Ian Andrew, BPCA's CEO shares his high, and not so high points of 2018.
As we rush headlong towards the end of 2018, it is always good to take time to pause at this time of year and reflect on what have been the high points and low points of the year gone by.
The highs
For me it has been a year of some significant high points, not least was back in February when I joined BPCA as your new CEO. Since then it has been a bit of a blur of activity; getting to know your Staff team, your Executive Board and your committee members, as well as some key partners, stakeholders, and as many members as my diary allowed.
It’s amazing where the months disappear to and yes, they do appear to speed up as time goes on. Nevertheless, some of the highlights for me that I can recall are the lively debates and discussions around BPCA Registered.
This professional development framework had been debated long and hard before I joined but for me it was a no-brainer. 99.9% of trade associations and professional bodies who have a CPD scheme manage it themselves. I just couldn’t understand why any organisation would look to an external organisation to deliver this function. Now we’ve got our finger hovering over the launch button and to be in this position is a key success of 2018.
Registered aside, there have been some other big wins for the Association.
Events engaged more people than ever before, with over 500 people coming to our 11 Regional Forums, and record-breaking registration and final attendance for PPC Live. The Association surpassed 500 servicing member companies just last month, and as we move to 2019 membership criteria, all members have passed their EN16636 audits.
As I hope you know by now, I like to ask questions, and I’ve spent a lot of my time trying to understand why we do one thing or another. Some of the questions I have still need to be fully answered, and one thing that I have absolutely been ensuring in my time here is asking “what do our members think about that?”
Membership organisations succeed when they put their members first. But understanding what our members need is often the single biggest challenge and this can only be done via reciprocal communication. What am I trying to say? We’ve started to ask questions, and will continue to do so!
Other things I must reference in high’s are our record-breaking PR coverage, successful delivery of a number of technical advice seminars to customer representative groups, and our TAF Social media award, of which we are most proud.
The lows
One low point that will stay with me is having to sit a 3-hour written exam to pass my Level 2 Award. I have written before about whether that is the best way of assessing people in our sector and I for one should not be let loose delivering pest management services despite having passed. This has me asking questions about what training and development opportunities our members need, and how these are best delivered and resourced.
Another low point was my initial experiences of CEPA. I have got to say however that as this year has progressed, the new secretariat and the leadership of Henry Mott as President is now taking CEPA in a direction that will be a voice to be reckoned with in Europe and let’s not kid ourselves, what happens in Europe will still have a significant impact on us regardless of what happens with Brexit.
A final low point I want to share with you was when the Association was referenced in some rather poor journalistic headlines. I have absolutely no problem with other people having and expressing their opinion, but keep it professional please.
So what of 2019? Who knows.
It will be an exciting year as we look to progress the organisation's strategy further, with the help of supporting committees and working groups. Some of these big questions I have asked we need to discuss and address. One thing that I am confident of is that we will continue to have a committed and professional Staff team, excellent volunteers who give up their time to drive the organisation forward, and passionate and professional members who are enthusiastic about delivering the best pest management services possible.
Thank you for supporting your Association in 2018, and I’ll look forward to working with you in 2019.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year.
Source: Bulletin