Association Subculture

The Short Story of Associations

2013-05-21T12:10:00.002-07:00

Seriously, these are two of my favorite illustrations of all time. These came from a book called Life In Five Seconds: The Short Story of Absolutely Everything....you can visit them here and I highly suggest that you buy the book.

The fact is, we spend way too much time in associations worrying about who we are and what we do instead of just doing it. The value of an association seems hard to find when you bury it in article after article about "value" and "market-share." And yes, although we've all heard about "Back of the Napkin" and all that good strategy, I was wondering if I could use the Life in Five Seconds idea to tell a story about associations in a really simple way.

Here's my take on it (and no, I am not an artist)....

This is the story. You come to an association to learn about careers, schools you can graduate from or education and certificates you can get and you meet people. You get a good career and maybe a place to live and family (why the cat is twice the size of the child is relatively Freudian I suppose)....and then you live a nice life and you die. Not that dying is a great image to use, but let's be real, none of us are getting out of here alive.

And that is kind of it. All of the rest of the stuff we fill our days with only serves to help, hinder or obscure what we are here to do. I don't know about you guys, but when I see it just sketched out, it's an easy jump to advocate for why membership is important.

How would you tell the minimalist story of what we are here to do? I'd love to see some of your drawings...

Shelly Alcorn, CAE is obsessed with the idea that associations can make a significant difference in the world around us. Her consulting is focused on removing barriers, increasing participation and doing things that matter. She also travels and speaks on how things in our every day lives, like video games and popular culture - impact our ability to lead in the workplace. These ain't your grandma's keynotes. Just sayin....

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And Another Thing...

Good News For Association Education Courtesy of Generation X

2013-05-15T13:41:00.001-07:00

No his mind is not for rent
To any god or government
Always hopeful yet discontent
He knows changes aren't permanent
But change is....Rush, Tom Sawyer

Here is the link to the video for those who can't see the embed.

It seems fitting to feature Rush again here on the Association Subculture in light of their recent (OVERDUE IMHO) induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

I just read the latest installment in the University of Michigan longitudinal study on us Gen Xers - Lifelong Learning: Generation X Illustrates the New Reality - and it contains some great news for associations. Generation X is the first generation to fully embrace the need for lifelong learning and they show every sign of continuing their pursuit of quality education that will make them competitive in the workplace.

More importantly, Generation X is embodying a larger cultural shift that no longer sees a linear life path - (school, college, career, retirement) but is embracing a more latticed approach that weaves education throughout a life that may include skipping college for a while and working, going back to school, pursuing certifications and licensing, and changing careers a number of times. It's a more fluid approach to life that is actually more sustainable over the long term and opens up a ton of opportunities for associations.

Far from being outdated, we are actually on the cusp of being able to provide educational solutions that can satisfy Generation X members and the younger generations that will follow. According to the report, Generation X learners tend to actively pursue activities that break down into three recognizable categories:

Formal courses leading to degrees at various levels – associate, baccalaureate, graduate, and professional.
Courses and workshops that lead to licenses, certificates, and other recognition within professions and occupations.
Informal learning and skill acquisition that may not be directly job related but which may advance an individual's ability as a consumer, a parent or a voter.

Associations can obviously impact the second category, but we can spill over into the other two as well. Why not expand our educational offerings to create more informed consumers, parents and voters? We do government affairs well, but we can do better. And we can create partnerships in the formal system too (if it still exists in the same form it is in over time which is currently up for debate but is the subject of another post).

According to this report. 32% of employed Generation Xers work in jobs that require licensing which includes ongoing education and an additional 16% are working in jobs that require ongoing education to achieve and maintain certification. Our audience is here, we just have to continue to make our case in new and better ways. Real learning happens in the presence of strong relationships - isn't that what we say we are all about?

Although I interpret these statistics to mean we are nowhere near extinct, and we have opportunities on the horizon that are even better than we had before, we do continue to suffer from educational programs that need more sophisticated delivery systems, excellent educators to lead them and a conference system that is a little on the antiquated side. If we don't remain seriously focused on professional development and career assistance, there are others waiting in the wings who want to put us out of business.

However, if we rise to this challenge, and expand our educational offerings into those other areas mentioned above where we have clear opportunities and maybe even some advantages, we are going to be in an excellent position over the long term.

Education. Networking. Democracy. Let's get back to it...the numbers are on our side.

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And Another Thing...

Every Member Needs a Champion

2013-05-13T11:28:00.004-07:00

"I am somebody. I was somebody when I came in, I'll be a better somebody when I leave. I am powerful and I am strong. I deserve the education I get here. I have things to do, people to impress and places to go."

"....because -18 sucks the life right out of you, but +2 says I'm not all bad...." Rita Pierson
Here is the link to the talk if you can't see the embed....

For those of you who got to see the PBS Special "TED Talks Education" a few days ago, it was seriously inspiring. In fine TED fashion all of the talks are now available to be streamed free of charge at www.ted.com. The first quote above is something that Rita Pierson teaches each of her students to say. What if we taught our members to say the same thing?

This talk resonates with me because I can't help but think that not only does every kid need a champion, every member needs a champion too. Every one of her kids is a potential member. Associations have potential members coming from all four corners of the earth who are being ignored and dismissed on a daily basis. As if it's someone else's job to educate them or solve the skills gap. Where are these kids going to go if they get locked out of the traditional education system? They better be able to come to us.

Every member of EVERY trade and professional association needs job skills, career advice. education, certification and all of the other things we do. But we aren't doing them fast enough or well enough to meet the need. Private industry is eating our lunch with firms like Udemy and TechCrunch working together to produce quality programming to help fill the technology skills gap - http://www.educationdive.com/news/solving-the-skills-gap-udemy-techcrunch-launch-online-learning-platform-f/128958/

In associations, we have been conducting this whine-a-palooza for the last 20 years. Members don't understand us. We aren't in a position to capitalize on these new trends. We don't know what our value proposition is. Young people aren't joiners. Baloney. Any one of us could get on Udemy today, set up a class and get moving. We could be looking at companies like epathlearning.com or Blue Sky Broadcast. At the very least, we could be having a robust conversation about where associations fit in today's educational landscape.

More importantly (and I will thank Wendy Kavanagh for this forever) we have to eliminate the Willy Wonka aspect of membership. Membership should not be beneficial for those few who figure out how the system works. Every member needs a champion. Every member needs outreach, to be taught how to access the system, to be shown a pathway to a better life. And not with a membership packet and a website address. We need to develop a culture within our organizations that decides that NO MEMBER WILL BE LEFT BEHIND.

What would happen the next time your board got together and you talked about how to fill those empty pipelines. To ask them if they are having trouble finding people to work for them and if so, then how can our training expand to ensure they have access to quality employees with the right skills to do the jobs and make their industries and professions better?

What would happen if we put the words "every member needs a champion" on the top of our letterhead, in our vision and our strategic plans? How and what could we change for the better when we decide we aren't providing services for the lucky few who can figure it out? But that we are here to make sure every member knows they have value and worth and a community around them who can help them keep a job, keep a house, and have a better life?

Can we do that? Of course we can. Rita Pierson is working with the kids we are getting ready to inherit. It's time for us to step up. She believes in them, and we should too.

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And Another Thing...

Questioning the Reality of Certain Death

2013-04-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

This is just a fantastic illustration from a book that I desperately want to read called "Lost Cat: A True Story of Love, Desperation and GPS Technology" by Caroline Paul with illustrations by Wendy MacNaughton. The description sounds awesome, the illustrations are a hoot and I think any cat lover would look at this picture and knowingly nod.

