Association Subculture

An Association Take on TrendHunters 2012 List

2012-02-15T13:24:00.000-08:00

Love, love, LOVE the TrendHunter.com Top Trends List every year and this year is no different.

We can always pull something relevant into our associations from the world around us. This years trends that I found most relevant for associations are:

Pop Culture Vacations - We all love meetings and events but people are looking for more. Obviously, we can't ask a hotel to redecorate every room for us, but what can we do to make our meetings and conferences more fun for our attendees?

Digital Decor - Oooooh....I have dreamed about hotels putting up digital wallpaper so we can create oceans or other scenes on the walls for maximum visual impact and minimal fuss and muss....and here it is.....Does your conference room in your office need a facelift? Yes, yes it does.

Plastic Rebellion - Yes, your members want authenticity and they are willing to go to great lengths to get it. Isn't it about time to give your dress codes a rest?

Unlabeling - Along with the new minimalism, there is a desire to unlabel. I blog about simplification pretty regularly (in fact, I blogged earlier this week about simplifying your vision statements) but take a look at your logos, websites, brochures and collateral. What can you strip down and make more visually arresting?

Social Business - This is the super-duper best trend. Socially conscious corporate behavior. Associations should be falling all over themselves to get in line to support this movement. It's coming and it's gonna be big.

Which of these trends do you think will most impact associations?

Sad Cat Not Sad - Visions That Matter

2012-02-13T17:26:00.000-08:00

(image from http://icanhascheezburger.com/)

I just got back from facilitating a board retreat with a client of mine in Florida.

One thing we focused on was the vision of the organization and what it should look and sound like.

Look at the above image. According to the internet gnomes who put this meme up, "sad cat is sad." (I think we can all agree, that is one sad cat.) Now think about the messaging from an animal rights organization. Do you think this fictional vision statement helps?

"Our vision is to craft solutions to comfort animals who are in distress, danger or otherwise live in compromised situations. We work together collaboratively with other groups and coalitions who also put the welfare of animals first. Our team focuses on the creation of appropriate goals and metrics that ensure we meet the needs of the animals we serve and achieve outcomes based objectives that will improve their lives. We treat animals with integrity, respect and care and those values will permeate our organization both internally and externally both in our dealings with and our communications to the public."

Instead, what about:

"We envision a world where every cat is happy."

Doesn't every other conceivable thing flow from there?

Admittedly, this is a ridiculous example that I used just to make a point. But on a more serious note, I truly believe association executives, staff and volunteer leaders need to take the time to simplify their reasons for being. It is actually harder to boil these huge vision statements down into one sentence. Nobody who works with this stuff says it is easy. But it is so worth it.

Sad cat not sad. Now THAT is a future worth fighting for......

Susan G. Komen was a Failure at the Board Level

2012-02-03T14:46:00.000-08:00

As Catherine the Great is credited with saying, "If you can't be a good example, you will just have to be a horrible warning."

That seems like the most appropriate quote for this Susan G. Komen vs Planned Parenthood debacle from this week. Other blogs (like Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog - "The Accidental Rebranding of Komen for the Cure".) have done a great job of documenting what happened and analyzing the ramifications of it.

Here at the Association Subculture, we believe there are important lessons for association executives and boards to learn from this ridiculous display of partisan politics disguised as "concerns about maximizing our funding outcomes."

Seasoned association professionals know this entire episode was a result of failed leadership at the highest levels within the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Here are a few of the takeaways for all executives and board members from the events this week:

Do not abandon your mission. Your donors and members are trusting you and counting on you to use your nonprofit and association resources to achieve a specific mission. Susan G. Komen's board failed to hold themselves and their staff accountable for this clear break from their core mission.

Do not staff a nonpartisan association with partisan hacks. Yes, the association executive is in charge of hiring staff. But the board has an interest in ensuring that if their mission is non-partisan, their staff members should be professional enough to leave their partisan issues behind in pursuit of the mission. Even then, you can't expect to hire a crusader with a clearly partisan record, put them in a position of power on staff and then feign surprise when something goes horribly wrong.

Do not strain the limits of credulity. Susan G. Komen is blaming a policy they have to "not give money to organizations currently under investigation." Plausible? Perhaps. But Planned Parenthood wasn't "under investigation." Planned Parenthood has been the victim of a specific partisan attacks from ideologues with an axe to grind. Don't spin your decisions. If you have an explanation for an action, you have a responsibility to make sure it can pass a smell test. (And if you purposefully craft a policy so that it's vagueness can be used to further your agenda and then try to use that policy as cover, expect that to backfire too.)

Do not lose control of your message. You, as the Susan G. Komen board, may have gotten caught up in a political move that you did not understand. (Quite frankly, you look bad either way - either you did it on purpose or you were unwittingly used as pawns in a larger game.) However, after the story broke you had a responsibility to get your staff to respond appropriately. Instead, they responded like a bunch of ham-handed hacks. You have an executive to fire.

Do not expect a "retraction" to restore trust. Any board can blow it. Much in the same way a 20 year marriage can be utterly derailed by a single sentence, so can the relationship with a long-time member or a donor. You don't get to say, "Sorry..." and expect this to go away. Now people suspect the money they give you is being used to pursue other agendas. You may maintain the marriage, but they won't ever completely trust you again. You have some work to do and a good place to start is clearing out the volunteer leaders and personnel who presided over this fiasco.

One last thought that I have no evidence of but a deep suspicion about -

Do not make deals with the devil. I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I do know how this works. I suspect if we looked closer, we would see funding promises that have been made by partisan interests in return for this attack on Planned Parenthood.

My wish is for boards, volunteers and staff to work together to avoid becoming the next Susan G. Komen.

Catherine the Great had it right....horrible warning indeed.

It Gets Better....Sometimes

2012-01-16T16:29:00.000-08:00

ALL YOU'LL EVER BE IS THE FADING MEMORY OF A BULLY...Shinedown - New Single "Bully" off their upcoming album

Two rants in one week. Not normal for the Subculture but hey, sometimes things must be said.

Yesterday I read how another one of our Sacramento community's beautiful gay teenagers committed suicide over New Years. He had been a victim of bullying during high school and apparently college was proving difficult as well. Today, I went downtown to have lunch with a colleague and discovered three things - 1) there was a huge MLK day rally downtown, 2) the police presence (in a state Capital where rallies are routine) was very unusual in terms of both size and show of force, and 3) ALL of the upscale restaurants were closed for lunch in honor of MLK day.

Notice, I said "lunch." They all had signs in them reminding everyone they would be open for dinner. At 5:00. Door after door. Same signs. Same message. No soup for you.

Coincidence? Am I reading too much into this?

I am aware there is controversy between linking issues regarding gay rights to issues of race. I have some African-American colleagues who tell me the struggle between civil rights based on race and civil rights based on sexual orientation are not the same thing at all. Fine. I don't have all the answers. I don't always get it right. I struggle just like everyone else to understand and try to get around my own biases.

But can we ask ourselves what kind of society still allows persecution based on who people are no matter what the reason? And can we ask ourselves as association professionals what role our association is willing to play in legislative battles on behalf of marginalized populations? How about the medical associations lobbying against bills to try to deny visitation rights? How about teachers associations lobbying to increase penalties or their latitude to deal with bullies on campus? How about getting in the dirt with these "grown up" bullies with their smarmy smiles and parliamentary tricks?

How about making sure your association is highly attuned to issues within the membership? Zero tolerance for jokes around the bar at the reception? Stopping campaign contributions or PAC funds being used to support hateful people even if those people support your issues? Setting up LGBTQ councils or committees? Treating members with respect?

