Tag: Association

A Community Model

My friend Mary Nations shared a video recently that really captured me. She included it in a post about an innovative program at the Southside Regional Jail in Emporia, VA. When you watch the video, you’ll see a program that deserves to be in all correctional institutions. You’ll also see an example of the benefits that a community can bring to its members and to its host institution. There are two versions of the Community Model video created by the Center for Therapeutic Justice – 5 minutes and 20 minutes.

What’s going on in the Community Model? Do you see similarities to association membership, maybe not membership as you know it now, but membership as it could be?

  • These prisoners volunteered to join this community. They’re ready for change.
  • They’re bettering themselves – growing and evolving. These are life-changing experiences.
  • They support each other while learning together.
  • They listen to each other.
  • They come from diverse backgrounds and often have differing viewpoints, but they deal with it. Everyone has a voice.
  • They relish being part of something positive. They’re watching their community get stronger because of their own efforts.
  • They sometimes fail, but they accept that. They learn from their failures and figure out their own solutions.
  • The senior members mentor the newer members. They help each other work out issues.
  • Members, not staff, are the leaders and group facilitators.
  • They’re a “self-regulating community that supports the growth of its members and makes a positive impact on the institution.”

This is a community of growth that provides a meaningful experience and value to its members — a model not only for jails and prisons, but also for associations.

Our associations provide a platform for the growth of meaningful communities. Some of our members already work together to further the mission of our organizations – to help make changes in society or in the legislature, to provide educational opportunities or to help each others’ businesses thrive.

Think about the benefits of being part of a vibrant community:

  • Satisfaction from helping others or serving an industry
  • Stretching one’s skills – managing projects, public speaking, recruiting, mentoring, building teams, delegating, writing, teaching, running meetings
  • Widening one’s networks and developing new relationships, both personal and professional
  • Belonging to something good

How many of our members truly feel they’re part of a meaningful community and derive value from the community that they can’t find elsewhere? Is it only those who serve on committees or the board? Those who are in the leadership clique? Those who can meet face-to-face? How can we help all our members grow and participate in their own communities – online, face-to-face or both?

Think about communities in your life that you cherish, perhaps it’s a mastermind group, church community, social media club, coffee group or book club. What makes it so meaningful to you? Let’s become community gardeners – providing the rich soil and nourishment that will help our member communities take root and grow.

The long version of the video ends with this quote from Sir Francis Bacon: “If we are to achieve results never before accomplished, we must expect to employ methods never before attempted.” We all know this. It’s time to experiment with new ways of associating, building community, working together, leading together. New ways of associating have the potential to not only benefit our members but also to give meaning and value to association membership.

The CAE Journey

CAE. Certified Association Executive. Many of my friends outside the association industry ask, “What does that mean exactly?” According to ASAE, it means I’ve demonstrated “the knowledge essential to the practice of association management.” After reading this post, you may decide in my case it should be renamed Certified Association Geek.

The CAE journey gave me a deeper knowledge and understanding of association management, particularly in areas I never had the opportunity to delve into before. Reading the texts while reflecting upon my ten years of association experience gave me a much better grasp of the challenges of leading and managing an association. My mind grappled with a wide range of topics from the minutia of reporting requirements for lobbying to the more interesting concepts of shared leadership and strategic thinking.

Every week, a new domain entered my life: strategic management; planning and research; leadership; administration; knowledge management; governance and structure; public policy and governmental and external relations; membership; programs, products and services; and public relations and external communications. With each domain came lots of reading, quizzes and a conference call with my study group. I looked forward to my reading time, taking notes as I went, reflecting on what I was reading, what I had seen and how things are changing. I was amazed at how long I would study on weekends. It was a good experience. I knew my knowledge was deepening.

On test day, there was a strange moment about an hour into it when I said to myself, “This is kind of fun.” It might have been the coffee talking, or more likely, I was on a roll with some easy questions. By the end of the four hours, by brain was mush. I was drained. I remember thinking, if I had to bet money, I would bet I passed, but who knows. It was over, all those months of study, over. It was strange putting those books away. The books I had lived with for so long. Then I realized, I have my weekends back and I had a Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale.

