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JoAnn T. Hackos, PhD
CIDM Director
www.infomanagementcenter.com
I hope you were too preoccupied with recent affairs to notice
that we missed sending you the September 2001 issue of the CIDM Best Practices
e-newsletter. After the events of September 11, we scrambled to find a way to
get to Europe for our content-management conference. Despite all the anxiety
about flying to Europe, we decided to persevere, notifying everyone concerned
that the conference was not cancelled. As it turned out, we made the right
decision. With eight speakers and more than 45 attendees, we had a wonderful
meeting that exceeded all our expectations. People came from six
countries—Austria, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, and the United
Kingdom.
We have also decided to persevere with the third annual Best
Practices conference, despite the low attendance. A wonderful program, fantastic
presenters, and a premiere location on Cape Cod hold out much promise that can't
easily be reproduced in print or through a Webcast. Read more about the program
details in the following article. By bringing CIDM members together, we foster
community building at a time when we need it more than ever, which brings me to
my topic this month—persevering in the face of challenges.
Some of us are old enough to remember the strong emphasis on
hard work that followed the end of the Second World War. Those values instilled
in me the work ethic that has been the foundation of my career. It's what we
need now in the technical-communication profession to carry us forward. With
reduced staffs, many of us will need to work harder and pursue best practices.
With the need to grow our companies and ensure that our jobs and those of our
staffs continue, we need to be dedicated. We need to demonstrate to the world
that we aren't about to be driven out of business. We need to teach the value of
staying with a job, a team, and an employer, a value that seems to have been
sorely tested during the high times of the 1990s.
People sometimes remark to me that I'm
old-fashioned—too involved with professional goals and achievement, too
focused on creating a successful business, too busy, spending too much time
working. I should retire, not work so hard, and spend more time "hanging
out." More then ever, though, I find myself convinced that those
old-fashioned values are the right ones. If we work together now to add value to
our enterprise, promote our profession, find ways to make our companies more
successful, it does make a difference.
So—I hope you will find new ways to persevere. For me,
that means working more effectively than ever before, finding new ways to serve
the information needs of my customers. It means focusing on what is necessary
and right to do, not on what is convenient or easy.
We need to focus our work on what is most valuable, what will
make a difference to productivity and learning. We need to be outward-directed
and observe the consequences of our activities on others.
As managers, we encourage our staff members to be assertive
and courageous about quality. We need team members who
- Can hold their own in meetings with technical experts and management
- Have a vision of their professional goals and communicate that vision
effectively
- Are willing to self-study to gain expertise in technology, subject matter,
and information design
- Spend time outside of the workplace on personal learning and growth that
enhances their job performance
- Are adept at detail and seeing the big picture at the same time
- Take charge of a situation immediately and are not afraid to take
responsibility
- Go out of their way to find new opportunities to do the job better than ever
New times foster new demands for learning and growth. A more
demanding world leads us to courage and commitment.
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