God bless Dan Savage and the It Gets Better campaign. But let's be clear. Young bullies operate with impunity as long as old bullies are still writing the rules and setting horrible examples. The bullying doesn't necessarily stop when you turn 18. Not as long as adult candidates running for major office get to use stripping currently, legally married couples of their marital status as an applause line. Not as long as adult presidential candidates are able to vote against the commemoration of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and still be taken seriously. Not as long as audiences of "grown ups" boo a gay soldier when he questions candidates about their position on the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Not as long as adults in public and private institutions declare they should have a right to discriminate against whoever they choose and seek legal remedy to do so. Not as long as a single hospital administrator denies visitation to a partner. Not as long as women are denied reproductive rights because someone else decides to be in charge of a woman's actual, physical body. Not as long as one child is tortured by their idiotic, putridly disgusting classmates for being gay, being of another culture or ethnicity, for being poor, for listening to the "wrong kind of music," for dressing "weird," going to the "wrong" church or whatever the hell else happens to be the reason a bully latches onto.

Not as long as upscale restaurants in a desperately bad recession close their doors to thousands of hungry citizens who may have wanted to stop and have a meal to ostensibly "honor MLK day"...and then turn around and open back up at 5:00 for dinner after downtown clears out.

Stand up. Enough is enough. Do more. Right the wrongs.

No one's gonna cry on the very day you die...you're a bully!

If you like Shinedown here is the link to the video.

When Customer Service Isn't

2012-01-12T09:54:00.000-08:00

"Help me help you!"..... Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire

Sometimes great customer service isn't.

A few days before Christmas, I suddenly remembered that on one of our many shopping trips to Barnes and Noble, one of our daughters had shown the other one a book about a particular TV show and mentioned she thought it was cool. I wish I had remembered this a few weeks before Christmas, but at least I was still within the shopping red zone.

I didn't remember exactly what it was called and I don't watch the show, but I ran over to my computer and found it on Amazon within 30 seconds. I remembered what the book cover looked like and the description sounded right. Then I made a critical decision. Do I buy it right then and there and pay the $15.00 for next day delivery, or do I go to Barnes and Noble because I know I've seen it there and I might be able to put my mitts on it right then and there?

Stupidly, I chose option B.

I rush to the store and begin to search. I'm coming up empty. Every section I try, books are out of order and I'm beginning to get frustrated. I walk over to the customer service area intending to locate the computer kiosk to run a search in the store to locate the book. And then I remember, this is not Borders. They went out of business. The helpful little kiosk I was looking for has never existed at Barnes and Noble. They have chosen to subject the customers to helpful little clerks instead.

I patiently wait in line and approach the desk. The clerk asks me if they can help me. I say, "Yes. I'm looking for a specific title for a Christmas gift and I found it on Amazon earlier today so I know it exists. I know you carry it because I've seen it here before - I just can't find it." With hands poised at the ready, she smiles and says, "No problem, let me look it up for you. What is the title?"

That's when the trouble starts.

You see, twenty years ago I would have written the title and author down and brought it with me. But this isn't twenty years ago. Now, I am immersed in a digital environment and very accustomed to highly intuitive search processes. It occurs to me that I have no idea how to tell the clerk how to help me.

I begin spluttering search terms trying to recreate the search path I had used to get to the book on Amazon not sixty minutes ago. She comes up empty. I mention the name of the television show, the topics the book covered, the one or two words I do remember from the title. Nothing. We are getting nowhere. She cannot help me, because I cannot tell her what I actually need. Finally, in frustration I say, "I know how to find it on Amazon." She loads up Amazon on her computer screen and fingers poised over the keyboard again, asks me what she should search on. At this point, I say, "Please stop helping me. Let me find it." She hands me the keyboard with a look that says, "You are a pain and I wish you would go away."

Sure enough, fifteen seconds later I find what I am looking for. She cuts and pastes the title into her Barnes and Noble system and WA LA - I hear the following sentences, "Oh, yes we do carry that title. (whew) It's in the xyz section. (relief.) But we are out of stock. (grrrr). And the piece de resistance - I can order it for you and it can be available for pick up in a few days." (forehead slap). I weakly smile and say thank you, drive home and order it from Amazon where it shows up on my doorstep 24 hours later.

So let's recap.

A self-sufficient, digitally immersed customer arrives in Barnes and Noble two days before Christmas. They are obviously on the hunt for a gift. They wander through a poorly organized store and paw through shelf after shelf of books. Various sections seem to be organized alphabetically by title, some by author, in what the customer can only assume is an attempt to recreate an "intuitive search process" in a bricks and mortar store. They know for a fact that this title exists on Amazon and it will take them three clicks of a mouse to have it dropped on their doorstep in time to meet their deadline but they are hoping to just buy the damn book today to make sure there are no hiccups in shipping.

A somewhat harried clerk has been trained to provide "better customer service" than a computer kiosk. They welcome the customer warmly and then valiantly and repeatedly attempt to translate the customers relatively unintelligible clues about what they need. They fail. They use a creative and innovative tactic to find the title on a competitors website. Then they STILL can't solve the problem because they don't have the book in stock. Then they offer a helpful, alternative solution meant to solve the problem, with a vague assertion that the book can be in the store, "in a few days."

Fail.

The point is...sometimes great customer service - help me, help you - leads to frustration on both sides. Great customer service doesn't necessarily solve problems, sometimes it actually makes it harder to provide solutions. Your members may not be able to exactly articulate what they need and you may think it's your job to "intuitively help them" figure it out. But these days, there is a line that is only getting bigger between customer service that is helpful, and customer service that is actually an obstacle. Sometimes you have to take your helpful self out of the equation and give your members the tools they need to solve their issues themselves.

And Barnes and Noble? Install some freaking computer kiosks for your customers who are losing the ability to clearly articulate what they are searching for but can find it themselves in 30 seconds or less. Either that, or risk becoming the latest casualty in the booksellers market. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Here is the link to the movie clip for those of you who can't see the embedded code - Help me, help you....

DIY - "Makes Me Think Of" Creativity Exercise

2012-01-08T12:56:00.000-08:00

Ok, you DIYers out there....One thing we know we need to do and we don't do enough are simple creativity exercises.

Here's one I've picked up along the way and it's really simple. I didn't invent it and I'm not sure who did. This can be used when you are stuck, when you feel like consciously daydreaming, or as an ice-breaker exercise with boards, committees or staff....

Pick a word. Any word. It could be something simple like any noun "cloud" or "car" or something like "membership" or "workshops." Put three to five minutes on a timer. I tend to like three minutes but five minutes can give you some extra depths to examine.

Then write the word and "makes me think of" and then quickly write whatever comes next to your mind. It can be another word, a term or a short story about something in your past or present. Then write "makes me think of" and do it again. For example, "Clouds" which makes me think of "sky" which makes me think of "planes" which makes me think about "visiting my grandparents in Arkansas," which makes me think of.......well, you get the picture...

When the timer buzzes, finish your last thought and then look at the last thought as compared to the first one....how close are they? How far away are they? What can you learn about yourself from the way your brain works? Did you see something new you can use? Did something surprise you? Does the word/term chain show you something you had forgotten? Something that bears reexamining?

Have some fun being creative this week.....let your words lead you to places you didn't know you could go...or back to places maybe you wish you hadn't left.....

Times Like These - My 5 Terms for 2012

2012-01-02T10:36:00.000-08:00

it's times like these you learn to live again
it's times like these you give and give again
it's times like these you learn to love again
it's times like these time and time again.....Foo Fighters, Times Like These

So my year end ritual is complete. Even though today is still technically a holiday, I feel like 2012 is officially underway and now it's time to reveal the 5 Terms for 2012 that will be front and center at Alcorn Associates Management Consulting this year. (By the way - I was so happy to see 5 Terms for 2012 posts from Lowell Aplebaum, Kiki L'Italien, Nikki Jeske and Jay Daughtry, etc. You all rock!)

Appreciative Inquiry - This is a holdover from 2011 and really constitutes one of the cornerstones of the consulting I do with associations. So, it stays. There is nothing better than helping associations make key decisions and take concrete action from a strengths based perspective. (I am getting ready to release the results and the commentary from the AI project I did last year so stay tuned.....)