The illustration strikes me where I live, in "change" work with associations. Obviously Tibby the cat is convinced (from his feline point of view) that these change scenarios and their locus to his fuzzy face are true. And we, as humans, nervously laugh. While we intellectually know the last circle of "certain death" is probably not true, if we put ourselves in that picture we can see that in our own lives we sometimes act just like Tibby.

Our association and nonprofit boards of directors, volunteers and staff frequently get caught up in these scenarios. As if somehow the "safe" zone is exactly where we are....and not one foot over either to the left or to the right. But "safe" is not safe forever. Change will-come-is-coming-has-come. At some point, the lure of the dinner plate or the litter box will overcome our common sense and force us to bravely move from where we are. What I find so cool about this graphic and this idea is that the safe zone moves with us no matter where we are. As our boards and staff move together into the future, the scary territory of the "new" becomes safe again as the known territory of "old." Our center of safety is always with us if we stay true to our mission, our vision and ourselves.

I hear a lot these days about the "certain death" of associations and I am relatively sure the rumors of our demise have been greatly exaggerated. More importantly, as the environment becomes more chaotic - we simply have more chances to "move the safe zone" with us. Tibby may feel like certain death is a mere two feet away, but at the end of the day certain death really isn't so certain after all.

So go forward and make some good decisions this week. Feel confident that even if you feel anxious about moving in one direction or the other, your safe zone will move with you. Be smart. Use data. Have fun. And when you have those discussions with your volunteers about moving one direction or the other, make sure you go together and the odds are you will do just fine.

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And Another Thing...

Upgrading Ordinary in Associations

2013-04-04T17:19:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Lisa Junker (@ljunker) for sharing this blog post from Good.is on 10 Amazing Chairs for Book Lovers. To me, this is a perfect example of one of the trends we highlighted earlier this year from Trendhunter.com which was "upgraded ordinary."

With space conscious design, and more sustainability conscious consumers taking front and center, designers are beginning to create all manner of ingenious solutions that are simultaneously attractive and useful. When we think about the things we send to individuals in our industries or professions, we need to consider using innovative design features as well. Not only for aesthetics, but for the sheer joy of usage - how can we get one thing to do two things, or two things to do three things....? How can we ensure we are creating things that can be resources themselves, not just using resources to create things to take up space?

Good design, matched with a deep understanding of usage, can help us create solutions for our stakeholders in a myriad of ways. You can use the same principle in digital as well. Can one click get me eight things instead of one? Can one mobile app help me do four things all in one place? Can we get all of our bloggers onto one platform instead of on 20? And what else could that platform do?

Oh, and if you are thinking of upgrading your office furniture, or you embark on a mission to tear those horrible gray cubicles down.....think about these kinds of cool additions instead. We don't have to look like dental offices or bus stations. (Supposedly we are more fun than that. Just sayin'.....)

If you have upgraded the ordinary recently, share your comments with us! My readers would love to hear your ideas on how to make "normal" special!

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And Another Thing...

How I Wish Associations Would Communicate

2013-04-03T15:14:00.000-07:00

This is a dose of real. And quite frankly, fantastically inspiring. THIS is what I wish substituted for communications-as-usual in associations. This video is not on YouTube so if you can't see the embed, I'm not sure how to get the link to you. I found it on Facebook. Bottom line, if you can't see the video it's a collection of nurses and cancer patients lip synching to Stronger - by Kelly Clarkson. It's joyous and heart rending at the same time.

If you can see it, this video provides a unique look at the human spirit. I have no idea who conceived of it or produced it but I'm a fan. Big time.

And if you are thinking about new ways to reach members - how about getting past "pr speak" and getting down to showing people your members are awesome, interesting, fun and ever-so-human even in the midst of incredibly trying circumstances.

Be excellent to each other.

Comments

Thanks for the read and the comment Vickie. I lov... by Shelly Alcorn, CAE http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424401941462278883
Amen. If you're trying to build a community, ... by Vickie Lester http://www.blogger.com/profile/07584658005531204915

And Another Thing...

Reinvent What You Do, Not Who You Are

2013-03-25T11:05:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what I am supposed to do...I only know what I can do. Captain Kirk, Star Trek Into Darkness

Yes, I am an unabashed fan-girl and so excited over this movie I can barely stand it. But there are reasons why Star Trek has always captured my attention - they continually show us a world built on values that are deserving of our promotion and defense. Star Trek, at the heart of it, is about ethics, choices and consequences.

What caught my attention in this trailer and what I have been (in my ever so annoying OCD way) repeating to myself over and over for the past 48 hours is one line - "I have no idea what I am supposed to do, I only know what I can do." This to me perfectly sums up the situation associations find themselves in right now and, quite frankly, should all give us a lot of hope on this Monday morning.

I have been increasingly distressed (and increasingly vocal) over this drumbeat coming out of our community that our best days are behind us, that our only hope of survival is rejecting who we are, that "market share" means "not all members," that "selling products and gaining sponsors" is the panacea to our financial challenges, that efficient decision making may require sacrificing democratic principles, that associations are increasingly irrelevant in today's "fast moving society."

What I don't hear us talking about is how income inequality has skyrocketed in the last 30 years. How the disappearance of the middle class is one of the reasons why members can't pay dues. How the minimum wage is stagnant and the number of working poor is now an epidemic. How our veterans can't get housing and their unemployment rate is twice as high as the average. How students can't cope with rising tuition costs without incurring massive debts. How structural changes in our economy are moving entire industries out of the United States leaving members out of work and without the appropriate training to move into something else.

We have to STOP rearranging deck chairs for just a moment and remember that we have power. That we can choose to be great. We can choose to tackle these big issues. We can choose to make a difference. And we can do it without fundamentally rejecting or remaking who we are and what we stand for. Our values can transcend these moments of chaos and a better world is within our grasp.

However, we will not get there with extractionist, reductionist thinking. Narcissism is not a business strategy. We can't spend months debating about the usefulness of social media and then wonder why we aren't moving the needle on jobs and education. We can't moan about members who can't pay dues and then send legislative teams out to kill bills to increase the minimum wage. We can't defend being inclusive and fully embracing diversity if we cease to believe we are here to represent ALL stakeholders in our industries and professions. We can't defend democracy when we decide that it's really more efficient for us to make all the decisions ourselves. And we certainly can't weigh in on the most pressing challenges of the day by losing another year to hand-wringing over our esoteric and utterly internal issues.

"Members" are not "markets" and we should not allow ourselves to re-define humans this way

Our choices and the language we use to express them, have unintended consequences because of the influence we still wield in our society. Language that we find "acceptable" can lead to unacceptable consequences. How can the "competency based board" concept possibly lead to a bad outcome? I mean, what could be wrong with competence? But this is a slippery slope with real world consequences. For example, Michigan has been systematically removing elected city councils and boards and replacing them with appointed (not elected) "financial managers." Cancelling elections, dismissing duly elected representatives. The idea is NOT academic, the idea is in practice in the real world. The idea is democracy doesn't work and that financial problems can only be fixed by removing democracy from the equation. This has been happening in Benton Harbor, in Flint and other towns. It's spreading to Indiana, Wisconsin and New York. And now, Detroit. Our beloved Detroit is in danger of losing its soul.

This poison is infecting us too and I'm tired of being nice about it. This is a much bigger threat to associations than our members ever could be.

