ILLINOIS WATER ENVIRONMENT ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER
Volume 26, No. 4 - Winter 2006

The Zman Says...

Larry Ziemba
IWEA President

This is my final President's Forum and I decided not to look back and reflect on what has been accomplished in the past year. This can be found in this issue and past issues of the Clarifier. Also, all significant actions by the Executive Board and Committee reports can be found in the meeting minutes on our website. Instead I decided to look forward and contemplate what I foresee as priorities for this Association.

Whenever I visit this subject, I reflect back on the training I received in Total Quality Management when I was employed at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. This training emphasized the need for continuous improvement in what we do and how we do it. Simply put, it stressed the need to consider change. If we want to establish ourselves as an eminent member association in the Midwest and, possibly the WEF, we need to "embrace" change. To emphasize this I would like to reiterate what I said in my first President's Forum, and that is the need to confront conventional wisdom which says, "if it ain' t broke, don't fix it." We need to change to a new mindset that says, "if it ain't broke, break it; because if you don't continually fix it, it will break!" Will Rogers was noted for his wit and one of his humorous anecdotes emphasizes this best: "Even if you are on the right track, you'll be run over if you just sit there!"

I see our highest priority being the need to recruit and cultivate skills of new members into our programs. Our Student Chapters and Young Professionals Committees have taken the lead in this matter and we also have started a "New Member Initiative." I see this as the highest priority since the beginner is more open to what is emerging and some of the best advice offered is from those who know the least about a specific program or problem. By looking at a problem with a fresh eye and open mind, the beginner will see things that that an expert or veteran member misses. For those actively employed in the water environment profession, identifying new members to enroll in our association is easy, especially if the employer may require it or reimburses the cost of professional activities. But in these economic times, this has become less common.

Consequently, to successfully recruit new members we need to make membership desired, not just required. At the Leadership Day Program at WEFTEC 2005, it was emphasized that we should try to identify the one or two things that make our association unique, and then create the identity we want for our association. These may include attributes such as consistency - loyalty - identifying slogans and images - affiliation - and spokespeople. Developing and promoting these attributes can keep our veteran members actively engaged as liaisons - writers - speakers - mentors - mediators - recruiters - planners, all of which they excel in.

Hey, this brings up an idea that I would like to present as "fodder" for thought. What is a better way to stand out from the crowd than to have an identifying slogan and image? I believe we can enhance our image and better develop camaraderie by rallying the troops around our flag (banner), which incidentally has recently been misplaced (but don't worry, much effort is being expended to recover it). I would like to recommend we embrace a simple nickname (and a handshake?...nah, that would be a direct vector for disease transmission) for IWEA and its members. Consider the IWEA Blue Wave, Blues Buddies (a nonsexist form of Blues Brothers), Da IWEA Folks, but not the IWEA Mushrooms. (The significance of the last one is only known to past and present members of the Executive Board who began their professional careers at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Chicago area office.) So, how about it? Can anyone come up with a better name to use?

The Leadership Day Program at WEFTEC also recommended that new members should not be oriented, but interviewed. Senior members could best serve here by spending a day with a new member, either on the job or at an association function. Many areas of discussion could ensue, such as describing to each other what a day in his/her life might look like, which would help develop interpersonal relationships.

Two of the basic questions young people have before getting involved are: "How many others have volunteered? Has anyone like me already volunteered?" These answers could easily be provided if we maintain a member directory that provides, among other things, member occupations and interests. This database is routinely provided by WEF and could be formatted for our use and maintained on our website. Have you ever "Googled" yourself on the internet to see what your professional involvement has been? Try it.

People need to see value before they become involved, and technology gives us some great opportunities! We can use technology to track member activity, for rapid response, to improve quality, to sell our programs and activities, to recognize members and for member engagement. It can allow us to stay in touch 24 hours a day. Our website could have an online option for everything we do or provide. This would provide a value in membership for those people who won't attend meetings. We also could provide pre- and post-conference video clips on our web site.

All of these new efforts require additional resources, and they can't only come from increased member involvement. Today's society with increasing and competing priorities dictates that we must "think small" in terms of member involvement. Consequently, we must pursue additional revenues and it need not be from increased membership or other service fees. Environmental Education Grants are available from the U.S. EPA, which will help fund our educational programs. I have proposed to the Executive Board that we enter into a partnership with a publisher to help produce, print and mail our Clarifier newsletter. If we allow advertising that is of interest to our members, our association's largest expense would be eliminated and we would profit from our newsletter. The increased total revenue could allow us to contract services to better utilize technology available to enhance our programs.

In my final closing, I thank all of you'uns for the opportunity to serve as your President during the past year. It has been a challenging and a fun experience, and I hope a fruitful one. I recommend that anyone who has demonstrated leadership skills, has an understanding of the objectives and programs of this association, has a sense of the challenges facing our state's water environment and just plain likes to have fun, consider serving this association on our Executive Board. If you believe you have these attributes, don't sit back and wait for the Nominating Committee to recruit you. Ask to serve on the Executive Board as I did. It is an exceptional honor!