ASSP has always been and will continue to be a member-centric professional organization. Through the at-large advisory group, all members will be able to raise their hand to participate in the important conversations and debates on matters of importance to ASSP and the profession. Participation in the advisory group will be based on member interest and desire to engage rather than solely on holding an elected or appointed role on behalf of a particular member community.

The most direct change for chapters, common interest groups, practice specialties and other groups would relate to the delegate role. Instead of having a defined number of delegates based on chapter size, for example, we will encourage chapters to have several members participate in advisory group. It will be up to the chapter to decide whether advisory group participation is a formal role on their leadership team.

What will not change – whether or not the governance proposal passes – is how ASSP communities are represented. Currently, elected leaders and various councils are charged with overseeing their respective communities. Today if a chapter wants to influence change, members work with their area director and regional vice president, not their delegate. That process remains the same in the new governance model, but with one improvement: Any member can join the advisory group to inform and influence the Board of Directors.

We are confident the new structure will increase opportunities for chapter involvement and influence. While ASSP delegates exist in our current structure, many chapter members across the board feel unheard in our governance process and have valuable ideas and feedback that should regularly be considered. The new structure would accommodate the rights of all members to be heard.

All current and incoming delegates will be invited to participate in the inaugural at-large advisory group. As our first cohort under this new structure, these members will play a key role in setting the foundation for how the advisory group will function in the future.

The task force identified nine different options early on in its deliberations. Those options initially included maintaining the status quo and eliminating the House of Delegates, but the task force determined that neither of those options was in the best interests of the Society. Through robust debate and conversation, the group eventually reduced the options for consideration to four. Through further discussion and work, the group determined that the recommendation to transition from a House of Delegates to an advisory group offered the greatest opportunity for continued improvement of ASSP and increased member engagement.

Membership will always have a vote on many major issues impacting ASSP. That long list includes a name change, plans of merger or consolidation, voluntary dissolution of the Society, the sale or lease of all property and assets of the Society, bylaw amendments affecting the name and purpose of the Society, and other items. The change aims to create one governance body to enable the Board to carry out its legal and fiduciary obligations currently set by the state of Illinois.

• We are unable to swiftly respond to emerging opportunities, meaning we can't deliver the highest possible member value.
• We maintain divided decision-making authority that prevents the Board of Directors from meeting its legal obligations for managing the Society.
• We risk continued loss of member engagement if we don't create new and less time-intensive ways for members to engage, learn about ASSP and gain additional skills while contributing to the organization and the profession.
• We miss a significant opportunity to demonstrate our strong commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion across the Society.

This governance change is based on principles well-known to safety professionals—proactive preparedness, continuous improvement and management of change. Systematic review is a fundamental principle of the OSH profession. Many of the standards you work with each day require routine reviews that identify concerns and drive continuous improvement. Using that lens, it is prudent for ASSP to examine its management system (i.e., governance) regularly to confirm that it aligns with the constantly evolving world so that we can continue to manage the organization effectively, efficiently and to the greatest benefit for members.

Under the proposed structure, ASSP will be better able to capitalize on emerging opportunities that will advance the profession and benefit all members. In addition, the proposed structure would enable the board to truly fulfill its fiduciary responsibility for managing the organization; create greater accountability for decision-making; and provide an engagement opportunity that will elevate voices representative of the diverse demographics, experiences and perspectives found in our member community. We believe this structure will also promote greater communication among and strengthen trust between volunteer leaders and members.

And ASSP’s current structure is based on business practices of a bygone era. It needlessly divides decision-making authority and requires processes that prevent ASSP from making agile business decisions. These factors hinder our ability to be competitive and respond efficiently to emerging opportunities.

Finally, we also must acknowledge that employer support for volunteerism continues to decrease. The proposed model aims to create more efficient and diverse opportunities for members to contribute to the Society and the profession.

ASSP’s legal counsel has reviewed the proposed evolution of the ASSP House of Delegates structure and the introduction of an oversight committee and advisory group that will solicit and coordinate member feedback.

“This proposal is in line with the most important trend in association governance today, that is, the alignment of authority and responsibility in one governing body,” says Paula Goedert, partner, Barnes and Thornburg LLP and chair of its Associations and Foundations group.

“Under law, the Board of Directors is charged with the responsibility of managing the association. Splitting authority with a House of Delegates leaves the board with responsibility for some matters over which it has ceded authority to the House of Delegates. This inevitably results in conflicts between the two bodies and a distraction from the important work of moving the mission forward.”

She also notes: “To serve the needs of members in today’s ever-changing environment, an association needs one governing body that reacts on a timely basis to seize opportunities and avoid threats. That’s what these important changes to the ASSP bylaws will accomplish.”

The at-large advisory group will be open to all members who are interested in participating. Participation will not be based solely on your role with a chapter, region, practice specialty, common interest group or other constituency. This change alone creates a wider, more inclusive path for engaging in discussions about the direction of the Society and the profession.