Am I against choosing talented people to lead our organizations? Of course not. But I reject the notion that this is a choice between "democracy" and "competence." It's a false equivalency.

Believe me, there are PLENTY of things we need to refresh and reinvent. There are millions of technologies that we should be embracing. There are new ways of doing business, of achieving fiscal stability, of reaching out and communicating effectively with our constituents - members and nonmembers alike. We should be reinventing our educational programs, lightening up policies and procedures, implementing the best of the gaming techniques for building community and learning, expanding access to knowledge and networks, curating content, etc. There are big trends that require a big response. We can be better in every way.

However, we should be reinventing what we do and why, not who we are. The arc may bend toward justice but we have to start leaning on it harder. If we have to draw a line in the sand, let's draw it. We have to stand for something or we are going to fall for anything.

And maybe we don't have any idea what we are supposed to do, but we know what we can do and that is what we should start focusing our attention on - TODAY.

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And Another Thing...

Games People Play

2013-03-04T18:29:00.003-08:00

Ahhh...the Alan Parsons Project. This song brought back a few memories this afternoon! Here is the link for those who can't see the embed.

So, we are relaunching the Association Forecast Show this week with a new producer ( +Melanie Smith ) and our special guest - +Justin Lewis . Join us on Thursday, March 7 at 2:15 PM Pacific time as we take on the concept of gaming and how we can use games to create a better world and better membership experiences.

I get a lot of questions on this topic, and I know people are wondering about my obsession with games in general. Gaming isn't a fad. Yes, it's trending right now in a lot of social media, but the ideas behind gaming dynamics and techniques are as old as human civilization itself. As soon as we figured out how to carve a cube, we put dots and squiggles on it and started beating our neighbors for fun (and maybe profit).

What's new now is a landscape that has been radically changed by the advent of gaming consoles and the Internet. Here are just three very contemporary examples of how games are being used for entirely new purposes to do great things.

Half the Sky - Games for Change is promoting a new Facebook game that they rolled out today based on the book - Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicolas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. I played it for a while today and it was pretty fun. In addition to the simple scenarios it presents, you have the opportunity to earn points that can unlock actual charity gifts for people. You are also occasionally given the opportunity to donate to non-profits straight from within the game using your cell phone. Here's a game trailer.

Here is a link to the Half the Sky Game Trailer if you can't see the video embed.

US Navy and MMOWGLI - The United States Navy, in joint partnership with the Office of Naval Research, the Naval Postgraduate School and our fine, fantastic friends at Institute for the Future have come up with a new online game known as "Massive Multiplayer Online War Game Leveraging the Internet" or MMOWGLI. This game is intended to run scenarios and solicit input from players on some of the Navy's most pressing challenges and tactical nightmares. You can read more in this article from "Armed With Science" blog. And just in case you don't get how players can be attracted into games like this - look at the nightmare scenario video they cooked up to get players involved. Yeah. Sleep tight.

Link to MMOWGLI video if you can't see the embed.

Omni VR Virtual Rehabilitation System - Medical practitioners and physical therapists are finding new and better ways to get people interested in pursuing their own mental and physical recovery from illness and accident. This article from the Columbus Telegram reviews the new and engaging uses for this system. It's similar to Wii or Microsoft's Kinect but it's specially designed to meet the needs of patients. In the Golden Living Center patients can actually play together, which creates opportunities for group therapy and recovery as well as social interaction. Seriously, your grandma may be playing games sooner than you if you don't get with it.

Link to OmniVR Video if you can't see the embed.

So, yeah....we've got a bright future ahead of us. People are playing games for all sorts of good reasons and the games are only getting better.....I say spend less time trying to downsize your board, and more time learning about things that will make a real difference in the lives of your members. No, you might not know exactly how to make it happen, but if you don't start thinking about what these opportunities might look like, you might not recognize them when you see them.

I'm promising you the Moon and the Stars, do you believe it? (Thanks Alan Parsons for the good times).

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And Another Thing...

Announcing Association Summer Jam 2013

2013-02-28T09:11:00.000-08:00

So hey all you Association Subculture blog readers....in the immortal words of Jeff Spicoli - hey bud, let's party!

Saturday, June 29th, 2013
Party Start Time: 1:00 PM Pacific/4:00 PM Eastern
Google+ Hangout Broadcast: 2:30 PM Pacific/5:30 PM Eastern
Topic: TBD

On Saturday, June 29th some friends and I are starting the Association Summer Jam and here is how it works (it's TOTALLY simple) -

We'd like to find party hosts to throw a bash at their house on June 29, 2013. Could be a pizza party, dinner party, Beer and BBQ, potluck, pool party, low key yoga party - whatever floats your boats. There are only two rules - it must be at your house (if you live in a condo, your rec room might work) and you must have a fast internet connection, a webcam and a Google+ account.

Party hosts need to invite other association professionals they know and like to come over and hang out with you (we have no rules about spouses and kids, they are welcome to tag along). Because we are on different time zones, some parties will be earlier in the afternoon, and some later and all party hosts will work together to coordinate times. In fact, the party hosts will have at least one and maybe two Google Hangouts where we all hammer out details and stuff before June.....

At one point during the party we will be asking folks to talk about a specific association topic (which the party hosts and I have yet to come up with). At a pre-determined time all party hosts will logon to a special Google hangout where we will broadcast live, get to see each other's sites and share each sites main thoughts on the topic....

Then we log back off of Google and get back to drinkin'.....

I'm hosting a site in Sacramento, +Holly Duckworth in Denver, +Elizabeth Engel in Washington DC, +Vickie Lester and +Maria Nazario in Los Angeles, +Nina Buthee and Gina Ayllon in San Francisco, Wendy Kavanagh in Atlanta and +Tom Morrison in Jacksonville are also hosting...plus we have a special guest - +Robert Barnes who will be joining the conversation repping the great Australia. Who else is in? Email me at shelly@alcornassociates.com! If we end up with more than ten party sites, we will split into two groups on Google Plus.

Association Summer Jam 2013 - Peeps kickin' it, brainstorming and going live with their bad selves....

Comments

We are so happy to have you! by Shelly Alcorn, CAE http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424401941462278883
We are very excited to be a host. We are slated t... by Tom Morrison http://www.blogger.com/profile/17526720002783838200
I literally wondered who would be the first to bas... by Shelly Alcorn, CAE http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424401941462278883
Can't wait. However, based on your video clip ... by Sandra Giarde http://www.twitter.com/sgiarde

And Another Thing...

Membership IS the Value of Membership!

2013-02-01T09:12:00.001-08:00

So, I was one of the lucky ones who got to see Dave Grohl's new documentary "Sound City" last night at the Crest in Sacramento (and yay +Sandra Giarde was with me, Mark and Molly). And I CANNOT stop thinking about it.

Dave expertly tells the story of the Sound City studio in Los Angeles that saw the birth of iconic album after iconic album. But at the end of the day this is a deeply human story about connection, friendship, creativity and the human struggle in the digital age. It offers questions about how we find our communities, express ourselves and honor the past while moving forward into the future. The story builds around a platform - the NEVE board, the thing that sat in the center of the creative musical swirl and created a focal point for these musicians to connect, sweat and scream. To create songs and moments that will endure.

As we walked out into the hall, my brain convulsed and I ended up saying (louder than was probably necessary), "I'm SICK AND TIRED of the questions about "what is the value of membership." MEMBERSHIP is the value of membership."

