Association Horn-Tootin' and Why Being Member Driven is Only Half the Battle

I had the pleasure last week of working with a great trade association on their strategic plan. I say great because these guys are doing a lot of things right: They undergo their strategic planning process every 3-5 years and take care well ahead of each strategy to do a careful survey of their members’ needs and priorities. 

Even more importantly, they are focused on making sure their planning is in-line with the member feedback they are getting.

Their member-focus is certainly paying off:  This is the second time we’ve gone through the member research and strategic planning process with this group and they have received some of the highest scores we have seen in the 50+ similar studies we have conducted.

Clearly this association is doing a lot of things right...But as always, there are areas to improve:  

As is often the case with the associations we have worked with, the lowest scores revolved around the issues of advocacy and the sense among members that they don't influence the direction and priorities of the association.  (If you want to see why these scores are typically lower than other areas of member satisfaction, you can find some insights in this post).

What was interesting is that the association is actually doing a lot in both of these areas:  This group isn’t just ‘talking the talk’ when it comes to being member-driven. In 2005 when they last carried out their strategic plan and again this time around, member needs and priorities was a top focus in the development of the association’s future priorities. I saw this firsthand throughout the planning workshop as board members continually revisited the survey findings to make sure their decisions were in-line with the feedback they were getting from their members.

On the advocacy side, government relations to influence policy and legislation is central to the ‘raison d'être’ of this group and they continue to make ongoing strides in this arena.

So where’s the disconnect?  Here they are, working their butts off and achieving great things for the association but their members have no clue about the hard work going on their behalf. 

This is not an uncommon issue. 

The lesson to be learned is that setting and implementing a member-driven strategy is one thing, but it’s only half the battle. The other and often overlooked other piece of the puzzle has to do with communication.

I'll be sharing my thoughts tomorrow on what I feel are some of the key elements of association horn tootin.' In the meantime, what is your association doing to make your members aware of the results you are achieving and the value you are providing in return for their membership dollars? Is it working?

Listen Up! Series on Member Needs & Satisfaction #4: Representing Member Needs A Challenge for Associations?

If you were to guess which area association members tend to be least satisfied with, what would it be? Programs and services?  Nope. Influence and engagement?  Close but not quite...

Based on 47 member needs studies conducted over the past several years, representation of member needs to different stakeholder groups has consistently been at the bottom of the list in terms of member satisfaction.

Why?

Well, as I touched on in point #2 of this post on why people join associations, one of the key drivers for members is that they recognize the potential power in numbers and added credibility that their affiliation with a professional association can provide.

As a result, members mean business in their expectation that their association will represent their best interests to external stakeholders like the government, the media and the public.  Not surpisingly, it also tends to be the area members are most critical of.

So what do members really want in the murky realm of advocacy and external relations?

While this is by no means an exhaustive list, following are some of the more common expectations we have seen for these main external stakeholder groups:

Government:

• Members want their association to ‘have a seat at the table’ when it comes to regulation and legislation development that affects them, as well as their profession or industry.
• They also want the association to be a recognized authority the government turns to when it comes to seeking advice on policy, legislation development etc.  
• Finally, members want to be kept aware of any changes coming down the legislative pipeline that will affect them - They expect their organization to provide them with the necessary tools and resources to help them mitigate challenges and take advantage of opportunities ahead.

Media:

• Members want the media to know who they are, understand the ‘brand’ of the association, and buy into the benefit the association offers.
• They want the media to be telling the association’s story.
• They also want the media to turn to representatives or members of the association as 'experts' when it comes to giving opinions on the profession, industry or related topic.

Public:  

• Members want the public to know who they are, what the association is about and what benefit the association and its members can provide to them.
• In the case of voluntary accreditation bodies, they also want the public to understand the benefit that an accredited professional or organization can provide that a non-accredited professional or organization cannot.

If you’re sitting there, thinking ‘But I’m doing all of that already...and more!’ then perhaps the issue is not with representation, but with communication.

Ah, yes, communication, which, as we discussed in our previous Listen Up! post, is often a bellwether for member satisfaction in other key areas.

As often as not, the dissatisfaction in this area comes from a lack of awareness by members of what the association is doing and/or a lack of understanding by members about what is realistic for the association to accomplish.

So, if you have been hard at work getting results for your members with these external stakeholders, have you set expectations and clear targets related to what you are trying to accomplish? More importantly, are you keeping your members up-to-speed with your progress toward these targets? And, finally, are you making sure that you are using the right communications channels that will ensure your members actually listen to what it is you are trying to tell them?

More Listen Up! Posts and information about our member needs and satisfaction research can be found here.

The ARC’s Listen Up! Series on Member Satisfaction & Needs

Wouldn’t it be great to know what your members are thinking?  What they’re really thinking?   Your members are the owners of your association.  In order to develop a strategy driven by their needs and priorities, it is crucial that their input be included as a central component of the process.

For the past ten years, our firm has been helping associations of all shapes and sizes to conduct reliable research to help them to listen…and respond to their member’s needs.  Over the next few weeks, I will be publishing a number of posts as part of The ARC’s Listen Up! Series on Member Satisfaction & Needs.

In addition to sharing with you the average member satisfaction benchmarks across a number of key indicators for 47 projects for 38 different Canadian not-for-profit organizations, I will dig beyond the numbers to discuss some of the trends, implications and maybe even a case study or two based on our firm’s experience conducting member satisfaction and needs research and strategic planning services for associations over the past decade.

As always, I welcome your comments and questions as I go!

Stay tuned for our first instalment, The Bird’s Eye View where we look at how members of Canadian associations grade their organizations on six key member satisfaction measures.

 If you would like to learn more about how the Association Resource Centre can help your organization keep a finger on the pulse of your members, please visit our website or feel free to contact me directly through this blog or at carolanne@associationconsultants.com.