In addition, as proposed, the advisory group would be able to form smaller, focused task groups to come together on time-limited basis to address a specific issue (i.e., Society business, operations or strategy, issues and trends impacting the profession) that may be critical, short-term or future focused. These micro-engagements will provide opportunities for members to engage based on a wide range of reasons, including personal interests/passions, industry knowledge/needs, member community needs and more. Our Governance and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion task forces provide two recent examples of this type of engagement in action and the potential for positive outcomes.

Members of the advisory group will receive additional onboarding and leadership training to help them better understand the Society’s overall structure and contribute to their roles as members of the advisory group. Over time, we believe this additional training and engagement will result in more members being interested in pursuing volunteer leadership offices.

We have encountered several scenarios that require bylaws changes, resulting in time and resource investments and delays implementation.

For example, one recent new business update brought to the House of Delegates was a bylaws amendment required to bring ASSP into compliance with Illinois state law. Because of our current governance structure, enacting that change took the organization months of time and consumed valuable resources that could be better directed toward delivering member value.

Another scenario is our ability to test and respond to unmet needs. For example, as part of our growth strategy, we have been actively engaged in a corporate listening tour. One goal of these conversations is to understand corporate needs in supporting and building their OSH teams. However, our structure limits our ability to swiftly respond to these needs. For example, if a corporate membership model is an uncovered need, our bylaws currently prevent us from testing this model.

In this competitive market, our need to be flexible and agile in our practices is rapidly increasing, yet our current structure limits our ability to act accordingly.

As you know, we had planned to hold a vote of the House of Delegates on the proposed governance on Sept. 28, 2021. 

However, based on feedback and input received during our series of listening sessions and one-on-one conversations with delegates, leaders and members since May, we have rescheduled the vote, and it will now occur in early 2022, with the date to be announced. This decision reflects our goal to make sure all delegates are prepared to make an informed decision about the proposed change and have a full understanding of how the change would impact our business operations and structure.  

We will share details on the 2022 House of Delegates meeting, including links and a voting package, closer to the event. Between now and then, we will continue to answer your questions and gather your feedback. 

We encourage you to contact your regional vice president, chapter leadership or the ASSP governance team to request additional support or ideas for sharing this information in your member community. We also encourage you to continue to submit your questions so we can provide the details you need to make an informed decision. Our goal is to help you fully understand and support this change and help drive ASSP forward.

The marketplace in which ASSP operates continue to grow increasingly competitive. In the continuing education market, we are also now facing competition from corporate entities as well as professional associations. Anticipating and responding to these competitive forces requires more agile business practices than are able under our current structure, particularly with respect to how our resources are allocated and invested.

We also continue to face competition for our volunteers’ time. The proposed structure recognizes that members have less time to volunteer for organizations such as ASSP at certain times in their lives/careers. By creating an at-large advisory group, we would provide an opportunity for members to learn more about how ASSP works in a less time-intensive manner, develop leadership skills and engage on issues that matter most to them at a given point in time. We believe these micro-engagement opportunities will set the stage for members to move into larger roles when the time is right in their careers/lives.

A board-level task force was formed in January 2021. This group was comprised of members who have led, who lead now and who are likely to lead the organization in the future. The task force was co-chaired by the ASSP president-elect and senior vice president and was facilitated by an experienced association governance consultant.

The task force was charged with several key responsibilities:

• Develop knowledge of contemporary governance trends and models
• Review results of conducted research
• Consider governance alternatives and review advantages and disadvantages
• Craft final recommendation(s)
• Inform and actively support outreach and communications strategy

The group held several sessions during which they discussed ASSP’s structure, examined governance trends and industry data, as well as data from quantitative interviews conducted with a representative sample of ASSP members. Task force members also engaged in robust debate about potential options for change. The group arrived at a unanimous decision on the recommendation that was presented to the Board of Directors in May 2021. The board subsequently approved the recommendation and set in motion the plan to initiate a range of communications and engagements with senior elected leaders, incoming board members, delegates and the entire membership with the goal of holding a vote in late August 2021.

ASSP has always been and will continue to be a member-centric professional organization that is focused on delivering member value while advancing the OSH profession. This proposed governance shift will continue to ensure the Board of Directors sets our strategic direction based on a wide range of data inputs, including member voice and feedback. Through the at-large advisory group, all members will be able to raise their hand to participate in the important conversations and debates on matters of importance to ASSP and the profession.

Members will also benefit from our continued transition to a governance model based on addressing the needs of all members. With the last restructure, we shifted to electing at-large directors. This moved ASSP from geographic/constituency-based representation to a model in which each board member is expected to deliberate issues based on the best interests of all members and the Society as a whole rather than from the perspective of a specific constituent group. The at-large advisory group is the next natural step in our progression toward a “representative of" governance model. Participation in the advisory group will be based on member interest and desire to engage rather than solely on holding an elected or appointed role on behalf of a particular member community.