Yes, associations are changing. Yes, technology is changing. Yes, communications are changing. Yes, we can talk all day long about dues models, governance models, etc., etc., etc. To me, what is not up for debate is the fundamental concept of belonging - the group, the community, the tribe. Maybe it's free. Maybe it isn't. Maybe it's narrowly defined, maybe it's broadly defined. Maybe we call them associations and maybe we don't. There is a lot of room in the middle about HOW it manifests, and what role we can or can't play in facilitating those connections - but the question about WHETHER it manifests or not is just not debatable.

From the symposiums in Greece, to the guilds in Europe, to the salons of the Renaissance to the associations of today - HUMANS NEED CONNECTION. Associations absolutely can be the thing, the NEVE board, the platform to facilitate those connections. Maybe not in the way they have always done it, and with the advent of social media they can't exclusively claim that space anymore. But surely we can stop this grousing, negativity, whining and complaining over the question, "What is the value of membership?"

I'll tell you what the value is. It's getting into a room (virtual or not) with people who understand what I spend 15 hours a day doing. It's the friendships I've made. It's the people I will cry over when they are gone. It's MaryAnne Bobrow waving at me from across the room to invite me to sit with her. It's getting the chance to work with consummate professionals like +Gina Sutherland . It's +KiKi L'Italien taking time out to chat with me on a Hangout, +Vickie Lester who gets my Doctor Who obsession, getting to drink wine and cook some killer chili with +Jeffrey Cufaude and +Steve Swafford, Rick Rutherford listening to my next crazy idea at 9:00 PM on a Thursday night. It's knowing Stephanie Reeves digs Foo Fighters as much as I do. It's hanging in a hallway with +Joan Eisenstodt , +Patricia Hudson and +Leslie White. It's having people like +Mark Athitakis send me an email saying, "Here's a killer book you need to read." It's spirited discussions with +Jeff De Cagna. It's meeting one of my past employees in line at the movie last night and seeing how connections still resonate even after all this time.

It's surprising +Sandra Giarde at Pizza Rock, seeing her smile and sharing a meal, some laughs and a really wonderful movie.

It's Mark.

Some connections are deep, some cursory, some tenuous. But all of these connections have created meaning and made my life better. (There are many more of you that I could mention, but this post would be a thousand pages long - you know how I feel about you.) In a world of uncertainty, I am holding onto one thing that I believe is true - that what we do for a living means something. That our community is worth something. Maybe it's naive, maybe I'm in denial - but I cannot see a world where people will not want to organize, to create and to achieve great things with each other as helpers, collaborators and friends. I choose to stand on the side of associations and want to see them do better and thrive.

So yeah, we can argue all day long about what is changing, what should be changed and how we are going to do things differently in the next decade. But what you can't take away from me is the fact that humans need to associate. We need to trust each other and learn from each other. We need to care about each other. We need to be grateful for each other. We need to laugh together, and maybe even give each other a panic attack now and again when we get our emotions in a bunch. We need to argue and create. We need to push ourselves to new levels of performance. We need to miss each other when we are gone.

Maybe when members ask us what the value of membership is, we should tell a real, personal story about how membership has changed us for the better. We bury the story of membership benefits in a stream of nonsense about networking opportunities, legislative advocacy and discounts, etc. We try to "sell" membership in the context of "personal and professional development."

What we never simply say outright is, "Membership IS the value of membership."

Maybe it's time we did.

Comments

Peter - Thanks for stopping by and I do appreciat... by Shelly Alcorn, CAE http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424401941462278883
I'd like to offer a counter argument. Membe... by Peter Turner http://www.growglobally.org
Great post! It's something we struggle with (a... by Jay Handler http://www.blogger.com/profile/08323162839413464107
Rob, if it weren't for you...who would be keep... by Sandra Giarde, CAE http://www.twitter.com/sgiarde
Robert - that is so very, very true! And never a ... by Shelly Alcorn, CAE http://www.blogger.com/profile/03424401941462278883
Plus 6 more...

And Another Thing...

Ziggy Stardust and the Members From Mars

2013-01-25T16:06:00.000-08:00

Ah, David Bowie at his perfect best - here is the link if you can't see the video embed....

I am getting ready to give a presentation this evening and starting thinking about how technology continues to revolutionize association membership. It's the hope of technology that gets us closer and closer to our members both in terms of proximity and time.

I remember in the good old days we got as close as the mailbox. Then as close as the fax machine across the room. Then we crept even closer into the email. Now we are desperately trying to get into our members pockets with mobile devices and wondering about Google Glasses and other innovations.

But how much closer can we get? I am not sure but something tells me that with Ray Kurzweil over at Google trying to create an electronic brain that we are in for some surprises in the next few years. This video out of IBM talks about computers that in five years will be able to touch, see, smell, hear and taste.

The association technology company of the future will be the first one who figures out how to program a watch, sensor, glasses or some other wearable technology that can sense what a member is doing on the job and send them helpful instructions or warnings about tasks they are about to do. Imagine if you are working on a car and as you are doing your repair your "Association Talk" device sees what you are doing, warns you if you are about to make a mistake, makes a suggestion as to how to do your job quicker and easier, links you directly to Amazon so you can order a tool you should have on hand but don't and can link you directly to your customer when your job is complete with an automatic text.

How about a doctor who is working with a patient? The computer can sense how the conversation is going and monitor the doctors questions. The "Association Talk" device can privately send the doctor a message when they skip an important question they should have asked, suggest a different lab test than the one that is being ordered, and automatically send the patient a text a few days later to inquire how they are feeling?

How about an association executive who is in the middle of a board meeting that just started going south. Can the sensors pick up the execs heart rate and perspiration volume, automatically send a quick tweet out to a carefully pre-selected brain-trust of peers who can stay on standby to offer advice when the executive takes a well-timed bathroom break?

I bet we can even make settings so members who are newer in their fields can set their level at "n00b" thereby receiving more detailed hints on the job, and more experienced folks can level up so we don't bug them unnecessarily.

Totally interactive, immersive membership.

Can your association get THAT close to a member? I bet we can if we just figure out how....

Peace out you cats.....I'm getting my Ziggy on for the rest of the afternoon.....:D

Decision Weasels in Associations

2013-01-18T08:51:00.000-08:00

I love this Dilbert cartoon. It's been sitting on my desktop for a few months now because it is such a good example of what I call "Decision Weasels." (I'll give a nod to Scott Adams and "The Way of the Weasel" which I am sure has inspired some of this post out of the depths of my memory.) I've met a few of them over my career. Decision weasels are usually in positions of power in our associations. Sometimes these individuals are executives or senior staff, sometimes chairs of boards, committees or chapters. If it were just the occasional individual that we had to watch out for, that would be bad enough. But sometimes decision weasels run in packs and can comprise the majority of the boards and committees.

The hallmark of the decision weasel is the uncanny ability to get credit for all of the stuff that goes right, and somehow escape any negative consequences when things go wrong. Worst of all, really good decision weasels are usually personable and they easily elicit trust from unwitting toadys and scapegoats alike. They project an air of confidence and authority, but somehow don't seem to be responsible for anything in particular. If you have noticed these things in your association, you might have a weasel in your midst.

Passive-aggressive weasels use collaboration as cover. In those situations, irrespective of the weasel's status as volunteer or a staff member, we need to be careful. Decision weasels often use flattery as a way to draw individuals into this dance. "What would you recommend?" is nice to hear because it makes us feel valued and important. What is more important is the response you get immediately after you offer your opinion.