Fast forward six weeks and a few days later to this past Tuesday. While running around town that afternoon I got an email from my CAE study buddy, Sandra Giarde, saying the results were out. Our buddy Aaron tweeted he passed. I checked the mailbox on my way home. Empty. The mail was late, really late. Then I had a conference call and couldn’t check the mail for over an hour. Meanwhile three of us who took the exam were emailing back and forth – messages of dread and silliness.

After the call I walked back to the mailbox and there they were — two postal workers distributing the mail among the boxes. “Have you done the other side yet?” My side of the boxes. “No ma’am.” I walked home. My palms were sweaty, my heart was racing.

I waited about 20 minutes and walked back, the mail truck was gone. The mailboxes never looked so ominous. I opened my box. It was full of mail. I quickly flipped through the envelopes and magazines, searching for that one envelope. Oh boy. There it is – a business envelope from ASAE marked “confidential.” Moment of truth. I tore it open with my key. “Dear Ms. Reid:” was all I could read on the first fold. Quickly I turned it over and saw the word “Congratulations!” “YES!” I shouted out, and then thought, oh wait, I better make sure, and quickly scanned and saw enough to know that yes, indeed, I had passed the exam and could proudly put the letters CAE after my name. If anyone had been at the boxes with me, I might have hugged them. I let out another whoop and skipped home with a huge grin on my face. I wonder what the neighbors thought because I really did do several skips.

I wasn’t expecting to be so over the top happy, my reaction surprised me. But I knew that if I hadn’t passed, I would have been so disappointed and devastated, never mind the blow to my pride and ego. All the work, the sacrificed weekends and the new love for my profession – it all paid off in the end.

The letters CAE are validation of what I know and what I’ve been through. But the best thing about this whole process was the journey — the learning and thinking. Everyone’s CAE experience is probably a bit different. We come to it with varying levels of management and leadership experience, areas of expertise, and views on association challenges and opportunities. We approach the study process in different ways. But no matter the final results, going through the process is a huge accomplishment and stands on its own. Passing makes it sweeter.

If you find our industry at all fascinating and would like a rewarding learning experience, I strongly encourage you to study for the CAE exam. I call it a “journey” because it’s like one of those memorable trips to somewhere new and different. I knew where I was heading — the exam. I had my maps — the study guide and texts. I met some people along the way — my study group. But the best part was the studying and learning — being in the experience — the journey.

Agenda Abuse

Reading the paper this past week has reminded me of why it’s so important to train board directors and committee members on good meeting practices.

In Wake County (NC) a new majority was recently elected to the Board of Education. These new members were elected by a tiny percentage of county voters with a mandate to make some serious changes to existing policy – ending the mandatory year-round school calendar and eliminating busing kids to schools (originally instituted to achieve economic diversity). Emotions ran high during the election and especially after when these new faces won the seats of long-sitting board members.

My beef here isn’t with this new majority’s policy positions but rather how they have handled their board meetings, and I’m not alone. The News & Observer editors expressed exactly how many feel.

Taking advantage of their voting power, at the start of the first two meetings they added items and resolutions to the agendas without advance notice to their fellow board members or the public. These manipulative actions didn’t allow any time for public consideration or discussion of their proposed policy changes. They had the votes to ram their policies through but weren’t honest or courageous enough to allow discussion of the issues.

As I read the editorial and expressed out loud my disgust at how poorly the meetings were run, I was reminded about a recent County Commissioners meeting where a contentious issue was resolved by waiting until one of the more elderly commissioners had to use the restroom. Without her vote, the chair could get the motion passed while she was out of the room, so he did.

Is there no training for incoming board members on proper governance and meeting practices? On ethics befitting public servants? Where is staff when this is going on? I can’t imagine any chief staff executive of an association allowing such manipulation of an agenda. Any executive with a spine is going to make it very clear how horribly wrong and ill-advised that is for the long-term. Those items can be put on a subsequent meeting agenda, giving interested parties notice and opportunity to weigh in.

