Certification Program, Governmental Policy Advocacy, Stakeholder Expansion, and Scaling SBC Operational Capabilities Emerge as Key Initiatives for 2019
December 20, 2018 —
“In reality strategy is actually very straightforward. You pick a general direction and implement like hell.”
- Jack Welch
Safer Buildings Coalition Leadership, aided by a SBC Member focus group, capped off two months of strategic planning with an offsite in Phoenix from December 3-5.
The team selected the groundbreaking book Forces for Good - The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits [Leslie R. Crutchfield, Heather McLeod Grant] as a yardstick and guide to help us understand how to lead the Coalition to a high-impact future.
High-impact is needed for the scale of the problem: There are over six million commercial office buildings in the US, and 50% of these are greater than 5,000 sq. ft. There are hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of buildings that have inadequate wireless coverage, placing our citizens and First Responders at significant risk.
The Six Practices are as follows:
- Advocate and serve. Work with government and advocate for policy change, in addition to providing services.
- Harness market forces. Great nonprofits find ways to work with markets and help business ”do well while doing good.”
- Inspire Evangelists. Create meaningful experiences for individual supporters and convert them into evangelists for the cause.
- Build and nurture nonprofit networks, treating other groups not as competitors for scarce resources but as allies instead.
- Adapt to the changing environment and be as innovative and nimble as they are strategic.
- Share leadership, empowering others to be forces for good.
Present for the Safer Buildings Coalition [Clockwise, from the left]:
- Donny Jackson - Editor, IWCE Urgent Communications
- Alan Perdue - Executive Director, SBC
- Rich Roberts - Industry Affairs Manager – Honeywell
- Jeff Hipchen - SBC Board President, [RF Connect]
- John Foley - SBC General Manager
- Jeff Alexander - SBC Board of Directors [Extenet]
- Seth Buechley - SBC Treasurer
- Kevin Persing - SBC Secretary [Cobham]
- Patrick Lau - SBC Board Vice President [Comba]
The Key Initiatives for 2019
1. Certification Program - Develop a program of Technical Certification for Designers, Installers, and Inspectors / Maintainers that will be:
- Train qualified technical staff in in-building public safety communications competencies
- Be acceptable to AHJs and suitable for insertion into model fire codes
- Be scalable / available nationwide and beyond through strategic partnerships
2. Government Policy / Advocacy - Make an impact through governmental action
- Stand up a Government Affairs Work Group [Volunteers Needed]
- See Alan Perdue's Related Article: From the Chief's Corner on this subject.
- Read the Safer Buildings Coalition Key Policy Initiatives HERE
3. Stakeholder Expansion - Expand value and attract more stakeholders from the following sectors:
- End Users (Commercial Real Estate, Higher Ed, Healthcare, Other Verticals)
- Wireless Carriers
- First and Second Generation Third Party Operators
- Specifiers (Architects, Engineers, GC's, Consultants)
- Fire Protection
4. Scale Operational Capabilities
- Transition Tasks to Paid Resources
- Add Content Manager / Social Media [See Hiring Announcement HERE]
- Work Group Management
- Member Relations - Onboarding
- Program Manager to build Cert Program
- Graphic Arts / Marketing Support
- More Trainers and Speakers
- Lobbying Expertise
