President's Desk
April 2023
Musings from the President's Desk
April 2023: "Hello, I'm Lou Martina, and I approve this message!"
Updating Our 2023 Journey:
This past February, the PGH Board of Directors conducted its annual strategic planning session. We gathered eighteen (18) chapter members to discuss the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities that could define the goals & objectives for the remainder of this 2023 calendar year.
An output of that strategy meeting was a ‘Rose-Bud-Thorn’ (RBT) session to review our strenghts & weaknesses. The RBT session laid out a 62-point analysis of what we do well, what we have done poorly, and where we could improve on our ability to deliver value to our members, guests, sponsors, and volunteers. The key results of this collaboration are presented below:
Strengths:
- The chapter meetings cover a wide range of hard and soft skills related to project management.
- We have improved on how we deliver hybrid meetings & events to our on-line and in-person attendees.
- The development of improved cross-chapter collaboration with other chapters, such as Erie, Delaware Valley, and the New York (Long Island) chapters
Weaknesses:
- Leadership not attentive to guests and new members at chapter meetings & networking events; we were made to feel outside of "the club".
- Missing out on the member/value proposition; membership not getting updates on available volunteer opportunities.
- Outdated website tabs and content. The information on the website is stale. What happened to the monthly newsletter?
Opportunities:
- Do better to 'on-board' our new chapter members & volunteers
- Share tools & technologies that could be used by members in their project roles; value add
- Don't lose site of the chapter's history while looking for new members. Look forward to the future but remember from where you originated.
Human Centered Design:
In addition to the growth items identified above, the Board also approved a series of workshops to improve the culture within our chapter. Erik Rueter, PMP, chapter member & founder of ‘Human-Centered Solutions, LLC,’ will lead us on three initial workshops on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEI-B). We will present the results of this journey to the full chapter during September’s “State of the Chapter” on Thursday, September 14, 2023. I am very excited to be part of this journey!
Elections 2023:
Spring is a time for new growth - - so it's never too early to start thinking about our next election cycle. We are working on the 2023 Elections to be held this Fall. Candidates will present their visions & biographies via email and on-line profiles in August. The voting will take place in September. We will announce the selection of these new officers and board members to the chapter in October, 2023. The following positions are on the ballot this year:
- Chapter President (chapter_president@pittsburghpmi.org)
- Vice President - Finance (vp_finance@pittsburghpmi.org)
- Vice President - Membership (vp_membership@pittsburghpmi.org)
- Vice President - Professional Development (vp_education@pittsburghpmi.org)
I've listed the email addresses for each of the current office holders whose roles will be on this years's ballot. I encourage all interested parties to reach-out to these officers to find out what makes these positions "tick." Explore what they do, what their goals & objectives are for their remaining times in office, and what qualifications and time requirements might be needed to serve the chapter in these volunteer roles.
I hope you all have an amazing Spring. Please email me should you have any questions or suggestions. My contact information is provided below.
Cheers!
Lou Martina, PMP, PMI-ACP, CD-MC
