. Would you volunteer if these types of programs were in place? If not, what are your suggestions to interest people in volunteering a minimal amount of time? Send your comments to cr@pmicic.org
Succession and Transition Planning There are different schools of thought on succession and transition planning within chapter boards. At the Leadership conference we learned most chapters have term limits written into their bylaws for all positions with a maximum number of years a board member may serve consecutively. The CIC bylaws do not currently stipulate any term limits. Without term limits our chapter could sustain itself indefinitely with the same board members managing the organization. This is good if there is limited volunteer interest in the chapter and the same individuals want to retain their board positions. It is also good if the membership is happy with the chapter offerings. With term limits the chapter would actively manage future organizational risk and ensure continuous development of our chapter, board and members. The term limits gives us options to have someone serve our membership and then in time, opens up that role to another individual. The risk is reduced by encouraging change with pre-established expectations allowing new ideas to be introduced into the strategic future of the chapter. If our chapter were to change the bylaws and require term limits for all board positions, we have some work to do first. This includes: · Define and document roles and responsibilities for each position. · Create solid processes and procedures for all roles. · Develop a checklist of all transition activities so new board members can easily assume their new responsibilities with all supporting documenting. · Provide a lessons learned library of why certain decisions were made in the past so if changes are needed in the future, the person with this responsibility can make an informed recommendation or decision. · Grow a feeder system of interested individuals willing to contribute a few hours a month to a board position. · Have people run for a specific board position to ensure they are committed to the responsibilities of the position. Currently board members are voted “at-large” and then decisions are made within the board to determine who will hold different positions. At times, an individual assumes responsibilities not aligned with their interests. · Consider an apprentice program where for 1-2 years a person acts as an understudy to a board position and can stand-in if that board member is not available for a meeting or event. The person would then transition into the board position for their term and another person would begin the apprentice program. What are your thoughts on term limits? Send your comments to cr@pmicic.org
Strategic Goals What are our strategic goals? Honestly, we have been so focused on operational deliverables that the strategic goals haven’t been established for our chapter yet. We heard at the Leadership conference how other chapters expanded their activities to better meet their member needs. If different or expanded activities are of interest to our members, some options include: · Orientation programs for new members and volunteers · Advanced PM training · Additional and alternate meeting locations for a dispersed geographical membership· Multi-day professional development day events · Events tailored to recognize chapter volunteers · Corporate outreach opportunities · Morning meetings for those members who can’t attend in the evening · PMP exam prep classes · Structured mentoring programs · Additional seminars Strategic financial goals for the chapter must also be established by the board. PMI corporate recommends chapters maintain at least 2-years operating expenses in the bank. If for example we have $100,000 in the bank today, one could infer our chapter spends $50,000 a year to administer our programs. If we were to make a strategic decision to raise our bank balance to $500,000 like another chapter similar in size to CIC, we could implement $250,000 worth of programs each year. To reach this goal through, we need a solid growth plan and defined strategic objectives. During the May board meeting, we discussed our intentions to develop a long-term strategy. Since no one on the board has much experience with strategic planning, we are considering an outside resource to guide the process. There was some concern on the board regarding the cost to bring in this resource so the first step is to explore options to accomplish the goal. [Hint: if any chapter member has strategic planning experience and is interested in a great volunteer opportunity, please contact David Daily at president@pmicic.org.] The process to define these strategic goals will not be accomplished overnight. The process most likely will last several months and run in parallel to the bylaws project into 2008. When you think about these strategic options; is this the right direction for CIC? If not, what should be our direction? Send your comments to cr@pmicic.org
Chapter Organizational Structure Included in the development of the strategic goals will be a review of our organizational structure and bylaws to determine if they can support a 5 year strategic plan. We learned at the Leadership conference our chapter has reached a membership size where our board structure did not function well in those chapters. Those chapters reviewed their long-term goals and determined they could function more optimally with a tactical operations group that reports to the strategic board. These chapters also distributed revenue generating roles among several positions allowing for segregation of duties so no one person controlled these organizational transactions. The strategic board would establish the chapter’s vision and provide management direction to the tactical team. The tactical team then manages the execution of the chapter initiatives aligned with the strategic goals. Their activities are divided into many small groups so minimal hours are required by all volunteers. We know being a member of CIC is both an opportunity and a responsibility. We need to be engaged in our future if we want to continue to operate and grow as an organization. A new board and organizational structure will offer members more options to be involved at their own individual availability levels. Can you contribute to the future? Send your comments to cr@pmicic.org
PMI CIC Bylaws This brings us to the bylaws project. As board members, we have the responsibility to provide stewardship to the members we serve. We are in the business of building trust and that trust is established by our actions. Our decisions and actions as board members set the tone for the chapter. We have to ensure our decisions and actions are grounded in an ethical decision-making process. Ethics is typically defined as a system of beliefs about what constitutes right or wrong, based on a system of moral principles governing the appropriate conduct for an individual or group. The challenge is that many individuals hold significantly differing value systems, and those individual value systems drive organizational behavior. In many not-for-profits organizations, such as CIC, volunteers play vital roles in how the chapter functions. For many organizations, the decision-making process is established in its bylaws. The bylaws are rules that govern the internal affairs or actions of an organization. They generally establish the duties and powers of a board. To be an effective board member, it is important we understand the chapter’s bylaws so we know what we can and cannot do. However, it’s not the first thing we need to understand. It’s more important to have the right set of bylaws from which we can operate. The bylaws establish the rules for the board and set the tone for the chapter. We need to first review the bylaws to determine if they are current with best practices, legal requirements, and sound ethical principles. Our plan is to do just that – review the chapter’s bylaws. As I stated earlier, it has been five years since the bylaws were drafted and adopted. The chapter has grown considerably in size, its operating budget, and fiduciary responsibility. The needs of the chapter have also changed and so should the bylaws. As the Director for Corporate Responsibility, I am looking for a few key volunteers to form a committee to define, review, modify, and draft a new version of our chapter’s bylaws. We expect this project to take about a year and it will be aligned with creating the five year strategic plan for the chapter. The project would include soliciting regular feedback from the membership at large. We need individuals who want to contribute their knowledge, experience, and time in this initiative. The chapter will benefit from your participation by improving the bylaws. You will benefit in your personal leadership development. By participating on this committee, you will play a pivotal role in the future of the chapter. I estimate your time commitment will 2 to 4 hours per week for meetings and conference calls. The bulk of your time will be spent on:
Another personal benefit is to work closely with other like-minded individuals who understand and appreciate that volunteerism is a service to others. Volunteers are very important to our chapter. We value your involvement and the chapter appreciates your hard work. The success of our chapter is dependent on the active participation of its members.
In Closing By now you know we are focused on our chapter’s future. Please send your ideas, thoughts, comments, complaints, or compliments to cr@pmicic.org. Your name will be kept confidential.
Laura Connelly, PMP PMI – Central Indiana Chapter Director, Corporate Responsibility
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PMI CIC has some interesting membership statistics (Figure 1). We rank #42 out of 253 worldwide PMI chapters with 1,352 total members. In 2002, we had 742 members. This is a 45% increase in 5 years. We also hold the #11 position worldwide with 67% (904 members) of our chapter being PMP-certified.