If you are asked, "What would you recommend?", offer your opinion and get a response something along the lines of: "Thanks, I'll take that under advisement," you might be safe. Saying things like "taking this under advisement" or "I appreciate your input" is an indicator that the individual doing the asking really was looking for your opinion and will add it to their list of factors currently under consideration. They are still in the decision-drivers-seat-o-responsibility.

On the other hand, if you are asked, "What would you recommend?," offer your opinion and hear something akin to, "Sounds good, let's go with that," your weasel alarm should go off. Someone who is non-committal and subtly pushes the onus back on you - might be setting you up. Your best defense against a decision weasel is documentation. Weasels don't like it and vastly prefer the in person "pounce and withdraw" approach.

Obviously, its good for us to be collaborative, to seek out other opinions and engage in dialogue around potential benefits, outcomes and risks of a suggested course of action. However, at the end of the day the decision must be made and accountability must be assigned whether that decision is left up to an individual, a team or a vote. Even then, weasels excel at avoiding accountability. Weasels don't avoid decisions, that would be too obvious and the spoils involved are too tasty a treat to pass up. What they will do instead is make a decision but leave a trap door inside of it. The trap door is usually constructed in the guise of collaboration.

Crafty.

So watch out for those decision weasels and listen very carefully as decisions are being made and explained. Give input when requested but don't let the responsibility shift unless it's something you are happy to assume responsibility for. Last but not least, hold yourself accountable for your actions and establish a track record of honorable behavior. In this way, if you are set up you have a good chance of defending your actions and redirecting the discussion back to the weasel in question.

(Author's note: All apologies to real weasels for the unflattering way they are depicted in this blog post. We think weasels are actually pretty cute and adorable.)

Association Management Alert - The EXODesk is Coming

2013-01-14T10:08:00.002-08:00

For anyone obsessed with education, this video is a mind-blower. Here is a must-read article that details more about the company behind this amazing new platform, as well as their plans to begin installing these EXODesks in elementary schools in Panama. The debate about association education needs to take a quantum leap forward if we are planning on staying competitive in this new arena.

This is one more example of how education, (in terms of technology as well as what we are learning about how learners learn), is changing at an exponential rate, while many associations are still debating whether or not members will "find value" in attending a webinar. One of your greatest, most mission critical member benefits is education and you may be doing very well at it at this very moment. The question is, what happens to your educational programs if, in just a few short years, we begin inheriting learners who are immersed in sophisticated platforms like this from the time they are in elementary school? We are going to look Jurassic, and not in that "Hey, look at that cool brontosaurus" way. I mean in that "Velociraptors are going to wreck your day" sort of way.

If content is king, then delivery is queen. We are all aware of the inherent tension in any association between serving members today and trying to position them to move into the future. The problem is, we used to have time to have a slower, more organic type of growth in our association programs. Now, we don't. We have to find a way to make larger jumps forward, even if we lose some folks along the way. There are others waiting for us at the other end.

We aren't doomed. But we must find ways to begin making large bets on a future that our boards can't even see. Eventually, I truly believe associations are going to have to find a way to build a superstructure for themselves and begin collaborating on a scale we have yet to imagine. Your association might not be able to handle the R&D on these types of educational advances on your own, but as a profession we have a TON of talent and resources. We just need a broader conversation about what association learning means and how we can collectively obtain the technology, and the know-how to use it with members of all industries and professions world-wide.

That's a conversation worth having.

Tune in to the Association Forecast

2013-01-07T10:25:00.000-08:00

The VCR and the DVD - there wasn't none of that crap back in 1970

We didn't know about a World Wide Web

Was a whole different game being played back when I was a kid

.....Yeah, you could hear the music on the AM Radio......Everclear, AM Radio

I love this song. The retro-thusiasm is sublime and I can almost see that little blue transistor radio that I carried around with me with it's fussy dials and unholy squawk. Of course, we now have access to tools we couldn't even have imagined even fifteen years ago which is the reason for this post.

This year I'm trying a little experiment. When I set up the Association Forecast Google+ Community over the break, I meant it when I said I'd like this community to be a salon. As much as I like watching, reading and commenting, I do miss the art of conversation and exchange. In that spirit I have started a new weekly broadcast called "The Association Forecast." Each week, I will be joined by three guests on a Google Hangout to talk about a topic and how it might relate to the association management profession. We might choose topics like TEDTalks, trends, videos, articles or books. We will be broadcasting live as well as recording and posting episodes for consumption on your own time.

Our first show is this Wednesday, January 9, 2013 at 9:00 AM Pacific Time. My guests this week are +KiKi L'Italien , +Jeffrey Cufaude and +Steve Swafford talking about Trendhunters: Top 20 Trends for 2013. Please keep an eye out for updates. I'm not exactly sure how this whole thing will work, but that's never really stopped me before.

Next shows are:

Wednesday, January 16 - McKinsey Report: Education to Employment
Wednesday, January 23 - Creating a Reputation Trail for Members
Wednesday, January 30 - Institute for the Future: Workforce of the Future
Wednesday, February 6 - Living a Single Story: How our Membership Story can be Exclusionary

If you would like to appear as a guest on the Association Forecast, let me know which dates and topics you might like. I'd love to hear from you and the more the merrier. All you need is a free Google+ account and a webcam. Give me a shout at shelly@alcornassociates.com.

OMG! The Sheer Joy of Hitting a Goal

2012-12-29T11:22:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have not seen this video - cup stacking is a real thing. Here's the link. In fact, if you watch some of the other cup stacking videos you will be amazed at the speeds people are reaching. And the dexterity it takes is really stunning.

What is so cool about this video is this individuals intense concentration and then the sheer, unadulterated joy of hitting her goal. Man, I wish our board members jumped around like this when they hit one of their goals. Staff too.

This year, maybe as association professionals we should set some really amazing goals for ourselves. Even if nobody else knows exactly what we are doing and why. And then work really, really, amazingly hard to reach them. Push the obstacles out of the way and make good things happen.

I want to have a few of these moments this year. I hope you do too.

Sending all my best wishes to my readers. OH MY GOSH!

My 5 Terms for 2013

2012-12-27T13:02:00.000-08:00

It is safe to say these folks are completely fantastic - Rube Goldberg on steroids. Here is the link if you can't see the embed.

And that is kind of what I think about 2013. Time to push things to the next level. I had my five terms for 2012 and they really did help me focus. I haven't given up on any of them, but it is a fact that I evolved this year in some different directions. Or, in some cases, am feeling the need to double-down on some older directions that I neglected a bit last year.

So for 2013 I am keeping Zeitgeist and Democracy. Zeitgeist because it helps me use a bigger frame when thinking about problems that affect associations and potential solutions coming from larger social trends. And democracy because I am a governance nerd and refuse to give up on the idea that associations are the training grounds for citizenry in this country.

However, here are three "new" areas I am going to (re) focus on in 2013.

Workforce Development - I have been occasionally harping on this, but I think I am going to pound on that drum a little harder this year. The workforce skills gap is becoming increasingly critical. Approximately 4 million jobs are going unfilled in the United States because of the lack of trained workers. And middle-skilled jobs are rapidly disappearing. Associations, even those who believe they are in the thick of it, have an opportunity to seize on these economic trends, step up their game and make this a winning issue for themselves.

Gamification - I liked what Seth Priebatsch had to say about the game layer being built over the world. In his TedTalk he mentions that in the past decade the social layer was built. The next decade will be about the game layer. I think he's right. For me personally, social media is dangerously close to jumping the shark. I understand some associations have yet to understand how to engage with social media and although that is a shame, the world is not going to stand still and wait for them to catch up. What's coming next is the game layer. So hold onto your hats kids, we are going on another fun ride.

