Finished Awards Criteria

FINALLY, I finished editing the needed handbook changes based on the proposed changes to the IAWP awards program. It's 30 pages in all, but I wanted the board of directors to see all the actual changes before they voted on them. I also did a one page summary, which I have included below. The board meets next week so I hope these changes will be finalized then and we can start sharing the information with chapters.

** Citation Award - individual & group (nonmember)
No change in the current criteria.
** Award of Merit - individual & group (member)
Expanded the current award criteria to include international outreach as the International Development Award has been consolidated into this award.
** Public Policy Award (member/nonmember)
Expanded the current award criteria to include workforce administrators as nominees as the Administrator Award has been consolidated into this award category. Also clarified that potential nominees can include elected officials and federal administrators. Updates to potential achievements were added.
** Workforce System Customer Service Award - individual and group (member/nonmember) This is a new award that consolidates the Specialized Customer Services, Service to Veterans, Unemployment Insurance, and One-Stop awards into one award category. Chapters can submit chapter-level specific customer service awards such as Veteran Awards, One-Stop Awards, UI Awards, etc. under this category. Chapters may submit up to 3 individual and 3 group nominations.
** Lifetime Achievement Award – individual (member)
No change in the current criteria.
** Retiree of the Year Award – individual (member)
No change in the current criteria.
** Ealton Nelson International Achievement Award – individual/group & chapter (non-US member) No change in the current criteria.

Additionally the following administrative changes are proposed:
• Allow award nominations to be e-mailed via a PDF file.
• Eliminate the requirement that awards be double spaced and in size 11 font or larger.
• Eliminate that a binder and tabbed dividers are required, but “encourage” their use.
• Allow a “designee” to sign the Standard Award Nomination Form if there is no chapter president.
• Eliminate the requirement that the Statement of Accomplishment begin and end on the second page.
• Eliminate the requirement that the narrative be 10 pages or less, but encourage that length.
• Eliminate the requirement that members of specific committees be assigned to judge certain awards.
• Eliminate all second place awards, but allow awarding honorable mention awards.
• Allow the option not to present an award if none are worthy.

Award Criteria

I analyzed all the feedback I received from members on the proposed changes to the individual and group IAWP awards and incorporated some of the suggestions into what will be the final proposal to the executive board later this month. Most of the criteria is staying the same, however the new award - Workforce System Customer Service Award - needed criteria, so I gathered current criteria from the Veterans, Specialized Customers, and UI awards, to begin to form the criteria for this new award. Once I get it into a final format, I will share it on the blog for all to see.

I am also going to propose easing up on the stringent requirements on formatting, tabs, and such. I am also going to suggest that we allow award entries to be submitted via e-mail through a PDF file. And I also hope to put links to MS Word formatted "forms" on the IAWP Web site to make it easy to just open a blank document and start writing an award. Let me know what you think of these ideas.

Happy New Year

I hope everyone is having a happy and healthy beginning of 2011.

I have been continuing to receive feedback from members about the proposed redesign of the individual and group awards. I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has taken the time to respond and give feedback. The final proposal will go to the executive board later this month.

I have also received feedback on the strategic planning elements I put together from other planning sessions over the past couple of years. I am hoping to have a preliminary draft of a plan to discuss with the officers when we meet at the IAWP Headquarters in March for the awards judging. Then hopefully we can present it to the incoming board in June for adoption.

History of Workforce Development

This week I concentrated mostly on updating the History of Workforce Development WPDP study guide. As I reported earlier, the Board approved dividing up each 100+ page study guide into 4 modules, and then dividing each the 100-question test into four 25-question tests to correspond with each module. It has been a few years since the History study guide was updated, so I have spent quite a bit of time researching workforce events of the last few years. And as you know, it's been quite a ride these past few years! This week I put all those hours of research into editing the information into a usable format. Next I will need to send it to a few SMEs (subject matter experts) to review it and see if I covered everything that needs to be covered. It will also need to be proofed for typos. After the review and proofing, I will need develop additional test questions to cover the added material. Finally, I will put the exam online and the History modules will be ready to go. I anticipate it will be late spring before all the History modules are complete and placed online. It's quite a task to get this upgrade complete.

December Board Meeting

Today I participated in a conference call board meeting. The primary purpose of the meeting was to discuss the St. Louis International Conference. Conference Planning Committee Chair, Laura Coburn gave us an overview of some of the conference activities and re-emphasized that this conference would be "creative and different" because for the first time, the conference would be done completely without help from a local chapter or workforce agency. She specifically asked board members to help solicit donations to cover conference training and entertainment. Laura also asked each district to be responsible for a carnival game at the Missouri Night function (sounds fun!). Laura indicated that the agenda for the conference will be posted on the IAWP Web site in January. There are many assignments that still need people to cover and those opportunities will also be posted on the site. The board will meet again on January 20, 2011 for a regular board meeting.

Strategic Planning

A strategic planning committee was formed to look at developing a 3-year plan for IAWP. I did some research on strategic planning and then contacted the members of the committee for input on what they believed were IAWP greatest asset and what sets us apart from other organizations. Most everyone agreed that our membership is our greatest asset and that our educational programs set us apart from other associations.

For the next step I researched past planning documents and reviewed our mission statement. A survey of chapter presidents was conducted in 2008-2009 and it provided a great deal of insight into the strategic planning process. Based on the survey results I am suggesting 6 strategic goals covering Education, Communication, Chapter Development, Recognition and Marketing. I have asked the committee to review the proposed strategic goals along with specific strategies and get back to me in early January. I will keep you posted on the progress.

How can it be?

How can it be that it's been 3 and a half weeks since I last blogged. I think it's just that time of the year when I get really busy with holiday activities and other things that divert my attention. Maybe I need to make a New Years resolution to keep up with the blog better.

Despite the fact I have blogged, I have been busy with my IAWP efforts. I reviewed the results of the survey for the individual and group awards and recommended changes based on the survey. The Redesign Team and officers had additional suggestions and those were incorporated into the final recommendations. I composed an e-mail to distribute to the same people that get the Countdown and asked for input on the proposal by the end of the year so we can take the final, final proposal to the board of directors in January for approval. Also in the awards arena, I wrote an article for the next Workforce Professional outlining the new membership awards. We wanted to get them announced to the new members right away.