SCD Group

Culture Choices for Associations: People vs Process; Game Plan vs Blueprint

2013-05-23T16:48:00.000-05:00

Heide Thorne (@heidithorne) responded to last week’s blog Can Associations Incorporate The Neighborly Wave? with a simple: It’s all about culture.Heide’s comment came shortly after I read Anna Caraveli’s piece titled From Formal Strategic Planning to Strategic, Improvisatory Thinking. Highlights (for me) included:

Why is it that when people act on the logic by which bureaucracies operate, they seem to have allowed simple common sense to escape out the window?

It could be the DMV clerk behind the counter making you stand in the line again, after you patiently waiting your turn for 45 minutes, because a form had not been filled correctly.
Or it could be your organization missing an obvious opportunity because they needed to wait until their annual strategic planning meeting to consider it.

If your organization is like most others, it was built on the basis of what is called the scientific management theory, first developed fully by Frederick Taylor, a mechanical engineer, in the 1900’s. Modern bureaucracy is based on the assumption that a perfect system of management can anticipate every possible risk and opportunity, increase efficiency and result in the perfect organization.

The flaws of this system and its mechanistic view of the world became especially pronounced in our knowledge age, when unpredictability is the norm.

While there is still an enormous gap between process-and-product-driven bureaucracies and knowledge-and-consumer-driven markets, there an increasing emphasis on the human elements of organizations and a need for strategic thinking capabilities rather than strategic planning processes.

The ability to think outside categories is the most essential element in an organization’s ability to constantly adapt and succeed in this environment.

I really like Anna’s thinking.

As my small association management company grew, I had to add “systems” to help run the business. But, I hated it. Too much process gets in the road of creativity, innovation and the ability to change. Maybe that’s my ice hockey “change on the fly” mentality.

I felt that people were more important that processes and systems. If we treat our people right, they treat our clients right and we all grow and enjoy the ride.

In a similar vain, I’ve heard many refer to the strategic plan as the “blueprint to our association’s future.”

That is the wrong analogy. A blueprint is static. It requires multiple approvals to make changes.

To me, the strategic plan represents the game plan for an organization. All sports teams go into the game with a game plan. All other things being equal, the winners are usually those who adjust their game plans during the game to meet unexpected threats or opportunities.

As Anna suggests unpredictability is the norm today.

Associations that thrive will be those who give their people the flexibility to change on the fly within that strategic game plan.

FOOTNOTE:
After writing this post, I came across another Harvard Business Review piece called
Great Leaders Learn Out Loud. posted by Chip R. Bell. "Walk into the headquarters of Google in Mountain View, CA, Zappos near Las Vegas, or Pixar near San Francisco, and you can feel the heat of originality cooking in the organizational oven. What you later learn is that you are in a place with an everlasting focus on growth. The popular label for this environment is a “learning organization,” but a more accurate description is a “discovering organization.” Discovering suggests a vigorous search and a deliberate exploration. Insight is treasured over expertness."

While not a giant corporation, I tried to instill a "discovering organization" culture in my AMC. Does your organization have or aspire to this type of culture?

Edison’s Advice to Association Executives: Try One More Time

2013-05-22T16:46:00.000-05:00

Growing up in Ohio, my grandparents used to regale me with stories about Ohioan Thomas Edison and his unwillingness to give up. (I think they related to Edison because they were in the same generation and like him, grew up in small Ohio towns.) Edison was used almost as often as “the Little Engine that Could” as teachable moments of my childhood.
Three of their favorites were:

“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.”
“We often miss opportunity because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work”
“Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.”

So, I was fascinated with Mazda’s new Conviction, Creativity and Courage campaign featuring Thomas Edison, Dick Fosbury and Laird Hamilton.
I really like Mazda’s campaign and strategy. It works for me.

And I love their quote from Edison:

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up.

The most certain way to succeed is to try just one more time.”

Think of this in terms of your work in your association:

Do we send a renewal notice just one more time?
Do we invite that crucial conference speaker just one more time?
Should we send that invitation to join the board of directors just one more time?
Should we pitch that story to the New York Times just one more time?
Do we try to find resolution with a “difficult” chapter just one more time?
Do we go after than big foundation grant just one more time?
Should we work with that brilliant but difficult employee just one more time?

And, just when do we know we’ve done enough and it’s time to move on?

Edison’s quote is great advice for association executive directors but the challenge is knowing when is enough enough.
Well, that is where conviction, creativity and courage guide our thinking.

Membership, board conflict, name badges & millennial connections: 4 reads for association executives

2013-05-21T17:00:00.000-05:00

Does One-Size Membership Work in a Custom-Tailored World? By Deirdre Reid via Avectra Blog
We complain about cable companies, but they have more subscription options than associations have membership options. When you join an association, you usually have one option for membership that’s defined by your place within an industry or profession – industry professional, vendor or student. However, when you sign up for cable, you can stick to the basic package or add HD, premium, sports, international or other packages to it. Like associations, you get a lot of channels (benefits) you never use, but with the emergence of new disruptive TV technology, that may change one day. If you belong to an association, think about your membership. Does it completely fit you? Are you taking advantage of all the benefits offered? Don’t you wish you could choose a membership plan that better reflected your behavior and needs? I started thinking about these questions after attending a digitalNOW session by Sheri Jacobs, CAE, President and CEO of Avenue M Group. Sheri introduced me to a membership structure I had never seen before – one based on the member’s desired experience: Whitney Museum’s Curate Your Own Membership (CYOM).
Good Conflict Makes a Good Board
By Solange Charas via HBR blog

Anyone who has served on a board of directors can appreciate that each board has its own characteristic rhythm, social rules and level of effectiveness. What I found was that there is something powerful about the way directors speak to one another, especially when they disagree. My interviews revealed two kinds of boardroom conflict — cognitive and affective — with very different implications for board performance. Boards that recognized affective conflict and addressed it quickly were associated with high governance quality, whereas boards that were less willing to address affective conflict or ignoring it altogether were associated with low governance quality. High governance ratings were also more common for boards that had engaged directors generating high levels of cognitive conflict.
What's In a Name Badge? Tag Snobs Glad You Asked
By Leslie Kwoh via the Wall Street Journal

Mr. Davidson isn't alone in his obsession. In the booming world of corporate conferences, name badges are a topic of great fascination and passionate debate. Disagreements have raged online over the ideal type font, text size and spacing. Event organizers can spend a lot of time agonizing over templates and colors. Great to see so many association friends (Adrian Segar, Scott McKain, Joan Eisenstodt, Nick Topitzes) quoted in this article. Me? I’m a big font kind of guy. Big enough that my old eyes can see from a distance. And, lanyards that don’t have your name badge at your belly button! ASAE is the worst at this. I have to shorten the lanyard to get my name tag at eye level.
Baby-Boomer Marketers Are Misreading Millennials' Media Behavior
By Bonnie Fuller via Advertising Age

Baby-boomer marketers should be salivating over the 105 million-strong millennial market. Born between 1982 and 2004, millennials make up the first generation that actually outsizes the influential-but-aging boomers. So why are so many senior marketers missing the opportunity -- and their piece of $200 billion in spending power? Why are they convinced the methods and media that have worked over the past 30 years of their careers will continue to produce results with tech-savvy millennials, even though they have vastly different media habits?