These antics have resulted in policy changes that affect every school-age child and their parents in Wake County – some will agree, some won’t. However, many on all sides are aghast at how these policies were changed. Another result is already clear – a loss of trust and confidence in these new members and their judgment and ethics. It will also be much more difficult for these two sides to come to consensus on future challenging issues. Alas, I guess that’s politics.

This disturbing story reminds me of how critical it is to train our board and committee members on governance and meeting practices that encourage transparency and thoughtful deliberation. Ideally all our leaders would come to the table with good ethics and judgment, and we wouldn’t have to worry about such things. But we can’t take that chance. We need to train our leaders in governing well. They are stewards of the organization and our job is to help them fulfill that role in the best manner possible.

Sometimes You Know More Than You Think You Do

A few months ago Scott Oser asked me if I’d like to be a presenter for a webinar series for association staff who want to learn how to implement social media tools at their organization. I don’t consider myself a social media “expert” but I do know that since immersing myself in social media over the last year and a half, I do have a lot to share with others in my profession. Since I have never presented via a webinar before, and never even presented on social media in any format, I was tempted (for just a second) to pass, but I wanted to stretch myself, so I accepted.

I’m sharing the presentation duties with my new friend Ted LaBarbera. Ted’s the web editor at the American Association of Advertising Agencies in New York. Typical of social media relationships, Ted and I have never met in real life, but I’m sure we’ll enjoy sharing a beer together one day. We’re taking turns on presenting — I’m the lead for two of the webinars (the intro and LinkedIn) and Ted is for the other two (Facebook and Twitter). When we’re not leading, we act as color commentator for each other.

Last week I took the lead on our first webinar — Social Media 101 for Associations. It took a while for me to get the content nailed down. I wanted to focus on the big picture — how social media efforts must align with an association’s strategic plan, the mindset (or culture) required to be successful and the first steps to take. It was way too much content for 50 minutes but we managed to fit it all in, barely.

I posted my PowerPoint presentation and a PDF with session notes on Slideshare in the hopes that my approach will help somebody’s organization or business.

It’s a strange feeling to talk into a phone to an audience that you can’t see and that can’t talk back. But I did enjoy the experience, not as much as speaking to real people in front of you, but hopefully what I had to say made a difference to them. And like speaking in real life, I was wired for about three hours after!

If you are ever offered the chance to do something out of your supposed comfort zone and you know that deep inside you have what it takes, or, with a little work, could have what it takes to do the job, than do it. That’s my advice for the day!

Learning About Legal Trends for Associations

Last week the Association Executives of North Carolina held an excellent educational session, Top Legal Trends that Associations Should Care About, presented by Marty Martin, JD. There was a lot to digest and it reminded me, once again, of all the challenges a CEO faces. Marty discussed four emerging legal trends that we need to understand and deal with:

  • It seems that every few weeks we learn of the misdeeds of an organization or individual we once trusted. This morning we learned of the arrests of mayors and rabbis (!) in New Jersey. It’s no wonder that a lack of trust in organizations is becoming more pervasive.
  • We demand accountability from our leaders and organizations. We will no longer put up with boards failing in their duties and tolerating unethical behavior or misguided senses of entitlement, as they did at the United Way, Smithsonian, and Nature Conservancy. Associations are tax-exempt organizations, not only accountable to our members but to the public too.
  • “Transparency” is a word we see and hear more often these days, but it’s not a passing trend.
  • We’re much more critical about performance and results. If you can’t deliver, we’re going to start asking questions and taking our votes or money elsewhere. Doing well isn’t good enough; we must demonstrate our results to members and the public.

The IRS 990 Form is the most obvious indicator of these trends. If you haven’t looked at one yet because your job doesn’t require you to, take a peek and see what your CEO and Board will be dealing with. Its completion will require a lot more resources and disclosure than many associations are used to. The compensation section alone will give many Executive Directors heartburn and could create staff morale or member value issues when compensation packages of key staff are disclosed.

There must be a renewed emphasis on board governance and management of the association. The board is responsible for managing the business of the corporation – the association. Or do they think the Executive Director is managing it? The standards of service for a non-profit board are the same as a for-profit board. Do they realize that?

