View all articles in this issue
On the Benefits of Bi-Directional Communication
Download this article for $1.00 (FREE for Members)
by Michael D. Hall, PhD - Psi Chi Society President
- James Madison University (VA)
Categories: President’s Message
The Board of Directors recently returned from
a very productive mid-winter meeting. For
example, good progress was made toward
the introduction of new and sustained award
opportunities, including possible new partnerships
with other professional organizations. Another
major topic at the meeting was how to best
implement fast and effective communication of
information to members, an issue that provides the
focus of this column.
Within an organization of our size (close to
600,000 members and growing), it is very common
for communication between board members and
their constituents to be limited. Personally, when
I was a regional Vice-President for Psi Chi, I very
rarely heard from faculty advisors and was almost
never contacted by student officers or chapter
members about their concerns or hopes for the
organization. Occasionally, at a chapter meeting
or regional conference, I would even overhear
general statements or assumptions about the nature
of Psi Chi, some of which were false (e.g., that it
is “an organization devoted [solely] to serving
undergraduates.”) False statements such as that
would prompt me to initiate a dialogue to try to
set the record straight. The lack of communication
with representatives typically results in members
on the Board of Directors simply speaking their
minds and voting their conscience. While this is
still a meaningful and productive process due to the
responsible actions of the Board, it is being done
without a full appreciation of what chapters in the
respective regions would prefer to see happen in
either the short- or long-term future of Psi Chi.
For its part, the organization is making every
effort to improve the quantity and quality of
information received by members. This effort
includes paying special attention to the changing
means by which people prefer to receive
information, as well as to the fiscal demands of
different modes of communication. Toward this
end, the Board has made a conscious effort to begin
sending messages directly to individual members
rather than only to chapters and is moving toward
general reliance on electronic communication rather
than more traditional methods. (This transition is
expected to be complete by the summer). In this
way, members will be sure to receive the latest news
from the organization almost immediately. Members
also will have excellent mobile access to the latest
society news given the array of existing means for
receiving electronic messages while travelling or
otherwise being on the go (e.g., laptops, netbooks,
iPads, iPods, smartphones, etc.). Electronic
publications, including Eye on Psi Chi, also will mean
that all of the primary sources of communication
with international membership will be preserved
and with great cost savings that can be directly put
back into student and faculty award programs. Each
member should have already received an e-mailed
prompt for the HTML version of the Eye in addition
to the latest news digest information (If you have
not received such information and would like to,
please sign in to www.psichi.org/SignIn.aspx, update
your contact information, and add yourself to
subscriptions).
It is very important to note, however, that
communication is a two-way street. The
organization also needs to hear more from you to be
sure that it is effectively helping Psi Chi to grow in
the ways that you would like to see. You may have
noticed recent electronic surveys of chapters (e.g.,
about development of award and grant programs),
and other surveys are likely to follow from time to
time. The results of these surveys will inform the
Board of Directors about the general perspectives
of members while they plan for the future. As
members, you also need to know that your regional
representatives welcome receiving more personal
and direct feedback from you that they can bring
to me and the rest of the Board. Let your regional
Vice-President know what you think when you
see him or her at a regional or national meetings,
or alternatively, send an e-mail that conveys some
thoughts from you and your chapter. The very same
welcoming of feedback applies to me as President,
and the Central Office Staff as well, so you should
not hesitate to contact any of us. Ultimately, such
immediacy and transparency in sharing information
will allow us to collectively make this great
organization even better.
Spring 2011 issue of Eye on Psi Chi (Vol. 15, No. 3, p. 4), published
by Psi Chi, The International Honor Society in Psychology (Chattanooga, TN). Copyright,
2011, Psi Chi, The International Honor Society in Psychology. All rights reserved.