EDUCATION Resolved to Make No Resolutions Some speculations — not resolutions — on what’s in store for ALOA education in 2015 By Jim Hancock, CML, CMST I absolutely loathe New Year’s resolutions. I, like many of you, make all of these grandiose plans to change my health, wealth, attitude, mindset, whatever. And, like many of you, that usually works and goes well until about, um, February. That’s when all the things I promised I would do, wouldn’t do, would regulate or would let go come creeping back up on me — usually with a vengeance. I have also seen in the past year the truest example of the old adage, “If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans.” On the business side, every year — especially since being at ALOA — I have made some resolutions that have had some mixed results as well. My first year, I made a commitment to offering almost 1,000 hours of training in the ALOA Training Center. Well, we fell a little short on the amount offered (970) and a little short on getting participation. My second year, I resolved to revamp the PRP testing; make it easier to get the grades when finished; make it easier to take at a test center; make it available online; and offer newer tests with more relevant questions for today. Well, the scorecard on that would be check, sort of, not happening and sort of. We were able to revamp the PRP and get the grading in a better situation. The testing at a third-party test center is actually relatively simple, but to do so is a bit more costly due to our offerings and the security of our tests. Online? Just not a doable situation yet — again, mainly because of the security. We are not going to put our tests in a position to be compromised. Finally, we do have more ques- tions in our test pool that are more relevant, but we have not been able to update them all yet. Last year, I took the challenge to get our “For 2015, I am resolved t no resolutions. If I don’t make them, I can’t break them.” new educational facility completed and get more classes scheduled not only in our “new” facility but also on the road in regional situ- ations. Well, the new facility is being worked on, but we are at least two months behind due 56 KEYNOTES JANUARY 2015 to weather, City of Dallas snafus, contrac- tor woes and some issues that took me away from the project for a while. This, of course, seriously hampered scheduling more classes in the facility since there was no facility. As for the regional classes, there was an attempt to sponsor a weekend, but the timing was not very good on our part and, as with above, priorities kind of changed. So for this year, 2015, I am resolved to make absolutely no resolutions. If I don’t make them, I can’t break them. If I make no promises to you, the membership, or to myself, I can’t really disappoint anyone. If I just say, “Hey, let’s just see what happens,” no one will have cause to feel as if ALOA education has let them down. But, if I were to speculate on what might occur this coming year, I might foresee: The new facility being completed and a whole myriad of classes being offered that were not available before due to the space restrictions we had. A new format for our annual conven- tion that will be a work in progress but allow for shorter classes and more half- day offerings, so more education can be squeezed into a shorter time frame. More regional education weekends. And my favorite, a new PRP testing that will allow for more hands-on testing in- stead of strictly written. But since I am making no resolutions, we’ll just have to see what happens. From our family, the ALOA Education staff (Jim, Joey, Jessica and Carlos), we wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year. ancock, CML, CMST, A’s education manager, n his locksmithing ca- r at the age of 8 in his dfather’s lock shop fport, Miss. He has ed in every aspect of usiness, from shop tech bile tech to operations gement. In 2003 and , he was presented with ructor of the Year. You g or (214) 819-9733. WWW.ALOA.ORG