Do Whatever Rings the Cash Register: Associations & NonDues

2013-05-19T17:22:00.000-05:00

Back in March, Laura Petrecca of the USA TODAY wrote a story headlined Ad agencies go from jingles to entrepreneurship.

Advertisers are creative, right? So what's to stop them from thinking outside the box enough to create their own product lines?

When I started my association management company, a company approached me about producing some product literature. I called Charles Rumbarger, CAE, who was my mentor in starting the AMC and asked him if I should do the project. “Steve,” he said, “Do whatever rings the cash register.”

I followed his advice then and for the next 19 years that I owned my AMC. Which is one reason I'm a consultant, speaker and blogger.

As we grew, I sometimes wondered whether – given the talent on my staff – we should be doing a lot more than managing associations. But, I ran out of time.

I thought of Chuck’s advice again in April when Barry J. Barresi, OD, Ph.D. is the Chief Executive Officer of the 36,000 member American Optometric Association highlighted non-dues revenue in a meeting of the St. Louis Institute for Association Leadership (STIAL).

Associations continue to “debate and discuss” non-dues revenue and the role associations should take in providing “for profit” oriented products and services to members and non-members.

The St. Louis Institute for Association Leadership (STIAL) featured non-dues revenue at its April meeting.

Dr. Barry J. Barresi, OD, the Chief Executive Officer of the 36,000 member American Optometric Association, spoke and offered the AOA’s move to a for-profit subsidiary. Barry also serves as of AOAExcel, Inc., the wholly owned subsidiary of AOA, a health services and health information technology company.

When arrived at AOA, dues represented 65% of its revenue. In checking with ASAE, he discovered that AOA was too dependent on dues revenue as compared to its peers.

Dr. Barresi said AOA’s process of developing strategies and implementing an aggressive non-dues revenue plan involve three core elements:
Politics, people & profits

Politics: Needed to get board open to and comfortable with taking risks. Most non-dues require comfort with three kinds of risk:

Financial risk

Operational risk (upset someone)
Reputation risk (impacts brand)

NOTE: You may want to read Is Fear of Risk Killing Association Innovation that Katie Bascuas posted to Associations Now.

Manage the board's expectations ... give it enough time to succeed

Finding a champion: either on board or a former board member (past president). The champion helped CEO get board ready for moving to a subsidiary

People:Dr. Barresi found three types of people were important to the process and decisionmaking:

board member and outside consultant

existing staff

nay-sayers: (focus on needs of member ... need to serve business interests of members)

His goal is to guide members through the doors to success ... need to create programs to help them

Profits:
While generating income and profits are key element of non-dues revenue, Dr. Barresi highly recommends focusing on member engagement and mission over profits. He says you should not emphasize the profits but rather, talk about results in terms of member engagement; the value they are getting.
AOA focuses on KPIs (leading indicators): engagements with members.
Converted relationship with affinity groups. Don't want just royalty ... want to be the marketing arm of your programs/services
He mentioned attending a meeting where John H. Noseworthy, M.D., President & CEO of Mayo Clinic talked about taking risk, running experiments and sharing Mayo's culture of innovation as focused on three key elements: "think big; start small; go fast"

Big: Reflect on what you want to do
Small: Pilot projects
Speed: Get to market quickly: implementation of key programs

Knowing What Services/Programs to Offer
Dr. Barresi said AOA does not create programs or services already offered by other vendors. He said they look for areas that are a vacuum, then build and deliver it. He suggested that associations need to be aggressive in this area or someone else may fill that void.

When bad news comes knocking, get in front of it fast with honesty and transparency.

2013-05-16T16:54:00.000-05:00

Where's my crisis communications plan when I need it?

One of the really great family-owned grocery chains got hacked this winter. It was really serious. It impacted 2.4 million credit and debit cards.

Based on reading a number of accounts from the company, media and lawsuits, here’s the problem’s apparent timeline:

The credit card problem started in December 2012 and extended until March 28, 2013.

A credit card processing firm informed Schnucks on March 15 it had tracked credit card breaches back to Schnucks stores.

Schnucks immediately hired a computer security firm to examine the problems.

The firm and company “resolved” the breach about March 28.

Schnucks notified customers and the media of its credit card issues on March 30 ... two weeks after it first learned of the problem.

Last week (on May 10), the Schnucks chairman issued a video apology.

That two week gap represents a major reputation issue for Schnucks.

The company failed to alert its customers of the issues (as it knew them at the time). Meanwhile, their customers were telling friends and neighbors that their cards had been breached. And, then, for the company’s chair to issue an apology six weeks after the fact. Seriously?!

From my perspective, the Schnucks’ case shows the danger in not being fast to inform customers (members).

In these types of cases, waiting until you know all the facts can cost you valuable good will.

It makes me wonder if Schnucks has a crisis communications plan. And, if not, why not?

Were their actions guided by company lawyers advising to wait until they knew the whole story?

Why did Schnucks continue accepting credit cards after knowing of the breach but before it had blocked the problem?

In today’s fast-paced world, speed, transparency and honesty are vital for your reputation.

This applies to associations and the industries/professions they represent.

And, it starts with a pre-determined crisis communications plan to guide you when faced with a crisis. You don’t have time to create one on the fly with media and members/consumers knocking at the doors asking your CEO for answers.

What I Learned From Dunder Mifflin and The Office

2013-05-15T17:21:00.000-05:00

Guest Post By Kathy Deters

I’ve worked from home for nearly a decade. I enjoy it immensely; it saves me valuable time and money by eliminating a costly and lengthy commute into the city, it allows me to be home more with my children and it helps me tap into my creativity. But there have been times when, I admit, I have missed working in a traditional office. I miss gossiping next to a water cooler, celebrating co-workers’ birthdays and, of course, making a fool of myself at the office Christmas party.

