Raoul Gautreau, P.Eng. is a  graduate of the University of New Brunswick in 1984 . In 1989 Raoul joined Trane and attended their 6 months HVAC training program in LaCrosse Wisconsin. Upon graduating he was assigned to the Toronto District office and spent 16 years in the Southern Ontario Construction market.

**Table Top Presentation & Sponsorship Opportunities available.

                
The April 2013 dinner meeting was a combined Toronto and Hamilton Chapter event.  It featured a presentation on Leadership Principles by Victor Goldschmidt, Ph. D., Professor Emeritus, Purdue University School of Mechanical Engineering, Michigan; and ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer.  At the start of his successful career, Mr. Goldschmidt worked as a an Application and Development Engineer at Honeywell, and then spent 45 years in the Mechanical Engineering department at Purdue, leading  important HVAC research and mentoring his graduate and undergraduate students.  Victor is currently a county planning commissioner in Michigan, a consultant, and a facilitator for creative problem solving and strategic planning.1

Mr. Goldschmidt shared his training and experience in the science and art of effective Leadership.  First, it is important to understand the difference between Management and Leadership.  Leading is about effectiveness and is from within the group.  Managing is about efficiency and is from outside the group.   There are five sequential steps of Leadership, the five E's:  Envisioning, Equipping, Empowering, Edifying and Evaluating.  Every organization should have a vision and a Mission Statement.  The job of a leader is to sell the Vision.  Envisioning stretches out to the future and energizes the group with a unified vision.   Equipping and training ensure the group is capable of carrying out the vision.  Empowering enables moving forward with the vision in mind.  Decisions should be made at the lowest level of the organization, with approval at only one level. Edifying and encouraging is the next step.  Mr. Goldschmidt has been amazed by how deeply appreciated, even a decade later, were just a few words of encouragement to his colleagues.  He found a surprising edifying attitude in sharing with a department he was leading, that "rewards are not for those who fail to try, but for those who risk to fail" and living it out.  Evaluation involves fine tuning; is the group heading towards the vision?  If your leadership efforts are not working, did you miss a step?  For example, have you empowered somebody, but failed to equip or show the vision?  

As a Leader you are a Change Agent.  Change can involve conflict and confrontation.  Typically 30% of the team will support the plan for change, 50% will watch, and 20% of the group will be blockers to change.  If you pay attention to the blockers, this percentage will grow to 30%.  You can be skillful in diffusing the attack and in responding to a frustrated colleague or student.  In Mr. Goldschmidt's experience, "Humans are not robots but sensitive little machines".   For the education of the audience, Mr. Goldschmidt demonstrated some incorrect ways of responding to a person with a concern.  The correct approach when responding to a confrontation is to listen actively, without judging, to agree with truths, ask for forgiveness, and find grounds for cooperation.  

The five sequential steps of leadership (Envisioning, Equipping, Empowering, Edifying and Evaluating) can be employed as a volunteer for ASHRAE, as well as in your business or personal life.  Victor Goldschmidt says change is not easy.  As a leader, you must be skillful, committed, humble, and bold.  

Website & Gazette Committee Member

Dates Are Set: Am Fri Aug 23 To Noon Sun Aug 25, 2013

Venue: The Fairmont Royal York

We are looking for Chapter Members support in helping us run a successful CRC. We are looking for volunteers to help out with: