Society of Manufacturing
Engineers
Chapter 51
Region 11
|
Society of Manufacturing Engineers |
North Texas Chapter 51 |
Texarkoma Region 11 |
Before I went to Saint Louis, I wrote a letter to the Executive Committee that was a sort of "venting" based on my experience with Chapter 51 for about 15 years. I was worried that I made people mad. It could have been interpreted as if I thought that all the people that had worked in SME hadn't done a thing. Hopefully, you understand that I didn't mean that, but it has always surprised me to see all of the industry in D/FW, and such a small amount of participation in Chapter 51 activities.
As it turns out, when I went to Saint Louis, I discovered that most of the chapters in the US (oops, World), have the same problem, and membership has been dropping gradually for several years. This could be one of the motivations behind the proposed merger with ASME, as that would represent a kind of coalescing of technical people for security. I for one don't think that is really necessary, and paradoxically, the thrust of all the meetings that I attended was "Membership Retention", as if neither does a consensus of SME membership and International direction. *note: The idea to merge the two groups was announced as being dropped on 9/16/99.
The Thursday that I arrived, I went to the SME Resource Open House, and I talked to someone at all of the booths there. The booths that impressed me the most were as follows; "Education"(I didn't realize how much technical data SME has at its disposal), "Certification" (I didn't know that SME International knows quite well that the CmfgE title is little understood by employers, and that Chapter 51 can make money for itself by advertising and conducting certification courses, Member Services (I didn't know that they probably could coach someone through a complete Chapter rebuild if it were necessary). Another way to put it was that as a member since 1983, I was only dimly aware of all that SME has to offer its membership, and of course, one of the points made was that members quit because they don't know either. I copied this down: "A necessary condition for perceiving benefit is an awareness of what's offered". Another booth that impressed me was the booth for the local Saint Louis chapter, #14, I think. They have about 25% attendance at their meetings, and I have a whole list of activities they have throughout the year to show you why.
The next morning, Friday, I went to a prep talk given by one Mark Levin, CAE, the president of a company named B.A.I., Inc. Curiously, he is also the Executive Vice President of the Chain Link Manufacturers Institute. He made much light of this, and assured us that the organization was real and active, and explained that there were even more obscure organizations in the world. But his presentation was quite appropriate; it projects into the next millenium.
At the beginning, he gave a definition of "insanity" which is not technical, but useful for us, and that was "someone that did the same thing over and over again, but expected different results each time". Mark made the following six points:
In the new millennium, people will value TIME more than they value MONEY, PROGRAMS, SERVICES, etc. The "new generation" of members and potential members has a different attitude about organizations like SME. "You only get out of an SME Chapter what you put in to it" is a saying that has completely changed meanings. The definition of "responsiveness" has also changed. And so, to be effective at keeping its members, SME Chapter leaders will have to be able to communicate from the members' perspective, not from the leaders' perspective. My interpretation of this is that we need to increase the quality experienced by the time spent.
"Branding" the Chapter with a positive image is becoming a greater challenge for leaders. There are several steps to creating a better image: determine where you are; determine where you want to be; focus your message; articulate your message. Support your image with consistency, quality, and affiliations. Give the Chapter some time to adapt. And finally, emulate successful organizations.
Technology allows members to have options on their participation. (Automobiles, cell phones, faxes, Internet...), and so technology allows Chapters to close the loop on member communications. However, technology has its drawbacks: 1) Not everyone has the same opportunities, 2) Not everyone has the same inclinations, and 3) There are still a few bugs in the system. (EEEK!) But the main purpose of technology (for us) is to make things easier for the members, not for the organization. BOTTOM LINE: Technological changes offer some great opportunities for SME and its Chapters to show some real empathy for members and prospects. (Remember, the goal is "Chapter Retention" (through participation))
We can build chapter status, and SME global status by recognition within the profession, (someone in a tux with a gold medal around his neck is really impressive), the employer community, (like, they really know who we are...), the Chapter, (yeah, right, all 12 of "us*", that's the "involvement factor"), through personalized and customer recognition, (where are the independents, the people that are out there working in mfg. but don't have a big corporation around them?). What if Chapter 51 could produce a worldwide authority in some field? All around us are people that receive patents, win prizes, develop world changing processes that shape history. Does chapter 51 even know who they are? Were they asked to join SME? How long ago? (heh, heh, heh, Champion the Challenge, remember?). If you want to retain members, and set standards for performance, Instantaneous Recognition works. Honestly. Do you know someone that got an award, a contract as an independent, a patent, a promotion due to an accomplishment??? Did the program, meeting or website tell the WORLD? People want to know that their membership ($60) brings them something, for goodness sake! Give them goals.