DIY - In 2011, I used "Edupunk" but edupunk is really a subset of a bigger trend which is DIY (do it yourself). I've been a DIY enthusiast, supporter and co-conspirator for much of my life. Remember when we were younger? Making cassette tapes to sell at gigs on a four-track in the garage? Haunting Kinkos after work to crank out 'zines? Hammering friends who worked at public access cable so you could do a show a'la Wayne's World? Well, yeah. There are tons of DIYers out here just dying to create stuff. Now we have more tools than ever with YouTube, podcasts, self-publishing, education and the like. Really, associations have always been about DIY. Let's name it and claim it and capitalize on the DIY theme running through our culture. Your members actually WANT to create stuff, not just consume stuff.

Democracy - I continue to be personally and professionally disturbed by the assaults on democracy coming from both within and without. I blogged about my significant distress over the United States Supreme Court decision in Citizens United and why associations should care about it last year. I'm livid over voter suppression efforts and again, think associations should actively engage in voter registration efforts now more than ever. I was shocked and dismayed to read a leading book coming out of ASAE promoting the idea of severely limiting boards (with participants who may not even be members) and the notion of stripping committee chairs away from volunteers and handing them to staff. Yes, democracy is messy. Yes, democracy takes time. Yes, democracy requires compromise. But associations serve as an important training ground for the citizenry of the United States. I'm not saying we wouldn't benefit from more training, more streamlined and flexible policies and more sophisticated governing techniques. But if given the choice, I will opt for a messy democracy over an efficient dictatorship every time.

Superstructure - I believe it's time for associations to begin to collaborate on a massive scale. We have the technology now to build a superstructure over the association community that will, for the first time, make us scalable. We should all continually be on the lookout for and a part of creating opportunities for small associations to leverage their power in a more cohesive environment. As a community we should search for more opportunities for associations to develop a clear social identity in the larger global context.

Zeitgeist - I had a lot of luck last year with this concept and so now it will take a seat as one of the official 5 in 2012. I continue to believe that in an interconnected world, we no longer have the luxury of sitting back and naval gazing about membership and non-dues revenue. I'm sick of WIFM and I believe we can change mindsets to WIFU instead. I believe there are key themes running through the cultural zeitgest that we can't afford to ignore. If it's pop culture to technology to gamification to economics to workforce development to globalization to new corporate structures we have to actively get in the game.

So, those are the five drivers for me this year and they are now up on my wall over my computer screen and on my whiteboard. I will use them as guideposts to help me sift through content, curate and create content and streamline my messaging. I will seek out books, professional development opportunities and the like to help me hone in on the tools and techniques I need to have at my disposal to effectively implement some of my plans. And I will also use those terms to inspire my projects and other things I choose to engage in over the year.

So yeah, it's times like these that make us learn to live again....let's see what 2012 has in store.....

Here's the link to the Foo Fighters - Times Like These for those who can see the embedded video.

Five Terms for 2012

2011-12-19T17:27:00.000-08:00

I am Santa Claus!!!! Santa Iron Man Parody

I am pretty sure this is the final post for this year. (I'm leaving myself a little room to maneuver there. You never know when inspiration might strike.)

I'd like to sincerely thank all of our clients, colleagues and friends who made this such a successful year for Alcorn Associates. Mark and I are really so very appreciative for your business, referrals and support.

As we close out this year, I 'd like to share an exercise with you that I did last year and am planning to do again because I found it really effective. Maybe you will too.

At the end of 2010, I found myself very overwhelmed with the barrage of content I was swimming in and the sheer volume of strategic objectives that I was trying to sort through for my portion of our consulting practice. Just like most of us in the association sphere I suffer from two syndromes - routinely underestimating how much I can really do while simultaneously suffering from my own charming (?!?!) brand of ADD (forever defined by Sandra Giarde, CAE as Squirrel!). While sometimes these qualities can be strengths in terms of finding initiative and/or passion, the combination of the two can be deadly to forward momentum without some consistent, conscious reining in.

I used the time between Christmas and January 1 to focus on where I wanted to concentrate my efforts in 2011. Beyond the "one word" or "three word" themes that I've tried in the past (which seemed kind of limiting), I laid out five words/terms that I wanted to concentrate in on 2011 - appreciative inquiry, change, edupunk, systems thinking and promotion.

I put these five words on the wall over my computer desk and repeated them like a mantra. I used them to guide project work, to select which professional development opportunities I would sign up for and to guide my content curation efforts. Best of all, those words sparked the "Association Executives: Provocative Proposals for Change" interview project, and were the underpinnings for the successful bid to be included in the "Edupunks Guide to a DIY Credential." They were also quite useful in terms of forcing me to reallocate my online time. I was able to develop a much better balance between being a content consumer/broadcaster and a producer.

So, I will spend my time between now and New Years figuring out my "5 Terms for 2012." I'm feeling the need for some updating. I'd love it if some of you would join me in this effort. Maybe our words will overlap and complement each other and maybe there will be opportunities for us to help each other in our journeys. Let me know what your five words are and I will share what I came up with in my first post in 2012.

Take care and celebrate the holiday season in whatever fashion suits you best!

Here is the link to the Iron Man parody - I am Santa Claus for those who can't see the embedded video. I can't believe this has been out here for four years already and I've just seen it. Ah, the Internet has such comedic treasures buried within it.

Book Review - Humanize by Maddie Grant and Jamie Notter

2011-12-15T12:06:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the desert of the real. Morpheus - The Matrix
(This is a book review of Humanize - How People-Centric Organizations Succeed in a Social World. Just so you know, I wasn't asked to write it and received no type of compensation for doing so. The Association Subculture Blog does not accept author pitches and only writes about books we dig.)

The Short of It

Buy this book.

The Long of It

Authors Maddie Grant and Jamie Notter have hit upon what is becoming the central question of our age - how can we be more human in the workplace. (And please - lacing it with Matrix references is catnip for nerds like myself. Finding the clips for this post wasted my entire morning and I'm heading to my DVD shelf after this post to get at the real deal.)

Frankly, I consume a lot of books during the year. I've read some great books this year, some mediocre ones and thrown a few turkeys on the scrap heap. Humanize is one of only three books that has earned a spot on my "re-read" list (and three is more "re-reads" than usual). The author's combined talents take us out of the out of the realm of the "is social media something we should do" (baffling to still hear that question) and pushes us into a new organizational world where trust, openness, generative action and courageous disposition reign. They offer hope to those of us who believed the cubicle-haunting manage-o-bots of the past had won.

The best part? They are clearly a part of our association management world but this book breaks away from the "association-centric" language we are all used to and is applicable to any organization - for-profit, non-profit or governmental. Kudos to them for breaking out of our orbit and spanning the gap to our other structural cousins. Hopefully they will still remember us when they hit the big time.

There are plenty of great, detailed reviews already out there so here are the top five sentences that resonated here at the Association Subculture the most.

"Each of us is part of several networks, and while the individual relationships are important, there is a quality of our relationship with the network as a whole that also requires attention and its own set of knowledge and skills."

Well said. In this section on Generative Behavior: Relationship Building Maddie and Jamie draw a distinction between interpersonal relationships and network relationships. Most of us are aware of the challenges inherent in navigating interpersonal relationships but it is important to realize the networks we are in are now interactive as well. Associations are beginning to realize this siloed, exclusively member focused ice floe they are stranded themselves on is drifting out to sea.

"Being courageous starts by admitting you don't know and is completed by taking bold and confident action."

What an insightful point. We have a false narrative in this country that courage is reserved for the few and is not accessible to the many. The minute you admit you don't know or you aren't sure, and you decide to act anyway - that is courage. It starts with one word, "Yes."

"Answers (and data) should be the beginning of the conversation, not the end."

Hear, hear! Yes, good data is important. Yes, big data is the next frontier. Yes, quantitative and qualitative data is critical to creating understanding. I regularly pursue appreciative inquiry research projects with associations because the data we get is so powerful. However, we have become data obsessed and in some cases outright paralyzed over the past few years. For the association community, I put some of the blame squarely on the "7 Measures of Success" book. I really don't believe Jim Collins would be thrilled with the "data-driven-strategies" monsters that were created in the wake of that book. We routinely misuse the medium.

"Freeing your mind means you are not willing to be constrained by the conventional wisdom, best practices and dogma of current organizational life."

