August/September 2014

NSPE TODAY
NSPE Sets Course With New Strategic Plan

For NSPE, a new race is underway.

On July 5 in Washington, DC, the NSPE House of Delegates approved a new strategic plan that refocuses the organization while remaining committed to the values set 80 years ago by Society Founder David Steinman, P.E.

“The strategic plan will enable our organization to continually improve the alignment of our efforts so that we focus on programs, services, and volunteer opportunities that make us unique in the engineering community and thereby make NSPE membership more and more attractive to all professional engineers,” says NSPE President Harve Hnatiuk, P.E., F.NSPE.

The new strategic plan, which has its roots in the association management book Race for Relevance, emphasizes that NSPE “is a single, integrated system of autonomous but closely coordinated parts: state, national, and local.” The plan continues the Society’s dedication to serving licensed professional engineers, engineer interns, and those who aspire to become licensed.

To help fulfill NSPE’s mission, the plan also includes six strategy areas adopted by the board of directors: member value, advocacy, content, collaboration, member engagement, and professional and leadership development.

In 2012, President Dan Wittliff, P.E., F.NSPE, began a top-to-bottom review of the organization’s programs. Nearly 100 members from 41 states were divided into seven task forces and contributed about 3,000 hours of time.

Their efforts were guided by Race for Relevance, written by association consultants Harrison Coerver and Mary Byers. The book details the challenges faced by today’s associations—such as increased value expectations, increased generational differences, increased competition, and the technology explosion—and provides advice on the changes necessary to adapt.

Read NSPE’s Strategic Plan at www.nspe.org/membership/about-nspe.