Plexus Consulting Group    Success Stories

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)


American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)

1801 Alexander Bell Drive
Suite 500
Reston, VA 20191-4344
703-264-7500
www.aiaa.org


Contact: Patrick Gouhin, Director of Operations & Business Development

CEO: Cort Durocher
Budget: $15 Million
Staff Size: 100




Plexus Consulting Group, LLC
1620 Eye Street, NW
Suite 210
Washington, DC 20006
Phone:  202-785-8940
Fax:      202-785-8949
Email:   info@plexusconsulting.com


Vital Stats:

With more than 31,000 members, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world's largest professional society devoted to the progress of engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. The Institute continues to be the principal voice, information resource, and publisher for aerospace engineers, scientists, managers, policymakers, students, and educators. Also, many prominent corporations and governments worldwide rely on AIAA as an aggregator of professional accomplishment in all areas related to aerospace.

The Challenge | The Solution | The Process | Unintended Consequences | Unforseen Benefits | Measurements & Results | Lessons Learned

 

The Challenge

How to build a motivated, educated and effective workforce to enable a dynamic organization to provide economically viable products and services to meet changing industry needs?

With the early 1990's downturn in the aerospace industry resulting from decreased defense spending and industry consolidation, AIAA was forced to change its organization making it more efficient, and rethinking its operation strategy. The decision was to "reengineer the organization."

By making it more "process centered" rather than product centered, AIAA was able to meet the imperative brought on by an industry downturn, decrease organizational layers that had trapped the Institute in an outmoded method of operation, and for the first time in a long time provide pinpoint focus for a staff which (for whatever reason) had been meandering.

The Solution

Change the corporate culture to enable association staff to be entrepreneur-owners in their work.

In order to reengineer the organization, the change had to begin with the employees. They had to be motivated, educated and, in the end, molded into a group of employees operating with minimal bureaucracy and acting as though they were entrepreneur-owners of a for-profit company. Through the combination of capable employees and a master "Strategic Marketing Plan," AIAA became market driven and customer focused. Over the most recent five-year period, these efforts have increased AIAA's revenue base by $3.3 million (a 25 percent growth rate).

The Process

In 1996, as part of the reengineering process, AIAA decided it was necessary not just to adapt the association to the changing trends, but also to create what would eventually become an entirely new corporate culture. During the reengineering process, the company emphasized the importance and benefits of education, stating that "more educated employees are both smarter and happier" because they are better situated to make significant impact on the bottom line.

  • AIAA focused on this new strategic direction by emphasizing:
  • Teamwork
  • Continuous Learning Environment
  • Flexibility and Adaptability

While AIAA has always had a formal training and education plan, the emphasis on learning was increased, and the plan was moved to the front burner. AIAA operates with a comprehensive training program that includes tuition reimbursement, all staff training, and individualized development programs. Approximately 1 percent of the budget ($150,000 per year) has been and continues to be spent on staff training.

Within the AIAA environment, the basic employee unit is that of the project team, which consists of 8-10 people performing multidisciplinary tasks. The Institute's plan, therefore, emphasizes individual as well as team training. The initial intent was to increase communication and interaction among the team members, thereby increasing the productivity rate.

The positive outcomes that resulted from this training approach included:

  • Reduction in number of required meetings as communication takes place in other forms with other tools.
  • Reduction in necessary supervision, as competent managers emerged from the team structure to handle situations more quickly.
  • Reduction in wasted resources, as most tasks are completed efficiently and right the first time since a plan was thought out and implemented.
  • Perhaps most importantly, operation under a unified, concise, and understandable strategy with supporting tactics.

On an Institute-wide basis, the thrust for more and better training resulted in:

  • Tuition reimbursement (Under this program 10 employees have received masters degrees in the past five years).
  • More emphasis on consistent training for all employees, giving them a common frame of reference.
  • Negotiation training for all employees.
  • Project Management training for all employees.
  • Financial Management training for all employees.
  • Use of a management decision-making board game training through Paradigm Learning, Inc.
  • Emphasizing a culture where the "chain is only as strong as strong as the weakest link" and in order to continuously strengthen the chain, the weakest link must be sought out and strengthened. Being tapped for further education, whether by management or by one of the 300-plus multidisciplinary teams, is not perceived negatively. Every employee is aware that ultimately each link in the chain must be strengthened.
  • On-going training: Each employee's annual review contains a section on training and development: what they have done in the past year, along with a list of hoped-for learning opportunities in the future.

Unintended Consequences

For all the positives that can come with such a program, there have also been negative consequences. A very few number of individuals had their own agendas, and took advantage of the increased training to help them build their own careers apart form AIAA. Was this unavoidable? Probably. Is it preventable? Definitely. This factor keeps top management on their toes as they must consistently evaluate each employee to ensure that he or she is appropriately challenged and being utilized to the fullest extent. We have found that, when managed, this potential negative consequence is minimized to the point of being trivial.

Unforeseen Benefits

There were both foreseen and unforeseen benefits and results. The intended benefits that resulted from this training program were:

  • A happier and more educated workforce that in turn increased productivity levels and resulted in revenue growth.
  • A more efficient workforce, producing more today than 10 years ago with half the number of staff.
  • Harnessing of creative thoughts to provide the next generation of products and services.
  • Board acceptance that expenditures for staff training was a worthy investment.

The unintended benefits that resulted from this training program included:

  • A more computer literate workforce that seizes the opportunities to be had through the use of technology.
  • A greatly reduced turnover rate. Over the past 6 years, voluntary turnover has dropped from 18 percent to 2 percent.
  • Multiple examples where employees seized potential and turned into "stars".

Measurements & Results

Over the past 10 years, the productivity was nearly doubled; over the past 5 years, revenues are up 25 percent. The various training programs not only helped the employees become more efficient and productive, but it also helped them cultivate better working relationships - and stronger personal relationships - with each other. In short, training and education improved our teams, and better teams in turn yielded a reduced rate of turnover, down to 2 percent voluntary turnover in the past fiscal year, in the company. Employees feel like part of a large family where everyone watches out for each other, and where their contribution truly makes a difference.

Lessons Learned

AIAA has been quite pleased with the overall turnout of the reengineering, the training initiatives, and all that each entails; however undergoing the change has been quite challenging and even painful as well. AIAA learned that in the long run, the training program was a success - not just in terms of productivity, but in many other ways, too. Training and education can help change the culture of an association, but only if it is continually accompanied by the commitment of both management and every single employee.