* I put that in there because I'm kind of a newbie, nonetheless.
Not every member we have today or in the future will be a committed volunteer. Today in Chapter 51, we have a great selection of staid, resolute icons to rely on. But that's not typical for the membership. We need to find ways to break down the larger jobs. If you don't want to be the Chapter Chairman, how about the "Data Base Manager"? (Chapter 14 Saint Louis, has 25 people at the executive meeting, because even the Golf Tournament Chairman showed up and wanted to participate.) There were some strong suggestions, such as: "Do away with leadership ladders, and structure the hierarchy according to Chapter needs". And also: "Consider Term Limits". Leadership Testimonials can provide great soundbites, and provide motivation to newbies. Do we have a great thing going here in D/FW or not? They will respect honesty and draw motivation from testimonials. "What have I accomplished from my participation in SME?" And that's the last mention in the category #5. Because we need to focus on what members can accomplish... not on what we want them to do.
Idea: "1st Monday Club" : Chat room questions to experts on-line. (Many members won't come to meetings, but they will participate in this sort of thing and STAY INVOLVED.) This thing could be worldwide, and give the organizer a chance to actually talk to great people, literally.
Everyone in the Chapter's Leadership needs to understand that they are part of the membership experience. (Note the word "Leadership") This is important, because as the leadership recruits new membership, the new members begin to make value judgements from the first contact, and a great part of the losses for SME occur in the first three years. (NO INVOLVEMENT!!) There is a sort of jump here, but we shouldn't blame members if they can't tell how SME or your chapter can "help" them. In a way, we have to market Mercedes, not Fords. They're looking for direction, and participation, possibly. Furthermore, we should never believe that we have 12 months to convince our members to renew their membership. We need to attract them from the start, and one way is to surprise them at least twice a year with something they don't expect, that's called "pizzazz". Surprise meetings, surprise guests, balloons, Gosh, where are the limits? Make your mark! If each member would try to be the first member to reach the others with everything that SME has to offer, what power we would have!!!
Finally: We must be careful to ask the right questions, not only to new members, but also to those who leave. "Why did you come?" And... "Why did you quit?" Sadly, they probably won't know. We as leaders must infer the correct response.
Would you believe that was only the first 4 hours of meetings? I was there for 2½ days.
Friday, I went to the first of four mini-seminars. This one was called "Chapter Leader's Retention Toolbox". Out of all of the seminars, I think that the following information was of the most value. It tells us who we are and how to communicate. Asking the members what they want doesn't work, they probably don't know, and anyway, the executive committee should provide the leadership. It should be our job to realize that we have a somewhat interested audience already in place, but not all of them are interested in the same things. Probably everyone could participate more than reading the bulletin and/or the magazine and coming to the technical meetings. But we have to attract their attention by varying our approach and subject. The first thing we have to understand is The Market. So I copied the whole thing here, hoping that it wouldn't get lost.