Forecast - For me, the real fun lies in examining things I don't have the answers to yet. Focusing on big zeitgeist trends is one thing, trying to predict what might be next is even more fun. What's next springs from compelling discussions around what currently is and what could be. So I'm going to try something new this year and I hope you all come along for the ride. More details soon.

Here is wishing you and yours the best of the rest of the season. I'll be back in January with some new programs, some new posts and some new ideas. Hopefully we can keep collaborating like the cool folks in this weeks video and make something happen this year in the association management community.

Come Original - Whole Self Membership

2012-12-19T15:21:00.000-08:00

To come original it ain't nothin' strange
you got to represent you to come full range an'
full range of emotion full range of styles
when you come to town you'll have them comin' for miles and
come original, you've got to come original
all entertainers
hear why......311 (link to video)

I just finished a webinar entitled "Beer and BBQ IS a Membership Strategy" and part of the point I was trying to make today is associations need to start concentrating on "Whole Self Membership." We've got "occupational" membership or "professional membership" down. But that is only one side of any given members personality or experience and it isn't enough anymore. Positioning for the future means adapting to changing expectations.

It used to be easier to wear three different faces and safer to hide certain aspects of ourselves from the various groups we interacted with. We usually had a "family" face, a "work" face and the one we reserved for the "friends" face. The "work" face was the default setting in our interactions with our associations. Sometimes the "friends" face got to show itself in the association setting, but usually not very quickly and not without a long lead time to "build up to it." Associations got used to providing membership experiences that accommodated the "work" face and expected members to interact with each other on that more "removed" level.

However, the world is fragmenting on an ever-increasing pace. Social interactions are becoming more complex via new exposure to new voices online (I'm thinking of you Google+). Occupations are breaking down and becoming increasingly specialized on more granular, incremental levels. As a result, people are beginning to discover that we aren't equipped with enough psychological resources to keep up with all the different "faces" we think we "should" be showing at any given time. Instead, counter-intuitively, as the world breaks itself into smaller and smaller units, we are becoming more psychologically integrated. We are less inclined to share just parts of ourselves with all of these different constituencies. We are more likely to want to express as much of ourselves as possible regardless of setting so we "feel whole" in a world gone to pieces.

The trick now is to accommodate "whole self members." Members who want to gather in smaller, more informal groups to brainstorm and problem solve for our associations. Members who want to connect with not only peers who share their profession, but peers who share their other interests as well. Members who are tired of the song and dance and want to let their hair down a bit. Who want to be accepted for who they are, what they listen to or wear and who they love. It is up to associations to recognize this shift and adjust to it. We need to more carefully profile our members interests outside of their "defined" professional capacity so we can more easily connect like minds. We need to broaden our interactions to ensure those subcultures that form are able to find each other, but are also able to interact with different groups so we cross-pollinate ideas. That is the kind of loyalty that will outlast any program or service you could possibly devise.

We have to let go of some of the control we used to have, especially with crucial conversations that center on problem solving or on delivering innovative solutions to wicked problems. Those discussions can be productive in carefully controlled, hosted environments, but with less frequency than is required for the pace of change we currently face. If given the choice to go to a hotel room and sit in rounds of ten with that crappy, watered down iced tea, or go to someone's house and brainstorm over a pizza and a glass of beer with Rush, Pink Floyd or some other awesome band on the stereo - hands down, I know which setting I will be more creative in. Hard questions are asked and sometimes brilliant solutions are devised when people drop the careful social choreography and bring their whole selves to the table.

Most importantly, we have to appeal to our members to get hyper-local in a globalized way. We have to balance that bridge between intimacy and vision in ways we have never had to before. We have to develop trust faster, genuinely honor authenticity and give members the power to interact in far less formal settings than we are used to. (If you don't have someone on your board with a piercing, you better find one and fast).

Whole Self Membership. How about it?

Come original, you got to come original....all entertainers come original.....

Gifts, Surprises and Serendipity

2012-12-11T09:36:00.000-08:00

Ok, so this is more than a little geek for your Tuesday morning. The embedded video today is from one of my favorite video games of all time - Kingdom Hearts II.

I was invited to give the keynote address at this years Affiniscape Connections 2012 conference and I decided to talk about the impact of gamer culture on the membership experience. One of the major points I wanted to reinforce is that games are not all about melee fighting. The best games also include an epic storyline, memorable characters that you come to care about, strategy and tactics as well as something I refer to as "gifts, surprises and serendipity."

One of the reasons video games are so powerful is they have features built into them that are primed to activate a release of dopamine into your brain. Dopamine is an incredibly important substance that is related to the rewards center in your brain. Not only is dopamine associated with some of our more fundamental drives - food and sex - it is also associated with learning. Learning can become addictive and game designers know this. (By the way, if you think you aren't a gamer and you play Angry Birds, Farmville, Words with Friends or Solitaire I have news for you - you are.)

Pleasant surprises pepper the learning experience embedded in the game. Cues in games like treasure chests ("What's in that box, oh I bet it's something good!") - combine two fundamental human drives - curiosity (what is it?), learning (I opened it and now I know) and then give the reward (cool, it's a potion! ahhhhh.) Better yet, add the element of surprise such as going into a new area and discovering a lever that activates or oooooh even better, a hidden door, and if you are like me you can almost physically feel the chemical rush inside your neural cortex.

Game designers are smart and have embedded these features in order to elicit a response and keep you engaged in the game. However, the reason it works is this is a common activity. Humans replicate this experience repeatedly throughout the year during holidays like Easter, Halloween and the annual bacchanal known as Christmahanakwanzaakuh. But even that isn't isn't enough. We also find excuses to engage in this behavior on birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers, Valentine's Day, etc. Sometimes we even give a gift "just because" and those surprises are even more powerful because the recipient was not expecting it. To top it off, we create memories and associations that can stay with us for a lifetime associated with the incredibly potent dopamine release we get when we open that Red Ryder Bee Bee gun (yes Ralphie, I'm looking at you) or whatever it is that really floats our boats.

Now, to associations. What do associations do to tap into the powerful motivation and engagement that can be elicited through the use of gifts, surprises and serendipity? Really, not a whole heck of a lot. If the only gift your member gets from you all year is a dues invoice, then you are a bad game/member experience designer. If the only surprise was a dues increase, well then you just scored a negative two-fer on the "I love these guys" scale. We sort of give gifts in terms of communications such as magazines and newsletters. Sometimes there is serendipity involved if the articles are particularly good. But in the information age, that isn't enough.

We have to find ways to give gifts, surprises and serendipity throughout the year. Gamers crave it. They love to learn, to interact and to connect. Maybe it's as inexpensive as giving random members a call every few months just to "see how they are doing." Maybe it's surprising members with a discount once in a while that they weren't expecting. Maybe we can create in person experiences that increase the chances of random interaction with peers they don't know. Maybe we elevate our conference learning experience to game level status. How can we offer little treasures, little surprises, little gifts along the way to show members they are progressing in their member experience? How can we show members they are leveling up from "noob" to "awesome?" Let's be more intentional about building the human drive to obtain rewards into the membership experience. But it has to be thoughtful, and something someone really wants because just "stuff" ain't what I'm talking about. We have to make people feel like they matter, and then help them create positive memories associated with us using the most basic human drive imaginable - reward.