Are we selecting our board leaders for the right reasons? Or do other reasons enter the equation – ego, geography, seniority, politics, or relationships?

Do we educate our boards as to their duties and responsibilities? Do they understand conflict of interest? Anti-trust? Fiduciary responsibilities?

Do you get the impression that your board members don’t have the time to do the work they should to understand their responsibilities and prepare for meetings? If they’re not willing to put in the time and effort to do the work, they shouldn’t be on your board. I don’t know the source of this quote from the presentation but it’s a good one: “Your date book is your creed. What you believe in, you have time for.”

Marty defined organizational culture as a pattern of learning that occurs overtime in response to internal and external challenges. Culture operates on three levels, but all three must be aligned for a healthy organization:

  • Surface – The first impressions upon walking into your association’s office speaks to its culture.
  • Espoused values – Are you walking your talk? The board has the ultimate responsibility for adhering to these values, yet I think the Executive Director can play a critical role by modeling the right behavior and actions.
  • Basic assumptions – Assumptions are often hidden because we’re so used to them. “We’ve always done it that way.” They’re often our sacred cows. Assumptions can be an impediment to change in an organization.

In the short term, culture will prevail, even in the face of a changing external legal environment. That’s why associations may need a cultural shift to be transparent, accountable, well-governed and wisely managed.

Be a Renegade – Bringing Social Media to Your Association

I know that there are many association mid-level staffers (managers, directors, etc.) who are personally engaged in social media and believe that their association could benefit from it. However they are not in a position to lead their association there. What do they do? How can they somehow work the system and get their leadership to see that social media can help their association achieve its goals and so much more?

First, they need to look over their association’s strategic plan (or mission, goals, etc.) and see where social media can fit in as another tool or strategy to achieve those goals. Pay particular attention to these areas as they can all be enhanced by social media: advocacy, public relations, member recruitment, member engagement/retention, member communication, education and events.

Set up some Google Alerts on your association’s name, acronym, and variation of name, publications, conference/trade show, chapter acronyms, competitor name/acronym, and any other keywords that will help you to listen in on what people are saying out there. Set up a Twitter Search on the same terms. You can set up RSS feeds for all of these so that you can receive the alerts and search results automatically. I use Google Reader to get my RSS feeds.

Export your member and staff list, or if that is too cumbersome, export a list of your leadership, committee members, and show/meeting attendees. Be mindful that this will exclude those whom you probably would most like to know better – your “mailbox” members (that old term should be replaced!). Upload your list to Facebook and LinkedIn, and then to a Gmail account and have Twitter search that network for you. Find out who is active and what’s on their mind. Do a lot of listening.

Also do a search for some of your leadership’s peers (both staff and members), your association’s competitors and other associations that are similar in member type to yours. Are they involved in social media? These examples can be helpful later when trying to sell your leadership on social media.

Then make a plan. Review your organization’s goals or strategic plan and note how social media tools (starting with Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter) might help your association achieve those goals. Only plan to take on one of these tools at a time – baby steps. Remember, you can’t just create a presence and walk away, you need to stay engaged, and that takes time and effort. Break your plan down into immediate, short-term and long-term ideas, keeping in mind that your plan will change as your association learns.

Try not to go it alone. Talk to some of the staff whom you discovered are involved in social networking. Bear in mind that many will not want their personal social media life to be known at work but they can be allies and advisors to you. Contact some of the members and ask them for advice. Tell them that you are “going renegade” and investigating options to further your association’s goals through social media – you’re just in the research phase. Ask their advice and if they would like to help. Take advantage of this intelligence-gathering opportunity – you can find out a lot about their real perception of the association, what they want/need, how they envision their association.

This is a lot of work but you will learn much from it. A huge concern to any CEO about social media is the amount of time it requires. This is a valid concern and one that you should be ready to address. It’s why I haven’t mentioned blogging as part of this plan, although it may be something to consider depending on your association’s resources. Another reason to have allies amongst staff is that you may already have in place others who can assist with this effort. Social media can not belong to one department alone. It must be integrated across many departments and can be an aid in breaking down departmental silos since it will require collaboration.