Perhaps this is why I became so attached to NBC’s “The Office.” For me it was more than just another 30-minute sitcom, a way to fill the coveted must-see TV Thursday night 8 p.m. time slot; it was my pseudo-work family. Pam, Jim, Meredith, Michael, Andy, Stanley, Oscar, Creed, Angela, Erin, Phyllis, Kevin, Toby, Darryl and Dwight—most especially Dwight—were my co-workers. Through marriage and divorce, for better and worse, in times of economic success and financial distress, even that shaky season after Michael left and ratings started to drop—I got my office fix from the folks at Dunder Mifflin.

So now, as I prepare to visit Scranton one last time, I’m reflecting back on what “The Office” has taught me about organizational management, careers and life in general.

Four Lessons We Can All Learn from Dunder Mifflin

Always Be Professional: Dunder Mifflin staff were often short on decorum, even in public. Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, you are the face of your organization, so refrain from throwing parties in your hotel room when attending conventions, singing karaoke at Chili’s or stealing the captain’s hat on boozes cruises. On second thought, just avoid booze cruises all together.

Communicate With Your Organization: How many Dunder Mifflin disasters started with paranoia caused by a simple lack of information? Recall, for example, the hijinks caused by confusion over branch closings. Be honest and up front with your staff; share up-to-date information as it becomes available. And under no circumstances should you spread rumors that a member of your staff has a tiny person inside controlling him.

But Stop Talking When People Stop Listening: Meetings, meetings, meetings…Dunder Mifflin had meetings for every conflict, crisis, situation and occasion. Who could forget Michael Scott’s awkward conference room chat about women’s issues, Toby’s lengthy discourse on the Scranton Strangler, or Dwight’s dirt tutorial? Dunder Mifflin suffered from too much information, aka, TMI. If you call meetings unnecessarily, be warned, you could find your office supplies encased in a gelatin mold.

Most Importantly, Whatever You Do, Do It With Passion: Whether it was running a corporation or managing a beet farm, the employees of Dunder Mifflin brought passion to their work; this was particularly true of Salesman Dwight Schrute who, in a true Cinderella story, worked his way up from Assistant to the Regional Manager to Regional Manager. Do what you love, love what you do, and don’t be afraid to play a little air guitar when the mood strikes.

So there it is, on paper, what “The Office” taught me. What lessons did Dunder Mifflin teach you?

Kathy Deters is a senior writer and social media manager for St. Louis Sprout & About magazine and has more than 15 years of experience in government, communications and public relations. Kathy can be reached at Kathy_Deters@hotmail.com.

Can Associations Incorporate The Neighborly Wave?

2013-05-14T17:08:00.000-05:00

Growing up in rural Ohio, I grew accustomed to the “friendly wave” when passing folks on their front porch, a farmer plowing his fields or the driver of an oncoming car on a rural road. If a wave wasn’t possible, people would give a friendly “toot” of their horn as they passed.

And, the waves came in all styles – from a full hand to a lifted finger – almost like fingerprints.

After 40+ years of living in metropolitan areas, I was thinking “I miss that neighborliness.” Oh, we “sorta wave” to our neighbors but rarely do I sense the kind of neighborliness I felt back when I was growing up.

Until now.

In moving to this “55 and better” community near Fort Myers, I’ve discovered that they have instituted the wave of my childhood. Whether walking, driving, biking or golf carting, there is strong evidence of “The Pelican Preserve wave.”

It’s nice. One of the things I like about being here. A part of its culture.

Makes me wonder if our associations have something similar to the rural wave?

Do our association cultures incorporate that sense of family/community/neighborliness. It’s what Maddie Grant and Jamie Notter included in their book Humanize, isn’t it?
Is it in the “voice” our staffs share with members, prospects and others?

Is it incorporated in our board and committee meetings?

Is it part of our conferences and conventions?

If not, why not?

Shouldn’t we encourage our staff and members to go out of their way to ensure friendly neighborliness within our associations?

5 readings for Association Executives

2013-05-13T16:51:00.000-05:00

From Formal Strategic Planning to Strategic, Improvisatory Thinking
By Anna Caraveli via The Demand Perspective & shared by Mark Athitakis via Associations Now

“‘Strategic programming’ describes the mode of ‘strategic thinking’ in most associations we visited. These organizations have a gap in capabilities for continuous innovation, recalibration and swift opportunity leveraging which does not bode well for their potential for success and growth in this environment. It also has a serious gap in common sense ... The greatest mistake organizations make in planning is to assume that analysis and detailed plans will automatically translate into action.” Thanks Mark for sharing this important thinking.

The Dark Side Of Reputation Management: How It Affects Your Business (Association) By Cheryl Conner via Forbes

This is a great piece regarding online reputation management and what to do or not do if your organization is “hammered” with online reputation attacks. Best advice: do NOT respond as helps the attacker.

What to Do When the Leaders Don’t “Get It”
By Jamie Notter

Here was a distinct theme among the questions at one of my recent sessions: “Our leaders don’t get it. They’re clueless. Leaders don’t think they can change the culture. People see the leaders as incompetent. In the context of all that, what are we to do?” Jamie offers four insightful tips

ASA (Automotive Service Association)Reports Employee Theft, Two Executives Resign Report in Fender Bender

I hate these kinds of stories: A member of the association’s administrative staff associated with accounting functions used an ASA credit card for personal purchases, such as clothing and travel. He said the purchases amount to “many tens of thousands of dollars.” It is not yet known when the embezzlement activities started. What processes do you have in place to reduce your risks. Here’s a post with suggestions:

Upfronts Not Ready for Prime-time Reality
By Michael Wolff via USA Today

The Upfronts are a media ritual that stretches back to the early days of television. It's when networks offer advertisers a locked-in deal if they buy space for the fall season in the spring instead of waiting until the new shows air, when the costs, especially for hit shows, might likely go up. Forget the fact that there really is no longer a fall season, that a hit now is hardly what a hit was then, that television networks are themselves pale imitations of what they were — once again the Upfronts are on. Theaters are rented in Manhattan, network heads and ad sales executives are rehearsed, assorted stars are unhappily drafted to participate and, in old-fashioned variety-show format, the new shows are launched and the old patted on the back. Hum, are we in the association profession holding on to “old ways” because we’re afraid of the new?

Staffing the Association: Part 2 Do employees really love their associations more than AMC staff?

2013-05-12T17:45:00.000-05:00

When I posted Staffing the Association: Employ Staff or Contract with AMC? on Friday I assumed it would get some response.

I was hoping for a discussion about a topic important to the association community: How do we provide the staff resources to fulfill our missions?

Well, I was a bit surprised with Ginny’s comment:

“My take is that an AMC simply can't muster the ‘love’ and caring for the membership the way association staff can. We have an ongoing relationship with our members and they count on us to know and care about them.
“This is a wild, sweeping generalization, of course, since I'm sure this doesn't apply to every AMC. But to me, using an AMC is akin to Dell Computers outsourcing their tech support to India. Yes, those folks may have great technical knowledge, but when I can't get them to understand my questions because of language barriers and/or their own lack of interest in me as a customer, I get frustrated and decide never to buy another Dell again.”