Jamie and Maddie aren't being idealistic with this statement. They freely admit they are not talking about extreme freedom that is unconstrained by realities such as legal requirements, financial obligations and the like. They are talking about putting everything else that is not "essential and required" on the table. It takes skill and discipline to continually reinvent your world. To make smart choices about what to keep and what to discard. To mold and shape versus plan and execute. As humans, status quo is still a powerful drive. However, preserving the status quo has become the heroin of the corporate structure and it's time to break the cycle of addiction.

"We choose to move forward into a truly human way of organizations - not back to simpler times before technology."

Wow. This statement challenges the most primitive impulse we have - to yearn for the idealized yesteryear that never really existed. Humans have raised nostalgia to an art form. The problem with the "good old days" is they were never that good to begin with. The industrialized age treated human beings like cogs in the big wheel machine. People were interchangeable, like parts. Our entire language around management is mechanized. Why yearn for those good-old-days-that-weren't when right in front of you we have the ability to create something better than we've ever had before?

So, I tip my hat to Jamie and Maddie. You two have really hit on something here and I am a believer. I can't wait to see what's next.

Ah, yes Neo. You made the right choice. The red pill was the only way to go. Here is the scene where Morpheus offers Neo the choice....and here is an explanation about what the Matrix is.

Is Facebook Stealing Something Important From Us?

2011-12-13T10:39:00.000-08:00

she says, leave me alone
tonight i just wanna stay home
she fills the pot with water and she drops in the bone
she says, i've got a darkness that i have to feed
i got a sadness that grows up around like a weed and
i'm not hurting anyone
i'm just spiraling in and then
she closes her eyes and hears the song begin again....Ani DiFranco, Jukebox

I am really not trying to be a bummer here, but I think we need to ask ourselves a question. Is Facebook stealing an important question from us? Is Facebook stealing the phrase, "How are you?" from our vocabulary?

I have been wrestling with this one for a few weeks now. Like all of us, I have just as many personal dramas as the next person. Illness, death, accidents, disappointments, etc. I tend to vacillate wildly between intensely private and ridiculously open. I have both clients and friends liberally mixed together in all my social media sites and no matter how many lists and circles I deal with, there is always some overlap that I can't get past.

Most of the time, I don't post exactly what is happening with me. I notice you all do the same. Chipper notices about travel or recipes, dogs and cats and kids is certainly more socially palatable than, "I cried my way through decorating my Christmas tree this year."

My fear is, social media gives us the illusion that we know what is going on in someone else's life. We really have gotten good at promoting the professional personas we have adopted, and we know what the rules used to be for "appropriate for the workplace." But social media is changing the equation. We are getting the idea that social media can actually give us emotional support. But getting that emotional support back from the system requires a radical transparency and openness that some of us aren't comfortable with yet. I'm not comfortable with it in my face to face personal life - some people have the whole story, some have half the story and others have none. What I wonder about is how we have created this expectation that Facebook is a window into our personal lives, when really it's only a window into what we choose to share. Maybe Facebook isn't telling us the whole story. But we think it is. And so, we stop asking, "How are you," because we think we already know the answer.

The past few months have been particularly challenging for me personally. But I find myself posting things on Facebook and Twitter just like normal. Links to articles, blogs, stuff you would normally see. One day, I kind of lost it a little bit and posted on Twitter that I needed a minute because I was having a bad week. That was my way of saying, "Things are not okay here." Stephanie Reeves, God love her, reached out and gave me a little encouragement. And when I got that Tweet, I realized it was what I had been desperately needing and had been unable to ask for. Support.

A few days later, I was looking at my Facebook feed. Nobody would ever know what is really happening with me by reading it. It seemed so false, even to me. Like I didn't even recognize myself. I seemed like a stranger. So I decided to post on Facebook that we had lost a friend of ours in a house fire. That was what my "needing a minute" Tweet was all about - I had just heard the news. But I wrestled with that Facebook post. Will people think I am looking for sympathy? Will people think I'm just being dramatic? Isn't this harsh to see in the middle of dogs dressed as Santa and hey-can't-wait-to-see-my-family-over-the-holidays messages?

Finally, I decided there was really no way around it. It seems like it's up to us to tell because nobody seems to ask anymore. I almost felt compelled to post just so people would stop laboring under the false impression that everything is fine with me. I am still unconvinced that everyone needs to know all the details of my personal life or my moods but I have rededicated myself to making sure I keep asking the question, "How are you?" to my friends and colleagues. I might not get the full answer, but at least I've given someone the opportunity to say, "Not good....I wish things were better...." I will be watching more carefully for people who post frequently yet suddenly disappear. I will be watching more carefully for subtle hints and clues that might indicate someone is reaching out for support, but isn't comfortable with telling the entire story yet.

I imagine I will continue to wrestle with the line between public and private. I am no closer to the answer now than I was three weeks ago. I haven't embraced the idea that everyone needs to know everything all of the time. However, I did feel less lonely when I was able to share. And that felt good.

All I know for sure we just can't assume everyone is fine based on what we see in social media. We have to remember to genuinely ask, "How are you?" and listen to the answer. I believe our friends, business associates and members will appreciate us for it.

Here is the link to Ani DiFranco and a live version of Jukebox for those of you who can't see the embedded

video code.

Trampoline Strategy

2011-12-05T14:01:00.001-08:00

In all seriousness folks, I needed a laugh today and of course, YouTube had one ready for me.

Doesn't this feel familiar? This video just seems to sum up the process of innovation for me. Tussling. Discovery. Experimentation. Naysayers. Dismissal. But....let's face it, sometimes you just have to keep jumping no matter who doesn't want you to.....

Here's hoping you find a way to be inspired by a new discovery this week.....

Here's the link for those of you who can't see the embedded video - Foxes Jumping on Trampoline

Big Vision in a Big Country

2011-11-29T09:12:00.001-08:00

So take that look out of here, it doesn't fit you
Because it's happened doesn't mean you've been discarded
Pull your head off the floor, come up screaming
Cry out for everything you think you may have wanted
I thought pain and truth were things that really mattered
But you can't stay here when every single hope you had shattered....In A Big Country, Big Country

I had the best talk with Midori Connolly a week ago or so. She's one to follow if you don't already. She has big visions for the future of associations as well as meetings and events. Refreshing and fun and a joy to talk to. Also, loved Elizabeth Engel's guest post - Dare to Think Big on Affiniscape's blog.

Later, I ran across a comment questioning whether thinking big was even appropriate any more. After all, we can't plan for longer than 2 years at a time so isn't 20 year vision irrelevant? It feels very smart and edgy to claim no allegiance to big vision. Vision is so old-fashioned. The cool kids believe in "real time adjustment," quick, nimble, opportunistic, entrepreneurial action. To them, big vision is a waste of time - all the smart people don't believe in it anymore.

I reject that line of thinking.

It seems that all we talk about anymore is "strategic planning." Yes, planning cycles are shorter - no doubt. I believe the most effective strategic plans don't look farther than 18 to 24 month cycles. And all of those things I mentioned - quick, nimble, entrepreneurial, etc., are excellent strategies and tactics to use - but only when in pursuit of big vision. I believe a strategic plan, linked to nothing but short term revenues, is a ticket to irrelevance.

We should be talking about "big vision," not as something we "can't see because we can't see the future" but as a "future we can play a role in creating." Why are we allowing others to create our futures for us? Somehow we are allowing ourselves to be convinced that big vision doesn't matter any more. That fighting for big ideas is an impractical waste of time. That creating big vision is irrelevant with the rate of change that is upon us. I make no apologies for continually pursuing big vision and for wanting to work with associations who believe in it too.

I submit to you that in a world that is subsumed with small thinking, with moving from crisis to crisis, with shock doctrine ethos, with making short term bets instead of investments in a longer term future that associations have an obligation, a duty and a right to substitute this addiction to the short term with devotion to the long term instead. Something people can rally around. Something that makes you gulp a little bit. Something that makes people in your industry or profession stop in wonder at your audacity and your daring. Something that actually makes the world better for all of us, not just our members and their narrow interests.

