In a 155-word story, Cynthia D'Amour answers the question. What question you ask? The question of what's more important: that our chapters follow our rules right down to the last detail or that they deliver great, meaningful results?

Cynthia ends a short story of how James carried the giant ladder home rather than fighting it onto the car with a poignant question "What do you do when new members want to try oddball ways for getting work done?"

James could have strapped the giant ladder to the car and driven very cautiously and slowly home. He could have rented a van. He could have called around to his friends to find a larger car/van to borrow. He could have paid a delivery fee. Or he could carry the 20-ft, 23-lb ladder the mile home. What does it matter how? He got the job done.

Isn't it time for those of us at the national/global office to look back at our chapters policies and scrub away the how-to requirements (and the related measurements upon which we mete out accolades for that focus on completing the checklist), leaving the focus on the result? This doesn't mean we have to stop offering tips and tools and advice on how-to's. It doesn't mean that eschew training. It means that we focus on the outcome.

Oh, and we celebrate the creative solutions and the equally creative souls!

In fact, start that celebration here by sharing your odd-ball, success story.

Thank you Cynthia! 

Three great posts for chapter administrators, chapter leaders and national staff:

• Leslie White's post on policies that sheds light on where we go wrong and how to go right - applicable whether we're talking about a policy for your education chair or an affiliation agreement - great Leslie!
• Beth Kanter's post on the last Blogpotomac that offers really two learnings: 1) a look at a great event format and why it works and 2) reflections on what it means to have great community.I joined Beth at Blogpotomac and she's right!
  
• Phoebe Owen's post on nonprofits in the cloud with great tools just waiting for all of us.
  

And a bonus ... here's a link to Lisa Junker's click links.

Enjoy and share your favs!

Volunteers rock ... consider that The Ark was built by volunteers, The Titanic by paid staff.

PS: Great example of how volunteers rock here at #PotomacBlog.

I’m not surprised and not sure why anyone else is.

VolunteerMatch.com shared that headline and web stats based on the second full day of Entertainment Industry Foundation’s iParticipate TV campaign. It seems that the media, despite an all star cast, is struggling to convert media attention into social action.

A little background … iParticipate is truly a ground-breaking campaign sponsored by the Entertainment Industry Foundation to motivate millions of Americans to volunteer regularly. It was kicked off with a week-long television event during which ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and other broadcast networks (check out the list!) are spotlighting service on more than 90 shows through scripted programming, segments and PSAs. It all began on October 19. It all ties back to ServiceNation.org which will connect citizens and needs.

What we know from research is that is takes a friend or trusted colleague asking another friend or colleague to act. That’s the number one motivation. While I like and respect many of these stars, my friend Jennifer convinced be to come back this year as a religious ed teacher because they needed me.
I’m not saying iParticipate is wrong, just that it must activate a network of friends to be successful.

I did click through a post a message on Facebook as asked with the hopes that by being a friend I could spur other friends on.

Three trips in three weeks gave me a chance to “secret shop” 5 different airlines and 7 airports. It’s really been a lesson in the do’s and don’ts of customer service. Being one who always tries to find the lesson I can use in my business, here’s a few that translate to associations.

• Given the option to deal with a window seat or pay $15 for a choice seat on US Air’s cross-country flight, I opted to kick-in the dough. Lesson:  you can sell premium items even in tougher economies when the price is less than the perceived value of the comfort afforded.
• A visit to the woman’s room in Charlotte airport surprised me … it was clean, Listerine with single use cups and a few other convenience items were available on the counter, and a cheerful employee drew my towels for me and cleaned the counter. Wow – that’s surprising the customer!
• I would be remiss in noting that there was a tip jar in that bathroom. At first this sight triggered an “OMG, I have to pay to use the bathroom now!” which was followed by a smile when I experienced the rest of the visit and saw how motivated the employee was. Lesson:  the right motivation works, but be careful of potential fall-out. (Think of the member discount you give to new member that the renewing member frowns at.)
• The choice is yours (for a fee). US Air is proud to announce the availability of wifi beginning next year. They also touted choice of meals, selection of snacks, and new additions to their drink menu. But, none of that comes with the freedom of not paying. $7 for a meal, $3-5 for a bite, $3 for that Red Bull, Starbucks Frappuccino or Arizona Lite Half & Half, price unpublished for wifi. And do you want one of the new mixers sans alcohol? Fine, that’ll be $1. All these added to charge for checked luggage. Bottom line, it feels like nickel & diming to me – largely because much of these were available for free. Lesson: yes add premiums and allow me to build my trip but don’t pretend I’m getting choices when the options consist of what I used to get for free.
• My Delta flight was packed and because of the luggage fees, many carried bags on. That meant too many bags for the space. It was amazing to see the number of items clearly exceeding the size limits and how many people exceeded the limit of two items. Along came a woman with one compliant bag who was forced to check her bag. Her loud complaint resonated with me: why was she being penalized when so many had oversized bags and more than the required number taking up more room that she was allowed. Lesson: don’t penalize the rule followers.
  