Association employees “love and care” for their clients more than AMC staff? Seriously?!

That is such a false argument and way over the top.
As I mentioned in the original post, I was an association employee for 15 years and an AMC owner for 19 years. So, I think, I have the benefit of looking at both sides of the street.

Ginny’s comment leads me to some observations:

Association professionals – whether hired or AMC – demonstrate commitment to their association. You can find those “just doing the job” at all staffing levels whether hired or AMC.
Good association professionals create ongoing relationships with boards, volunteers and members.
Employees can be fired; AMC contracts can be cancelled; AMCs can fire associations.

Association employees wear two hats; AMC employees wear three:

All of us wear our association’s hat:

we seek to provide exceptional service to our association and its members
we seek to create relationships with our volunteers and members
we seek to truly understand the industry or profession of our members
we seek to implement programs and services on time and within budget
we seek to monitor trends impacting our professions or industries and share that information with our boards and volunteer leaders

All of us wear our personal hat:

we seek to create relationships in our personal and spiritual lives
we seek to offer quality time to our families and friends
we seek to earn a fair salary as well as an opportunity for advancement

An AMC employee has the additional “AMC hat”

we seek to create client relationships
we seek to grow our associations
we seek to provide exceptional service within budget parameters
we seek to be part of a successful business so we have continued opportunities

So, as we focus on what’s best for associations, let’s understand that the majority of us working for associations and nonprofits – whether employee or AMC staffer – are professionals who “love and care” about the organizations we represent.

Before You Contact Your Association Volunteers

2013-05-09T17:01:00.000-05:00

I’m inside my temporary home/office ... working on blogs and some client projects and proposals ... but also looking out the window at golfers on the #6 green.

It is really distracting!

Mainly because I’d rather be out there in the sun with them!

Which got me to thinking about the difficulty association executives have connecting with their volunteer leaders.

While we association execs are thinking and breathing the association and its issues on a nearly 24-7 bases, our volunteer leaders have other things on their minds most of the time.

I remember thinking, “Why aren’t they responding to my emails or calls?” “Why aren’t they focused on our association or professional society?”

Well, let’s look at this from their perspective as a volunteer leader ...

They’re committed to their company 24-7.
They may be facing a crisis in their company.
Perhaps, they are focused on a call from one of their board members or perhaps a key investor.
They may have back-to-back surgeries or client meetings
Maybe a major news story (or blog post or tweet) is breaking and they are focused on responses.

So, when we reach out to our volunteer leaders, let’s think about “where” they are and ask ourselves is this question or issue really important enough to interrupt their primary job?

Staffing the Association: Employ Staff or Contract with AMC?

2013-05-08T17:40:00.000-05:00

The other day, a business colleague asked me one of those difficult questions facing association leaders:

From your Association Management days and/or days as an Association ED, do you have a template that lists the types of expenses an association needs to consider/include in a budget when it's moving from being run by a management company to hiring its own ED? I had a friend of a friend ask me and I thought you may have something from your background.

Not looking for budget dollars, simply the categories/expenses to consider when making a transition such as this.

I don’t want to create a firestorm but I thought it might be useful for you to see my response.

So, here’s what I sent him.

As you may know, I worked 15 years as an employee of a large international association and then owned an Association Management Company for 19 years. Thus, my perspective comes from being both a staff member and an AMC owner.

First, based on those experiences, it makes no sense to hire your own staff unless the association’s budget is $5 million a year or more.

Second, here are the cash costs of hiring your own staff:

Salary.

Health care (assuming you can find it for a small staff) and other benefits (including vacation and paid leave obligations).

Payroll taxes (right now the association would have to pay around 7-11% of the employee’s salary to FICA, FUTA, SUTA and other state/federal taxes).

Payroll service company.

Office rent.

Computers, internet server and other equipment.

Office furniture.

Telephones, wireless networking, etc.

Liability insurance (general, theft, etc.).

Third, hiring your own staff brings some non-cash costs that the association should consider:

Having your own employees brings with it legal liabilities such as unlawful dismissal, sexual harassment, etc.

Legal costs for preparing, reviewing & updating employee policies.

Higher banking costs (or lower returns) from being a single organization rather than being part of the pooled resources via the AMC.

The potential for higher costs (hotel rooms, printing, etc.) that most AMCs are able to negotiate because they manage multiple organizations.

Vacation time.

Repair costs and cost of replacement of equipment.

Hiring generalists rather than specialists because you can’t afford full time specialists (membership, marketing, meeting planner, etc.) that are accessible to you via your AMC. (See my blog http://bit.ly/Zs5p09 Are Doing and Thinking Switchable Tasks for Association Executives?)

I think this covers most everything. As you know from your agency days, these costs will run about two times salary.

While I recognize that each association needs to address this topic within its own context and culture, personally, I do NOT understand why associations think they get a better “deal” hiring their own staff.

So, that's what I shared. What do you think?

Defining Your Ideal Employee - Is This You?

2013-05-07T16:53:00.000-05:00

This photo from Google Images and is
NOT the guy on the plane in this post!

I overheard a cellphone conversation on a plane last week. Ironically, as you'll see in a minute, I was flying to Charlotte to give a presentation and facilitate a discussion on generational differences.

Based on what I could hear, he was the CEO; the other party was an HR person/recruiter.

CEO: “Say, I don't want an Ivy League white guy. I've had enough charts & graphs. No more twitterers or whatever. I'm serious. You can’t text a handshake. Look, I want you to find me a scrapper. Someone who worked their way through school. Probably played sports. Hey, I don't mean to use the CEO card, but don't bring me any pretty white boys.”

Later on the plane ride, he was fussing about the service (snack food) and said to me "I’m so tired of this. I'm 60, I should be put out to pasture."

Other than the irony of my hearing him just before my talk on generational issues, what do you hear in this conversation?

Could this person be you or your CEO? Could it have been one of your board members or perhaps one of your members or donors?

Those of us who blog, text, tweet, Facebook or LinkedIn need to be mindful that not all of our members, leaders, colleagues or others get "social media" or what we do, let alone why we do it.

Some -- age not withstanding -- don't get it and don't want to try. If they make up a large portion of our membership or leadership, we need to take them into account and not fail to reach them.

-0-

For another bit of irony, during the plane ride, this CEO pulled out his laptop and started typing a bunch of emails. I so much wanted to ask, "So, can you email a handshake." Alas, I restrained myself!