Here are some recent posts that will help you prepare for this task and for the nay-sayers.

What else does someone need to do before they bring their ideas (and a plan) to the big guns? Some of you have gone through this at your association. What advice do you have?

Clues to Authenticity

I love it when conversations begin on Twitter about topics that leave you thinking long after you log out. The other day, Lynn Morton, Cynthia D’Amour and I had a brief exchange about authenticity and how to embed it in an association’s culture. The concept of authenticity is all over the web these days as it’s a required element for social media engagement. This topic especially interests me as I want to work for an organization whose culture breathes authenticity.

But how can I tell if an organization really walks the walk of authenticity? And what does that really mean? Bear with me as I wrestle with this concept.

To me, it means being your true self — communicating and behaving honestly. As the walls between my personal and professional lives have fallen down, it’s been a bit liberating. I don’t have a work personality and an at-home personality, they’re essentially the same – what you see is what you get. Luckily I don’t have any wacky personal foibles to hide. I also understand that many topics are not appropriate for the office — the old “no sex, politics and religion at the dinner table” principle. Does your organization have multiple personality disorder? Does it have different faces depending on the audience, or does it have an honest and consistent nature?

Authenticity often requires self-reflection and review. Am I being honest? Is this really what I think? What are my motives here? Am I sucking up? Am I being defensive? When we’re authentic we learn to listen to criticism and dissent and not overlook the uncomfortable. We face up to reality. This is not always easy, but the right thing to do usually isn’t.

Does your organization go through this process? Is it listening to all its constituent voices, including those that usually go unheard or those that challenge the party line? Has it examined its programs, products and services to determine their true value to members or customers, or is it doing what it’s always done because that’s what you do? Are you dealing with looming challenges and threats, or putting them off by focusing on immediate crises? Authenticity means understanding the real value of your membership for each prospect or member, not relying on the bullet points and marketing copy you’ve used forever.

How does authenticity work with public relations and advocacy? It’s often risky to show your true hand, the other side could take advantage. What about spin and messaging? Our political world is based on spin. How can an association not do that? Yet David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager, recently said nothing is more powerful than authenticity, and people have a very sensitive bullshit meter. Which side does your association come down on?

How do you tell an authentic association (or any type of organization) from one that isn’t? I’m still working on a complete answer but here are some ideas:

  • Do they have lots of member evangelists? Or membership testimonials that sound real, not like the brochure?
  • Do they have wide diverse support within their industry and with the public?
  • Are there real personalities with distinct voices speaking on behalf of the association? Is that really the CEO who’s writing the CEO Corner?
  • Do they listen and engage with their members and the public? Or is it only one-way communication?
  • Do they tolerate dissent? Are there negative comments on their blog or in their letters to the editor?
  • Can you tell if their staff is engaged and involved in guiding the association to success, not only the executives, but directors, managers and others?
  • Are meetings accessible to all or are there barriers (financial, technological, procedural) to participation?
  • Are meetings a rubber-stamp process or is there healthy discussion?
  • Does the leadership reflect the membership (or industry) in age, race, sex, etc.? Is leadership stagnant – the old boys club?

This is all very fuzzy, I admit. What do you think are signs of authenticity in an association?

Twitter’s First Association Chat

The first association Twitter chat (#assnchat) was held on Tuesday, May 12. Jeff De Cagna (@pinnovation) came up with the idea, spread the word and moderated the chat. I volunteered to go through the tweet twanscript (oh, sorry, couldn’t resist!) and post a synopsis. Although we did not solve all of today’s association problems, we did have a good conversation about some of the issues our industry is facing and how we can begin to tackle them. Here is an outline of the topics discussed — it’s a bit rough but will give you a sense of the conversation.

Online communities as a threat to associations

  • Information – members get news and information more quickly from online peers and sources and have access to experts online.
  • Networking – associations are not usually the conduit for members’ networking online.
  • Online as alternative to the status quo of associations
  • Some associations don’t think their members are using social media, but you need to survey members to determine if that perception is in fact true, you may be surprised at what you learn.
  • Even some participants are questioning their future membership in industry associations because of the benefits (professional development, networking, information, news) received freely online.