Never before has there been such diversity among generations as far as lifestyle, values and interests. There are three distinct generations in our society today:
Listed below are the characteristics of each generation:
These three generations call for multiple efforts to approach, entice, involve and retain your chapter's membership. Following are some tips on how to reach all three diverse groups:
Additional resources available to you regarding the generations:
I guess I have some comments about this, as I do think that this model is useful. But I also do see a certain normalcy in what is presented as a cataclysmic revelation. After all, it's a good thing that older people know more that younger people, as if not, the day to day learning we all experience would be a futile process. Also, those in the middle somewhere, deserve to be skeptical, since they have probably been burned in the past. Notice that the component of ambition is very much present with them, and they seek knowledge as a cure for instability. Notice that the "Xers" also have noble qualities, as they can be asked to do things that are perhaps small but valuable, and although they are shy and love computers, they can really appreciate and respect their elders if they are given the straight scoop about things. Of course, this same thing goes for the "Boomers". We need to structure our activities and efforts in these three directions. There are overlaps and interfaces, but we can understand them if we try.
Now rather than just recopy everything that I was given as handouts, I am going to list the main ideas, with enough clues and stimuli to aid anyone who reads what I've written. If you can infer a good idea from this, you're probably right! If you want further information, call me.
Note: When a member signs the check for the dues each year, he/she thinks things like: What do they do for me? What do I really do with my membership? What will other people think of me if I quit? What will I miss? Will I do more? Will they do more? Did I fit in with the organization? On the average, only 22% of the members of technical organizations participate, and the employer pays the dues of 55% of our members. Probable renewals participate. Long termers network, use SME for career advancement, recruit and also are encouraged by other SME members. Any SME member suffers the burden of leadership.
Late Friday afternoon (6/4/99), I attended a seminar called "One Person is not an Island, but a Group is an Excellent Start". Well, I did attend the thing, and here are the highlights, but I never did figure out what the title meant. " Group Think", I guess.
This is a list of the areas that we can work on. There are possibly other subjects, but these are the main ones. There are nuances, subtleties, exceptions, variations, and possible extensions, but basically, if we concentrate on these things, any other ideas will come to us later, and the will be a product of a basic success.
Once again, our key to membership retention and Chapter strength is by showing the members how they can gain in experience and knowledge by participation. There are so many ideas and things to do that anyone could really advance themselves personally if they only wanted to. The main direction of this seminar was to show that committees on all these subjects could use their innate creativity to solve any problems found there. If we can create a fully articulating chapter, the benefits to the Metroplex, the Chapter, and also the benefits to those who had the vision to get involved would be apparent. And the Chapter would have the inertia to be what it should be.
Idea: This is based on the proposition that we emulate successful organizations. I picked up a spiral bound booklet entitled "Fundamental Applications of Theory of Constraints" by James T. Low, Ph.D., CPIM. "The theory of constraints is an overall management improvement approach that has applications in production, marketing, accounting, project management, and organizational change. The core of Theory of Constraints is an extraordinarily powerful process for problem solving". An SME member interested in Constraints, PERT analysis, methods of machine tool selection, whatever, can contact Detroit for their data, put an announcement in the bulletin or newspaper to harvest the interested, go into any plush hotel, gather around a table, get lemonade and sandwiches, and study the subject worry free. The members are not competing for salary increases, the tuition is free, and each one suddenly becomes the local office authority on the subject. The Xers and the Boomers all have one thing in common, AMBITION. SME 1, Rest of World, 0.
