Boards that deliver
Edward P. Salek, CAE, Executive Director | TLT Headquarters Report October 2016
STLE’s strategic planning process is making the organization more valuable and relevant.
An update on STLE's strategic plan is accessible at www.stle.org.
SOMETIMES COLUMN IDEAS COME FROM UNEXPECTED SOURCES. This one jumped out at me when I spotted the book Boards That Deliver on my office bookshelf. It was written in 2005 by Ram Charan, a world-renowned business advisor, author and speaker who has authored 15 books that have sold more than two million copies. Charan’s book made a lasting impact on my thinking about the powerful role of an effective board of directors.
The theme of the book, in a nutshell, is that a board of directors can and should be a competitive advantage for every company and organization. Seeing it reminded me that the STLE board has strived to meet this high standard during the past three years. The STLE community deserves to know more about how our board members have worked to craft a strategic planning process that is making the organization more effective and valuable.
In 2013 board members worked with senior staff and a planning consultant to create and adopt a three-year strategic plan that would define our goals and guide the organization. Since that time, the plan has helped us deliver on STLE’s value proposition: Connect. Learn. Achieve. Having a plan isn’t new for STLE. The rigor of developing a planning process is where the leap forward occurred. We have become a stronger organization guided by a strategic board.
The plan is centered on four strategic goals with multiple project initiatives within each area. Here is a summary of the plan’s focus areas and the issues or problems they address.
1.
Improve Expertise of Technical Professionals. Workforce training and development issues were identified as a major concern among STLE members and their employers.
2.
Advance Innovation in Tribology and Lubrication Engineering. Research in tribology and lubricant technology can help solve global technical, social and economic problems.
3.
Be a Global Advocate for Tribology and Lubrication Engineering. Lack of awareness of tribology and its potential benefits limits support for research funding and discourages top students from entering the field.
4.
Operate Using Best Practices in Association Governance and Management. In a rapidly changing world, staying focused on what is crucial to members and the profession is difficult without a strategic planning process.
Strategic Goal 1 stems from membership research that identified the need for more accessible educational resources to benefit employees and employers alike. STLE is dedicated to providing such resources and has launched a project known as Education 2.0. The first part of Education 2.0, and a signature accomplishment of the plan to date, was identifying the technical areas where a lubrication industry professional needs knowledge. Having established what’s known as a Body of Knowledge, STLE can now can define what it means to be a tribology and lubricants industry technical professional.
A top future priority is the development of an education program based on the Body of Knowledge for two major vocational segments (lubrication specialist and oil analyst). We will be reorganizing our online offerings (currently an assortment of content areas called STLE University) and rebranding them as STLE Education, an integrated program of content that is more focused, easier to search and access and which assists in the professional development of industry professionals.
Plans also include further leveraging of STLE’s Website and mobile technology to support education, global outreach to distribute knowledge and content to a wider audience and an expansion of certification programs.
Details on the education program, as well as the three other strategic goals, were presented in a Strategic Plan Report that was mailed to members earlier this year. It explains how the original three-year plan now is forming the basis for an evergreen planning process that includes continuous surveillance of industry trends and member needs. The plan is refreshed and modified or expanded as needed. A copy of that report is now posted on
www.stle.org.
The November and December installments of this column will highlight activity in the three other strategic plan goals. We are confident these initiatives, in combination with the education activity described this month, will provide momentum as STLE heads toward its 75th anniversary in 2020.
You can reach Certified Association Executive Ed Salek at esalek@stle.org.