7 Takeaways for Associations and Association Executives

2013-05-06T16:54:00.000-05:00

A couple of stories in the last week seem to offer lessons for association executives and their not-for-profit organizations.

The Fall of CPI

Since I had some interest from CPI for a cause marketing project for one of my clients, their demise caught my attention.

Here are some excerpts of Kavita Kumar’s story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Was this a sign of the decline of the portrait industry as a whole? After all, in the age of iPhones, many people carry cameras in their pockets all the time and also have lower-priced digital cameras at their disposal to take pretty decent photos.
Yet, other CPI rivals appear to be thriving despite the digital onslaught.
While there may be no single answer for CPI’s fall, observers point to examples that showed how an industry leader failed to invest in new processes and rethink how the digital revolution would impact its business.
For example, CPI still had most of its pictures processed at a centralized facility, meaning customers had to wait about a week to pick up photos.
“Digital photography has changed customers’ expectations,” said John Johnson, a former CPI employee who is now CEO of Picture People, based in Richardson, Texas. “Now it’s an instant gratification world we live in.”
Another hurdle facing CPI was that its fortunes in many ways were tied to that of Sears — a retailer that has been having its own struggles with store traffic and sales.
Mitch Goldstone, chief executive of California-based ScanMyPhotos.com, said CPI should have been on the cutting edge of photo technology and advancements.
“There’s no reason why CPI didn’t invent Instagram,” he said, referring to the photo-sharing service. “They had the greatest opportunity. They had a huge customer base nationwide that they let disappear overnight.”
Goldstone, who saw how the transition to digital photography was making his photo processing lab increasingly obsolete, transformed his business into one that digitizes photos that consumers mail in.
In addition to financial struggles and falling sales, CPI has also had turmoil at the top. In 2004, a shareholder coup led by New York investing group Knightspoint Partners succeeded in ousting seven of CPI’s nine directors, claiming that the previous board had spent too much money on unprofitable ventures.

Mobile Explosion

Isaac Chotiner wrote a piece in The Wall Street Journal headlined When a Subcontinent Goes Cellular

The article is a review of Assa Doron and Robin Jeffrey's "The Great Indian Phone Book," which offers a comprehensive look at what cellphones have meant for India.
Out of what could have been a dry study packed with statistics the authors have managed to write a superb book—informative, insightful, witty—that is essential reading for anyone interested in India, or technological change, or good stories told with clarity and purpose.
The numbers are remarkable: India currently has more than 900 million telephone subscribers, 96% of whom are mobile users. In 1947, the year India was partitioned and granted independence, the country had only 100,000 phones.
"The country had far more mobile phones than it did toilets of any kind: 53 per cent of the country's 247 million households still defecated in the open; but mobile-phone density in 2012 approached 75 per cent."
Perhaps the most interesting story the authors tell involves fishermen in the lovely southern state of Kerala, whose business methods have been altered by mobile devices. "As well as allowing fishermen at sea to discover where best to land their catches," the authors write, "their mobile phones kept them informed of changing weather conditions, allowed them to alert friends on other boats to substantial shoals of fish and enabled them to call for help if a boat ran into trouble."

Building Cities

And, finally, Julia Vitullo-Martin shared this book review in The Wall Street Journal:
How to Build a Better City.

Not just how you build something but also how you revitalize a city are the questions at the heart of Alexander Garvin's "The Planning Game: Lessons From Great Cities."

But for most of their careers, both spent immense amounts of time at public meetings, both were "master marketers," both sought out and found the best talent for developments, and both pushed through many excellent projects—until one day they didn't. They stumbled and fell in part because the agenda changed, and they didn't.

Key points for associations and association executives:

Follow trends that impact your association’s profession or industry.

Recognize the need (expectation) for speed in delivering services.

Know your partners because what happens to them influences what happens to you.

Watch for business solutions that your association should provide its members before someone else does.

Turmoil within your board is not a good thing.

Understand how digital trends are impacting your members as well as your industry or profession.

Know what is happening that impacts your and your association. Don’t be like the builders. Be sure your association is not offering solutions for problems that no longer exist.

7 Quotes on Change for Association Executives

2013-05-05T17:11:00.000-05:00

When I owned an association management company, my weekly staff blog ended with a quote of the week. My staff liked them. So, I thought quotes of the week might be something to share via SCDdaily. Let me know what you think in the comments section below.

The focus this week: change

“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.”
– composer John Cage

“If you risk nothing, then you risk everything.”

– Actress Geena Davis

“Sacred cows make the best hamburger.”
– Mark Twain

“There are two types of change: the change we chose and the change that chooses us.”
– Linda Ellerbee, TV journalist and cancer survivor

“Optimists chose action over inertia.”
– Loretta LaRoche, Life is Short, Water your Panty Pants

“Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable but rather what is impossible. By visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible.”
– Ann Roulac in Power, Passion & Purpose

“To be built to last, you have to be built for change!”
– Jim Collins, Built to Last

Are Doing and Thinking Switchable Tasks for Association Executives?

2013-05-02T17:02:00.000-05:00

I arranged for a non-profit CEO and a marketing agency chairman to meet and share ideas about a common marketing project for the non-profit.

The non-profit is trying to decide whether to hire a marketing staffer or to contract with an agency.

Both agreed that the challenge of a single marketing staffer comes down to hiring someone strategic (a thinker) or hiring someone to implement (a doer).

And, they both feel that people are “wired” in one direction or the other but rarely both.

When I returned to my office, my morning blog from Copyblogger.com was waiting and headlined Are you a Marketing Artist or a Scientist? “It’s not a conscious decision or something you can change — you know in your gut which tribe you belong to. There’s no right or wrong answer here — both paths can lead to success.”

Doing versus thinking. Strategy versus tactics. Today vs tomorrow.

These uses of time (and brain) challenge association executives daily. Especially if you are the CEO of a “small staff” association and don’t have the benefit of managing thinkers and doers.

Back in January, I wrote about Switchtasking into 2013: confessions of an association professional

My main point is that we cannot multi-task most association functions. Most association executives “switch task” throughout the day: answering a phone call; responding to emails; conducting a staff meeting; participating in a board committee conference call; signing checks; reading professional journals; networking; etc. Each of these tasks force us to switch from what we were doing to what we now need to do.

If you are focused mostly on doing and implementing, who in your organization is focused on strategic thinking?

And, if you are more comfortable and focused on strategic thinking, who is doing the basic staff work at your association? Who is implementing your ideas?

And, if you are trying to do both, how do you “compartmentalize” your thinking from your doing?

Feel free to add your comments or thoughts. Especially if you are an exec in an association with a staff of five or less.