Saturday morning (8:30), "You're the Leader, Now What?". Good point, because somewhere the rubber does meet the road. Of the four programs, this one is the one that I would have liked to attend twice. It was my first formal contact with the ideas that come with a leader of a group of people. (Blush!). It would also be a subject on which I think that 51 could accumulate information for future management oriented programs. The "Silents" could transmit many things that they would like to see survive through this medium. I had always thought that there were techniques for organization, and I'm sure that there are others (many) than the ones that I was allowed to see. The main themes are listed in a handbook entitled "Process Techniques to Create Team Results". Everyone knows the two most common ones; "Brainstorming" and Pro-Con Analysis". But there is an addition to "Brainstorming" called Brainstorming Plus" in which time is allowed for reflection and a discussion ensues to isolate issues called "Energy Dots". Of course, every committee should have an "Agenda" with "Ground Rules". And I used to make logic diagrams to show "Decision Options" But there were two others that stick in my mind. One was similar to the Theory of Constraints I mentioned before. You construct a four-column list. The first column is entitled "Driving Forces", the second "Status Quo", the third is "Restraining Forces" and the fourth is "Desired Goal". Thus you can see in one line, all of the variables relating to an overall goal in terms or individual driving and opposing forces impinging on the status quo, with the specific variable goal at the side to remind you of your direction. It's a way of flow-charting in which you analyze the variables for a certain problem and evaluate or weigh the outcomes for their relative value. Most of us use this without thinking that there is a way to formalize the process. Well, hey, there is! Another technique is "The Parking Lot". That's when you see during a meeting as sort of deadlock taking shape and you put it in the Parking Lot and discuss it later. You can apply any of your favorite techniques to gain the solution. Again, everyone does this, perhaps instinctively, but to see it described formally allows you to verbalize and visualize and later elaborate on the subject. There is a dynamite meeting topic locked up here. Management Thought Techniques.
With that setting established, and the formality and pompousness of the International Meeting of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, you would naturally expect to meet:
The Great PooBaa!
Well, you might, or maybe you might not, in fact, probably not, but imagine a smart looking chickie in a blond fall and a sequined corona, enclosed in a fantastic robe having just left her crystal ball in the wings, to come and talk to you about your Chapter. Lucky you'd feel, I guess! I know I did. A lawyer accompanied her, so you would know right off the bat that all would be legal. Maybe. Enshrouded in Time, the Universe and Everything, the Great PooBaa deigned to bestow several "tips" on the unworthy, realizing full well that her words would probably be lost forever in the vastness of Eternity. She left instructions on how to successfully ruin any committee. That's the trouble with some mystics, you never can tell which side they're on sometimes.
As if that were not enough, other items of interest effused from her munificence. Notice the change in polarity.
The final seminar finished before noon on Saturday, June 5, 1999. Of the four meetings, I reallywas sorry that I hadn't been sent with someone else from the Chapter. If ever we have enough money to send another member to this Annual Meeting, it should be the person that is responsible for the exterior face of our Chapter, as they could really get the idea of what SME is all about. But I also would wish that the Program Chairman could go to this seminar, just as an aid to focus on the current thinking nationwide on programs. If I could say that Chapter 51 has made a mistake, I would say that we have been worrying about the wrong things. Based on what I learned in Saint Louis, with the exception of some small additions, what we do with regard to our programs is just as good as all of the other chapters. There's no point in being self-critical here. I know this, because I was in the room when we all gave examples of programs that were popular and drew a good crowd. Ours were and always have been as good or better than any of them. Being there and listening to the problems of other chapters had a very positive effect, as it sort of "grounded out" all sorts of things that my imagination had dreamed up. No amount of available improvement here will produce any great change in participation.
The same thing goes for our monthly mailed out programs. Ours are just as good as the others, and although we don't really use all of the power that we can, neither do they. I learned this at the National Meeting. We can make some small changes, but they will only produce a reward in time.
Here are the programs I copied from others that were offered as the best ones from other chapters, I've also added my comments and ideas, since I've had time to think about all of this.
Software Demos. I have suggested getting AutoCAD to come and demonstrate their AutoCAD 2000 upgrade, but there are any number of companies that would be more than glad to come and give demonstrations of their products. A software demonstration would be appealing to the X'ers, as they are interested in computers. It might help the Boomers to make decisions.
Post Office Distribution Center Tour. This one is an example of a type of tour that I feel is sort of infantile. My fourth or fifth grade class went on a tour of the Wonder Bread baking factory. The down side was that you had to write a report afterwards. I had the idea of a behind the scenes tour of an amusement park such as Six Flags, and perhaps these kinds of things could be marketed as family events to involve the younger members who are concerned with their families. Again, these kinds of tours would hopefully attract the X'ers.
