Training an industry from ASA’s perspective

Take advantage of ASA’s educational resources.

Dear Industry Colleagues,

As I write my second-to-last letter having just returned from NetworkASA 2013 in Washington D.C., “refreshed” and “enthusiastic” are two terms that come to mind from not only my perspective as ASA president, but also as a convention attendee. We once again hit a home run in terms of a great program, and all indications from our post-event survey are that NetworkASA 2013 was definitely “a cut above” previous events.

In next month’s letter, I’ll review 2013 and our association’s overall growth, successes and where I see ASA heading under the “Strong” leadership we’ll have in 2014. This month, my focus is on the great steps forward ASA University and our educational programs have taken in recent months.

Under the leadership of ASA Education Foundation President Joe Maiale, ASA University is in full rollout mode with its five colleges, each with complete curriculum and behavioral performance measures. These colleges include: College of Leadership/Executive Management (targeted toward branch managers), College of Sales/Sales Management, College of Warehouse Management, College of Purchasing/Inventory Management and last, but not least, the College of Business Management. All these colleges have something to offer you and your employees in the way of training. You’d be remiss if you didn’t check out more information at www.asa.net/Education/ASA-Universitytoday to see what I’m talking about.

In addition to the colleges, the ASA Education Foundation recently rolled out its ASA Advisory Service within the last year. This new program allows ASA University staff to assist members more closely with training initiatives. Service is offered on three different levels based on the amount of involvement and intensity of the training package being offered. Best of all, the first level of service is available at no cost and is part of ASA membership.

Probably most of all, I am very excited about how ASA University is helping the association branch out its industry reach with the publishing of the Introduction to HVACR Product Pro course that allows us to get into new areas of servicing our members in the HVAC market.

Another recent accomplishment is the launch of our new online store at www.asa.net/store. Additionally, the staff is currently working to develop a career and job board to be launched at the beginning of 2014, which will allow industry jobseekers to search for employment and connect them with ASA members who are searching for qualified candidates. One of my goals at the beginning of 2013 was to help build our industry’s labor bench, which we’ll certainly have the opportunity to achieve with these offerings.

Overall, the training and educational offerings available through ASA are second to none within the industry. In today’s competitive environment, if you are currently not using any of these offerings, you should be strongly considering it. Give Amy Black and the ASA University team a call today at 630/467-0000 to see what I’m talking about. You’ll be thanking me later that you did.