PLSO July/August 2019

Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org 7 From the PLSO Office how to contact your chapter represen- tative, simply flip to the back inside page of this magazine. You will find all the contact information you need, including Strategic Planning Committee Chair Tim Fassbender, who also happens to be the Midwest Chapter President. Does having a roadmapmean that PLSO is unwilling to veer off course, onto unpaved trails? It depends. Our core activities always need to serve the overall mission of the association. If an organization isn’t serv- ing the mission then it needs to reassess if it’s serving the community it represents. In case you have not ventured onto the “About” page of plso.org , it states: The mission of the Professional Land Sur- veyors of Oregon, a not-for-profit statewide professional organization, is to unite all li- censed Land Surveyors in the State of Oregon: • To promote legislation and educa- tional programs to improve the professional status of Oregon Land Surveyors; and • To advance the profession of Land Surveying by promoting high stan- dards of practice and ethical conduct, holding paramount the interests of the public. There are several reasons a strategic plan fails: it lacks clarity, tackles too much, lacks buy-in from the membership, lacks follow through, doesn’t allow for change with the marketplace, etc. This means the roadmap is, of course, just the first step in the journey. Staying focused and keeping the plan consistently on point and in the fore front is important. Sel- dom does a strategic plan equal getting on the freeway and refusing to get off for gas or seeing the world’s largest single organism in the world. [Side note: I was originally going for largest ball of yarn and then learned that the largest sin- gle organism in the world runs beneath 2,200 acres of the Malheur National For- est. What is this beast you ask? It is the Armillaria ostoyae —a form of mushroom that is around 2,400 years old and affec- tionately called Humongous Fungus by the locals.] See? Detours can be fun and educational, but as with any road trip, you need to get back to the map so that you can reach your final destination. Accountability requires transparency. As the Strategic Plan is formed, we will be sharing it with the entire membership. I am hoping that it will inspire a new wave of volunteerism. After all, PLSO is a mem- ber driven organization. It’s going to be a great membership year! I look forward to continued partnerships with the membership, other profession- al organizations and more. Remember, if you haven’t renewed your membership yet, we need you to be a part of where we’re going. Everyone, if you have prom- ising LSI’s in your firm that are not yet Associate Members, encourage them to join. Being active in their profession- al community will make them better at their job and one of them is probably the Board Chairman that will lead the charge into the next decade.  x