Membership
Ghosts & Legends: Overcoming Fears and Focusing on the Good
As humans, we all have fears that prevent us from trying new things. In the same way, organizations can be held back by their fears of failure, negative experiences, and fixations on past mistakes. However, it is essential to understand that failure is part of the learning process and should not stop us from achieving our full potential. This is particularly true for associations, which rely on the emotional commitment of their members. In the most recent episode of Membership IQ, I share a little bit about my first snorkeling experience. I’ll be honest — I panicked. I could not relax and enjoy the experience at all. But by the third time I gave it a try, I had the absolute time of my life swimming alongside sea turtles. The moral of the story is that, sometimes, it takes time and practice to overcome our fears and focus on the positive. As an association, it is essential to identify what is holding you back from reaching your full potential. This is where the “Ghosts and Legends” exercise comes in handy. The ghosts are negative experiences or fears that prevent an organization from moving forward. Associations need to acknowledge their ghosts, face them, and overcome them. It is only by doing so that they can learn from their failures and move on. The legends, on the other hand, are the things that associations are proud of. They are achievements, successes, and positive experiences that bring joy and pride to members. Sometimes, associations are so focused on the day-to-day tasks that they forget to talk about their legends. It is crucial to bring these legendary stories to the forefront and celebrate them. It is only by focusing on the good that associations can inspire their members and build a strong community. Membership is an emotional commitment. It is a relationship between the members and the organization, its mission, and the community. Associations need to understand this and be…
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Pins and Ribbons and Certificates, Oh My!: Creating a Culture of Recognition
I received a pin in the mail the other day from an association that I belong to. It came with a note that said “Congratulations on your 10th anniversary of membership.” and suggested that I share it on social media. While well-intentioned, this left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. I have spent a lot of money on this organization and they have not taken the time to establish a relationship with me, much less recognition. The idea of wearing a pin to show the world that you are part of that organization is outdated. We’re thinking about membership in very different ways so the pin doesn’t really “stick the landing.” I recently worked with an organization who wanted to create a culture of recognition. So we did some research and found that there are not many organizations who are focused on recognition. The vast majority of associations are focused on things like pins, ribbons, certificates and awards, and even these are for those who have been in the industry or organization for many, many years. Your members don’t want to be recognized for just paying dues. They want to feel that they are a part of the community. They want to be thanked, recognized, and gifted. They don’t want a pin. That era is over. People want recognition that is genuine and authentic. Recognize someone who’s done something amazing early in their career, a trendsetter, a trailblazer. It doesn’t have to be all about legacies anymore. Members want to receive little gifts and recognition throughout the year. What would your association look like if it was truly fostering a culture of recognition? If it was focused on recognition throughout the year? Recognize your members, not just achievements within the association or profession or industry, but recognize other attributes and ways that people are successful, committed, dedicated, and making a difference.
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Embrace Change! …or Be Left Behind.
There’s a lot of sameness in our products and our purchases. For manufacturing purposes, we want things to look and be the same. But we… you and me? We’re not the same. Every single person on the face of this planet is different. And yet, we try to pretend that everyone is the same. Like a pack of gum (listen to the podcast to understand this reference 😛). We try to put practices and processes into our organizations and predict what human behavior will be like. And we expect it to continue to be the same. Our brains crave predictability. Our organizations are structured for predictability. And the older we get, the more we crave that social conservation—the desire for things to be more of the same; to follow certain patterns and paths and traditions. During the postwar era when Baby Boomers were being born, society was trying to establish organizations, and we borrowed management principles from the military. In the military, every soldier is intended to follow the same rules—do the same things over and over again. Predictability. Process. Hierarchy. Tradition. And we took these models and we put them into our work forces and membership organizations. We decided that everything needed to be very organized and predictable. Everything is going to be the same. And by doing the same thing over and over again, we’re going to get the same results over and over again. And people are going to respond the same way over and over again. But FULL STOP. All of a sudden, we are faced with rapid change in our society. In this era of change, nothing has stayed (or will stay) the same. Everything about the way we live, work, and do business is changing. But we still crave that predictability. We still expect people to react the same way, make the same decisions, go about life interacting and communicating with our organizations the same way. We expect engagement and…
