The Evolution of SIOP—Recent and Forthcoming Changes

The first SIOP conference was held in Chicago in 1986. We had 776 registrants and offered 34 sessions across four tracks. Hotel rooms cost $89 per night! If you were a SIOP member at that time and wanted to see a friend at the conference, you’d say, “Meet me at SIOP,” and you’d be sure to see them, even though none of us were carrying cell phones!  The term “SIOP” was often considered synonymous with the conference.

Since then, SIOP has grown considerably in size and complexity. Last year, over 4,300 people registered for our annual conference. We offered over 400 sessions and 600 posters and provided a full slate of workshops, consortia, and research forums. Beyond the conference, each year we now host one or more standalone Leading Edge Consortium events, offer a virtual program for I-Os in China, produce various webinars and white papers, and actively advocate on behalf of I-O psychology in the face of external challenges. Last year, 700+ volunteers and 14 professional staff supported close to 9,000 SIOP members.

Time to Reflect and Adjust

SIOP’s growth is not unlike how a successful small family business grows into a midsized company, and then into a larger organization, adding structure, processes, and professional management to handle the increasing complexity. But, as any of you who have worked in a growing organization have seen, it isn’t always easy, and you need to periodically assess and update your structure and governance if you want to continue to thrive. SIOP has done that at key inflection points in the past, and we recently reached another one of those key points.

For example, we recognized that as our membership grew, the number of SIOP committees and subcommittees had proliferated unabated, resulting in over 40 standing committees and countless subcommittees. I say “countless” because we had not tracked some of the subcommittees that had emerged over time!

We also learned that some committees had originally been formed to tackle a challenge or problem that no longer existed, so their members had little to do, whereas other committees were extremely busy. Expectations had organically morphed over time, so the role of committee chairs and SIOP professional staff wasn’t always clear. And sometimes, Executive Board (EB) members were heavily involved in managing committees, but in other instances, they provided loose oversight. Like many successful, growing organizations, our governance model had become increasingly ambiguous and idiosyncratic.

Applying Some Organizational Psychology to Ourselves!

Like many I-O psychologists, I’ve provided organizational design and change management advice to companies, advised various boards, facilitated changes in organizational governance, and helped enhance the effectiveness of their teams. It was time to “apply some of that organizational psychology stuff to ourselves.”

The Executive Board agreed that the focus of the effort would be on:

• Member value: Enable volunteers and staff to produce valued content, networking, and experiences for our members and society
• Workable structure: Clarify roles and enhance coordination between committees
  • Introduce a structure that works well without portfolio officers on the Board
• Volunteer experience: Engage a healthy number of volunteers, providing ample opportunities to do meaningful work, and avoid being on a committee with little to do
  • Develop a pipeline of SIOP volunteer leadership talent
• Staff experience: Enable staff to provide appropriate guidance/continuity for committees
  • Provide staff with a manageable span of oversight for the groups they support
• EB experience: Allow the EB to operate more strategically and adaptively

We know that our volunteers are a fantastic source of strength for SIOP, so we need to provide them with clear roles and expectations. We also know that, as members move in and out of volunteer roles each year, our professional staff are the ones who can provide continuity. We must treat them as professionals and ensure they have a manageable span of influence. Finally, our board needs to think ahead, monitor trends, and steer the ship. It’s hard to do that if each board member manages a portfolio of committees. In organizations of our size, board members don’t usually fulfill that type of operational role.

In hindsight, I can honestly say that it is easier to advise other companies on these matters than to apply them to ourselves! But we approached the effort with positive intentions and solicited plenty of input. I believe we are making useful adjustments. Over the next year, we’ll reflect on what’s working and identify where enhancements might be beneficial.

Updates to Our Governance and Design

With our stated needs and intentions in mind, we’ve been making gradual changes during the last 6 months, and we are implementing the remainder over the next 6 months. As part of this effort, we:

• Clarified the roles and responsibilities of standing committees, standing subcommittees, task forces, and advisory groups
• Implemented updatable committee templates that capture each committee’s purpose, annual goals, membership, collaboration points, and so on. These are intended, in part, to make it easier for future committee chairs to hit the ground running
• Updated our leadership training for chairs and chairs in training
• Appointed staff liaisons to each committee and to select subcommittees
• Clarified who a committee/subcommittee member or leader should contact if they have questions or ideas
• Modernized the board structure, gradually moving from a portfolio officer (PO) model to a member-at-large model, which will allow the EB to be nimbler and more strategic
• Updated our board member and officer nomination and election processes to be equivalent to those used in organizations of similar size and purpose as us
• Updated our website and management systems (e.g., our online volunteering system). The basic infrastructure is now in place, and we will work to make it better and easier to use.
• Redesigned our committee structure
  • Clarifying and, in some cases, modifying the purpose of committees to enhance clarity, reduce redundancy, and better serve our members
  • Reducing the number of committees and explicitly acknowledging the importance of standing subcommittees and their leads
  • Empowering committee chairs to propose changes to their subcommittee structure
  • Reducing committee reporting requirements

I Hope You’ll Volunteer

Revising an organization’s governance and structure is not the most exciting thing to talk about, but I wanted you to know that we’re keenly focused on ensuring SIOP is set up to succeed. Our Society is only as good as our volunteers, so I hope that when the volunteer system opens in the spring, you’ll nominate yourself to be part of our outstanding cadre of volunteers!