New Leadership, New Partnerships . . . Renewed Commitment
It was only a few months ago when I was introduced to the Bayou Chapter membership to direct the educational component of our office operations. Today, I write to you as the newly appointed President/CEO. Although the titles are changing, and more new faces will be hired on to the staff, we remain committed to continually enhance our programming, to expand our membership to reach even more of our fellow industry leaders, to acknowledge the production efforts of our partners, and to remain on the cutting edge of providing rigorous NCCER coursework to educate your employees.
When your company's employees work together as a team, they multiply their effectiveness. I expect the same collaboration within the Bayou Chapter office, as well as among our volunteer leadership, so we too can multiply our effectiveness. As such, we have aligned our staff operations with the Chapter’s committee structure.
Our two new areas of focus will be Workforce Development(formerly Apprenticeship, Craft Training, Management Education, Safety, & Women’s Forum) and External Relations(formerly Membership, Communications/Public Relations, Programs, PAC). The staff will now be comprised of a director and coordinator in each of these areas, and each team will support their respective committee. These two new committees have been formed utilizing the talents of our existing volunteers in order to provide greater clarity of purpose and time efficiency to meet the Chapter’s overall strategic goals.
We have also created a new position, the Training Campus Manager, who will oversee operations in the evening during class-time and serve as the office resource for the instructors and students. I feel strongly about the progress of our students because their academic success ultimately affects each and every contractor we serve. The word education comes from the Latin word educo, which means to change from within. Trainingprovides an external skill. Education changes the inner person. Training deals only with the doinglevel. Education teaches people how to think. Training is essential when a specific skill must be learned, or a specific procedure must be followed consistently. But, trainingshould be part of the broader educational process.
We are also in the process of a ABC Nationalmandatory website upgrade, which means the Chapter’s site is currently “not live.” The new look, and weekly downloads of Chapter information, will go live within the next month. We will notify our members via this publication when the revised site is launched.
If you have information to share, suggestions, and/or questions, please send an email to me at angela@abcbayou.org or call the office (504.468.3188) so we can talk.
I believe some people wait for the future to happen. Others create their futures. The former depend on the luck of the draw. The cards are on the table now . . . and I’m ready to cut our own deal.
