EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE
OR
process. This is in no way a complaint. It is simply a statement of
fact that this has been a hard transition. But we strongly believe
that by doing the hard work now, we will realize greater success as
we go forward.
Also, early in January 2019, PDCA hired a director of member
services. This is a new staff position that is primarily tasked with
developing membership and supporting the existing chapters,
while looking at ways to increase chapter representation. Easy?
By no means. Much in the same way as the new executive director,
the director of member services has had to learn a lot and remain
operational. No small task and not easy, but very necessary, and we
are already experiencing the good results that this new staff position
will provide for PDCA for many years to come.
The organization was not done making staff changes. As with
any business, there is always the consideration for staff turnover
and PDCA is no different. It’s just that you hope that staff changes
will come at a convenient time. Unfortunately, it seldom works that
way, and for PDCA it happened before the first month of the year
was complete. Fortunately, PDCA was able to find a replacement
almost immediately and a new manager of education and events
was hired. Once again this imposed a challenge on the organization
to keep providing the quality services, information and communication
that members deserve and expect at the same time
that 75 percent of the PDCA staff were new in their respective
positions. We are not here to provide a report card on ourselves.
The PDCA membership will ultimately have that responsibility. We
are simply saying that this was not easy. It was hard.
Over the course of the year, the ebb and flow of work challenges
have been resolved on a case-by-case basis. Programs and
activities were carried on, communication with membership
was maintained and efforts to continue and grow the organization
were increased. Working with the officers and the Board of
Directors to establish the goals and direction for the organization
has been a primary responsibility by the executive director.
Beginning the work to develop membership opportunities, support
the existing chapters and develop new chapter opportunities
has been the primary responsibility by the director of member
services. Planning education content, managing event coordination,
developing events and activities that are more in line with
member needs and planning the annual conference on a very short
timeframe has been the primary responsibility of the manager of
education and events. As important as anything already stated is,
the management of the office, day-to-day recordkeeping, finance
management, member registration, production of the PDCA membership
directory and providing stability for the new staff members
have been the primary responsibilities of the executive assistant/
office manager. The PDCA staff did the hard thing because it’s the
right thing to do!
This year has not all been about staff changes and responsibilities.
At the committee level, where a large amount of the work
for the organization is accomplished, these challenges have been
felt directly. Just because the organization has been experiencing
these staff changes and challenges doesn’t mean the work is put
on hold until all the details are resolved. The work has to continue.
We would like to express our heartfelt and sincere appreciation
to all our volunteers, the officers, the Board of Directors and the
members of our committees who have stayed in their positions
and continued to support, provide ideas and input and who have
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