President’s Message
Attracting Future Volunteers
and Leaders
BY MICHAEL T. BRANDT, AIHA® PRESIDENT
Attracting members to serve in national
and local volunteer and leadership roles
is becoming increasingly difficult for a
variety of reasons. Some members express concern over adding more activities and time commitments to their busy
lives, which leads to concerns about balancing family and work commitments.
In our current economy, many potential
volunteers are reluctant to ask their employer to support service to professional
societies. Then there is the question of
whether volunteering to serve an organization will help or hurt one’s career. Still
others are unsure about whether they
have the experience necessary to successfully contribute at the national or
local level.
Our difficulties finding volunteers to
participate in our activities are not
unique to AIHA. As spare time becomes
harder to find, more people are declining
invitations to volunteer.
Collective Effort
AIHA has devoted significant time and
resources to developing future leaders,
sponsoring events for early-career professionals, and encouraging students to
become members. While these efforts
help encourage early-career members
and give them opportunities to develop
skills and experiences that will help
them succeed, we need to do more to
bring new people into our volunteer
ranks. At the local level and in our technical committees we can encourage
members to volunteer by being clear
about expectations, using technology to
reduce time and improve productivity,
and matching new volunteers with experienced volunteers in a mentoring relationship as a way to share knowledge.
Like so many things in life, a healthy
dose of courtesy, clear communication,
and appreciation can foster a sense of
respect and encourage participation in
volunteer activities. In this way, volunteers can be assured that their efforts are
valued and their time will be used
wisely, and they can feel good about
their accomplishments.
AIHA has devoted
significant time and
resources to developing
future leaders, sponsoring
events for early-career
professionals, and
encouraging students
to become members.
For those of you who have been ac-
tive volunteers with committees, task
forces, project teams, working groups,
local sections, conferences, and other ac-
tivities, I personally appreciate all that
you have done for our professional com-
munity. Over the years you have made
your mark by committing your time to
do the good work of our association in
support of our mission—creating knowl-
edge to protect worker health. You
should take pride in your contributions
to our profession and know that our as-
sociation is only as good as the members
who volunteer. We, as members, are the
association, and we work to share
knowledge with one another to make our
professional lives better. Without our
collective efforts, there is no AIHA. So
don’t be surprised if, one day, you re-
ceive a call and are asked to serve on a
project team or task force, as a local sec-
tion officer, or on the national board of
directors.
The Next Step
The AIHA past president chairs the Nominating Committee and appoints its
members. Together, committee members
identify, evaluate, and select a slate of
candidates for the open offices in AIHA
national. When I become past president
in June, I will assemble the Nominating
Committee and begin the process of
identifying a pool of qualified and interested members to participate in the nomination process as candidates. I will
begin the search early for nominees because I am committed to assembling a
diverse pool of candidates. I would like
to identify members who have been successful as volunteers and are both willing and interested in taking the next
step in their volunteer experience. I invite each of you to participate in one of
two ways—by nominating someone, or
by agreeing to be a candidate for one of
our open positions. By starting the nominating process early, it is my hope that
we can identify capable volunteers who
can lead AIHA into the future.
MichaelT.Brandt,DrPH,CIH,PMP,istechnicalchief
of staff for Operations at Los Alamos National Labo-ratoryinLosAlamos,N.M.Hecanbereachedat
(505) 667-1228ormtbrandt@lanl.gov.