We are confident that members who engage more actively with the Society are also more likely to support the work of their local chapter.

The Board of Directors will provide information on any decisions it makes based on issues raised by the advisory group and oversight committee. This aligns well with the board’s purposeful efforts over the past few years to create greater transparency and provide more accessible communications about its deliberations, key decisions and actions and anticipated outcomes. The Board Connection series and the monthly Board Update reports are two examples of ways in which this information is currently communicated, and we will continue to use these and other communications methods to share information with members.

On average, the annual in-person House of Delegates meeting costs nearly $73,000, regardless of whether there is new business on the agenda for a delegate vote. While delivering year-round virtual engagements will carry a cost, we believe it will be significantly less that a single annual in-person meeting, meaning the remaining funds can be redirected to programs and initiatives that will deliver greater member value and help us achieve our strategic goals. We also believe that through technology tools we will provide greater access for more members to engage, learn and contribute, leading to a greater return on investment than continuing to fund a cumbersome and often ineffective in-person meeting.

That is correct. While we know that face-to-face meetings are preferred for some situations, we have learned over that past year that virtual meetings enable greater accessibility to a larger of members. With virtual meetings, no one must incur travel time or costs, nor does the Society incur venue-related expenses (e.g., A/V equipment, space rental, food/beverage). On average, the total cost to deliver an in - person House of Delegates meeting costs nearly $73,000; these funds can be redirected to programs and initiatives that will deliver greater member value and help us achieve our strategic goals.

We understand that for some delegates, PDC attendance was funded by their chapters, and this was viewed as a benefit of being named a delegate. It is important to note that this is not a standard practice across the Society, much like the selection of delegates has not been a standardized process across the Society. This has created some inequality in how the position is filled and executed across our chapter communities.

In addition, our cost-benefit analysis of the annual in-person meeting suggests that moving away from one in-person meeting to year-round virtual engagements will provide for a greater return on investment and a better benefit for all members. We believe that the proposed at-large advisory group structure will afford more members the opportunity to share their feedback and insights and become more engaged in the Society.

No dues increase is tied to or dependent on this proposed structure. The Board of Directors always carefully considers all discussions about member dues. And, as it does with all decisions, the Board of Directors would review multiple data sources and points as part of any future deliberations related to a dues increase. Input from the proposed at-large advisory group would be a key source of input and member feedback should this issue arise in the future.

• The most direct change for chapters, common interest groups, practice specialties and other groups would be the elimination of the designated delegate role.  
• Instead, we will encourage all communities to have several members participate in the new governance structure. All members who join the advisory group would do so in an at-large capacity, meaning they would represent the entire Society instead of a specific segment. It’s important during these increasingly competitive times that we all work together to achieve what’s best for ASSP.
• What will not change – whether or not the governance proposal passes – is how ASSP communities are represented. Currently, elected leaders and various councils are charged with overseeing their respective communities. Today if a chapter wants to influence change, those members go to their area director and regional vice president, not their delegate. That process remains the same in the new governance model, but with one improvement: Any member can join the advisory group to inform and influence the Board of Directors.
• The proposed governance structure follows best practices of today’s non-profit professional organizations, enabling any interested member to have their voice heard while they help seek positive change for ASSP overall. Placing limits or specific requirements on participation would hinder this open process that aims to fully utilize our profession’s diversity while creating a greater level of inclusion.
• A member’s understanding of the issues and needs of the communities in which they are active would enable them to bring key matters forward. At the same time, they would have the opportunity to pursue improvements that best serve the entire Society. We must all remain committed to the Society’s greater good in a rapidly changing environment to keep our organization versatile and strong into the future.
• We also recognize that some chapters and groups fund their delegates’ attendance at the annual conference. With a governance change, those funds could be directed to community programs to benefit more members and deliver greater total value.

All current and incoming delegates will be invited to participate in the inaugural at-large advisory group. As our first cohort under this new structure, these members will play a key role in setting the foundation for how the advisory group will function in the future. We value delegates service and dedication to ASSP and welcome and encourage their continued participation in helping inform and influence the Society’s decision-making process.

Participation in the at-large advisory group will be open to all members through the Leadership Connection form. As noted, during the initial year, all current and incoming delegates will be invited to participate. We will promote this opportunity to all members through all ASSP channels, and we will encourage local chapters, practices specialties, common interest groups and other groups within ASSP to encourage their members to participate. All participants would be considered “at-large” and expected to represent the best interests of the entire membership and the profession rather than specific constituencies.