It's time to get beyond the balance sheet, pull your head up off the floor and come up screaming. Screaming for something just and fair. For something inspirational and hopeful. Something that will fill your souls and not just your reserves. Stop the mindless pursuit of money and start talking about why your existence makes the world a better place for everyone. Why everyone in your industry or profession should get out of bed and be proud of what they do, whether members of yours or not. How you make a real difference in people's lives and, more importantly, how you intend to keep making a difference in the years to come.

It's not arrogant to believe in big vision. It isn't a sign of hubris, or denial or stupidity. It's a sign of a deeply held belief that this can't possibly be all there is. In the final analysis, our dreams of a better, more equitable, more just future are the only things that stand between us and cultural suicide.

In a big country, dreams stay with you...like a lover's voice fires the mountainside.....

Stay alive.....

Embrace the Ordinary

2011-10-28T12:18:00.000-07:00

There goes my hero
Watch him as he goes
There goes my hero
He's ordinary... Foo Fighters, My Hero

We put too much mystery in the word "innovation."

We ascribe profound moments of change to the "eureka" myth and assume we just don't have much to offer. We imagine brainstorming sessions must be fast-paced, high energy idea-fests with lots of loud talking and waving arms over heads with the requisite magical results. We are pretty sure if there isn't pizza involved the results won't be "authentic."

The fact is, innovation isn't a project or an event, it's a lifestyle. It's just curiosity that is harnessed and applied. It's what we humans naturally specialize in. At some point in our evolutionary past, the first humanoid thought, "I wonder what's behind that rock?" and then walked over to find out. We've been at it ever since with insanely awesome results. What's on that moon up there? I don't know, let's go see.

Sometimes, the best brainstorming happens when you aren't looking for it and you least expect it. Here's a simple example. Recently, on an ordinary day replete with the usual domestic issues, phone calls, client emails, etc., I just happened to meet up with one of my absolute favorite colleagues to pick up something she is letting me borrow for a project I'm working on.

We sat down. We got caught up on the life dramas underway. Commiserated a little on registration trends and other event related stuff because we are meetings geeks and like to talk shop. And then came the statement - "You know, we don't want to do this element anymore at this conference but we don't know what to do instead." And the ad-hoc brainstorming session was on.

We didn't plan for it. We didn't carve any special time out of our day to do it. I'm not even part of their staff or their leadership. We simply invoked the process that over time has come to us as naturally as any other interaction in our daily lives. We sat with the question for a minute. Then we starting asking questions of our own. Why do we even do this anyway? What purpose does it serve? What do we lose if we.....? What if we...? Nah. How about...? Hmmm. I'm not sure. Can we combine...? Silence. Thinking. How about a game instead...? What kind of game? Well....I don't actually know....oh never mind.....You know, I've heard x,y,a tried this or that...Hmmm.....Silence. We aren't talking 8,000 miles per minute. We aren't in an inspired, ecstatic state of mind. We're just grinding it out. My colleague is free to reject my ideas, I'm free to reject hers. It's not personal, it's a process. We trust each other and we know we will know it when we see it.

And then we do.

We land on a potential solution that we think has merit. In fact, we are kind of excited about it. It's got a coolness factor to it. It has elements we've borrowed from others, and we've added our own twist. We congratulate ourselves and move on with our day. I grab my stuff and wander out to the car, she sends some emails out to get others input on the concept.

We are just ordinary people. On an ordinary day. Doing ordinary things. Creating extra-ordinary results with just three tools - willingness to change, asking a ton of questions and trusting each other with the process.

Be a hero. Be ordinary.

Creativity in Association Management - Are You the Roadblock?

2011-10-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

Do you run your staff meetings like this? How about your board meetings?

We talk so much about creativity and innovation in the association sphere but we know so little about how to actually facilitate their achievement. This Dilbert cartoon just nailed it on Sunday. After I stopped laughing, I started thinking about how many times I've seen these dynamics play out in the staff room and the board room.

"Your ideas are awful" - We usually don't say this out loud but that doesn't mean we don't marginalize some members of our staff or our board. When they start talking, we jump for our smartphones in a desperate attempt to hide the fact that our eyes are rolling. When the person is finished we ignore their input, because we didn't hear it in the first place, and move on to "the really creative and smart people." In a truly creative space we have to ensure everyone gets a chance to talk and be legitimately heard, to be outlandish, or even be fabulously wrong. Sometimes bad ideas have seeds of greatness within them.

"Don't put your ignorance on display" - Nothing kills creativity faster than, "It's already been done...." Well, maybe that's true. But examining an issue with fresh eyes, might give you opportunities to see weaknesses in what the competition is doing. Some way to bring a new angle and some fresh thinking to an already good idea that changes it for the better. Most of the time, innovation comes from modifying what currently exists and bringing new value to it, not coming up with a brilliant idea out of the blue. In a truly creative space, there is no such thing as fear of being labeled ignorant.

"No ideas that cost money or involve risk" - 'Nuff said. In a truly creative space you set aside funds for investment, research and development and you learn to take calculated risks.

"...look at you with disdain" - When you, as the executive, believe that you are endowed with certain powers to accurately and immediately judge what is and is not a good idea, you will kill off any creativity in your staff or board. I have seen plenty of executives who believe that somehow, by virtue of their position, they will "know it when they see it." And I have seen plenty of executives who are dead wrong about their own accuracy and powers of intuition. In a truly creative space, the leaders give room to allow ideas to live and breathe rather than immediately kill them. If you don't understand it right off the bat, that doesn't mean there is something wrong with it or it can't be done.

"...take that project on in addition to your existing work" - Associations are famous for this. How often do we ask our employees to step up to the plate to create something new, while doing everything else exactly the same way they have always done it? Creativity is messy and it is time consuming. Quite frankly, if you know exactly what you are doing and why, you probably aren't being creative at all. And if you insist that you will not take the risk of cutting an old thing off to let a new thing live, then start looking at your association wind up and dissolve clause in your bylaws, it's only a matter of time for you. In a truly creative space, adequate time and space is given to allow new ideas to flourish and workloads are adjusted accordingly.

Stop calling staff or board meetings in order to elicit "creative ideas." I'm all for retreats and consciously created spaces to learn how to spark new ideas and brainstorm new possibilities and I love facilitating them. However, those spaces are designed to familiarize groups with the creative process in a macro sense. Creativity in the micro sense needs to happen on a daily basis. You can't just call the occasional meeting and demand "creativity." Inspiration doesn't work that way. You have to build "experimentation," time and platforms into your daily routines to see true creativity thrive. In addition, you have to adopt some new behaviors to avoid stifling creativity within your group.

Are you surrounded by people who don't seem to have any ideas? Maybe they aren't the problem, maybe you are.

Associations Are the 99%

2011-10-11T10:07:00.000-07:00

"To those wondering whether to pay attention to the "Occupy Wall Street" (OWS) protests, the answer is yes. This is more than just a nascent movement that will grow in the weeks and months ahead. It is part of a worldwide drive for greater social justice." ....Mohamed A. El-Erian, Listen to Occupy Wall Street

Associations need to take a position on Occupy Wall Street.

For far too long we have wandered in the wilderness of non-dues revenue, return on investment, sales and marketing. Customer service. Nobody needs your 10% Hertz rental car discount. NOBODY.

If you wonder why members can't hear your message, it's because you've buried it in stuff. If you wonder why they don't participate, it's because you devalue them when you consider them "buyers" and not "members." Is the answer to governance issues really just eliminating the number of decision makers? Is that democracy?

Associations have a long history in the United States. We were formed out of a desire to assist our fledgling democracy thrive. We were formed to keep a close eye on the powers that be and to exercise our deepest rights of assembly and speech. We were formed to protect the 99%, not to exclusively represent our members interests in this constant policy duel to the death.

The 99% does have a voice. Us.

If you want to find real member value, then start promoting your members voices in service and support of the middle class in this country. Start drawing a line between yourselves and those associations who co-opt our names and run an exclusively corporate agenda. Let's join together and stop these fly-by-night associations from forming and disappearing overnight just to funnel corporate contributions to elections and issues in the wake of Citizens United. Let's find our own outrage at those entities who are taking our good names.