Solutions to the online threat

  • Do associations really know what members want? Or do we and/or our boards assume we do? Ask your members, “what could we do that would make you a member for life?”
  • Demonstrate value above and beyond what people can get elsewhere. What’s indispensable?
  • How does the association enhance/augment a member’s social networking activities with other value? Association as a starting place to meet peers or the glue that holds folks together — online or face-to-face can enhance those relationships, should have both channels, members can participate in ways that work for them.
  • Be in the social networking outposts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) while linking to a home base for members on your web site – one supports the other. Enable associations to become the conduit for people to find each other. But why should members pay for this when they can do it themselves online? Because associations are better at organizing face-to-face meetings and events?
  • Successful associations will focus on building community, being relationship brokers and serving as a conduit.

Content as a membership value

  • Associations as holders of content (experts), “legitimizers” of content (still true?), conduit/forum for members to deliver their own content/expertise
  • Who creates content?
    • Members as knowledge/content creators – associations must encourage and facilitate that; enable members to become creators, but allow others to comment, etc. Association as curators.
    • Some associations do not have the staff resources to create content, must rely on members/others.
    • Social media can be used to co-create with contributors (not necessarily members) to build trusted markets of exchange.

Members-only content

  • Still viable? Some say no, not a useful construct.
  • How to determine what lives behind the member wall? Associations first need a social media strategy to determine that.
  • Don’t build a wall, create a fishtank – provides transparency with the membership and the profession, shows how members engage with association. Create a filter to “clean” the process as you go — new blood in staff and leadership, new initiatives, trying to break new ground. Pressure to make changes is greater outside the fishtank than inside.

Why aren’t associations changing?

  • Fear of change and the unknown, risk-averse, bureaucratic nature, slow moving, slow to critique or envision alternate futures
  • Lack of understanding drives decision makers to want more assurances, research and risk management
  • Members want safe networking with peers and safe experimentation with leading edge tools — safety as a form of deep support (AAA and AARP – their value propositions are built on safety)
  • Need to create a safe, trusted environment in which people can make sense of things, access advice and experiment
  • Education is necessary during periods of change

Membership dues revenue model – viable in future?

  • Are associations in danger of following in the footsteps of the newspaper industry? Yes, because we won’t give up what holds us back – closed membership.
  • Where then does revenue come from to support advocacy, operations and other member services?
  • If content is open to all, what are members paying dues for?
  • Social media as possible revenue source — advertisements, sponsored webinars/podcasts/videos, tie-in with events, user-generated content
  • Or, more likely, social media won’t be arevenue source but a way to build new capabilities that create revenue. Associations as a unique, personalized experience, as deep support for member.
  • Extract the value of the interaction between activated network and content.
  • Possible revenue source – product/content development
  • Perhaps a membership model that grants access to info/events based on participation level, those who give more, get more.

Tools for communication

  • Yammer for internal communications – have to have an email address from the same domain to use Yammer, otherwise you can’t login; great for cutting across departmental silos.
  • Cubetree
  • Tweetgroup – groups and attachments, wonderful application with desktop client
  • iPhone apps – American Bar Association has one for its magazine, American Booksellers Association

Questions for future chats

  • Does anyone see associations struggling to deal with the way different generations want to interact? Face to face vs online?
  • With high demand on staff in small associations, how do we get our members to support and feed content creation?

Participants

AddyKujawa, alisonharle, BeccaFlach, CharmsS, DeirdreReid, desabol, eventpublisher, j8nd, jcrosby4, Jeffhurt, jeremygriffin, jmoonah, joerominiecki, JoeStella, karenaltes, kevinpatrick, kristildonovan, maggielmcg, MissLynn13, pinnovation, rharris, rjohnston, sgiarde, unklbuck

The next #assnchat will be Tuesday, May 19 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern (11:00 a.m. Pacific). You can follow by going to Tweetchat or Tweetgrid and following #assnchat, or in Tweetdeck you can create a search column for #assnchat.