To Decide is To Divide: thoughts for association boards

2013-05-01T16:35:00.000-05:00

In her tribute to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (Britain Remembers a Great Briton, Wall Street Journal, April 20), columnist Peggy Noonan offered two observations that offer insight to association executives:

Things change. Time changes them. Great nations, and institutions, rethink. But only if they're great.

"To decide is to divide" according to Prime Minister Tony Blair. And the more decisive, the more divisive.

Assuming our associations are in fact great institutions, are they noticing the change in things and times and rethinking and modifying their organizations?

Or, fearing “division,” are our association leaders avoiding major changes because they don’t want to make anyone mad ... especially the folks who have been around for the last three decades (whether as leaders or members)?

Whether increasing dues, deleting an underperforming program or challenging a non-performing board member, I watched a lot of association boards ignore pressing issues and instead focus on trivia like what color shirts are we wearing during tomorrow’s conference?

Am I being too harsh?

Are our organizations willing to challenge big issues and make major decisions ... even if it causes divisiveness among the members?What is your experience?

PS. After writing this blog, I came across this wonderful piece from Maddie Grant and Lindy Dreyer at SocialFish. Is your Organization Capable of Unorthodox Thinking?

Please read this important work.

Ever thought of starting a Sociassociation?

2013-04-30T16:35:00.000-05:00

Ok, which one of your called it an "sociassociation?"

Guest Post by James R. Schnurbusch, Chief StoryCrafter, OrgStory

Maybe your members and prospects would rather belong to a “Sociassociation”

We’ve all heard them – cute little three year-olds trying out new words.

I heard one recently and it got my attention. Certainly it was cute how the little girl said the word she was working hard to say – but it stopped me in my tracks when I thought about her mispronunciation of the word, Association.

It came out, “Sociassociation."

Could it be that this three-year-old’s slip-of-the-tongue actually defined what many member organizations are faced with today – the evolution from members aligned because of a like industry, craft or interests who, that in the past, found personal and professional growth in physical presence with each other through association – are now growing personally and professionally through a virtual connectedness. Or, by being part of a “Sociassociation”.

Sociassociation is the social connectivity and participation in an association. It’s the way many associations and membership groups are finding that their members and prospects prefer to be engaged. You’ve heard it, “I don’t have time to go to the monthly lunch meetings.” Or, “who can afford to take two days out of their schedule and attend the national conference – and how do I justify that to my association’s leadership?”

I submit “Sociassociation” is a level of membership that associations should begin to offer to members and prospects.

Rather than offering the standard “under 30” membership dues discount, why not offer a “Sociassociation” membership level that is not discounted at all, but actually is a premium because it provides access to a much deeper layer of content of personal and professional development from your association?
Your organization can now offer the traditional “Association Membership” and receive value that comes in a more expected format, and, for some members, a more preferred format; and, it could also offer a new level of membership – “Sociassociation Membership” that provides access to rich and updated online content, forums, webinars and more.

Many associations are scrambling to add greater online resources for all of its membership to access.

But does all of your membership really want it?
And do they want to pay for it? Most likely not – online engagement is simply just not the way that some members prefer to enhance their personal and professional growth – they want, and need, the physical presence with others.
However, other members and prospects may prefer a purely virtual membership that exists online. For them, being a “Sociassociation Member” is just what they need.

I’ll continue to listen to members and three-year-olds more intently.

©2013, OrgStory LLC James R. Schnurbusch is the Founder + Chief StoryCrafter of OrgStory LLC, a consultancy that works exclusively with nonprofits in the areas of strategic planning, research, marketing and messaging.

Words Matter to Success of Association Executives

2013-04-29T17:22:00.000-05:00

SCD Group is relocating its office. During this transition, Steve is revisiting and/or updating some former blogs.

I’ve written before (see below) that words matter ... especially to association executives.

Our words – whether written or spoken – greatly influence our success as well as the success of our associations.

I’m not sure I’ve shared my 3 steps of power writing ... a system that gives you the tools to

carefully craft the words you’ll use for your association.

Step 1: Pre-Write

Think before your write. Answer the four questions I shared in Words Matter: 7 steps to enhance your association's connection with members

Step 2: Write

Make the Main Thing the Main Thing ... follow the three-step style:

Tell them what you are going to tell them

Tell them

Tell them what you told them

Step 3: Re-write

Edit what you've written ... and, before you send it, have it proof read!

Here are two other past posts about the importance of the words you use:

11/6 Easy reading is hard writing: Lessons for Association Communicators

3/6 Words Matter for Association Executives: 3 Tips to Make an Impact

Causes can energize associations while engaging members

2013-04-28T16:41:00.000-05:00

Coats 4 Kids, Bread Art Project, Canstruction & Trees 4 Troops: causes connecting community and associations

Mark Athitakis, senior editor of Associations Now, asked me to comment on a story he is doing about a new campaign by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society called “Someday Is Today.”

While not a true cause marketing campaign, it is a mix of web/social media/print/TV, and more.

Cause marketing represents a great program opportunity for trade associations and professional societies ... but, for a multitude of reasons many organizations have not dipped their toes into the cause marketing realm.

And, that is a missed opportunity to engage members, to fulfill your mission, to help a great cause.

Here are some of the excuses I’ve heard associations give:

We’re not big enough
We’re not a charity
We don’t have enough money

My experience: size doesn’t matter. Associations of all sizes and geographies can engage in successful cause marketing campaigns.

If you don’t “have” a charity or foundation, you can partner with one that fits your mission or you can start one as the National Christmas Tree Association did when it founded the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation to enhance the spirit of Christmas for kids, families and the environment.

Yes, managing a cause marketing campaign does take staff time and money. Commitment of volunteers, however, can offset some of the time and money.

Three ingredients key to success:

Great cause (with transparency and “fit”)
Passionate participants (engage your members)
Committed partners (either charity or corporate)

Here are four examples for associations engaged in cause marketing:

The Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, the very small charitable branch of the National Christmas Tree Association (NCTA), has had huge success with its Trees for Troops campaign. It has donated farm-grown Christmas trees to about 122,000 military families since 2005. FedEx is a partner, providing all the shipping. The campaign engages more than 60% of NCTA members. Individual members and local chapters have created lots of local publicity which, when combined, makes the program a major story nationally.
The Ag Media Summit, LLC, a single annual conference of three small national associations, hosts a charity event in conjunction with its conference. In 2011, they joined with Soles for Souls asking attendees to donate shoes/boots to the underprivileged. That campaign resulted in almost 300 pair of shoes (essentially one pair from 50 percent of its attendees) and also donated about $500 in cash. In 2013, AMS is partnering with Colvin Cleaners of Buffalo to host a coat, hat, glove, mitten, and scarf drive among attendees.
Canstruction, which was created by Society of Design Administration, represents another locally-driven event that creates local publicity while helping provide food for hungry people. The organization provides these results on its website: “Canstruction pound count results are in! Canstruction exhibitions and competitions have brought in an outstanding 3,419,885.44 lbs of food for local food banks across the world. The tireless dedication of over 700 entering teams, thousands of volunteers and millions of spectators has helped us raise our pound count by almost 1 million pounds since last competition year. Because of the hard work of our chapters and exhibitors, Canstruction is able to prove everyday that one CAN make a difference.”
The BreadArt project of the Grain Foods Foundation is a social media driven campaign that also provides food for the hungry via Share Our Strength. The Foundation provides key messages about grains, food and hunger throughout the website.