Think about your members for a minute. Who do you represent? Most associations represent the middle class. Think about the unrest in the country and then find your voice.

Start creating value out of meaning. Start creating value out of standing for something.

Stop thinking you are a service provider, and remember you hold the heartbeat of democracy in your hands.

The Demise of REM and Association Management

2011-09-22T12:18:00.000-07:00

Meet me in the crowd, people, people
Throw your love around, love me, love me
Take it into town, happy, happy
Shiny happy people holding hands
Shiny happy people laughing......REM, Shiny Happy People

1991.

Can it really be that long since Shiny Happy People hit the airwaves? Listening to this track today brought me right back with a whipsaw motion that almost snapped me in two.

It shouldn't seem odd that the Subculture would be unable to resist blogging about the death of this particular band although it is a little funny that some of my readers predicted it with Minority Report accurateness (Stephanie Reeves, I'm looking at you...)

Loves me some Nirvana, Pearl Jam and the like but we all knew REM was the key, the cornerstone. Controversial. Political. Independent. The real reason alternative rock grew into the life changing phenom that it did. Now they are breaking up. Cordially. Respectfully.

As much as I mourn this passing on of an era, (and no matter how old this is making me feel), I am really not that surprised. We GenXers worshiped at the altar of REM's independence. How fitting that at the end, they refused to allow even their biggest fans to dictate their future. I congratulate them for realizing they wanted something new. Other ways to express themselves musically. Or maybe just a well deserved rest.

I have to wonder if we are all capable of making the tough decision to quit when the time comes to do so. We are surrounded by messages about "getting our heads in the game" and "staying the course," and "up with people, you can do it!" In spite of all the platitudes and guilt trips, if we lose our passion for our home life or work life can we make the same graceful decision to exit stage left? Do we, in fact, have an obligation to do so?

Will your association know when it's time to quit? If your association comes to a cross-roads where they need to make a choice to merge with another for the betterment of their profession or industry, or cease operations because their landscape has changed so dramatically - will they have the courage to remake themselves or to purposefully leave the stage altogether? Will they change course and redirect resources when the opportunities present themselves? Or will they ignore all of the options they have to best protect their own legacy and their members and instead go down screaming and flailing into the long night of irrelevance? (Don't get me wrong, I am not Debbie Downer. I firmly believe in the future value of associations but not every single one of them is going to make it during the next 25 years and we are kidding ourselves if we think they will.)

How about yourself? Can you make the choice to move on in your relationships or careers, (no matter how fantastic they are or may have been), because it's time to remake yourself again? Life is messy. Life changes course. Life pulls you on and under and sometimes pushes you to heights you didn't know you were capable of.

Are we going to be shiny happy people...holding hands? And if so, for how long? Goodbye REM.

Embedding was disabled but here is the link to the video....

Disruptive Innovation Coming to Nonprofits

2011-09-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

You want innovation? You want disruption?

You got it.

Check out this article from Fast Company on how Howard Buffett plans to invest in the nonprofit community - but with a catch.

Business savvy and investment comes with a simple message - I will invest but you have to get your acts together. Stop competing. Stop setting up nonprofit after nonprofit to only handle a certain smaller and smaller piece of the pie. Coordinate. Collaborate.

Not-for-profit trade and professional associations should take note. We have association after association setting up, splintering off, diluting our ability to work together and leverage our collective voices mostly because groups either a) feel misunderstood or b) only want to protect a certain piece of the industry or profession.

Now, don't get me wrong. We have dynamic forces working here. Increasing specialization seems to be an inexorable force and is a direct result of the increasing complexity of our societal structure. There can be a legitimate need to affiliate in smaller groups. But one of the key reasons why associations keep splintering off into smaller groups is because the bigger groups are often tone deaf and aren't equipped correctly to provide opportunities for those smaller groups to flourish in their current sphere.

It comes down to fear and control. And a lack of willingness to compromise.

Now, we have a player who has entered the 501(c)(3) arena who is putting money behind a simple idea. Identify the problems and work together to fix them. Stop the duplication of effort. Crowdsource your talents. How many hundreds of medical societies do we need? If we do need them, then how can we create the kind of collaborative platform that will host that ecological system and channel their talents into a holistic grappling with health services?

If Howard Buffett is successful, he could remake the face of nonprofit philanthropy world wide.

Who will enter our sphere and do the same?

Sweet dreams.

Innovation in Association Management

2011-09-14T13:59:00.000-07:00

I knew better than to walk into Borders this week.

There is something creepy about the carnage of a failed business and something even more off-putting in the vulture like way people prowl through empty stores looking for bargains. I saw things I wanted, but couldn't bring myself to buy them. I'm not big on picking through the bones of unwitting roadkill.

Six weeks ago, Borders - to the average consumer like me - seemed fine. I don't watch stock prices and I don't read SEC reports so I am sure that I was blindsided only because I wasn't paying attention. But one day an enterprise is here and the next it's gone. Why do you think your association is immune to those same forces?

Borders was late to the party. They didn't adjust fast enough. Amazon has been killing them slowly for years. How much longer can Barnes and Noble hold out? I'm not going to place any bets on it. Forever people have claimed online booksellers can't recreate the experience of the bookstore. They can't beat the feeling of holding the book in your hand. The serendipity of finding the book you weren't looking for. The casual yet meaningful conversations with like minds in the Sci-Fi aisle.

So Amazon adjusted. They created "look inside." They created reviews. They created suggestions - if you liked this, you might like this. Then they removed THE BOOK from the equation and created the Kindle. Are there other e-readers out there that are better? Yes. But that's a platform fight. The "book store" fight is almost over. Libraries? Amazon is coming for you too.

iTunes? Unassailable? Meet Spotify.

Movie theaters and distribution? Unassailable? Meet Prescreen.

Your association - unassailable? Think again. B-corps are coming up on you. Your tax status is under threat. You have invisible cracks in your infrastructure. Your members might not see it. You might not even see it. But they are there. I've seen it. I've seen the wreckage left behind after an association flies into a mountain. I was hired to help pick through and liquidate 14,000 square feet of 85 employees worth of offices, cubicles and file cabinets. It was creepy and weird. Like a graveyard. And it was hard. And devastating. And sad. And all too real.

And they never thought it could happen to them. They recovered but they do not look the same. They are on an upturn now but they paid a heavy price.

Jeffrey Cufaude wrote an excellent post about Searching for Hidden Damage. Search for hidden damage. Diligently. Prepare. Innovate. Change.

Deirdre Reid wrote about ASAE's Innovation Talks. WSAE is hosting their Innovation Summit right now. Follow along on twitter #innovationhub.

Jeff De Cagna writes and speaks on this topic frequently.

Do you really think it can't happen to us? Borders probably thought it couldn't happen to them too.

Follow along. Get serious about this. Host your own innovation conversations.

Let's get to work.

Lessons for Association Management from South Park Creators

2011-09-08T13:28:00.000-07:00

I know I've been posting a lot lately but my brain has been on fire with all of the cool stuff I've been running across.

Today I ran across a story about Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of South Park and other most excellent entertainment pieces, where they ambushed a class on opening day at NYU to talk about the process of writing.

Here's what hit me. In it they discuss their creative process and how when they are designing a story they try to ensure that each piece can stand on it's own and the narrative between the pieces is not "and then," but instead it's "therefore" or "but." Think about that. Boring narratives have "and then, and then, and then," but exciting narratives have "this, therefore this, therefore this but that..."

What could we do with this pattern if we put it into our association culture?

How about a conference? What would change in our narrative about conference if we shifted from Continental Breakfast "and then" Breakouts "and then" Lunch "and then" Breakouts....to Breakfast "therefore" ??? "therefore" ??? "but" ??? "therefore" ????...

How about our vision and strategic environment? What if it wasn't vision "and then" membership "and then" programs" and then "newsletter" but was vision "therefore" ???? "therefore" ??? "but" ???

How about the narrative surrounding our careers and those resumes we've been brushing up? I got this job "and then" I moved to here "and then" I ended up there versus I got this job "therefore" I ??? "therefore" ??? "but" ???.