• So I’m getting on plane at 9:30a and stop in Starbucks to grab lunch (it’s a cross-country flight). Can’t get a cookie because – get this they don’t offer cookies until 11am. Hello? That may be reasonable at a corner Starbucks where we’re all pretty much on the same time zone. By requiring practices to be duplicated across all venues without regard to situation means losing sales. Hmmm … how many times do our rigid chapter policies have the same outcome?

I didn’t know flying could be such a learning lab. What did you find out on your last trip?

Staff can get in the way!

By not redesigning volunteer roles into ad-hoc positions or not building virtual or web access to volunteering, staff become barriers to volunteering. Yes it's tough to get it going, but ...

I haven’t been very active in this playground because I’ve been spending more time on a new playground More than PR Basics helping our PRSA Maryland chapter launch a blog (and plan and build a phenomenal 1-day event about the marriage of traditional and new media for pr professionals which takes place Tuesday Oct 6) and in Hootsuite land helping two nonprofits get involved in the Twitter conversation.

My focus on our chapters and their respective social media efforts has been fun and has reminded me that we do need to nurture and coach our leaders for success. To that end, here are some links that are definitely worth sharing with your chapter leaders (and really any and all volunteer leaders) to help them succeed:

• How LiveStrong Uses Social Media to Animate Its Community - great resource for ideas on building community without building more events
• Building a Buzz before, during and after an event - it’s not just the 90-minutes in the session; when you leverage the event it draws more members in and builds for the next
• 7 Small “Mind Shifts” for When You Lack Discipline - volunteer leaders often chew off more than they can bite – particularly at the local level – here’s some advice for them
• Why Mailings Over Phone Calls - an important question and in this blog and response and a nudge for us to pick up the phone
• Tips for Being an Energizer - leaders need to be the energy center and here are a few tips to be that center
• The Xer Meme – have we sold out? - this makes the list because we need to listen to the voices from all generations and it’s a great case study of someone posting a thought and having the community reply from all avenues … start with Maddie Grant's, check out KiKi L'Italien’s and follow the tags.
• 23 Free Webinars for Nonprofits in Oct - consider hosting a post-webinar “what it means to us” or “how I can use this” with chapter leaders.

Enjoy.

Associations Now is offering an opportunity and a case study with its latest crowdsourcing option. By logging in you can submit content ideas, vote on others, add comments and throw your name in as a contributor. At least check it out as a sample of how you can engage members even if you don't allow yourself to be drawn in and engage.

(Scratching your head over what is crowdsourcing? Check out David Knowles post Is Crowdsourcing Content Just an Excuse for Laziness which offers some good examples or ASAE's Associapedia's entry.)

Why the suggestion? I am preparing several presentations for chapter leaders and executives from a variety of associations and the common question is "how do I engage members."  It's tough at the national level, but in many ways more so at the local level. There's the issue of competition (with national as well as other local organizations and work). There's the issue of limited resources - both dollars and technology.

Very often we tell our local groups to put up a LinkedIn Group or start tweeting. While I don't necessarily disagree wholeheartedly, those are very labor-intensive suggestions. And they take time to build.

I see simple requests, like the act of asking members to submit ideas, vote and comment on a conference agenda or speaker series or magazine issue, as a more viable option for many. There are many polling options and less glamorous ways to crowdsource (think the old listserv). The goal is engagement - giving members a say in the organization. When we do, they will also have a stake in the organization.

Is this true for a smaller, local group? I believe so! In fact in many ways crowdsourcing is happening more readily in chapters and small groups which rely on volunteer muscle. It just that we don't enable it beyond the small group who are willing to take on the mantle of committee.

Last year, the Washington Post shared a story about one budding restaurateur to crowd-sourced a new restaurant. She tapped the power of Groupsites.com (which offers free group sites as well as add-on paid options) for build an online community Elements. This case offers a look at tools and process that local groups can use. It also offers a look at how crowdsourcing works for local groups too.

It does take effort to leverage crowdsourcing - I'm not suggesting that it's way easier then lauching a community, but look back again at the Associations Now example. They are tapping members to make a quick comment. To engage, vote, go back to work. When the renewal comes, every member who did that quick touch, is closer to paying than those who never touched.

PS when you visit the Associations Now crowdsourcing portal, if think the magazine should explore more local options, vote for Social Media Collaborations: Working with your Local Groups. I did!