What is I-O?

Spotlight on Local I-O Organizations

Michelle A. Donovan
Intel Corporation

During SIOP 2002 in Toronto, there were several sessions that brought individuals from local I-O psychology groups together. These sessions provided an excellent opportunity for leaders and members of local groups literally across the U.S.from Washington, DC and New York to Chicago, Minneapolis, Texas, and Californiato network, learn from each other, and share best practices.

A couple of these sessions generated some renewed interest in local I-O psychology groupsso much so that TIP invited a column that would spotlight a different local I-O group in each issue. Its my pleasure to introduce this column, as I think its an excellent opportunity to spread the word about all the great things that are happening in I-O psychology at the local level!

In this first column, I have decided to profile an organization in my own backyardthe Bay Area Applied Psychologists (or BAAP for short). When I first moved to the bay area three and a half years ago, one of BAAPs founders, Karen May, introduced me to BAAP and I have been getting more and more involved with this organization every year since then. Fortunately, BAAPs secretary/newsletterWeb site coordinator, Dale Rose, agreed to describe BAAP in this first spotlight article. Below Dale describes the journey that this local group of I-O psychologists has taken since its inception and shares some of the value of participating in local I-O psychology groups. 

Acting Locally: Bay Area Applied Psychologists

Local I-O groups should play an important role in any professionally minded I-O psychologists career. Easily as important as reading TIP or attending SIOP, these local meetings allow for a grassroots connection to our field that is sometimes missed at national events. BAAP is an outstanding venue for professionals in the San Francisco area to get to know each other, to exchange ideas, and to stay up-to-date on a wide range of topics in our field.

Like many small volunteer organizations, BAAP does not have a complete historical record. What records we do have suggest that the organization was originally founded (by persons unknown) in 1987, but faded after a few years. In 1994, Edie Goldberg, Karen May, Kristi Whitney, Sharon Rose, Becca Anhalt, and Ellen Purcell then struck up a regular networking meeting at a local restaurant. After several twists and turns, they formalized the group into what we now know as BAAP.

In 1997, I joined three of the original founders (Edie, Karen, and Becca) and took up the job most such organizations have to offer at the outset: secretary/newsletter editor. Ive been an active member on the committee since that time, though the job has now evolved into Web site coordinator. I suppose it is my long tenure and unique historical insight that drew Michelle to me when looking for someone to take up the cause of describing BAAP and our history for this articlethis is the first lesson about local organizations: Stick around long enough and someone will ask you to do more!

As with our original presentation at SIOP 2002, Ill give you the basics on BAAPs format followed by some lessons learned and some areas we feel are working well. As for format, we meet quarterly with 1 hour for socializing followed by a 1-hour presentation by someone doing applied psychology. We have had speakers ranging from former SIOP presidents to executive directors of local community organizations and even a local management professor specializing in HR (who explicitly identified himself as NOT a psychologist). Topics are extremely varied and have included mergers, careers, high-performance cultures, coaching, methods for selecting lawyers (please no jokes!), globalization, and a panel on online surveys. Our 70 members are equally varied and include I and O psychologists and even (if you can imagine it) clinical psychologists. Typically we get between 25 and 40 of these members at any given meeting (closer to 45 for our annual holiday party at a local watering hole).

Personally, I find the organization a blast. The regular meetings are a great way to get a bunch of people together from a wide range of orientations within the field to learn about and discuss current topics. For those of us who work in small firms or single-person shops, BAAP meetings give us a chance to regularly reconnect with others in the field; and for those in larger firms or academics, the diverse set of topics, speakers, and members often expand perspectives on our field. Of course, the excellent food and wine are a bonus as well!

Looking back at my years as a BAAP coordinator (we have shunned more grandiose titles), I would say that some of our greatest successes as an organization have been in moving past the original founding group. Following the excellent energy and vision of the original founders, a new group of volunteers took over three of the four coordinator roles in 2000: Kathy Mosier, Michelle Donovan, and Holly Harrison. This new blood has been critical to keep the organization growing. A continued source of success for us has been to stay focused on our membership and serving their needs. We recently conducted a census survey and have actively used the results to enhance the value of the organization for members. Last, the creation of a simple Web site (www.BAAPonline.org) has been a great tool for the organization. We post local job openings, list upcoming meetings/locations, provide links to other I-O sites, and provide summaries and/or slides from previous speakers. We also use our e-mail list as a way to quickly alert membership to new opportunities (jobs, local conferences, etc.). These simple Web tools have been very helpful in keeping people connected and documenting each speakers talk.

In considering our lessons learned, one of the most difficult issues for us has clearly been meeting space. We put all of our funds into refreshments, small speaker gifts, and supplies and have tried to keep fees reasonable rather than hold meetings at a hotel/conference center. As a result, we borrow conference room space from local firms where members work (e.g. Kaiser Permanente, Towers Perrin, PG & E, Williams Sonoma). This has been an even greater challenge since last September, as with heightened security fewer firms are willing to volunteer their space. By far, however, the greatest challenges are related to the voluntary nature of the organization. For example, with some small caveats, the basic conclusion from our recent member survey was its great, we just want more. In a for-profit business, this would be music to our ears and would likely instigate immediate expansion. In a volunteer organization, however, this means keep up the good work and until the pay improves, four meetings a year is plenty! Another challenge early on was deciding who to include in the organization. From the beginning we included all applied psychologists, but there were discussions about whether we should allow students to join (it needs to stay professional vs. in 2 short years they will be our peers). In the end, I think our choice to include them has worked well and has helped us to be more inclusive.

I would encourage everyone who values our field to participate at some point in some way in a local organization such as BAAP. It is a very different experience than SIOP. Your local organization will be far more intimate (Its a lot easier to meet 40 people than 3,000!), and it will also often offer more diverse topics in a setting that allows for more discussion. Also, of course, its a great way to make work fun and to stay connected to people you might otherwise not find the time to see. Every year at SIOP I am amazed at how many people I see from around the country who are fun to hang out with, great to discuss ideas with, and who I still only manage to see once a year (at SIOP!). So, get involved with your local I-O groupyoull stay connected with the field, learn what your peers are doing that wont ever get published, and have a chance to give back to I-O psychology. 

In January we will profile the Metropolitan New York Association for Applied Psychology (METRO). We thought it fitting that we check in with this group of New York I-O psychologists 1 year after September 11th to find out more about how their local group has responded to September 11th and how they plan to face their biggest challenge yetrevitalizing a very mature (63 years old!) METRO organization in these ever-changing times.

To learn more about local I-O organizations, see http://www.siop.org/IOGroups.aspx   for a list of Web sites. If you have questions about this article or are interested in including your local I-O psychology group in a future Spotlight column, please send an e-mail to Michelle Donovan at michelle.a.donovan@intel.com.