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ISAO CONFERENCE 2006
JOHN WILSON INTERVIEWS DR. KIM CODER
ISAO'S 57th Annual Educational Conference and Trade Show
February 15 to 17, London Convention Centre, London, Ontario
Conference Schedule (pdf) | Speaker Biographies
 JW. Dr. Coder, your biography listed in our conference program states that you are a highly successful educator, author, lecturer, consultant and past ISA president. One does not have to listen to you for long to also conclude that you are part arborist and part psychologist/sociologist! In recognizing all the talents and experiences you have acquired in you career, is there one piece of advice you would consider as being crucial to an aspiring arborist?
KC. While there are many things that are specific to the sector of the tree-centered industry each individual is in, the one general thing that I see as being crucial to success is for people to “Get their mind right.” Arborists need to put their objectives into perceptive. They need to be open minded, have a good positive attitude and they need to invest in themselves.
In a very rough sense, I see myself as a guide. My job is like being the scout who has to go on ahead of the wagon train and see what is over the next hill and advise on proceeding or not proceeding. It can be a difficult job, and one in which I have learned not to be judgmental. Education is a long term investment. I can only transfer information and hope that people will use that information to become successful.
One of the elements of my success comes from my particular style. I like to pull people along by providing them with useful secrets rather than threaten them with failure if they don’t do something. I like to think that people will walk away from a conference where I have spoken with the knowledge they know more than the person who didn’t attend. When you get your mind right, you appreciate education.
More specifically, I see a lot of people starting out in the industry who get distracted by other aspects and lose their competitive edge. For people in the private sector, good tree care becomes overshadowed by things like accounting practices, insurance and staffing issues. For arborists in the public sector, they suddenly want to be the person making decisions that go beyond managing urban forest resources. The role of a municipal arborist is to be an advocate for the resource, to be an advisor. Those who own the resource should be the people making the decisions.
For those beginning their career, consideration should be given to the opportunities that involvement in ISA has to offer. ISA gives you a chance to network with like-minded people and take on responsibilities that add value to your personal and professional reputation. There is no ceiling on career development. If someone has ambitions of becoming an international officer for ISA, that is entirely possible.
For the older, more established people in our industry, I have concerns about them keeping up with new information and technology. If you are a professional, you need to continually invest in yourself.
JW. Here in Ontario and Canada we are seeing a serious decline in our urban forests. Is this similar in the US and what can we do about it?
KC. Yes, we have a similar problem. The solution lies in perception. What we have to do is look at the perceived value of trees. If trees have little value, they will merit little resources. If they have no value, why plant them, why would a city even want them? If they are highly valued, they will merit higher resources.
California and Florida are two states that are now promoting trees for their utility values more so than their amenity values. As we all know, trees not only look good, they are essential and critical to healthy living in urban centres, and as such, they should be paid for and given the necessary resources to survive and stay healthy.
The other element of the problem stems from the fact that our processes for dealing with issues tend to be reactionary versus proactive. The horse is often out of the barn before we close the door. People will not react until all our trees are gone. We need to talk up the problems we are having. We need to build awareness in the public about the plight of our urban forests. We need to build that awareness with terms that people will relate to. I take exception to the use of your term “decline.” More active terms, like “crisis” and “epidemic” that have human medical dimensions and are emotionally charged, will be better understood and generate a stronger reaction.
JW. Do you have any recommendations on how we could build up this awareness?
KC. One useful strategy is to seek out champions within the political system. Target multiple levels of government – mayors, councillors and provincial ministers – people you know who have a science background who understand your issues or who are sympathetic to the cause. In this way you stay away from the politics. The urban forest is part of an ecosystem and is an environmental issue. Leave the politics to the politicians. Arborists work too hard to fully appreciate the political process and besides you don’t want to be accused of doing something that is solely for your own benefit.
Another approach you might want to consider is hiring a consultant to get professional help with marketing your message. How do big companies get their projects branded? How do big organizations get their visions before the people? Arborist take care of trees, they are not marketing experts.
JW. What other issues in your opinion are of concern to the arboriculture industry?
KC. The two issues of greatest importance to me are 1) more clearly defining who we are. At the moment we don’t have a tight view of what our profession is, and 2) how effectively we are translating to the field what we are doing in the way of research.
I believe that the arboricultural industry is getting very close to the edge of deciding whether we are tradesmen or professionals. If we are tradesmen, then we need to get on with registering, licensing and maybe even unionizing. If we are a profession like doctors or lawyers then we should be able to guide where we are going, have greater control over our resources and attract a larger number of participants.
Today is the basis for where we will be 20 years from now. Will that be playing an active role in total plant health care or as acting as caretakers of trees who get called in to clean up the mess after a tree has died? There are too many people who don’t have their minds right, they don’t see the value in ISA. They are the people who hurt our reputation. They are the ones who are not practicing good tree care. I personally believe it is time to get more people into the tent and push the concept of us as a profession rather than a trade.
And secondly, we have to do a better job of getting our accomplishments made in the lab to those in the field. The Journal of Arboriculture is not being read by those doing the work. People who attend this conference will retain three to four percent of what they hear unless they take notes and by the time they get home it will only be one half to one percent. To be more effective, we have to keep providing similar messages to make sure this information gets translated.
JW. To conclude Dr. Coder, I am wondering how you would rate our chapter. What kind of a reputation does Ontario have in the international community and is there anything beyond your above comments that we could be doing to strengthen our organization?
KC. Although, I have not actually held an official position in ISA for three or four years now, my opinion of the Ontario chapter is and always has been a positive one. You are considered to be on of the more progressive chapters. You have a good membership and volunteer base, you seem to be providing good value for your members and you seem to be able to take on and handle change.
As your past executive director, chapter representative on the international board and now an ISA vice president, Randy Lidkea has represented you well. Randy has always been held in high regard in the international community for his leadership role and all the contributions he has made to ISA.
In the past, the Ontario chapter was considered as one of those go-to-chapters, where we could test or sample new ideas or processes before we applied them to other chapters. I know that was the case back in the early nineties when we first began to look at implementing certification.
As for suggestions on further improvements, “keep your mind right,” and don’t lose sight of ISA’s objectives to foster a better understanding of trees and tree care through research and education. Keep working on raising the awareness of our cause, and listen to what your members are saying. By giving your members what they want and need, you are adding value and strength to the chapter and the industry.
Last Modified: Monday, December 10, 2007
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