Several of the best programs turned out to be very job related. Such as a "Mock Interview Night". This is a really interactive program involving all three main groups, since the Silents know all of the tricks, the Boomers want to know all of the tricks, and the X'ers need to respond correctly to all of the tricks to advance their careers, but perhaps don't have a clue that they are really there. There is the opportunity for audience participation as subjects. I had these ideas for a whole series of programs, perhaps, that would establish the notion of "how to" programs. The main theme would be "How to be a 'Most Excellent' Manufacturing Engineer". #1: How to Choose the Best Manufacturing Engineering Path in Your Company. #2: How to Consolidate Your Past Tasks and Assignments and Advance/Promote Yourself. #3: Office Politics: What to Do, What Not to Do. How to Keep Your Boss Impressed (with discretion, of course). #4: Where to Look for Another Job and How to Do It. #5 Five Favorite Decision-Making Processes with Examples & Worksheet Handouts. #6: How to Choose the Best Processes and Machine Tools for the Operation. And on and on.
Throughout all of this, we should emphasize continued education and Certification, and discuss the relative benefits of both specific and broad-based experiences. A couple of ideas that caught my eye, were in the category of "Innovative" or "Non Technical" meetings. These were: "Investment Planning" an outline on how to plan for retirement and extra cash etc. and also a kind of bring your wife night on "Personnel Self-defense". The impression I got from these programs is that you can relate anything you want to SME. For example, you could have someone come and speak on "Smoking, Cancer, and Health in the Work Place". Almost anything works here. But we need to keep a careful eye on our Chapter Image, and how what we do relates to the Branding we desperately need to develop by using The Toolbox.
The seminar on Chapter programs spilled over into the broader based subject of Chapter activities, and I want to show the type of diversity that is out there by referencing two activities from other states. At one time, Chapter 51 had a golf tournament, and I understand that it was very popular. But a chapter in Mississippi has an Annual SME Dove Hunt, and if you don't like guns, they have an Annual SME Fishing Tournament. A chapter in Arkansas has an Annual SME Tractor Pull. And no, I'm not making this up.
A small technical job for someone would be to manage a simulation service in which some people send in questions, and we answer them at the meetings. The coordinator doesn't need to know the answer, only how to find out the answer. In this example, the address and announcement for the service always appears in the bulletin, which gives more people a reason to read it, and the questions and answers give people another reason to go to the meeting. And the coordinator gets a small task that lets them relate to other SME members, contribute to the bulletin and participate in the Chapter's activities. Any responsible person could do this, but the Chapter identifies someone that gets what is perhaps their first taste of the volunteer efforts and rewards available.
I think that it is the Saint Louis Chapter that simply hires someone to call all of the members and remind them of the meeting each month. As e-mail becomes more widespread, we have that medium, also, to look forward to.
So, I hope that you can see that our meetings are about the same as the others. The ones that I mentioned are the best ones mentioned by other chapters, and you can infer the ones that are not so good for yourselves. The bulletin and the meeting programs are pretty thoroughly enmeshed, and so if I were to add or change things, some of the ideas involve interrelational modifications.
As far as the meetings go, I think that we should re-instate the cash bar before the meetings and open the doors at 5:30 with dinner at 6:30. The cash bar is another small job that someone can do, and it can bring some revenue to the Chapter and help in the social climate. I also think that there is a need for more variation in the meeting content. Two of the ideas that seemed good ones are to have, from time to time, speakers from inside the chapter. They could be testimonials for others showing what their participation in Chapter activities has meant for them, and how anyone can benefit from the experience. Or, perhaps for a limited time basis, anyone who has paid for an annual advertisement in the bulletin can speak for up to ten minutes about their company. They can tell how the company got started, what sorts of things they learned about starting companies, describe the rough spots, tell what they can do now, name clients, services, prices, whatever. I also think that we should beef up the gifts we give to our main program speakers should be something worthwhile. And, we may consider paying for speakers from time to time, as we can afford to do so. Variety and surprise can enhance our meetings.
The bulletin is fine, but we can add a couple of things that will make it more valuable. One is a personnel section like the Dallas Morning News or the Star Telegram, and the other is a section that describes people in the Chapter that have special accomplishments or acquired contracts of note, or have successfully completed special projects etc. We should guard against fossilization, due to the same person doing it all of the time.
