SDate: 18 May 2008
To: Region 3 ExCom, Region 3 Section Chairs
Subject: Region 3 Director's Report- May 2008
From: William B. Ratcliff, Director Region 3 2008-2009

I hope this e-mail finds you and your families in good health and in preparation
for a pleasant summer. Likewise the transformation to the new Member and
Geographic Activities paradigm is healthy and offers many challenges to our
already busy schedules. The development of a "project managed environment" is
one of the areas to help spread the workload and keep our focus on the desired
results.

Project Management Ad Hoc Team:
The development of the values and principles ,functions, methods, organization
relationships has begun. The team will report to the Strategic Planning
Committee for administrative purposes but will interface with every committee
and function within the Region 3 ExCom to develop the cohesive environment for
managing projects.

Current assignments:
	Dick Riddle
	Jim Conrad
	Lee Stogner
I have asked Lee, as Region 3 Director Elect to chair this effort during this
design and development phase.

Tactical and Operational Plan Development:

The effort is underway to coordinate the development of the Region 3 Tactical
Objectives and Operational level projects. The schedules for meeting
individually with each Region 3 Committee Chair to develop the details of the
tactical objectives and tie them to the strategic direction has begun. Your
cooperation with Dick Riddle is most appreciated in coordinating the meeting
schedules. More discussion will follow in ExCom meetings and use of the Region 3
Forum.

Preparation for Sections Congress:

I hope your section is nearing completion of their selection process for
attendance at the Section Congress in Quebec City on 19-22 September 2008 and
the Region 3 Meeting on 18 September 2008. Please remember that a Passport is
required for travel between the US and Canada.

I have received several comments and questions regarding how can we apply the
values and principles of the new MGA paradigm / model before all of the
processes and structure is developed. Let's start with the fundamental concept
of engagement being a mindset. Engagement is a 2 way interaction that begins
with a contact between 2 people but then expands into a dialog and sharing of
views. There are many opportunities for engagement that will only be realized if
we seize them and not fall short because we stop at the contact. Even in adverse
situations like recovery of a member in arrears is an opportunity for engaging
that person. I would challenge each of us in that situation to:
1)	Discover the reasons why IEEE is not relevant to the member who didn't
      renew. 
2)	Identify the talents, skills, capabilities and interests where that
      person could become involved and suggest those to the person.
3)	Document the salient points of the engagement for future use.

If just these three things were being done, we would be well on the way to
institutionalizing the MGA paradigm in Region 3. 

Think about it for our discussion / engagement!

See you on Monday 19 May 2008 at 9:00PM EDT.

   _
  |_)0
  |_)||_|_

  William B. Ratcliff
Region 3 Director 2008-2009
e-mail  w.ratcliff @ ieee.org