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Answering Your Membership Questions #2
🎤 Engagement, value propositions, decline, oh my! I’m receiving more questions than ever about #membership so I’ve started doing something new—a live Q&A to answer as many Q’s as possible. Below are some of the questions I heard during our last conversation. Let me know what you think about the Live Q&A’s and blogs, and if you like them, I’ll keep doing them! BONUS: Curious about how I responded to the question, “How should we prepare our organization and our members for a recession?” Watch the full Q&A at the bottom of this post! “How can we better measure engagement, and how can associations get members to be engaged so they find value and renew?” Engagement is a super hot topic right now… First and foremost, remember that engagement is NOT participation. Let go of that myth. You can be very actively involved but not really be happy about being there. If you are truly engaged, you have a positive attitude and you’re excited. You are passionate about the organization and its mission, and you’re ready and willing to support. As such, engagement is partially attitude and an emotional connection to the organization. So, start measuring engagement in terms of relationships, connections, and attitudes toward your association, and then seek to improve those metrics. “Did your global survey include any questions or insights on popular member benefits? If so, what did you find?” Our team didn’t ask about popular member benefits on the Global Membership Health Study, but we did ask about what people want from their membership experiences. What people want more than ever are opportunities to LEARN, LEAD, and MAKE A DIFFERENCE. And keep in mind, this is what we heard from members of all ages and career stages. LEARN – Members express a strong desire to use their associations to learn new skills, many of which are changing within their industries. Be relevant and timely with your learning opportunities! LEAD – Members, particularly…
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Gen X Marks the Spot!
For more than three decades, Baby Boomers were the workforce majority, and this generation remains the largest percentage of members in associations, as well. Then, in 2015, the Millennial generation became the workforce majority, and as the largest generation in history, they became the most studied generation. But what about X? Generation X is the sandwiched-in-the-middle, smaller generation that is often overlooked and remains one of the most difficult-to-engage generations. Their arrival marked the end of membership as we know it, becoming the first generation to question the relevance of associations and ask, ‘what’s in it for me?’ Raised to be self-sufficient, Xers didn’t have the same influences as Boomers and Millennials — two generations raised with community-building and networking influences, experiences, and mindsets. As a result, the way Xers engage as members differs from Boomers and Millennials. They are more likely to need direct outreach to engage, to want short-term volunteer opportunities, and need to clearly understand how membership benefits and fits into their lives. For too long, associations have assumed Xers are exactly like Boomers and will follow suit and join associations. This hasn’t been the case, and as the generation now moving into leadership roles, associations need to seriously consider how to engage X.
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Forecasting for the Future: How to Prepare for (and Embrace!) Change
Some of us don’t like cold weather – myself included. I’ll take a hot, sunny day any day over snow! We can’t change the weather or the many other forces outside our control, but we can adjust our attitudes toward change. Research shows the most successful organizations (reporting high levels of productivity, profitability, and engagement) are accepting of change. This means they are both accepting of new ideas and new people. Conversely, organizations struggling to engage their teams report higher levels of resistance to change. It sounds simple enough — to shift our attitudes toward change — but if it were easy, everyone would be doing it, and every membership organization would be reporting high levels of productivity, profitability, and engagement. The fact is, change is difficult. Our brains resist change (that’s a scientific fact), and most of our organizations were founded many decades ago. We’ve held on to traditions and irrelevant models simply because they are known and familiar. But in a world fueled by innovation and disruption, we have to warm up to the idea of change to stay relevant, competitive, and community-centric. In this episode of the Membership IQ podcast, I use the weather as a metaphor for change and remind association leaders how their responses to change and a culture of resistance to change can create significant problems within the organization. I could sit on the sidelines and whine about snow or even stomp my feet and complain about it. But would that do any good? No. There is absolutely no benefit to resisting change, but there are benefits to be realized when we accept it.
