Moving Forward/Moving Ahead
Happy February to all.
There are times when I struggle to find a topic to discuss in my column and other times when I’m excited to share news with our members. This month I’m excited to share that electronic testing will be available starting this month.
Why am I excited? It’s just another venue for testing, or is it?
Those who have paid attention know that this is a project that I have been working on since 2012 when I became the National Testing Officer. It has taken years of research to make this happen, changing the test we formerly used, lots of hurdles to jump and contracts to sign but we are finally here.
We have some Local Groups that have no Proctors, or the LG is so geographically large that it is difficult to service those prospects looking to test. The face of our new members has also changed. They aren’t likely to go to a library on a Saturday morning to take a test, but they would certainly do so on a Tuesday afternoon if it were available. As I’ve been told by a few of our younger members, Saturday morning is either hangover or Home Depot day and they won’t go to a test at that time. We also have many introverted potential members who are uncomfortable testing in a group setting and will be more relaxed in a private testing setting.
Having the ability to test in a physical testing center, without scheduling a proctor, will provide Local Groups the opportunity to gain new members. All while meeting the needs of the person who wishes to test in a more seclusive setting. It also meets the needs of our Supervisory Psychologist as the testing center requires identification in order to test.
I view this as an incredible opportunity for our organization to grow and also a bit scary. It means we now need to focus on making the membership experience valuable to incoming as well as existing members so they will want to participate and stay as a member. This is where our Local Groups can really benefit the membership as a whole, as well as their own groups.
What has your group done that is exciting and new? How will you greet incoming members and integrate them into your fold? These are the big questions as we move forward.
What do you want or need out of your membership and what will new members need or want? These are exciting times in our organization, and I hope you share my excitement.
Thank you for reading and as always, I’m listening.