Just some food for thought peeps. Scramble up your language and see what happens. Let me know what you come up with.....

Association Management - Simplicity + Volume Might Do the Trick

2011-09-07T14:29:00.000-07:00

What if the secret to member happiness was taking benefits away instead of adding to the never-ending laundry list of stuff?

Gasp.

Well, why not?

Oddly enough, this article from Fast Company “A Store With Only 3 Products And Other Cases For Simplicity” and this clip from an interview George Carlin did in 2008 converged this morning to remind me of an important lesson.

Simplicity + volume might do the trick.

First, simplicity.

The article from Fast Company talks about a jewelry company that places only one piece per day in it's shop window. Think about how arresting that must look as you are moving down the sidewalk. To see one exquisite piece surrounded by empty space.

Studies have shown that people say they like a multitude of choices, but their behavior suggests otherwise. At a certain point, our decision making selector goes on the fritz and our ability to capitalize on complexity reaches a point of diminishing returns. More often than not, a profusion of choice can lead us to outright rejection of the whole ball of wax.

What if your association stopped creating so many services? What if you took your membership brochure and forced yourself to cut out 50% of the words on it? What if you set policy that required any new service launch be subject to the intentional retirement of something else? What if, when someone asked what your association did, you could answer in less than ten minutes? What if your vision was so clear, it overshadowed anything and everything else?

Second, volume.

Once you simplify the environment, it's easier to turn up the volume. Watch the interview below, it's profound. In it, George Carlin points out how Sam Kinison electrified the comedy world with his technique - volume. George relates that as Sam raised his voice literally, it taught George to raise his own volume figuratively. Mr. Carlin said that lesson fueled his work through the 90s and to the end of his career. Raise your voice to overcome the cultural noise we are surrounded by.

Note, I didn't say increase the frequency of your communications. Notice I didn't say "cram every link you can think of in your e-newsletter." I said amplify. Use language. Use graphics. Use unique delivery systems. Be powerful and clear. Ask the tough questions. Dig deeper.

What could your association do if you could simplify what you do while simultaneously amplifying your volume?

I’ll get the trashcans and the earplugs.

Ready? Set? GO!!!!!

(and enjoy some words from one of my most favorite social commentators - George Carlin)

Diversity in Association Management - the Association Subculture Weighs In

2011-08-26T14:21:00.000-07:00

Yes, I still think Jeffrey Cufaude's recent post on diversity was brilliant and brave. I have no problem supporting a colleague and friend who has taken a bold and impassioned stand on an issue they care about. I am also impressed with some of the comments and discussion - (Jamie Notter and Maddie Grant in particular), Elizabeth Engels related post and other comments I have read. I'm sure there are more comments on the way.

I am not going to get into a huge discussion about race relations in America. There are others far more savvy than I on these topics. For example - here is a great post from Melissa Harris-Perry - American History Lessons. I am also not going to pretend that I am particularly good at handling topics like this and I have my own lenses to look through. I don't always get this one right. K? K. (Although I do tackle LBGTQ issues from time to time - see our need for more executive transvestites :D)

But here are some of the issues I've noticed over this series of posts that I feel most like weighing in on.

The word diversity. I believe it was Joe Gerstandt who wrote a fantastic post taking issue with the word "diversity" in the past and has encouraged us to use "difference." (I was looking for the post in particular that I was thinking of - Joe if you read this could you add in comments if I am remembering correctly?) Not all diversity is racial but we tend to default to that definition when using the term. There are all kinds of different folks out there to get to. This singular discussion happened to get framed in those terms, but we all know it's bigger than just that.

We tend to gravitate to "safe" discussions. It's easy to admit we should be more diverse. It's more difficult to actively seek solutions to the problem. But the hardest part of all is finding the time to develop a sophisticated understanding of the historical, economic, political and cultural roots of the issues.

Associations aren't a particularly diverse workforce. I just interviewed 200 association executives in my most recent research project. Off the top of my head, I believe one was African-American and one would be considered Pacific-Islander. We recognize the need for more difference, but right now the pipeline isn't as full as it should/could be. And that recognition alone isn't going to be enough to change that.

Part of it is the lack of an official career pathway. We have not established a formal body of knowledge or developed the relationships we need to have in the K-12 and post-secondary community in order to raise awareness about our profession as a career. In large part, we use an organic recruitment process that many times results in our pulling potential job candidates from our own social networks that may be more homogenous than we might wish.

We asked, but they still said no. I hear this from boards of directors all the time. The issue is more complex than that. Can we really use our own lenses to "fix the problem" by assuming "asking" is all it takes? Race relations in the United States have a long, complicated history. "The ask" isn't always the answer and the fact that we heard "no" doesn't get us off the hook.

We have no other options. This is an easy one to fall into. We all routinely get caught in our own mental models of what the "parameters" of any particular problem are. Remember, every variable you choose to set is up for grabs. Need a more diverse membership? It's going to take more than a brochure with the "big four" smiling on the front of it to convince a population you are a safe place to be in.

I respect everyone involved in this particular little controversy and nobody in their right mind would think that any one of them has done anything intentional or isn't somehow vested in changing the composition of our associations. I am convinced we all have everyone's best interests at heart.

But let's keep having the discussion whenever and wherever it rears it's head. We can't progress if we don't carefully confront. We have to be free to raise issues in this association community which I believe truly values conversation.

Beloit College Mindset List 2015 vs Your Association

2011-08-24T13:17:00.000-07:00

A big Association Subculture shout out to Colleen McMahon who posted a link to the Beloit College Mindset List of 2015 on Google+. I really enjoy this list every year because of the pop culture/sociological spin it has and the fact that it really puts things into new perspective.

I challenge each of you to look at this list and then play a game with yourself. Read the items and then try to fit that person into your governance structure. Your board. Your committees. Are you feeling good about laying those venerable policies on them? I'm sure they are dying to read your board manual in all of it's 2-inch-thick-view-binder glory.

How about trying to fit them into your functional areas. How about membership? How about communications? What are they going to think about your website that you haven't even finished "getting into shape yet" when websites are almost already over?

If you are feeling a little nauseous, then I suggest you have some work to do. And you have to do it FASTER!

If you aren't sweating these issues every day, you are not getting ready for the future. And if Ferris Bueller and Sloane Peterson are old enough to be parents...well...really...what can you say to that little nugget of reality. I need some VH1 Classic - STAT.

If you don't have the patience to click through to the list you can watch a brief video recap here. It should still scare you into a Hostess Fruit Pie coma. When you come out of it - let's get past the constant wrangling over process and get to making a difference.

Association Subculture Reflects on ASAE 2011 in St. Louis

2011-08-11T10:42:00.000-07:00

The chills that you spill
Up my back keep me filled
With satisfaction when we’re done
Satisfaction of what’s to come
I couldn’t ask for another (I-I-I-I)
No, I couldn’t ask for another (that’s right)
Your groove I do deeply dig
No walls only the bridge
My supper dish
My succotash wish (sing it baby)
I couldn’t ask for another (uh-huh, uh-huh)
(I-I-I-I) No, I couldn’t ask for another.....Groove is in The Heart - DEEElite

Job. Well. Done.

I have to say that I echo Jamie Notter's post - I believe ASAE has been listening. Many of the criticisms we have had in the past were addressed this year in positive ways. I came back feeling much more relaxed and much more positive about ASAE than I have in years. Here are some post-event thoughts that are roiling around in my head.

In general. This year felt more laid back than past years and I can't exactly pinpoint why that was. Maybe it was St. Louis. Maybe it was the fact that I spent a few days on vacation before I got there. I'm just not really sure. But this annual meeting seemed less "steroided" than in past years. I had a much easier time drifting from session to session and didn't get that "panicky lemming" feeling very often. It seemed like there were fewer "private walls" around common areas.

Format. ASAE did a great job changing up formats. We had deep dives, shorter sessions, Ignite! and flash session rooms. I remember being one of the rebels last year who declared that if we couldn't find a session that resonated with us we might just hold our own flash discussion sessions. Instead of stomping on attendees with that impulse, ASAE created the space for them. I would have taken advantage of the room if I had the time and might just do that next year.

