President's Message —
2012 Spring Address and Invitation
Hello Kappa Tau Members,
Happy Spring! Springtime is an occasion for reflection and rebirth. As my tenure as President of Kappa Tau comes to a close you can’t help but reflect and be wishful. I recently read a book recommended by Lynne Dapice, Executive Director of VSNA called Race for Relevance by Harrison Coerver and Mary Byers that gave me some insight and perspective into Kappa Tau as a professional organization. The book describes the challenges professional associations face and actions the authors see as essential to a prosperous future. First they make the case for the imperative change; times are different; people are busier than ever, come from different generations; competition is fierce and improvements that have been made in the past have not worked. The 5 Radical Changes called for are: overhaul the governance model and committee operations; empower the CEO and enhance staff expertise; build a robust technology framework; rigorously define the member market; and rationalize programs and services.
I believe Sigma Theta Tau International has done a stellar job with the first three recommendations over the last five years. Locally, Julie Jones our past president lead the way and brought Kappa Tau into the 21st century in how we use technology in our communications. As far as the last two recommendations regarding membership and programs, brings up numerous questions. What value does Kappa Tau bring to its membership? What is Kappa Tau’s niche? Are our programs meaningful? Do they help members perform their work? Are initiatives and activities interesting and fun? Are Kappa Tau’s causes what members care about and want? These are questions all professional organizations struggle with and need to answer.
I believe our board has worked hard to address most of these questions and tried to integrate answers into our strategic plan. Our vision is to create a global community of nurses who lead in using knowledge, scholarship, service and learning to improve the health of the world’s people. Our main event of the year, our Annual Meeting, my favorite professional gathering, takes place May 10th. I believe this event incorporates all that embodies Kappa Tau and offers nurses an opportunity to learn from international and local leaders, celebrate the years accomplishments, recognize nurses for their service and talents, sustain our research development via our silent auction and a wonderful opportunity to network. I hope that you all can join us at this incredibly enriching and reviving event and start your spring off right!!
This will be my last web address as President of Kappa Tau, the website has been a wonderful forum to send a brief and hopefully meaningful message. It has been an honor to serve you the last two years. Thank you for your attention.
Ann Laramee APRN
