Finally, as I’ll share with you later in my remarks, one of NESEA’s key initiatives for 2012 will involve “expanding the choir” – in other words, dramatically increasing the number of people we reach in order to serve our mission, which is to advance the adoption of sustainable energy solutions in the built environment. As an organization with deep roots in Red Sox territory, one of the most logical ways for us to do that is to expand our geographic reach into the southern part of our 10-state region, starting with New York City. And so tonight I am delighted to call myself a Yankees fan, and even more delighted to be here in NYC.
We’ve been doing some belated spring cleaning at NESEA, to prepare for bringing new staff on board, and to reconfigure the office so that those of us who need quiet can have it, and those of us who work together most often can be in close proximity to each other. One of the things we have done is to donate the NESEA library to the Energy Efficiency/Renewable Energy program at Greenfield Community College.
On another note – you’ve probably gathered by now that one of our priorities for the coming year is to find new and better ways to engage NESEA members and to provide them with valuable tools to grow their business using social media. As one step in that process, I’d like to introduce you to Roger Sorkin, of Sorkin Productions. Roger is a really talented video producer and, as a sponsor of BuildingEnergy11, he captured wonderful footage of longtime and new NESEA members talking about what NESEA means to them, and the value of the BuildingEnergy Conference.
Things have been quiet on the NESEA blog lately. That’s not an indication that we haven’t been busy (yes, mom, I know that’s a double negative!) To the contrary, I have felt so swamped that it’s been hard to catch my breath and update the community. I’m going to try my best to do so with a series of short blog posts over the next few weeks about what the staff and I have been up to.
At the top of my list is to introduce you to two new members of our staff, Rayna Heldt, our membership services coordinator, and Travis Niles, our communications and development coordinator.
I just finished a call with the NESEA Chapter Caucus to update them on some changes to our chapter structure that the NESEA Board recently approved, unanimously, and inviting them to participate in a collaborative process to build a new chapter structure over the next six months. I was delighted with the level of engagement and cooperation on the call. Those who participated seemed, universally, to understand this new strategic direction and the rationale underlying it.
In the spirit of openness and collaboration, I wanted to share the same information with you, the NESEA membership.
Here’s the text of the letter I circulated for the call:
We’re having lots of great conversations internally about the strategic role of 50 Miles Street to NESEA.
For the uninitiated, “50 Miles Street” is the address of the NESEA building. Unlike many nonprofit organizations of our size, NESEA actually owns its building. We have owned it since the mid-1990s, as a result of an agreement with the City of Greenfield, MA, which also led to NESEA creating the Greenfield Energy Park.
This will be my last communication for a week or two, as I’m headed off to vacation in Madison, Wisconsin with my family on Friday. But I wanted to fill you in on what the staff and I have been working on over the past few weeks.
My favorite blogger, Seth Godin, wrote yesterday about winning. He started with the toddler’s approach to winning – getting what you want, now. But he went on to describe more nuanced ways of defining a “win.,” asking instead, “What happens when you define a win as getting closer to someone who wants the same thing? Or when you define it as improvement over time? Or in creating trust?”
These three questions set the framework for what could have been a very difficult meeting yesterday.
Wanted to bring you all up to speed on what’s happening with the NESEA strategic plan, and catch those of you up who might not even be aware that we have a strategic plan!