I haven't cracked the code on this yet, but you better believe I'm working on it. In the meantime, I have to get some work done for a client so I can get back to knocking trolls out and looting treasure chests. Dopamine, here I come!

Association Management Lessons from Twinkpocalypse 2012

2012-11-20T13:43:00.000-08:00

I knew there would be a number of tribute videos on YouTube for the Twinkie. I just knew it.

Say what you want about the Generation X alarm about the possible demise of Hostess but you can't deny it's impact on the pop culture consciousness over the past 72 hours. I could tip my hat to the Twinkie, but I was much more devoted to the Ding Dong, the Ho-Ho and, can we talk, the Hostess fruit pie (I can see the sugar glaze on it now in my minds eye).

I ran out the minute I heard the news to acquire said treats for old times sake. And honestly, I thought I was probably the only pathetic loser rushing to the store. As it turns out, I wasn't even the first one there. The fruit pies were already gone.

Yes, we know the liquidation was granted a temporary reprieve when a judge ordered Hostess into mediation, so maybe Twinkpocalypse can be averted. And yes, there are other hardy companies out there looking at this weirdly emotional outpouring of nostalgia and thinking, "Maybe there is still a buck or two to be made on these sentimental idiots after all." Harvard Business Review published a smart blog entitled, "The Day Twinkies Became Cool Again," that examines the relationship between brands and how we can still stay hooked to them even when they become irrelevant.

I wonder if there is a lesson here for associations. It kind of feels like it for some of us, right? What if members love us like they loved Twinkies? At first, they loved the taste. Later, they appreciated the fact that associations were there for them when they were down. After a while, maybe they moved on from membership into some other state of being that we neglected to capture. Maybe some of us are irrelevant because we stopped doing the things we do best - educating, getting people jobs and protecting those jobs.

But there is hope. If your association gets to the point where you feel like throwing in the towel, I wonder how many people will come out of the woodwork to say, "No! Don't go! I haven't been around, but I never stopped loving you!" Maybe we have an entire constituency out there that hasn't really forgotten us. And maybe we need to make sure we stay on the shopping list for future generations by doing things that really matter.

As for me, I scarfed that last Ding Dong thinking about a dear friend of mine from Clark County Christian School, one of the many schools I attended. He was the coolest boy around, and we were just really good friends. He was interested in another girl, and I was interested in another boy. But for some reason, we sat together every day at lunch, commiserating about our love lives, our parents and our general frustrations and he would always give me half of that foil wrapped, chocolatey goodness that his mother put in his lunch.

And maybe that's what the Hostess brand was really all about. Love and friendship, and the knowledge that no matter how bad it got, no matter what couldn't actually be fixed, a hug and a tasty snack might make it bearable for a little while longer.

Maybe we can make membership like that too.

Mindfully Building Association Networks

2012-11-15T13:09:00.000-08:00

I ran across the latest mini-film by Tiffany Shlain and am (once again) blown away by her. Here is the video link for those who can't see the embed - BRAIN Power: From Neurons to Networks. Here is a link to the post she wrote on HBR - How the Internet is Shaping our "Global Brain."

I think it's valuable for us to take a step back every once in a while and look at the wider picture. Especially in associations as we so easily get overwhelmed with our day to day tasks and "what do you mean we are out of "Director" badge ribbons two days before conference!?!?!!"

We frequently speak about technology, both in terms of it being a help and sometimes a hindrance to us as we get things done. We listen out of the corner of our ears to vague worrying and hand-wringing about whether "all this internettin' stuff is good for the kids..." We wonder how our associations can continue to cope with such rapid changes that affect every area of how we do business and also seem to be affecting how our members talk with each other and with us on the most fundamental levels.

Tiffany points out that it is startling how over the years we have cast our understanding of how the brain functions in terms of technology. Believing at different points in our technological development that brains worked like "clocks," and then "switchboards," and the like. However, it is amazing to see how biological advances in neuroscience and our latest technological marvel - the internet - seem to reveal models that are remarkably similar. It really does appear to be a networked world these days both in terms of how we function internally as well as externally.

In the video, Tiffany makes the point that this point in time is like every other in that we need to ask ourselves if what we are building is a beautiful place to be or not. Each interaction in this Twitterfied world has consequences for ourselves and our mental well-being. Some of it is good. And some of it isn't. She points out that we have the responsibility to make good choices about what we build. To make it uplifting instead of destructive and engaging without being overwhelming.

I'll take that one step further and ask can you say the same about the networks you have in your memberships? Do you even know where they are? As we begin to see brain function and the internet as connected hubs, can we also not begin to see membership the same way? Can we start building models that don't use a two-dimensional model like an organizational chart and start using three-dimensional models instead? As organized hubs that are interconnected parts of the whole?

What new opportunities do we have if we overlay our understanding of membership with the structures we find within our own brains and now the internet? What responsibility do we have to ensure our members feel protected and taken care of and that their online interactions with us are positive and uplifting? What do we need to think about differently in light of what we are discovering about how these complicated, yet ever so powerful, systems work?

It makes me feel less worried about membership in general to look at it as a tangled whole in a system, rather than as an equation or a marketing message. The connections make it strong. Even when it's pruned, new connections can form at any time. What if membership is evolving like these other networked systems are evolving? What if our brain patterns can be encouraged to not only connect to this ever-growing technological system, but can also learn to more easily identify where our communities are? What if associations place themselves at the right virtual junctures so they can be easily plugged in?

In the blog, Tiffany mentions the South African idea of "Ubuntu" which can be translated to mean, "I am who I am because of who we all are." What a lovely idea to authentically build into our memberships. How much stronger would we be as communities if our goal was to create this kind of atmosphere, not sell more discounted widgets to a captive audience?

Is Your Mission Bigger Than What You Can Measure?

2012-11-05T09:04:00.000-08:00

I often refer to Dilbert cartoons (a creation of Scott Adams) as a way to explain not only the inner workings of office environments but also how they apply to associations and nonprofits. (In fact, I consider "Way of the Weasel" required reading for staff.)

Does this cartoon look familiar to anyone? It does to me. I am often amazed at how much time we spend in associations and nonprofits developing "metrics" that in many cases reward the wrong behavior. I am not saying metrics are not important, nor am I encouraging their wholesale abandonment. But I am railing a bit against the continued mindless application of metrics to each and every activity we undertake.

As associations and nonprofits we do have a responsibility to provide some benchmarks to measure our performance against. Good strategy does require some amount of reflection on "How will we know when we get there?" or "What is going to indicate that we are making progress?" Stakeholders do like to know there is some method to the madness and desires for transparency make it imperative that we have some cogent explanation for what we are doing with the members or volunteers money and/or time.

That being said, I urge all of us to rethink the standard metrics that seem to be so prevalent in our sector. Are we really sure we are measuring the right things to get the outcomes we desire? Are we really sure every single thing can or should be measured? How much time do our committees and boards waste on ceaseless measurement of current activities as opposed to research and development on more innovative programs?

Does counting how many LGBTQ members we have in association leadership really tell us if we have a gay friendly culture? Does setting a metric of a 5% attendance increase for educational programs tell us if our education is truly valuable or as cutting edge as it needs to be? Does setting a metric of "increasing membership by 20%" really demonstrate our long-term value and viability?

At some point, we have to get beyond quantitative metrics as our most "valid" measure, and include qualitative analysis as well. Numbers may be easier, but they only tell half the story. Can mercy be quantified? Can offering members emotional support during tough times be reduced to a number? Must our objectives always be reduced to a quotient in the name of efficiency? What do we artificially prevent ourselves from doing because we aren't completely sure how we will measure the activity in the end?

