June 2009
Duane Johnson, FCSI, CDT

Have you told anyone lately in another Region how much the West ROCKS ? For those who have no idea what I’m referring to, please turn to page 5 of the recent May 2009 edition of CSI’s “The Monthly Leader”. The Institute’s recent Member Referral Campaign is over and borrowing a phrase from horseracing, the WEST won the Triple Crown!!!

There were over 465 new members recruited of which the West led with 65 (second was Mid Atlantic with 55). Redwood Empire led all Chapters with a terrific 29 (second was 16). Finally it’s a pleasure to congratulate an old friend on a job well done. Bryan Varner, long time stalwart of the Redwood Empire Chapter, grabs the top Individual Honor with 24 ( second place was a distant 15). Now let’s not let up until ALL of the Chapters in our Region have positive growth (have you made this month’s calls to those on the non-renewed list ?)

By the time many of you read this some of us will be heading to Indianapolis for the Institute Board meeting and Construct 2009. The Board will be faced with many proposed recommendations to act on. I am troubled with a couple of trends in the wording of the recommendations. The first is a perceived need to tie the new funding steam of Region financing to a set of national standards with more formal Institute overview. I still trust the local eyes of the Chapters to monitor and administer the funds in a way to advance the CSI mission. This is not the time to expand non-market driven tasks at the Institute level.

The second issue continues to be how we can train our leaders better. I certainly recognize the need and, frankly, feel we are paying the price now for scaling this specific training back due to budget constraints. At this year’s Construct 2009 we will once again provide a focused training session for Presidents and President Elects. Although I certainly encourage all Chapters to send their leaders, I hope we can find a way to get some sort of traveling “road show” or interactive web based sessions that can take training out to the Regions, as I’m hearing this year that it is more difficult to take extra time off to come to the Convention. I’m concerned about the time availability for our Product Reps with more travel time required for their expanded areas. Can we give them something that they can download and view at night? Training good leaders develops good people skills and this is a “Value” of CSI membership that most employers certainly understand. I believe after a vigorous debate at the Board, we will have a clearer understanding of what part of the training is best done by Institute and what we, as a Region, need to develop to assist the Chapters.

Another limiting concern is that as the investment income from the sale of the show remains so low due to the market conditions, we will continue to face a very tight budget situation. We will still need to make difficult choices as we can’t just go hide under a rock until this is over. We MUST continue to find a way to make strategic marketing decisions or the construction industry will pass us by. To this end, I hope you are all reading the Institute e-mail pieces and can see the changes back east, such as finally locating smaller office space to lease and re-alignment of the staff to better serve member needs. Walt and the staff have certainly done their part to keep us going.

Finally, I can not end without thanking our Region President Jan Piccola for all of her devotion to CSI. I’m very thankful for her mentoring; it will be a pleasure to be in attendance as she receives her well deserved Fellowship in Indianapolis.

So on July 1st Dave Willis and I will take the helm for this unique transition year as we finish the governance changeover. Being one of the two Institute Directors who drew the “short straw”, I will continue to wear two hats, as the Region drops to a single Director representing them at the Institute level. This will be my final year and Dave’s one year term will be limited to the Region level. So we need to start lining up our candidates for the next era beginning a year from now, as we’ll need nominations at the Region Conference in September for an Institute Director, in addition to both Region Directors.

Although serving a Region as diverse as ours can make you a little cranky once in awhile, it truly is an honor to lead the West Region “family” (I hope we can also continue to have a little fun a long the way). Although, as usual my limited travel budget ran out sooner than hoped this year, I will be able to make more visits next year and have promised to include more in southern Cal. Please continue to contact both Dave and myself with your ideas on enhancing the VALUE of CSI membership.