February /March 2004

Volume 44, Number 4

STC vision model: Where we are going

by Thea Teich, Andrea Ames, and Suzanna Laurent

It took a lot of work to develop a vision that depicts what we want STC to look like three years from now. The Transformation Team continues that work daily. We realize however that the transformation will never be completely finished because STC must continue to evolve for it to remain the essential organization to which successful technical communicators belong. It's like continuing quality improvement.

Our last article, "The Business Landscape Analysis," gave you a snapshot of where we are today. Now we want to share what STC will look like in the future, after this vision has been fulfilled. This article paints an idealized picture using very broad brush strokes across three major areas of STC—scope and structure, culture and content, and finances.

The statements under each major heading below present the core visions for each area—the principles that capture the broad intent. The bulleted items suggest ways the core vision might be achieved. Naturally, we will not be able to build and execute programs for all of these areas immediately and simultaneously. We will have to prioritize and focus on the initiatives that will be most effective in transforming STC into the organization you have told us that you want it to be. We will stage initiatives to address the "low-hanging fruit" first—the concerns that must be handled soon and those that must be completed before others can be addressed. Other programs and projects will come to the forefront over time. Essentially, we see this as at least a three-year effort, with continuous improvement after that. This is a never-ending initiative, because we're undergoing a "lifestyle change," not a project with a specific completion date.

Scope and Structure

STC will be a vital, growing, and global "community of communities" that is involved with the communication of technical information and the use of technology to communicate information.

• Establish a broad umbrella that embraces new disciplines, groups, or organizations
• Embrace and enable International membership

STC governance and the board of directors will represent the major constituencies and strategic interests of the organization.

• The major communities will be represented, including virtual, professional, and geographic
• Industry and academia will be better represented
• The board will embrace outside perspectives through a formal advisory structure or outside directors

STC will support its communities—whether physical or virtual—and the communities in turn will support the needs of the members in the community and across the larger organization.

• The Society will provide tools, services, success models, and support to enable the member communities to flourish. The communities will have an explicit obligation to serve the larger STC community, in addition to its own members. The unique value of each community must be exposed and made available to the whole organization.
• The Society and the communities will work together to encourage member involvement and engagement, especially when new members first join.

Culture and Content

STC will be forward-looking and externally aware. Communities will be dedicated to leading their members, disciplines, and industries. Education, knowledge sharing, and tools development will be the vehicles of leadership.

• In addition to the Society's educational programs and the speakers hosted locally, the communities will develop educational curriculum, modules, and resources for the benefit of the membership.
• Communities will contribute to shared knowledge bases and speakers' bureaus
• STC will have a "building culture," which is orientated to creating tangible assets for the organization. Communities and individual members should be recognized and rewarded for contributing things of lasting value. Some examples are tools, templates, databases, best practice examples, prototype contracts, and speaker review

STC will be a vocal promoter for the value provided by the fields of technical communication.

• Promote technical communication's value to industry directly through conference presentations and educational programs and indirectly through the press
• Support our members' ability to articulate their personal value
• Promote the value of STC membership to industry

STC and its communities will draw vision, guidance, and strength from its strong connection to industry and academia.

• Solicit the guidance and participation of senior leaders of industry
• Be an important organization in which corporate managers want to participate. STC will provide programs of value directed at managers.
• Strive to link the latest thinking of academia to its practical application for companies and practitioners, building on the new Grants program

Financials

The board will maintain a multi-year strategic plan and use it to ensure their focus on long-term goals.

• Change the format and focus of the current strategic plan to emphasize objective goals and the explicit long-term strategies to achieve the goals

STC will be financially stable, with sound business planning and fiscal management processes.

• STC's long-term financial strategy will be a critical enabler for delivering value to the communities and members
• STC will have clear cost visibility, metrics, and benchmarks for financial success
• STC will actively cultivate additional revenue streams

STC resources will flow to the communities and activities that members support through selection and participation.

• Members will have choices in the composition of their membership

STC will pursue membership growth and leverage its scale to provide greater and greater value for its members.

• Reach out to the diverse but related professions within technical communication for new members
• Seek to take advantage of its reach into diverse industry sectors
• Reach out to other related organizations seeking alignment and mutual support

Once this vision has been fulfilled, the most important outcomes will be a broader membership base for growth, stronger services for members, and a more solid financial future.

The Transformation Team believes this initiative will strengthen our organization so it will become the essential organization to which technical communicators must belong to assure their success in the profession.

Coming up next

The next article "A Model for Transformation" describes the model developed by the Transformation team to meet these goals and help us make this vision a reality.