Here are six takeaways for associations engaging in causes:

Find a cause that resonates with members and fits with your mission
If you have them, engage your chapters
Keep it short (no more than a day, week or month)
Provide timeline for planning as well as time to engage/recruit members to participate
Recognize that lots of local publicity creates major national awareness
Be transparent: post “leader board” to track results

Here are some resources for those interested in learning more about cause marketing:

Cause Marketing Forum www.causemarketingforum.com
Joe Waters’ Selfish Giving blog www.selfishgiving.com
My causeaholic blog www.causeaholic.org

A New Type of Conference Education

2013-04-25T16:50:00.000-05:00

What Can Your Association Learn from Chicken Learning?

Guest Post by Emily Bibens, CAE
Stale PowerPoint presentations. Cold, windowless conference rooms. Attendees more engaged with their smartphones than with the speaker. Sound familiar? Too often, this describes conference education sessions.

A year ago, we set out to change this dynamic at Western Nursery and Landscape Association conventions.

The result was a series of Learning Centers developed in partnership with 15 exhibiting companies. Attendees had the opportunity to visit a series of “Learning Centers” set up within exhibitors’ island booths. Each scheduled, 20-minute education session covered a brief, timely topic and provided attendees with information they could take home and immediately use in their business.

Logistically, each company led a series of 20-minute education sessions in their booth (mostly 20’x20’ island booths – the association provided several chairs for attendees in each booth) throughout the show. No audio/visual equipment was provided and most exhibitors utilized products for demonstration rather than relying on images or PowerPoint presentations – one exhibitor even snuck in his backyard chickens. The sessions were scheduled and marketed as the educational component for the convention and sales pitch sessions were discouraged.

The response was overwhelmingly positive. Participating exhibitors said the Learning Centers were “a winner” and “took education to the next level” in providing them with a meaningful, educational way to connect with attendees.

Attendees appreciated the shorter sessions where they could ‘drop by,’ ask questions and participate in a more collaborative discussion with 10 to 20 colleagues.

As a trade association, the Learning Centers supported our mission to facilitate trade and support the industry in a way that far surpassed the traditional dynamic of exhibitors handing out brochures and price lists. It also changed the dynamic of attendees aimlessly wandering long aisles of booths and sitting through long presentations led by the same speaker who has been talking for 20 years.

The Learning Centers proved to be a positive experience for all involved. In addition to the positive feedback from exhibitors and attendees, it enabled the association to better support its members (through using members to provide education and encouraging dialogue between members), reduced our audio/visual and speaker costs to virtually nothing, rejuvenated our education format and provided valuable information to support the industry. We are expanding the concept for the 2014 convention!

Emily Bibens is Vice President of Woody Bibens and Associates (www.woodybibens.com), an association management company with offices in Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri. Emily is a Certified Association Executive (CAE) and has a MPhil Management degree from the University of Cambridge. She can be contacted at emily@woodybibens.com.

11 tips for association executives to cope with riding a dead horse

2013-04-24T16:10:00.000-05:00

I’m not sure where I found this but have modified it to fit today’s association management world.

Dakota Indian wisdom says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, it is best to dismount. In associations (as in business); however, we often try other strategies/tactics including:

Buying a stronger whip.

Appointing a committee to study the horse.

Seeking “best practices” on what to do with a dead horse.

Increasing the standards to ride dead horses.

Saying things such as “This is the way we have always ridden this horse.”

Creating a training session to increase our riding ability.

Hiring experts to find new uses for dead horses.

Doing a cost analysis study to see if contractors can ride it cheaper.

Declaring the horse is “better, faster and cheaper” when it is dead.

Purchasing products to make the dead horse run faster.

Providing additional funding to increase the horse’s performance.

Many associations have programs and services that are a dead horse.
Too many spend hours debating and scarce funds trying to revive the dead horse.

Like it or not, the best thing to do with a dead horse (or a dead program) is to get rid of it and find a new horse.

Associations Boost Economy

2013-04-23T16:49:00.000-05:00

Associations based in St. Louis region have payrolls of $200 million plus

Several years back, I met with a local economic development commission seeking their help to encourage associations to relocate to our community.

After my presentation, one of the commissions said something like “but why do we want nonprofits to locate here; after all, they don’t pay taxes.”

I reminded him (and the other commissioners) that association employees do pay taxes and do generate business!

So, I was pleased that the St. Louis Institute for Association Leadership (STIAL) asked to conduct an economic study of associations based in the St. Louis region. STIAL released those results yesterday at a Breakfast Briefing.

Nearly 500 local, state, regional, national and international trade associations and professional societies based in the St. Louis area generate a huge economic impact for the region according to a new report.

Key findings:

These not-for-profit organizations employ more than 2,800 professionals and have annual payrolls of $200,700,000.
The budgets of the 461 associations total almost three-quarters of a billion dollars ($703,964,588) according to a STIAL survey and analysis of IRS tax returns.
Nearly 1 million (830,270) people belong to one or more of the St. Louis based associations. Most of these recognize St. Louis as the headquarters of their association.

The St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission partly funded the study which SCD Group Inc. conducted for STIAL.

7 Valuable Articles for Association Executives

2013-04-22T17:09:00.000-05:00

Five Daily 'Must Do' Items for Flacks (Association PR professionals)
By Gerard E Mayers via Flack Me blog

Read
Prioritize
Assess
Work out
Contribute

Kick your organization’s old habits: Tips for creating a better work culture
By Shannon Neeser via XYZ University blog
Your organization is doing what it does because it’s always worked for you; or has it? It’s time to look to the future instead of putting too much stock in the past. Your old habits might actually be holding you back. Kick ‘em to the curb and develop a future work culture that will sustain your organization and grow future talent Create a new, better, work culture.
Work culture is a major contributor to how happy your employees are and how much new talent wants to join your organization. Is your culture outdated? It might be, and changing it can be tricky but essential.