In addition, as part of its function, the oversight committee, which will be made up of seven to nine members of the advisory group, will be responsible for assessing the makeup of the advisory group overall and issuing calls for participants as needed to achieve representative balance — including factors such as geography — and diversity and to engage underrepresented populations to ensure they are aware of the opportunity and expectations of those who participate. We believe this further supports our commitment to creating a diverse, inclusive and equitable organizational culture.

While the oversight committee will be a board-level committee that is accountable to the Board of Directors, board members will not serve on the committee. Its members and chair will be a subset of the advisory group and will be appointed following the ASSP council and committee appointment process adopted from the process developed in 2020 to appoint the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force. This process includes use of a rubric to evaluate candidates based on their answers to specific questions and includes calibration exercises to achieve inter-rater reliability. Experience to date with this process indicates it provides a more objective approach that helps us achieve strong, broad representation of our diverse member communities.

Other examples of board-level committees are the Finance, Nominations and Elections, Professional Conduct, and Standards Development committees.

ASSP's legal counsel, industry research and association management experts agree that the proposed structure highlights a key association governance trend: Alignment of authority and responsibility in one governing body. Legally, the Board of Directors is responsible for managing the association. Under our current structure, authority is split with the House of Delegates; this leaves the board legally responsible for some matters over which the House of Delegates has authority. This creates inevitable conflicts between the two bodies and hinders our ability to achieve our mission.

With the 2014 restructure, we started the transition to a more flexible, efficient and effective organization that follows industry best practices and association management trends. As noted during that shift, having a smaller board does not mean that fewer people are involved in making decisions. In fact, as we learned throughout the pandemic, technology allow a broader group of members to engage in deliberations and we believe this proposal is the next logical step in the continuous improvements initiated in 2014.

The task force identified nine different options early on in its deliberations. Those options initially included maintaining the status quo and eliminating the House of Delegates, but the task force determined that neither of those options was in the best interests of the Society. Through robust debate and conversation, the group eventually reduced the options for consideration to four. Through further discussion and work, the group determined that the recommendation presented to and approved by the Board of Directors offered the greatest opportunity for continued improvement of ASSP and increased member engagement.

The Governance Task Force concluded that the inaugural at-large advisory group and oversight committee should have input into any determinations related to group size. It’s also important to remember that one expected outcome of the larger advisory group is the ability to form smaller, task-focused groups to address specific projects or topics on a time-limited basis. Thus, while the at-large advisory group will be larger, work throughout the year will likely be completed by these smaller groups.

The task force examined several models and the latest trends in arriving at this recommendation. Throughout their deliberations, the group expressed steadfast support for devising a structure that provided a stronger, more diverse and more inclusive method for elevating member voice the Society’s decision-making process. At the same time, they recognized the need to resolve the division of authority created by our current structure so that the Board of Directors can truly meet its legal obligation and fiduciary responsibility to effectively manage the Society.

According to industry research, less than 5% of professional associations operate under a structure that is like ASSP’s current structure. When the governance change was approved in 2014, we took several major steps to align with best-in-class management practices, particularly as it relates to having a smaller board whose primary focus is setting strategic direction and adding a public director to provide outside perspective, share business expertise and help prevent groupthink. This proposed change is a result of our commitment to regularly review our structures and identify opportunities for continuous improvement.

Maintaining the status quo is not in the best interests of ASSP for several reasons.

• The Society continues to face significant market pressures from other associations and for-profit companies. We must adapt agile business practices that enable us to respond swiftly to emerging opportunities and provide the flexibility to course-correct and adjust resource allocation more readily to capitalize on those opportunities.
• Our ability to function in today’s every-changing world is compromised by our outdated governance model. It divides decision-making authority and prevents the Board of Directors from truly meeting its legal obligations for managing the Society.
• Members continue to have less time to dedicate to volunteering and employers’ support for volunteering continues to decrease as well. ASSP relies on members for leadership and subject matter expertise, so we must find new and less time-intensive ways for members to engage, learn about ASSP and gain additional skills while contributing to the organization and the profession.
• ASSP has committed to taking purposeful action to achieve an organizational culture that embraces diversity, fosters inclusion and strives to create equitable opportunities for all. It would be a step back from that commitment to not enact this change that aims to incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion by design.

The proposed governance change does not give the Board of Directors sole power over everything involving the Society. In fact, our general membership will always have a vote on many major issues impacting ASSP. That long list includes a name change, plans of merger or consolidation, voluntary dissolution of the Society, the sale or lease of all property and assets of the Society, bylaw amendments affecting the name and purpose of the Society, and other items. The change aims to create one governance body to enable the Board to carry out its legal and fiduciary obligations currently set by the state of Illinois.

Regarding chapter involvement and influence, we strongly believe the new structure will increase those opportunities. Right now, while ASSP delegates do exist, many chapter members across the board feel unheard in our governance process and have valuable ideas and feedback that should regularly be considered. The new structure would accommodate the rights of all members to be heard, not just a select few.