It’s a term that makes the blood of some run cold, for others it is no big deal. The acronym commonly used is DTR. It comes up in every relationship sooner or later and seeing as we are coming close to the end of the third year of the CEC cycle and the final AGM of the cycle, we thought that perhaps now would be a good time to bring some clarity for our members. It is time for us to define the relationship.

As an association we view all our members as professionals. In order to achieve associate or full membership with us you have put in much time, effort, and hard-earned dollars – first to graduate from your chosen professional education program, and second to start your career in that profession. As a member of this professional association, you have responsibilities, known as membership requirements. These vary somewhat depending on your class of membership, however, all members have a list of membership requirements. If you are unsure of what you as a member are responsible for, we would encourage you to visit our membership requirements page.

What we want and need you as members to understand is that these are your responsibilities. While administration monitors your fulfillment of these responsibilities, and when necessary, provides reminders that these tasks need to be fulfilled, we expect you to take your professional responsibilities seriously. As our association continues to grow, our administrative team needs all our members to step up to the plate and make sure that you are fulfilling your duties to the association. With the Association approaching the end of the CEC Cycle, we want to see members take a proactive approach instead of the reactive approach that we often see around membership renewal time. As an example, this means taking personal responsibility to know if you need to complete some CECs, or when your next Vulnerable Sector Check or First Aid Certificate is due, and getting it done and submitted before it expires.

Another example of taking professional responsibility is making sure that you are reading all of the communication that CMMOTA sends your way. We know at times it seems like we send a lot of emails, however it is our primary way of communicating with our members. Emails often contain important information – whether that is updates which have been made to CMMOTA policy, which is a responsibility of members to be aware of and adhere to, or whether it contains the weekly newsletter or other important Association announcements. If you have found that some email from CMMOTA is making its way into your junk folder, please be sure to add info@cmmota.com to your contacts list, that way you should never miss another important email.

We love providing excellent customer service to our members, but we need this relationship to work both ways, and for some of you that may mean stepping up your game. We love to brag that we have the best members and the best association in the nation – help us keep that going!