Should You Wear Your Brand on Your Sleeve, Literally?
By Katie Bascuas via Associations Now
Whether you love them or hate them, the promotional value of staff shirts most likely will make them continuing fixtures of the events industry. Branding at events can include everything from posters to flash drives to Frisbees—and at some organizations, even uniform staff shirts. What could be easier than having your staff literally wear your brand and promote it while walking around doing their job at a conference? But not everyone is convinced. Hence the great shirt debate—the pros and cons of enforced outfit coordination.
Obviously, I’m in the “wear the brand” camp. See my Branding for Associations post.

How Your Branded Content Can Thrive on Tumblr
By Stephen Jeske via Content Marketing Institute
Tumblr is a microblogging platform and social media site that allows the sharing of all types of branded content including links, music, photos, quotes, text, and video. Virtually everything on the platform can be customized to match a brand’s image, including colors, themes, and HTML coding. This is a great introduction for association executives considering Tumblr for their association.

Your Conference Speakers’ Skills Gap Is Causing You To Lose Money
By Jeff Hurt via Velvet Chainsaw’s MidCourse Corrections blog
The majority of your conference speakers have a major skills gap! They are relying on pedagogical mimicry–presenting the same way that their teachers taught them. That causes you and your conference to rely solely on a foundation of mimicry for education success. And this foundation is the exact opposite of what your speakers should be doing if the goal is learning! Your dependence on this approach is ultimately causing you to lose money as it does not meet your attendees’ needs and it leads to a learning mirage

The TED talk everyone in the social sector is talking about – and what needs to change

By Krista Donaldson of D-Rev
If you have ever made a donation, let alone are in the social sector – you need to watch Dan Pallotta’s TED talk “The way we think about charity is dead wrong”. If you haven’t seen it, watch it now. (Yes, now.) By positioning overhead versus cause, he says donors are pitting “frugality versus morality” by not recognizing that overhead supports the cause. AIDS Rides had a 40% overhead with an aggressive marketing campaign, and as a result were skewered in the media and lost major sponsors. Nevermind that they had raised $581M for their cause.

Does Having a Mobile Responsive Website Really Matter?
By Dee Wong via The Vocus Blog

Responsive web design (RWD) optimizes the way a website is viewed across multiple devices, including smartphones, tablets, and desktop computer monitors. It determines the resolution of whatever device you’re on, and readjusts accordingly, providing easier reading and navigation while reducing the need to resize, pan, or scroll. Okay, so that sounds really awesome, but what about all these mobile apps that everyone and their mother rushed to build? At the height of iPhone-mania just a few years ago, apps were all the rage – so much so that Apple even trademarked the catchphrase, “There’s an app for that.” Today, the iPhone is no longer the only key player in the smartphone game, which means if you build an app for one platform, you’ll need to build an app for all platforms. Responsive design streamlines and simplifies that process by saving time and money that can be better spent elsewhere – like improving your marketing strategy.

Meal Guarantees Make or Break Association Meeting Budgets

2013-04-21T16:31:00.000-05:00

As a prelude to starting my own association management company, I served as a contractor to help a major corporation hold educational conferences for customers. We held these throughout the country.

My experience with association and nonprofits had ingrained me on the importance of meal guarantees. And, I really disliked it when we had to pay for meals that were guaranteed but not eaten.

Here’s what my experience showed:

most exhibitors don’t eat convention meals

many attendees (depends on group’s history) don’t eat convention meals

most hotels set 10% more than you guarantee

As a result, we had success in guaranteeing meals at about 80% of attendance.

I used that formula for this corporate client.

It worked pretty well until a meeting in Memphis.

My guarantee was a bit too tight for the lunch. We didn’t have enough seats or meals for everyone.

After the meal, my corporate manager came to me and said, “Steve, we need to guarantee more meals tonight.” I responded, “That would be a mistake. A lot of people – including your sales reps – will be skipping the dinner and going down to the casinos.” He said, “I don’t care. Set extra tables.”

So, I upped the guarantee with the hotel.

And, sure enough, we had about 100 too many places (at about $45 per plate).

At the end of the banquet, my corporate contact came up and said, “Ok, you were right. I’ll never question your meal counts again.”

While this may be obvious to professional meeting managers, many clients and association executives really haven’t paid attention to the strategies behind meal guarantees nor how it helps your bottom line.

As a meeting planner, it is in your best interest to be sure your key leaders understand.

Association executives: Would staff-led evaluations produce better results?

2013-04-18T16:28:00.000-05:00

Goal setting and annual evaluations are standard fare for the human resource roles of association executives and senior managers.

As an association executive, I really disliked the annual staff evaluation sessions. I felt the “grading system” was artificial and failed to adequately provide feedback. This is partly because most executives fear giving staff the top or bottom “grades.”

As the owner of an association management company, I tried to modify the process and eliminate the “grading system” in favor of written comments and no grades. I still wasn’t satisfied that the process was effective.

Our daughter is an awesome first grade teacher in Colorado Springs. She recently came to St. Louis (to help in our office move) right after finishing “parent-teacher conferences.” You know, the part where the teacher gets to tell the parents about their children’s progress in school. And, first grade parents are always nervous because of the importance of that grade.

She (and other teachers) have instituted “student-led” conferences.

Working with the teacher, each child establishes goals at the beginning of the quarter. As the quarter closes, each child prepares a report (portfolio) on what she has achieved along with samples of her work. On conference night, the student (with some help if needed from the teacher) shares her goals and work with her parents. This might include sharing a graph the child made to illustrate progress in spelling, vocabulary, etc.; working a math game or reading part of a book.

The process builds student confidence; gives them presentation skills; shows parents their progress; helps the teacher show progress and areas of concern.

One parent told my daughter “you’re doing this to get out of work, right? must be nice!” At the end of the evening that same parent came back and said “Wow. Now I really know what my child is learning. And, I see that you put a lot of work into helping him prepare for this conference. Thanks.”

My daughter also reminded me that if the child is having difficulty or doing something outstanding during the quarter, she notifies the parent immediately and offers re-mediation steps and/or lots of praise.

So, would a staff-led evaluation process work for associations?

Each quarter, you and your staff members could create written goals. Supervisors could “approve” them. And, at the end of the quarter, the staff member could lead the evaluation/review session ... showing progress toward the goals; sharing examples of the work; self-grading performance; outlining updated performance goals for the next quarter.

Here are five ways this process benefits you, your staffer and your association:

Makes evaluation a goal-centered process

Gives the staff member ownership in the process

Eliminates the “gunny-sack” mentality of “keeping bad stuff” until the annual review

Creates quarterly feedback sessions that helps keep the process focused

Gets away from the “grading” mentality thus focuses on results/progress and not scores