In neither of these cases, is it my intent to add burden to the one responsible for the final outcome. A small section of the bulletin would be handled by someone specifically that reports to the bulletin editor, who reviews, coordinates and edits the copy. The goal of all of this is Chapter Involvement through Member Participation. Why have one person do all of the work, when three people can do it? That sure seems backwards, doesn't it?
Finally, I wanted to show you the things that another chapter does, to give you an idea of what is possible. The chapter in Saint Louis has about 25% attendance at their meetings. (I heard of some that have 60%, but they are small and most of the local business flowed through there). Besides the technical meetings, and meals that average $15 in 1999, they also have the following:
Finally, I want to thank the people that helped me write this report. Frank Fairley for encouraging me to go to the meeting in the first place and for reading the trial run of the writing. And of course Dick Walsh for proofreading and bolstering my thinking due to his knowledge of the Chapter's past. Anyone who comes after me should be completely aware of the past, as it is our roots and basic intelligence for understanding and strategically planning the future. I also had a pretty good correspondence with Nancy Maier in Dearborn. She was the one that organized the Annual Meeting and helped me with verifications of sequences of events and contacts with The Great Poobaa. Nancy will also get a copy of this report, since she wanted to check my retention of the events, and hoped for some feedback for the next meeting. Anyone that wants to participate in Chapter events can put aside worries of not knowing what to do, as there is all the support necessary at the top.
You might have noticed that I left out the things that happened in the evenings, so I guess that I'd better say something about that, lest some minds wander into the fantasy of being alone in a big city at night. I'd only been in town about six hours when it was time to eat dinner, and we ate in the hotel restaurant. The second night there was a really neat party, with a good eat-all-you-want buffet, a band, and a whole designer atmosphere as if we were on one of those riverboats you visit to gamble. Pretty girls in vests, the whole shootin' match. The second night, there was an awards banquet, with the presentation of medals etc. The International Chairman and all of the past officers wore tuxedos, carnations and gold medals around their necks like the French master chefs. The evenings were really grand. But there is one thing that is extremely important here.
Unhappily for me, I was new to the idea of being an officer, ignorant of the recent history in the Chapter, and not really prepared for the situations that occurred. I have some excuses, perhaps. Hopefully those that go later will be able to read this report and have some idea what will go on, so that they can get some really in-depth questions together. They will get all of the answers. Depend on it. So that worry should go away. I'm certain that the formal programs presented by those responsible for the seminars and meetings will do all that will be needed to show future leaders what can be done, but the real knowledge isn't in the seminars. I learned that from the one on Chapter Programming. It would be the easiest thing in the world to simply ask people you meet about their favorite program, write the titles down and return with the whole years programs determined. What I've just said is that there is no longer any need to worry about program content for us. The same thing goes for the bulletins. I'm sure that we can get copies of any bulletin from any chapter in existence just for the asking. We could go through National for the contact information. So, as of now, those things are no longer problems for us. We have the technology.
But the main database present in the Annual Meeting isn't put on by Dearborn. The extremely important thing is the people that are there. I can't say that I wasn't warned, but I really didn't understand enough to be able to react correctly. There were hundreds of really great people there, including all the Regional Chairmen. We all had the most common goal, and each one had a background that had lead us to the place. I spent some really great times drinking beer and rapping with people from all over the world about things. But I sure could have done better in accumulating ideas based on the diverse histories present. What I should have done is to look for bonds with people that I met with the sole purpose of asking questions and maintaining an international support group for the future. I tried a couple of times only by instinct, and got some results, but the next person that goes should be able to do better. If you play your cards right, you could have some really neat lifelong friends, simply because you went to the Annual Meeting. After all, you may be the next Chairman of SME Chapter 51, Dallas Fort Worth.
James E. Seymour, Chair-Elect - 1999, North Texas Chapter 51
August 15, 1999
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