President’s Notebook
MASTER APEGA
A More Strategic Council is a More Successful Council
BY CONNIE PARENTEAU, P.ENG., FEC, FGC (HON.) APEGA President
This edition of The PEG celebrates various forms and measures of success. Member success, APEGA success, the tools we use to build and recognize success — you’ll find these areas documented throughout the magazine. The obvious question I should answer here, then, is this one: How successful is Council? My swearing-in ceremony was in the spring, but I actually joined Council in 2013 as Vice-President. Since then, I’m pleased to say that there are, indeed, results to report. Some of them are esoteric, because this is gover- nance we’re talking about. A major priority for this Council and the one before it has been changing our governance model. We’re largely there now, so I’d like to explain what we did, why we did it, and how it is helping build continued APEGA success.
As Professional Engineers and Profes- sional Geoscientists, most of us deal with incremental change on an almost daily basis. Incremental change is made up of minor adjustments within a well-defined and proven process. Routines are disrupted only minimally. Dramatic change , as the name sug- gests, has a bigger impact. It’s about replac- ing major components in a process that’s no longer as effective and efficient as it should be. Disruption of routines is significant, but the overall template is the same. And then there’s transformational change. The entire process is replaced. The original template is not used. New routines and regimens are created and implemented. Council is going through something between the last two types of change I’ve listed. Our change is in many ways trans-
formational and in some ways dramatic. There’s incremental change in there, too, because there always is. The outcome remains the same: the sound regulation of our professions. The improvements your Council has adopted, however, are enabling APEGA to regulate more efficiently and effectively. That’s important for the future of our professions and for our continued, high-quality service to Albertans and their interests. Elsewhere in this PEG , you’ll read about some important operational achievements. To have come so far operationally required a new and more clearly defined connection between Council and staff — which is what we are creating. Your Council has eliminated a signifi- cant duplication of effort. It is recognizing and clarifying the difference between
How APEGA Helps Members Succeed Recognition creates success. In fact, past recipients of APEGA Summit Awards often speak of what a boost the award was to their lives and careers. Members have one of the best vantage points to
a simple system that allows sharing of the form before completion. In the summer PEG , I stated that we are not successful by ourselves and that we all have roles in each other’s success. This doesn’t just happen — it takes effort. It is important to keep honing our mentoring skills. The better you are at mentoring, the more success everyone enjoys. I can’t emphasize enough how important mentoring is in professional development. If you don’t believe me, please register for the APEGA Mentoring Conference, coming up November 2 and 3 in Calgary, and prepare to be convinced. You will improve your mentoring skills, network with mentors and mentees, and learn all about the mentoring world’s best practices.
recognize others’ success. I encourage each of you to take a look around you and consider nominating a peer or project. In doing so, you help APEGA shine a light on excellence in our professions and strengthen the public’s awareness of the amazing work our Members and Permit Holders do. To recognize deserving Members is to change lives. It really is that big of a deal. The deadline for nominations for next year’s Summit Awards is only a few weeks away — October 15. Nominations are now accepted digitally, in
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