A Message From Your President
Jeff McHenry
In the last several Message from Your President columns, Past President Leaetta Hough and I have provided updates on our SIOP strategic plan, which we began to develop at an expanded Executive Committee meeting last fall. You may recall that our four strategic goals call on SIOP to become the:
- Visible and trusted authority on work-related psychology
- Advocate and champion of I-O psychology to policy makers
- Organization of choice of I-O professionals
- Model of integrated scientist–practitioner effectiveness that values research, practice, and education equally and seeks higher standards in all three areas
In this column, I wanted to highlight some of the work we’re doing that’s helping us achieve our strategic goals and also update you on steps we’re taking to identify specific initiatives that will support our plan.
SIOP Web Site
In May, we rolled out a new and improved SIOP Web site. If you haven’t visited www.siop.org recently, I encourage you to take a look. The first thing you’ll notice is that the site looks professional—SIOP’s Web presence has been updated for the 21st century! Each week, the SIOP home page features a lead story that highlights important workplace trends, often featuring work that is being done by SIOP members. The look and feel of the Web site and the lead story are designed to make SIOP more credible and visible to nonmembers who visit www.siop.org because they are curious about I-O psychology. Below the lead story, we highlight I-O and workplace news of interest to the general public and to SIOP members, with links to sites where you can obtain more information. We have a SIOP News page, too, that provides you with updates on new SIOP member services, upcoming SIOP meetings, members in the news, and other Society activities. We’ve also improved the navigation of the Web site so you can find what you’re seeking faster and easier.
In the coming months and years, we plan to use the Web site to promote I-O research and capabilities more effectively to business leaders, HR professionals, public policy makers, psychologists from other disciplines, and other key stakeholders. One of the major challenges we face is creating appropriate content, keeping it updated, and making it easy to find. The Electronic Communications Committee is spearheading this effort, with support from other committees and the Administrative Office. If you have suggestions, please contact Electronic Communications Committee chair Steve Ashworth. You can find his e-mail address in the new and improved online member directory on the Web site, www.siop.org.
Katrina Aid and Relief Effort (KARE)
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a number of SIOP members committed to using their I-O skills in pro bono work and interested in making I-O psychology more visible and accessible formed the Katrina Aid and Relief Effort. John Fennig is the Katrina Committee chair. One of the primary goals of KARE has been to offer free I-O advice to organizations affected by Hurricane Katrina who were facing problems such as managing change and employee stress, hiring a new workforce, employee training, workplace morale, and team building.
One of the KARE Committee’s great ideas was to offer free seminars and advice to local businesses in conjunction with the APA convention in mid August. In partnership with APA Division 13 (Consulting Psychology), Vicki Vandaveer chaired a KARE subcommittee that did an extraordinary amount of work to make the KARE effort successful. The subcommittee received donations from several I-O businesses and SIOP members to help pay for hotel meeting space, public relations, flyers, and other expenses. The KARE project generated a great deal of positive publicity for SIOP and I-O psychology. APA featured KARE prominently in their PR communications. Vicki was interviewed by the local NBC affiliate. The management of the Canal Place shopping center, where KARE was located, highlighted it on their Web site. Best of all, during the APA convention, the KARE team offered free seminars to 42 very appreciative local business people.
Thanks to all the many SIOP volunteers who have generously shared their time and talents on KARE activities. KARE has been an outstanding example of the good that I-O psychology can do in the world and also demonstrates the caring spirit of the members of our Society.
Leading Edge Consortium
The goal of the Leading Edge Consortium is to bring together a relatively small group (200–300 participants) of researchers and practitioners to examine a hot workplace topic together in depth. The consortium was developed to support our goal of modeling the integration of science and practice, which is one of our distinctive competencies. The consortium features a mix of presentations, panel discussions, and (most important) opportunities for dialog among participants.
The 2nd Annual Leading Edge Consortium will be held in just a few weeks in Charlotte on October 27–28. This year’s consortium topic is “Talent Attraction, Development, and Retention: The Leading Edge.” Fritz Drasgow is the General chair of the consortium, with Ben Dowell serving as Practice chair and Cindy McCauley serving as Science chair. If attraction, development, and retention of talent are your primary professional interests, I encourage you to attend. We limit consortium attendance to keep the event intimate, but space may still be available. I encourage you to read the article about the consortium in this issue of TIP and visit www.siop.org/lec to find out the latest news about the consortium and to register to attend.
2007 SIOP Conference: New York, New York
Doug Pugh and his Conference Planning Committee are very busy with plans for the 2007 SIOP conference. The conference will be held April 27–29 at the Marriott Marquis in New York City. Articles in this issue of TIP highlight conference plans, including the preconference workshops, the junior faculty consortium, and the Sunday seminars.
Tammy Allen and the SIOP Program Committee are hard at work on plans for outstanding conference sessions. We will continue some of the innovations from last year, including a special poster session highlighting top-rated posters and follow-up from the Leading Edge Consortium. We also are planning some special sessions that highlight our scientist–practitioner model.
Save the last weekend of April for the SIOP conference in New York. You can reserve a hotel room now. You’ll receive conference registration information in January.
Strategic Planning: An Update
As I write this article in mid August, we’re planning for a special meeting in September to do additional work on our strategic plan. We believe that our four areas of strategic focus are absolutely correct for SIOP at this time:
- Visible and trusted authority on work-related psychology
- Advocate and champion of I-O psychology to policy makers
- Organization of choice of I-O professionals
- Model of integrated scientist–practitioner effectiveness that values research, practice, and education equally and seeks higher standards in all three areas
The work we’ll be doing in September is to identify specific initiatives that we will undertake in support of these four focus areas. I’ll report on those focus areas in my next president’s column. In the meantime, you can find an update about our strategic plan and initiatives on the SIOP Web site.
Your input and feedback are critical to the success of our strategic planning effort. There will be a link on the SIOP Web site where you can provide your input and feedback, or volunteer to be part of the initiative teams. I hope you’ll take the time to tell us what you think and offer your time and services to SIOP.