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Answering Your Membership Questions #1
🎤 Engagement, value propositions, decline, oh my! I’m receiving more questions than ever about #membership so I’ve started doing something new—a live Q&A! For 30 minutes each month, I’ll answer as many Q’s as possible. During our first conversation, we received 48 questions, so I decided to also respond to a few of them on my blog this month. Let me know what you think about the Live Q&A’s and blogs, and if you like them, I’ll keep doing them! What can we do to better communicate membership value? It’s important to know exactly how your organization brings value to your members. Who better to articulate that than members themselves? Ask them to describe how being a member makes a difference in their lives. This is, by far, the most powerful marketing and program development tool you can utilize. By inviting your members to share their stories, you’ll know precisely how your organization brings value to your members. Further, there should always be a list of benefits that’s exclusive to members only. Members want an incredibly personalized service experience. They don’t want to feel like a number, they want to feel like they’re a person who is valued by your organization. Members crave a secure relationship—feeling cared for, appreciated, and respected. Members with an emotional connection to an association are considerably more likely to renew, to volunteer, and to refer your association to others. It’s critical you take the time and effort to build those relationships. How do we improve membership engagement? We all know this isn’t a one-size-fits all world anymore. Claiming a niche is imperative to your organization’s future success in today’s competitive and distracting marketplace. Shifting your approach to become meaningful to someone – not everyone – is the key to growing your membership right now and will support creating long-term sustainable membership growth. Further, if it’s not contributing to your association’s growth or delivering value to your members, quit doing it. When…
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Messaging That Matters to Your Members
Shakespeare said it best: “All the world’s a stage.” Whether you are on the board or staff, a chapter leader, or a volunteer – what you say and how you say it influences organizational culture as well as the decision to join or renew membership. In my early career as a journalist, I realized there were two kinds of people: people who were great under pressure and people who fell apart under pressure. When you are conducting a media interview, how a person communicates with you tells you a story in and of itself. Is the person stumbling over their words? Defensive and placing blame? Or confident and polite? A journalist is trained to ‘sniff out the story’ depending on what is said, but also what is unsaid. We all, to some degree, do the same assessment of people in our everyday interactions, and we decide whether we trust and feel safe with someone and the organization that person represents. Like it or not, people are drawing conclusions about what it’s like to be a member of your association based on what leaders say and how they say it. I’ve observed there is an overall lack of media training, branding, and messaging awareness in membership associations. As a result, many associations experience member disengagement and decline – sometimes not even realizing it’s happening as a result of negative messaging. In this episode of the Membership IQ, I share some examples of messages that have a tendency to backfire and usher up a reminder to staff and volunteers – you are always on stage representing the association’s membership and brand.
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Top 10 Episodes of Membership IQ Season 1 [Listener’s Favorite]
Top 10 Podcast Episodes 1. Episode 1: Membership is Life 2. Episode 5: When It’s Time to Grow, Change What You Know 3. Episode 9: Hats Off to a Member-Focused Mission! 4. Episode 27: New, Now, Next: A Successful Strategy for Membership Growth 5. Episode 10: A Recipe For Great Culture 6. Episode 2: Leadership and Association History 7. Episode 15: Is Your Board in a Downtrend? Bend! 8. Episode 7: Your Next Mission: A Value Proposition! 9. Episode 6: Your Niche Is Your Pitch 10. Episode 3: To Make Gains, You Must Entertain! Learn more about The Membership IQ podcast and listen to some recent episodes here.
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Modernizing Your Mentality: Advocacy and Superheroes
A common motif in pop culture today is that of the superhero. Growing up, comic books were coveted by my peers, and today, many of those stories have been adapted into books, TV shows, and films. In recent years, the Marvel Universe and DC Comics have produced countless films whose storylines center around heroes. These characters have abilities beyond those of ordinary people and use those powers to enact positive change. They are the ultimate advocates for a cause. When it comes to your association, who are the heroes at the center of your story? It may come as a surprise, your NextGen members can be your greatest superpower. They have the potential to be your most powerful advocates by garnering support for the causes most important to your organization. Much of my work centers around young people. In my work with Gen X and Gen Zers via think tanks, surveys, focus groups, and interviews, a “hero mentality” presents itself consistently. Young people today believe that they have a personal responsibility to make meaningful change and an impact on the world. This hasn’t always been the case – so what’s changed? Thanks to 24/7 news coverage and the advent of social media, young people are highly aware of the world’s injustices. If you work with (or are currently raising) adolescents, you likely know that the childhood experience has been forever changed by technology and the constant access to information it provides. The last two decades have been some of the most disruptive in our nation’s history. Those who grew up in this era experienced a host of radical changes, including an economic recession, the war on terror, climate change, a pandemic, and human rights issues – to name a few. As a result, they’ve become global thinkers and are well educated about the issues we are facing. They feel compelled and inspired to influence positive change. In recent years, we’ve seen more young people than ever…
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