AOTA Governance and newspapers, radio, television, and now the web!

Hi Everyone,

I want to share my thoughts about the Membership Participation Ad Hoc Proposal in relation to changing from proportional representation to an approach where members represent themselves. Let’s consider how professional associations are strategically applying social networking media to recruit members, organize locally, provide information, and give an ongoing forum to discuss and take action. The juxtaposition of a networked, open-sourced method of working with members has profound implications and raises significant questions for our current AOTA governance structures. Our members now are in an environment where they can communicate directly with the AOTA President, AOTA Board of Directors, as well as all the other leadership who make themselves available on OT Connections and Facebook, etc. This availability of leaders to members will become a member expectation and will challenge the notion of having to go through a representative to get to the leadership.

We are but a microcosm of the way in which communication technologies have had such a profound influence on government, business, education, healthcare, and our personal lives. Think about this evolution in using novel technologies: Thomas Jefferson used the power of newspapers , F.D.R. used radio, J.F.K. understood television, and presidential candidate Howard Dean first used the Web for raising money. President Barack Obama used social media to create a sense of connection and engagement that allowed people to self-organize to do the work of the campaign.

This AOTA reorganization proposal is forward thinking as it brings forth many possibilities, which are needed as we face the intensive regulatory work ahead after passage of healthcare reform. We need to engage people in discussion quickly, focus decision making on what makes a difference in our practice, quickly assemble teams to work on the supporting evidence, and mobilize occupational therapy practitioners to make sure they are heard at every table where important healthcare delivery decisions are made. There is tremendous power in opening membership access to the AOTA governance structure. It is a brilliant way to harness our incredible clout in enacting social change in terms of what we can bring about that is of value to the public. Does our current governance structure fit this requirement?

Penny Moyers Cleveland AOTA President

 

Published 24 Mar 2010 11:34 PM by Penelope Moyers
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Comments

# re: AOTA Governance and newspapers, radio, television, and now the web!

Thursday, March 25, 2010 12:12 AM by Carol Siebert

Penny,

Thank you for your efforts to place the participation ad hoc proposal and AOTA in the larger context of change in technology, in our country and in the world. While reading your post, I kept thinking of the Margaret Mead quote:  "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever does."

We live in an unprecedented era of ACCESS.  Every day we hear about inventors, social entrepreneurs and "just plain folks" who have applied an idea to an emerging technology and produced amazing change. That includes texting donations to the Red Cross for Haiti, using social networks to organize protests in countries where media are censored, or the TV commercial where a boy finds his dog because someone uploads his lost dog photo to a social network. The world is moving from "see a need , write a report and send it up the flagpole" to "see a need and meet it."  There is currently no aspect of AOTA's current structure that is designed to identify a need (or opportunity or threat) and meet or seize or resolve it efficiently.

When I heard about the proposal and the focus on ad hoc committees and communities of practice, it was clear to me that such a system not only encourages member participation.  It also creates opportunities for "small groups of thoughtful, committed AOTA members" to change the world!

Carol Siebert

# re: AOTA Governance and newspapers, radio, television, and now the web!

Thursday, March 25, 2010 12:28 AM by Penelope Moyers

Carol,

I love it! I think some see technology as a way to cut out face-to-face interaction in the organization and then feel a loss of what we get from our richer interactions when we are with people. That is what we love about conferences and yearly meetings. Our membership data the Ad Hoc Membership Participation Committee studied clearly shows that members want to always have face-to-face interactions. The proposal sees that governance has to use a combination of technologies and face-to-face interactions. Our members as they interact with many leaders on-line, when they go to yearly meetings the relationship is already established. Of course it works the other way too.

Penny Moyers Cleveland

AOTA President