I am pleased (I think) to announce that the number of North American, English Speaking, NACHI members topped 7,500 today.
7,600.
7,700
What are we going to hit 10,000 N. American English-speaking members in 2006 or what? Shouldn’t NACHI be leveling off by now?
Not likely.
NACHI grows geometrically, not arithmetically.
Then comes Critical Mass - Planet NACHI.
It seems inspectors just can’t resist when they become aware of what $.79 a day can get you. Everyone is looking for good value for the money spent. No other inspector association does what NACHI can do and will continue to do for it’s members.
Larry
Nick,
Look at the numbers! Why do we (you) need to change anything? If the
wheel is turning and you are providing the best service, why mess with it. What needs to be done not is to achieve to where everything about NACHI is
nationally recognized. The organization needs to fine tune itself so that if you are certified from NACHI, it is excepted as National Recognition. Then when the licensing hits the states, this organization has a back bone.
Nice example is how it was handled with New York State. NACHI was recognized and excepted. I know local inspectors had alot to do with it to but this is why this organization is the BEST! This is what keeps the numbers coming in!
Rick
I’m a bit of a K.I.S.S. proponent, myself . . .
7,800
In the immortal words of Martha Stewart, “It’s a good thing”.
Onward and Upward!!
7,900.
Wow…
The U.S. is filling up fast.
As I said ath the convention, if only 1% of NACHI home inspector members, as opposed to vendors and others, were to write an HI book, put together a course, create a PowerPoint presentation, write a series of articles for a newspaper or magazine, etc.
Think of it. 75 (now 79) people a year doing these things and making them available to the NACHI membership. That would be great. Think of the resources. As Russel posted, we can make not only membership, but resourses grow exponentially!
Everyone has a talent. Everyone has some specialty. Everyone has experience, even the new guys.
It’s about the contribution. NACHI has hit a point where the resourses should not just be top down, with everything coming from Colorado. The movement of material and value should be up and down. Local chapters should also become more responsible and take on more of the work load. Colorado can’t do everything.
Hope this helps.
I think that with the rapid and continued growth it is only prudent to produce a Strategic Organizational Plan to manage the growth. Even excellent organizations can outgrow their capacity to serve their membership when they have not planned for growth and expansion.
I know, I know. I bang this drum alone and often. But planning is vital, and especially so with such rapid growth. A formal, written plan will also help members understand what new benefits are coming and on what timetable.
Speaking of which…what is going on with the Canadian House of Horrors? Last I recall there was a meeting scheduled last month featuring it. Any news?
Will, Michael, and others have some good points.
I believe that, as a result of the friendships made and the bonds deepened at the convention, we will see some of these changes incorporated. The talents are shining through, cream rising to the top where, as Will is so wont to say, it floats all boats.
As more become involved, more will become involved.
I’m confident that NACHI will be moving forward with greater exposure and newer plans & projects in '06; I’m looking forward to taking a more active role in the process.
Russ
Russ,
I, too, am confident that we will move forward and have new plans and projects - I just wish they would be guided by a formal plan which would acccount for growth and management. Too much we do is seat of the pants.
I also look forward to offering my assistance in moving NACHI forward, but I can never shake the disturbing feeling I get when I think that no one (not leadership, the MAB, the at-large members) can identify our mission statement, and no one can identify a single specific organizational goal. these are pretty simple and should be known by rote (at least to those on the inside).
All I can do is keep raising the issue and offering my help…
Incidentally, I think Will’s points are well taken, and we can - as a membership - accomplish much.
But before I invest my time and resources in building the local chapter, I would like to know that the organization has a plan and that we will not find out about major ideas and changes (capping membership, CMI, etc) in a quick Nick post without more significant consideration to the impact such a decision can have.
There is no plan to achieve any one goal because there are hundreds of goals… most of them very worthy and most of them being attained fairly quickly, all the while more are being concocted every day.
Any organization that has so few goals and so much free time that it can actually distill its plan to achieve them into writing… is a dinosaur… and their goals and plans are probably already obsolete. The world and market moves much too fast these days… and so do we.
http://www.nachi.org/whats_new.htm says it all.
You know I will respectfully disagee with you Nick. Planning is not an antiquated idea, it is good business sense.
No one says that you have to have few goals. But concrete written goals are important - and they should not be confused with objectives (which is what the “what’s new” section would be). Objectives are categorized and scheduled, and appropriate resources allocated in order to ensure that the most important ones get the lions share of time and attention.
Every organiztion and business in the world accepts Strategic Planning as an important - if not absolutely vital - element in ogranizational stability and development.
If GE can do it (with all of its diverse and multi-faceted subsidiaries) so can NACHI. There has to be the WILL to do so.
I think it is already clear that the will to do so is not present and (in my opinion only) can and will hold us back, or at least impede us operating at maximum efficiency.
As Will Rogers used to say, “I am not a member of an organized political party. I’m a Democrat.”
NACHI is somewhat disorganized, but we are also not bound up with reams of policy and rules. Sometimes such things, along with the bueracracy that goes with them, causes stagnant inertia that makes adapting to change more difficult. Other groups seem to be suffereing from some of this.
I do, however, believe that we need a little more structure and clearly understood direction. The days of hundreds of guys running around all over the place, sometimes in direct opposition to others NACHI, should end. This, “Go for it” type of management should stop and we should recognize the need for a more formal (but not real formal) management style.
My two cents.
Will,
I understand your concerns about bureaucracy, but a strategic plan isn’t iron clad - it is a way of anticipating and planning for future growth. The very first thing you do is a SWOT analysis that looks at what Opportunities and Threats lie ahead and how to account for/incorporate them.
It actually ENCOURAGES adaptation and change - that’s really the whole point. No good organization stays static and those that do, die. A well developed plan incorporates anticipated growth, plans a way to grow to accomodate, and ensure that you never stagger or get crushed under the weight of it all.
You devise ways to allocate necessary resource. It gives you an instant thumbnail of priorities so you can identify what is a necessary opportunity to jump on immediately, and one that can wait.
I have helped create and implement them for businesses, non-profits, universities and political campaigns. All very different entities, but all wanting to grow, succeed, and adapt to change so that they don’t get caught off guard.
Obviously, I am a big fan of it. I am not one to advocate rules for rules sake - I don’t like being told what to do or how to do it. But I do love the planning and setting goals… Structure is good. Rigidity is bad.
I think we are saying much the same thing, and I have gone off on my rant long enough… I love NACHI (one of the reasons I dig in against ill-considered seat-of-the-pants decisions) and I want to see it succeed.