The Challenge of Membership (Part 2)... Creating Value!

The never-ending discussion on “value-creation” probably begins here, more so because the perception of value itself has changed dramatically over the years. Members and prospective members want more, and expectations are fast changing. As an Association, it is not always enough to be able to offer more, we need to be able to drive a strong relevance agenda... “What do our members really want?” It might just be a good idea to work externally and take the members’ perspective as we embark upon this initiative.

Delivering our offer design in the most cost-effective way will be key, hence finding effective and alternate delivery systems will be the critical success factor. It definitely makes a lot of sense for an Association to focusedly enhance its participation on the internet, which is today the primary source of rapidly flowing information. There is actually a whole new world waiting there.

We rarely see membership renewals. Some Associations have tackled this problem by removing the concept of the annual fee… but I’m not sure if that’s intended at addressing the problem or distancing from it. Student memberships rarely translate to full memberships… I guess they suddenly fail to see its worth. Is it because they never belonged there in the first place?

I also see a great amount of solemn-ness (read seriousness) surrounding an Indian association today, that probably comes from the fact that we treat ourselves as serious people doing serious stuff… so the fun element goes entirely missing. I walk into an Association’s office, and I stiffen up automatically. Selling Liquefied Natural Gas or developing Software is very serious business too, but the offices of ExxonMobil or Infosys are fun places where ideas are flowing openly. How will we think freely, innovate on membership services or find newer ways of attracting members in an environment as stiff as a magistrate’s office?

Whether we are conducting research or representing our members before the legislature, or even developing standards of practice and ethical codes, a lot remains to be done. The job of an Association Executive can sometimes get lonely, and loneliness doesn’t help when there’s a lot to do. Ever thought of networking up?

The Challenge of Membership (Part 1)... Underlying Questions!

My first membership of an Association was in the very early years of my career. I ensured that it found a mention in my CV, incorporating the word “active” before the word “member”, spoke about it in my then limited forums, desperately trying to sound knowledgeable. By the time half a year rolled by, I had forgotten all about it and had willfully removed it from my CV after a prospective employer asked me “more” about it.

I didn’t hear anything from the Association’s office ever since I sent them my first cheque, barring a few cyclostyled sheets of newsprint that was sent as a quarterly newsletter to my “neighbor’s” address.… till about three years later when, I incidentally stumbled upon an executive from the same society who asked me why I wouldn’t consider being their member. I couldn’t gather the emotional courage to tell him that I didn’t want to repeat the cycle all over again. But I continued to be fed with the newsletter by my neighbor till I moved residence.

That was the first significant lesson on non-profit sector management that I picked up quite early in my career. And today as a Consultant, as I participate in the many discussions surrounding membership challenges of an Association, the underlying questions are generally always two: First, does an association need a member like the aforesaid me? And second, did I deserve better from the association that I was a member of?

Great Objectives and Noble Thoughts

A group of futurists get together, see the world in the way it’ll look a generation from now and plan their footsteps to take their community to this future. That’s what I guess can most appropriately be called a “Center of Excellence”. Wisdom of sorts, power of intellect, and forces of unison… an Association is born.

The driving force has always been the same. That there are issues which are of common interest and if handled well, it will propel the community to a different level. That there is knowledge to spread and when we share what we know, we go unhindered.

Great objectives and noble thoughts. However, as the Association volunteers set out on that path, time and other resources become the most significant barrier to achieving its goal. The volunteers strive hard to strike the critical balance between the hygienic of their own professions and the motivator of philanthropy.

Why must we run an Association like we would run a company, or a business… isn’t this a non-profit organization?

In all earnestness, a non-profit organization is not about not earning money. It’s about not repatriating the earnings back to the stakeholders, as their earnings from this venture. The profit earned (and profit is not a dirty word) goes back to delivering what the Association promised in the first place… take the community to the next level of performance, reach out and reach beyond!

Effectiveness... Financial Momentum... Sustainability. Do these seem familiar terms in the Association world? How does the Association address these?

Successful Associations - A Preliminary Question!

Now, that was Jim Collins again.

This time writing a Foreword for a publication on what makes Associations successful. He goes like this: “Associations are the hidden glue of our society and economy…” Sounds interesting and I smile. I read on, “Like the mortar that holds the bricks of a building in place, associations go largely unnoticed, yet they do much to hold the structure together.”

My point of view Mr. Collins: that’s only part of the story and half the truth. My observations tell me that Associations are just as responsible in letting an industry stray into obscurity, and the only way it goes unnoticed is when it decides to do so, by doing nothing.

For some time now, all I talk is Associations, all I hear is Associations. I am more and more getting into the hugely successful and potent community that actually has the power to play.

The success of any company that I know is finally what shows in its balance sheet… I haven’t really heard of an organization walking paths of glory through its CSR activities, environment initiatives etc together with a red balance sheet. So clearly, it’s about how much money you make, the right methods that you employ to earn that money, supplemented by what you give back to the community. Understandably, that’s what a “for-profit” organization is supposed to do and therein lies its success.

It’s at this point that things suddenly start to get a little too complicated for the simple thought processes that I generally live by. How do you figure out success for a “non-profit” Association, Professional Society or a Special Interest Group? What makes one Association more successful than the other? And what is their success all about?

Any thoughts?