By Shaun Ekert
As I begin my term as president of TIAC, I want to stress the importance of two concepts the association and our membership should be thinking about as we move into the next two years and beyond: strategy and tactics. When the board of directors met in Banff, it discussed the dire importance of strategic planning as a vehicle for the betterment and collaborative progress of this and all associations. As most of us may guess, strategic planning isn’t necessarily in the wheelhouse of volunteer boards; however, there is no reason we can’t change that.
As we look at the strategic plan developed in September, we hope to execute the action items in a way that tactically engages our membership and industry partners and brings them closer in the development of future endeavours. Contractor, distributor, and manufacturer members, the engineering community, and our clients all have roles in how we shape our industry. Together we have to tackle issues like corrosion under insulation, post-project feedback, and revisions to the Denis Formula so our solutions are robust and meaningful.
It is due time, in this world of people getting closer with technology, that we do the same. It is time to bring out our old, black and white, typed and scanned Best Practices Guide and put it in an app. We need to dust off and re-examine the Denis Formula to ensure it reflects what is actually happening in the field, rather than having its antiquities addressed via ad hoc conversations in the moment.
Efforts to promote TIAC and the industry are paying off. We have represented well at trade shows and on highly relevant boards of directors, and this long-term awareness of our industry leaves a strong impression in the minds that matter most. An engineering student from the University of Toronto studying energy conservation attended our conference in Toronto for no reason except to learn how our work can supplement the greater vision of energy use in Canada. This is what the new generation of people are looking for and we need to feed it to them, ideally face to face at conferences, but as a secondary avenue, through technology.
The Innovators’ Group kicked off in early October with the leaders – Joey Fabing, Mike Goyette, Robin Baldwin, and myself – meeting to draft a member list that will be available by the next issue of the TIAC Times. In the meantime, it is inspiring to see the response and passion members have shown in helping this crucial part of our association grow and flourish. It demonstrates the effort towards high industry standards they are putting into their every day actions.
As we move forward with the points and action items outlined in the strategic plan (see page 29) and with projects identified by the Innovators’ Group we will be seeking ideas and feedback from the membership—what issues are important in your work? What areas inspire you? What needs improvement? Does anything escape your understanding completely? No question, idea, or proposed solution is crazy—we need everyone’s collective input to stay strong, tactical, and agile as we move forward into a new generation of association progress and success. ♣
