What does it mean to be an “Engaged Member”?
Membership in the Transportation Intermediaries Association is valuable in its own right. Having that badge on your website or on a load board, perhaps including it in your LinkedIn profile or wherever you want to celebrate it, membership signifies you’re part of something greater. Part of the voice of the 3PL industry, working together to secure and expand the impact that freight brokers across the country – and, indeed, world – have on the logistics industry at large and the economy as a whole. Attending the big conferences, that’s great too. It’s fun to see old friends, learn new ideas from big time vendors, and take a few days away from the office to reset professionally. But there’s more to it than that. What does it mean to engage, how does someone who really knows what membership means and provides truly make it work for them?
Mentorship
The future of the 3PL industry lies in the young people coming in to our member companies. They need guidance to rise beyond the entry level. More and more we hear about Gen Z losing out on the opportunities that come from just stating out and being able to talk with their more seasoned colleagues as AI is taking these low-level roles. A good steward of the industry – as a good TIA member should be – would see this as an opportunity. As more companies look to machines to do work that humans did, some are missing the forest for the trees, not realizing they’re abandoning their own future and the health of the industry by ignoring a whole cohort of future leaders. There are centuries of institutional knowledge wrapped up in the senior ranks of TIA membership, and it should be dispersed. Through mentorship, identifying people who could be those leaders. That’s possible.
Advocating
Change comes in all ways, including in the halls of Congress and at the state house. TIA members gain a greater chorus backing them up when they need something done about a potentially damaging bill, or if new technologies or geo-political shifts threaten their livelihood. That helps the individual. Where does that chorus come from though, if not from the engaged member? We all want an active and impactful association to call our own, but the name is right there – association. Being heard is the first step to making a change, and if every member of the TIA were engaging with their local, state, and national representatives, things would look much rosier for the world of brokers. It takes all types of efforts, from fly-ins like our Policy Forum to letters and phone calls to your local rep, regional meetings where you hear from legislative leaders, it runs the gamut. Democracy is itself a collective action, just like TIA. Advocating for what you believe in is part of that.
Volunteerism
Beyond just advocating for political change, there’s volunteering ones’ time to help the organization tick. While any association worth its salt has a great crew of professionals running the day-to-day, making sure those events go off without a hitch and the education is valuable and the emails aren’t too overwhelming, the big decisions need volunteer leaders. While the board of directors gets all the shine, and the Executive Committee has a lot of sway, much like in politics it can be the smaller, less glamorous roles that shape the biggest changes. If you like Technovations, knowing that the Technology Committee is a driving force behind that helps to inform what happens at the conference. If you want to push for a specific legislative desire, one of a handful of government affairs committees stands ready. All to say, while the Executive Director is the “face of the franchise”, it’s the volunteers that are the men and women behind the curtain.
Free Courses (and maybe a paid one!)
A core piece of association membership is the ability to improve yourself, improve your place in your profession. That’s where the thousands of hours poured into educational offerings- from staff as well as volunteer leaders – come to fruition. Simply put, if you’re not taking advantage of at least the free stuff organizations like TIA are putting out there, you’re wasting your own time. The very core aspect of life is that change is always occurring – both positively and negatively – so to even stand pat requires effort. And even beyond that, the feedback from course attendees is precisely what drives their improvement. These don’t take any monetary investement (though they could), just time, and it’s time well-spent. Learning from those that came before, getting new perspectives, discussing these courses with your colleagues at events, all of this is vital to anyone’s career growth.
Asking Questions
Perhaps the simplest thing a member who wants to be engaged, who wants to know what’s possible, is to just ask. As mentioned before, there’s a team at headquarters just waiting to hear from you, wanting to know what you need, what would help, and how life could be better as a freight broker. It’s free, its’ easy, and it’s part of the membership that comes first. You’re going to be involved with something, so just ask what’s possible, or what’s needed. The question is welcome, and the answer will help.
In the end, the engagement of a member is what drives the association forward. It’s not just a company, or even a collection of companies gathered together for a common cause. There are thousands of people that have the opportunity to take advantage of TIA offerings. Those that do have a richer professional life, make greater connections, and understand their industry better. Beyond that, they make the organization better with each activity. It’s not hard – and hey, sometimes leadership will look kindly on the volunteer or mentor, seeing a potential leader in there – and pays off in spades. Engage in ways that make sense to you, and see where the world takes you.
