From Birdcage Walk

The latest in our ongoing series of updates about activities at the Institution.

Dear Member,

The work of the American, Dale Carnegie is perhaps a useful theme for this week’s Birdcage Walk.  He was a writer and lecturer in the early twentieth century, and the developer of courses in self-improvement, salesmanship, corporate training, public speaking, and interpersonal skills. Many management courses use his quotation about the value of repetition, 

“Tell the audience what you are going to say.  Say it. Then tell them what you’ve said.”  

In this context, we’re going to repeat this week what we said last about the importance of our Council and Trustee Board elections coming up this Spring.  The opportunity to have your name on the ballot closes on 10 March, with the voting then running through to mid-May. This process however passes most of our membership by; approaching 90% of those eligible to vote don’t exercise that right.

This year is our chance to change all that. 

Even if we could get it down to 80% disengaged then we would be much more certain that our elected representatives have the mandate they need to govern.  We will be bringing in some innovations this year so that you are better placed to cast your votes.  Please keep an eye out and let us know what you think.

The value of using the Dale Carnegie reference is that the core idea in all his books, which include the famous “How to Win Friends and Influence People” from 1936, is that it is possible to change other people’s behaviour by changing one’s behaviour towards them.  This is what is driving our desire to greatly improve the understanding we have of the consensus that unites our active membership. An example is those of you who follow us on Twitter may well be confused by the variety of authors and indeed the multiple re-tweets of others’ work.  The suggestion is that we need more of a core theme. A brand. Indeed an image and a message that you are collectively proud of as Members of our Institution.

Our major member network on LinkedIn has over 28,000 members  but is similarly coming under scrutiny.  As any Group member can post on there it has become as much a marketplace as a discussion forum.  It is tough to see the wood for the trees, and doesn’t really serve the purpose of being a debating chamber for those interested in our leadership and governance.  Curating it is going to be tough, but maybe we should accept it for what it is.

There remain other options.  We can look at more frequent use of webinars, better use of our website, renewed interest in PE Magazine letters, and of course face to face meetings with groups to improve our understanding.  We will know we have made progress when we can see that disagreement doesn’t lead to division.  When people feel that their views are heard and respected, even if they don’t actually hold sway. It musn’t be the case of whoever shouts loudest takes control, but instead we must reflect whoever it is that captures the moment. The ‘Year of the Active Member’ - more repetition from last week - needs to end with those active members inspired to continue to engage, knowing that their shared vision is helping to shape their Institution. It’s certainly the case that those of us in your leadership team are going to give it our best shot.

Thank you,

Colin Brown

Chief Executive (Interim)

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