UMCA to Host Fundraiser for Senator Scott Jenkins - Mark Your Calendars Now

The UMCA will host a fundraiser for Senator Scott Jenkins on June 19, 2012 at the Utah Career Center.  Plan NOW to attend and show your support.  As most know, Senator Jenkins is also President of Great Western Supply and is a UMCA Associate Member. In addition to being one of the top plumbing distributors along the Wasatch Front, Senator Jenkins has been a tremendous leader on Capitol Hill for the plumbing & mechanical contracting industry.

Drug Free Workplace Planning Underway

The leaders of UMCA and Local 140 met in April to begin formulating the policies for the Drug Free Work Place Program which will become effective August 1, 2012.  The program was approved through the new Collective Bargaining Agreement that became effective July 1, 2011.  As more details regarding the program become available, the UMCA will offer educational seminars to inform membership of the requirements and policies.  Stay tuned for more updates on this program in the coming months.

UMCA to Host Commissioning 201 Seminar

On Thursday, May 24, 2012, the UMCA will host a seminar on understanding types and levels of commissioning, the added value of commissioning, and dealing with Cx agents.  The seminar will be held from 12:00pm to 2:00pm at the Utah Career Center, lunch will be provided, and Trey King of E Cube will be our presenter.  The cost to attend the seminar is $100 per person, however, contractors will be allowed to use any remaining $1,000 credit allotted to each UMCA Contractor Member by the UMCA towards this course.  Please contact the UMCA Office with any questions regarding the $1,000 contractor education credit.  To register using the new online registration system click here.  If you will be using contractor credit, select the “Use Contractor Education Credit” ticket option.  If you prefer to register via the paper form, it can be downloaded here.  The last day to register for this seminar is May 16th.   

UMCA Annual Golf Tournament Registration Open

The 2012 UMCA Golf Tournament has opened registration via the UMCA website.  Members may now register via the online registration system or via the paper forms.  The 2012 UMCA Golf Tournament will be held on Monday, July 16, 2012 at the Jeremy Golf and Country Club.  There will be a shotgun start at 1:00pm and there will be dinner and an awards ceremony following the tournament.  The cost to register for the tournament is $125 per person for members and $175 per person for non-members.  The UMCA is also offering sponsorship opportunities in conjunction with the tournament.  Hole sponsorships are available for $200 per hole for members and $250 per hole for non-members.  The UMCA will also gladly accept sponsorships in the form of prize donations for the raffle at the end of the tournament.  The last day to register for the tournament is Friday, July 6th.  To register using the new online registration system, click here.  If you would prefer to register via the paper registration forms, the registration form can be downloaded here and the sponsorship form can be downloaded here.  

Plumbing Continuing Education Update

As many are aware, there is a new continuing education requirement for holders of plumbing licenses.  As of this year, plumbers are going to be required to complete 12 total hours of continuing education to renew their plumbing licenses.  Eight of the 12 hours must be core education, and the remaining four hours can be either core or professional education.   Currently, DOPL only shows 8% of all plumbing license holders have completed their education requirement while only 21% have at least started to earn education credit towards the completion of the requirement. 

To help our members who hold plumbing licenses meet this requirement, the Utah Career Center is offering a number of classes.  The classes are International Fuel Gas Code (12 Core Hours), International Mechanical Code (12 Core Hours), International Plumbing Code (12 Core Hours), Medical Gas Certification (40 Core Hours) and Medical Gas Review Class (12 Core Hours).  The classes are only offered once at least 12 people have signed up for a course.  Once 12 people have signed up, the Utah Career Center schedules the class.  The classes are offered at increments of either four nights per week two nights over the course of two weeks.  To sign up for a course, please call Carole Costello at 801-295-6198.  Please note that those who are not registered for a course by June 30 will be required to pay a $5 per credit hour fee.  

Six Habits of True Strategic Thinkers

You're the boss, but you still spend too much time on the day-to-day. Here's how to become the strategic leader your company needs.

In the beginning, there was just you and your partners. You did every job. You coded, you met with investors, you emptied the trash and phoned in the midnight pizza. Now you have others to do all that and it's time for you to "be strategic."
Whatever that means.

If you find yourself resisting "being strategic," because it sounds like a fast track to irrelevance, or vaguely like an excuse to slack off, you're not alone. Every leader's temptation is to deal with what's directly in front, because it always seems more urgent and concrete. Unfortunately, if you do that, you put your company at risk. While you concentrate on steering around potholes, you'll miss windfall opportunities, not to mention any signals that the road you're on is leading off a cliff.

This is a tough job, make no mistake. "We need strategic leaders!” is a pretty constant refrain at every company, large and small. One reason the job is so tough: no one really understands what it entails. It's hard to be a strategic leader if you don't know what strategic leaders are supposed to do.

After two decades of advising organizations large and small, my colleagues and I have formed a clear idea of what's required of you in this role. Adaptive strategic leaders — the kind who thrive in today’s uncertain environment – do six things well:

Anticipate

• Look for game-changing information at the periphery of your industry

• Search beyond the current boundaries of your business

• Build wide external networks to help you scan the horizon better

Think Critically

• Reframe problems to get to the bottom of things, in terms of root causes

• Challenge current beliefs and mindsets, including your own

• Uncover hypocrisy, manipulation, and bias in organizational decisions

Interpret

• Seek patterns in multiple sources of data

• Encourage others to do the same

• Question prevailing assumptions and test multiple hypotheses simultaneously

Decide

• Carefully frame the decision to get to the crux of the matter

• Balance speed, rigor, quality and agility. Leave perfection to higher powers

• Take a stand even with incomplete information and amid diverse views

Align

• Understand what drives other people's agendas, including what remains hidden

• Bring tough issues to the surface, even when it's uncomfortable

• Assess risk tolerance and follow through to build the necessary support

Learn

• Encourage and exemplify honest, rigorous debriefs to extract lessons

• Shift course quickly if you realize you're off track

• Celebrate both success and (well-intentioned) failures that provide insight

Do you have what it takes?