NAFA Helps Fleet Managers Show Their Value With New Professional Development Guide

PRINCETON, NJ, June 05, 2011 (Press-News.org) Many business professionals are often surprised to learn of the true complexity of the fleet manager's role and responsibility. Too often, the business community does not see the fleet manager as accountant, asset manager, buyer and seller, or safety manager, in addition to their roles as automotive "gurus." Often a well-managed fleet goes unnoticed within an organization until something goes wrong.

NAFA Fleet Management Association aims to help fleet managers change these perceptions through its new Professional Development Guide. The guide provides the tools to enable a fleet manager to excel professionally and demonstrate their value to their company or organization.

For a fleet to demonstrate it is an effective department, the fleet manager must convince senior management that the value of fleet far exceeds its expenses. To accomplish this, the fleet manager must determine what is perceived as valuable in the organization and understand its culture. They also must know what the mission statement of the organization is and determine how to measure fleet's contribution towards it. None of this will work unless the fleet manager establishes an effective means of communicating what fleet is contributing to the organization and states this on a regular basis.

NAFA believes professional development should be an ongoing goal of all professionals. As the environment in which organizations operate evolves, so must the individuals to maximize productivity and performance. NAFA's Professional Development Guide examines topics such as understanding individual behavior and motivation, knowing how to maximize the effectiveness of groups, leading individuals and groups, applying frameworks of organizational processes, communicating effectively, and applying ethical principles.

NAFA's Professional Development Guide follows the release of the highly successful Lifecycle Cost Analysis for Fleets and joins NAFA's Law Guide for Fleet Professionals and NAFA's Risk Management Guide as the Association's three newest products. With these three guides, NAFA has reached the Association's long-term goal of having its own references and instructional materials for each of the eight disciplines in NAFA's Education Competency Model.

NAFA is the world's premier non-profit association for professionals who manage fleets of sedans, public safety vehicles, trucks, and buses of all types and sizes, and a wide range of military and off-road equipment for organizations across the globe. NAFA is the association for the diverse vehicle fleet management profession regardless of organizational type, geographic location or fleet composition. NAFA's Full and Associate Members are responsible for the specification, acquisition, maintenance and repair, fueling, risk management, and remarketing of more than 3.5 million vehicles including in excess of 1.1 million trucks of which 350 thousand are medium- and heavy-duty trucks. For more information visit http://www.nafa.org