Welcome to 2010-2011! Welcome to Passion and Purpose! I’m excited to be continuing with the momentum of the Power of Commitment Year we just finished. We kicked off Passion and Purpose at the Education Forum at our Annual Meeting in Boston just a few weeks ago. Connecting with all of you was one of the highlights of the week for me. I’m already thinking about EFAM 2011. Begin planning now to attend EFAM in Montréal.
The beginning of a new year is a perfect time to review the IAAP Process Plan. If you haven’t read it already, or if it’s been a while, take a few minutes to look it over. The Process Plan will give you a foundational understanding of where we’ve been and where we’re headed as an association. Also, we have Action/Direction from the post-EFAM board meeting in the web community. Log in and search for document No. 973.
Congratulations go out to everyone that participated in last year’s Pathways to Excellence program. Here are the final tallies for 2009-2010:
Members of Excellence – 1,488
Chapters of Excellence – 199
Divisions of Excellence – 20
To complete the year, audits on submissions need to be done. Those who are randomly chosen for an audit will be notified by August 15 and you will have until August 31 to return program verification to the auditors. If you are chosen, all the information on procedures will be spelled out for you so you’ll know exactly what to do.
Fall Conference registration is now open. You won’t want to miss training on The Core Characteristics of a Champion. Today’s business climate requires more than a working knowledge of technical skills or a grasp of soft skills. To become a champion in the office you need to master a set of core characteristics. This year’s Fall Conference will teach you how with presenters Cal LeMon, Steven Iwersen and Jeff Lanza.
For those of you looking for the 2009-2010 IAAP’s Annual Report, you won’t find it for a few more months. We’ve moved its release to October. That way we can include the 2009-2010 audited financial statements, something we’re not able to do if it’s published earlier.
June was the end of another financial quarter for IAAP and also the end of the fiscal year. We want to keep members up-to-date on what's happening with IAAP finances. The association’s financial situation continues to be stable as we start a new fiscal year. You can read more here.
I’m optimistic that the economy will turn around during the coming year, providing the opportunity for more administrative professionals to join IAAP – taking advantage of the education, community building and leadership development that we offer.
I know that many divisions and chapters have held or will soon be holding leadership training to prepare your leaders for the year. We had an enriching post-EFAM leadership session learning how to become a lazy leader with outrageous results. Look over the training materials from Executive Director Don Bretthauer, CAE and Vice President Karlena Rannals, CPS/CAP and from President-Elect Tamra Goodall, CPS/CAP. Log into the web community and search for document No. 5357.
As leaders, you are helping to shape the future leaders of IAAP – a model of succession planning. I wish you all the very best as we all continue traveling down the path to making IAAP remarkable through Passion & Purpose. Mary Ramsay-Drow, CPS/CAP International President