Is our mission bigger than what we can measure? God I hope so.

Sad Mouse Membership

2012-10-29T14:41:00.002-07:00

Every once in a while, Saturday Night Live comes out with something that is not only funny, but really touching as well. I was actually really moved by this because it reinforces something important that I believe about membership that I think gets lost sometimes. Here is the link for those of you who can't see the embed - Sad Mouse.

In our discussions about membership so often we seem to devolve into "calculating ROI" and measuring retention rates, etc., etc. As much as we like to claim we are different than our corporate cousins and that we don't see people in terms of "revenue," or we don't see people as "numbers," over the last few years our discussions seem to be increasingly disconnected from what membership is really about - human connection.

I am lucky enough to have been asked to join in on a series of free webinars being presented on membership engagement by Association Universe and their other partners. I am excited about their line-up and pleased to be a part of the group. Here is a link to the main promotion page with registration information for all sessions - http://www.infiniteconferencing.com/aggregage/.

I'm going to be doing a session called, "Beer and BBQ IS a Membership Strategy" and I hope you can join me on December 19, 2012 at 2:00 PM Eastern/11:00 AM Pacific. We are going to focus on some of the human touches we don't want to miss out on in this hyper-kinetic world and some of the ways we can meet our members new and ever-changing expectations.

Have a great week everyone....and if you see a frog that looks a little down in the dumps, it wouldn't hurt to hold out your hand.

Do Association Members Ignore Your Signs Too?

2012-10-23T11:06:00.002-07:00

So here's the lesson for today kids. (and the link for those who can't see the embedded video).

This video is hilarious! It is a recording of a woman who called in to a radio show to tell folks that on three separate occasions she has hit deer on the highway immediately after seeing a deer crossing sign. She wanted to complain that the transportation department keeps putting up "deer crossing" signs on busy highways instead of in rural areas and less trafficked roads since those roads would be much safer for deer to cross.

Yes. Let that sink in for a minute. (By the way, this is a true story. There is a follow up video where she calls back into the show and says once the reasons for those signs were explained to her it "made so much more sense.")

But doesn't this phone call remind you of conversations you have with your board members or your staff about your members and what they need? To this woman it seemed perfectly reasonable to assume the "signs" drove the behavior and if the signs were moved, the deer would follow them. Now, obviously humans (with few exceptions) are not animals. But we often use similar thinking patterns when discussing member behavior that we want to influence or change.

Members organically move in the association system. When they aren't buying the right books, attending the right conferences or participating in the "right" social media circles, sometimes the association answer is to "move the sign." Market more. E-mail more. Focus group more. Badger more. When really, the answer may not be "move the sign." Unlike the deer who don't know what the signs mean, humans do know and are simply choosing to ignore them. The result is the same. The members stay where they are irrespective of where the signs go.

So now what? Well, now you may have to take some time to figure out where the members are going and why. And you might need to flip your thinking and redirect association "traffic" around them right where they are, instead of the other way around. Would it be more convenient for the drivers if the deer would pick another road to cross? Well, of course. But deer want to cross where they want to cross. And your members do too, regardless of the resulting inconvenience to you and your programs.

The next time you are in a staff meeting and someone mentions "changing member behavior" with more marketing, or trying to redirect the members into areas you think they should be in as opposed to the areas they seem to naturally drift into you might need to ask yourselves whether the "sign" is the symptom or the cure.

Association Management - FIX IT

2012-10-02T14:01:00.002-07:00

"It's really very simple Seth. Step One - Fix, Step Two - It, Step Three - FIX IT! Repeat steps one through three until it's all FIXED!"

Some of my all time favorite skits on Saturday Night Live involved this character - "Oscar Rogers" - that debuted during the financial crisis of 2008. Here is the link if you can't see the embedded video. The one I've embedded here was the second one they did. (The first one is here only this is the full Weekend Update and the Oscar Rogers segment starts at 2:10. It is so worth a watch. Do it.)

I have been thinking about this clip more and more lately. I'm starting to wonder if we, myself included, might be making the question "how do we move associations forward into the future" a little too complicated. Sometimes I see good executives become almost paralyzed, overwhelmed with the sense that this association management thing is careening out of control. That somehow we are flying our associations into a mountain we can't see. I do it too. Sometimes I think our problems are just too big.

But we all need to breathe. Associations aren't completely out of control, out of ideas or out of options. We aren't going to crash this thing unless we take our hands off the wheel. This isn't so complicated that we can't deal with the future one change at a time. Yes, some of these upcoming changes are huge, but they might also be for the best. Yes, our challenges are serious, but life has been and will continue to be full of serious challenges. I've decided to stop panicking every time a blog post or an article barfs up the "we're all gonna die" scenario on my screen. Maybe it's time we just started yelling, "FIX IT!" instead.

I'm taking a short sabbatical to do some visioning work and some needed recharging. I'm going to be thinking about things I want to fix, not things I want to wallow in despair over. I am trying to practice what I preach about white space so I'll catch you regular readers on the flip side.

And hey, it would be great if you cats could get it all fixed by the time I get back (you know I love you!).

Take it one step at a time, Seth. Identify the problem - fix it. Identify another problem - FIX it. Repeat as necessary until its all FIXED.

Is the Next Facebook Killer....Myspace?!?! Wha...?

2012-09-26T10:40:00.000-07:00

The new Myspace from Myspace on Vimeo.

Nope, Paul wasn't dead and apparently neither is Myspace.

Any way you slice it, there is always something new getting ready to roll out. When Myspace first slammed onto the scene, it had a really cool vibe and was based in large part on encouraging people to share their most personal thoughts on blogs, and information about their favorite music and entertainment personalities. Of course we all know the story - it floundered and was pretty much relegated to the "has-been" file. We started writing new stories about Facebook, Google+, etc. Now Pinterest is the coolest new kid in town.

It seems that Myspace didn't get the memo. Instead of allowing itself to wash out to sea, it quietly went to work. I don't believe it is live yet, but this video preview shows some massive improvements and some exciting innovative twists. Yes, this appears to still primarily be a music and entertainment site, but what do we love more than popular culture and sharing our days with our friends?

It looks to me like they have implemented some major improvements including making connections and engagement even deeper than it has ever been before. You don't just "like" a person or a band page and follow their status updates, you become part of their social eco-system. What we have yet to see is if Myspace will expand that concept beyond bands and artists to our realm of issues and interests. If so, this is a gorgeous new interface that could have some really major advantages over Facebook.

Yes, Myspace has kept it's flavor which is why it's fans love it. But it's all grown up and poised to become a visual and auditory challenger to Facebook and Pinterest both. The battle is for eyeballs and we still only have 24 hours per day. If it also incorporates cat pictures, recipes, search and messaging then.....(insert your own interpretation here)....

Two lessons from this new announcement and video from Myspace. The first thing that we already know but we have to keep reminding ourselves is our communications landscape will never return to the days of dependable channels. As people (members, stakeholders) become more expressive, we will have to find ways to be expressive back. Will Myspace become our next communications frontier? I don't know but I see some possibilities here that we can't afford to ignore until we explore.

The second is no organization can afford to sit on its laurels. Even if you think your association is king of the hill/queen of the castle there is ALWAYS someone in the background designing something cooler than you.

I'm excited to see what's next for Myspace and glad to see that maybe the rumors of its demise had been greatly exaggerated.