Acronym. Loved following guest blog posts on Acronym. Real time stuff with long time value. Great job you guys!

Closing session. WHEN do I get on my feet during a closing session?!?! I mean - it's almost unheard of. But this year was different. Peter Sheahan was a great choice with a high energy presentation. The ASAE Board didn't spend a year and a half on the stage (no offense, we appreciate you but in the past the "board parade" during the closing sessions was more akin to enduring a marathon or maybe water torture). We managed to avoid any Candy Spelling-esque debacles and Dallas incorporating volunteers into their 2012 video was really good. (And can I just give a special Association Subculture what-what to whoever the genius was in Dallas who gave us little laptop speakers? Yeah, jammin'.)

Peers. I love my fellow colleagues who make being onsite so fun. Even before the event cool things were happening like Sandra Giarde, CAE making the crowdsourced ASAE11 playlist and other stuff. But I have to figure out how to network better when I am onsite. I think I come across as more social in social media than I have the physical capacity to be at on-site events. Underneath a confident exterior, and outside of working in my professional day-job capacity, I am surprisingly shy and awkward one-on-one. I also have to carefully budget and manage my physical energy at events especially if I am presenting. I'm like a reverse vampire - instead of bursting into flame in the sun, I poof like so much fairy dust in the moonlight. So, as much as I want to party down with the YAPStars and charge right up to everyone I recognize and say hello (like Kiki L'Italien and Elizabeth Weaver Engle, etc.) I usually end up kind of "fading out" and not wanting to "bother anyone" or I just flat out literally don't physically "see" people when I'm in my little, thoughts racing/distracted brain-space-bubble. It's not that I don't love you guys and want to hang out - I really, really do. There must be a way to figure out how to connect with everyone I want to before Cinder-Michelle-a's interior clock tower bell rings and I race to my hotel room hoping not to lose a shoe along the way.

Next year. I am already planning on attending next year and I hope to see this positive energy continue to gain momentum. ASAE staff - if I have any words of advice I would recommend that you keep laying your hands "lightly on the wheel." You are learning how to strike a nice balance between "organized" and "organic." We appreciated the experience this year. Thanks for all of your hard work.

WIFM? Bah. WIFU!

2011-08-02T13:36:00.000-07:00

I believe WIFM (short for "what's in it for me?") is the bane of association leadership.

I am aware there is a lot to be said for the WIFM concept. The WIFM idea is very well established and will continue to have a place in discussions regarding the value proposition we offer to member-citizens in associations. There are certainly levels of WIFM considerations in memberships, conference attendance and other consumable products that we offer. But for me, WIFM belongs squarely in the member benefits and marketing department, not in our volunteer leadership structures or the board room.

The Boardroom belongs to WIFU instead (short for "what's in it for us?")

Here's why.

WIFM is a mindset. We know people often ask WIFM before they consider WIFU, but how much of that is human behavior and how much of that is a mental model they have built because we keep telling them THAT is the question they should ask? I refuse to sell Millennials short and insist that they can’t be attracted to a profession, issue or cause through any other method than WIFM. WIFM wasn't on John F. Kennedy's mind when he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." He was all about the WIFU.

WIFM is a one-way transaction, WIFU is a two-way conversation. WIFM is valid and individuals use WIFM when evaluating such things as purchases or attendance at events but WIFM is consumerist by its very nature. WIFM doesn’t apply to the totality of the association’s vision and mission or the member experience. If you can make a credible, authentic case for WIFU (What's in it for Us) instead of constantly throwing darts at a moving WIFM target, you have a much better chance of getting and keeping someone’s attention. Individuals have to meet you half way by buying into the WIFU, not simply wait for you to serve up the WIFM.

WIFM is a mirage. We are kidding ourselves. We continue to tell ourselves it is possible to develop such an intimate relationship with our members that we can routinely second-guess and satisfy their every whim and need. Survey fatigue is a growing phenomenon and is a direct result of this mindset. We keep going back to the well time and time again in an effort to decipher where the WIFM is in the minds of a diverse and ever-shifting population. Should we make every attempt to get to know members and develop deeper, more authentic relationships? Absolutely. But absent installing chips in their heads we are not EVER going to be able to guess exactly what they want on any given day.

WIFM is undermining civil discourse. Association discussions and decisions must reflect the WIFU first. If your volunteers are obsessed with WIFM issues, either on behalf of your member-citizens or in pursuit of their own individual goals, you are going to be playing politics - not leading. Do you want chapters to compromise on certain policy positions? Focus on WIFU first and keep WIFM in your back pocket in case you need it. Do you want volunteers to go above and beyond the call of duty? Then infuse volunteer leadership with WIFU first and discuss the WIFM as a secondary, bonus outcome.

WIFM isn't the exclusive motivator. If you ask me to boil my decision about paying dues or belonging to your organization to a coldly practical WIFM calculation as to whether I "get my money's worth" then, sorry, the answer is probably no. The more you tout WIFM reasons for me to fork over the cash, the more put off I get. Especially because social media gives me a way to establish professional relationships and gain access to information on my own. Membership, like friendship, is no longer an experience that you can commoditize the way you do programs, services and other benefits. Genuine affiliation has to be based on something bigger than a WIFM outcome. If you can combine the WIFU with the WIFM, you might get me to say yes.

So, I am not actually sure if anyone else is using the term WIFU. I am probably not the first person to come up with it, but I AM the first person to put it in the urban dictionary. Yes, I am associationgrrrl. :D

And the next time I am in a room with my association peeps and someone says, "we have to concentrate on WIFM" expect me to challenge with, "Only if you can answer WIFU first!"

What Does the Perfect Association Leader Look Like?

2011-07-29T13:26:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted on SmartBlog on Leadership)

Think for a moment about the qualities a perfect leader would have…

If you are like most people you had a series of adjectives pop into your head. Maybe you pictured a person who is a fearless, visionary, innovatively independent thinker. Or maybe someone who is a careful, detail oriented, focused consensus builder. On top of that, the definition of the perfect leader probably changes based on circumstances. Depending on the context, maybe your idea of the perfect leader is a Patton, and in others, a Gandhi.

When you consider the range of talents a “perfect leader” might need to have, it is unreasonable to expect any one individual to embody every leadership quality needed to succeed in today’s environment. Complex environments require complex sets of skills. Rarely, if ever, can we find all of the talents we need in any one individual. What does that mean for leadership in our associations and not-for-profit corporations? How can we adapt to this new environment?

What if we flip our thinking and stop waiting for the “one great leader who can do it all” and instead develop processes to identify and combine the best talents in our groups? We know some situations call for someone with a light touch, and others call for a more forceful approach. What if we could have both at our disposal when we needed them?

Not-for-profit associations are poised to create collaborative leadership structures that harness the power of the group and move away from the “cult of the individual.” I suggest that association leaders focus on identifying and utilizing the leadership qualities that already exist within their volunteer and staff base. This would give us a unique ability to deploy a broad range of leadership qualities and skills on critical issues affecting our associations, member-citizens and their industries and professions.

Here are five things to keep in mind when creating collaborative leadership structures in associations and nonprofits.

Acknowledge the environment. Accept that complex environments require more sophisticated leadership structures than the traditional hierarchical models of the past century.
Start simply.Make small shifts in language and terminology to support your new outlook on leadership. Use new vocabulary to create new opportunities to think about leadership differently.
Use a strengths based approach. Ask volunteers and staff about their strengths and concentrate on reinforcing and using those skills. Link innovators with detail people, connect visionaries with tacticians, introduce social networkers to problem solvers, and so forth.
Define new expectations. Setting clear policy regarding conflicts of interest and codes of conduct are vital to creating a strong leadership culture within your volunteer leadership base.
Develop appropriate training. Leadership training must focus less on “definitions” and drawing on “examples of great leaders” and more on group processes that take advantage of the skills already in the room. Interpersonal communications and collaborative processes are the keys to accelerating the development of a deep bench of strong volunteer and staff leaders.