Idea Center - March 2010 Archives
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In Honor of Association Volunteers
I just spent three hours with a group of chapter leaders of Capitol Assn Diabetes Educators in a small conference room in Fairfax, VA. I had only met them by phone once prior to this. I was coming in to talk about a significant change that was part of a national restructure plan. They greeted me warmly. They wanted me to be first in line for dinner. They put me pretty much at the front end of the agenda so I could scoot out when done. That was very nice. It’s what happened when the conversation started that had me in awe.
They listened intently. They asked great questions. They challenged assumptions. They began asking what if … This group of women approached the conversation with professionalism and with what I could clearly see was a member-centric view. Wow. These ladies impressed me. It also impressed me to know that they fought the awful Washington DC traffic to attend the board meeting. Three who couldn’t stayed with the conversation – which lasted more than an hour – by phone.
Listen up. There are tens of thousands of member volunteers in cities across the US who give this dedication. They are the face, the passion, the soul of our associations. Let’s give them an incredible round of applause.
Truths About Volunteering #17
To active association volunteers, volunteering is networking.
Ever notice how the first reason an active member gives as why you should join is the networking and then they define it in terms of the latest project they worked on.
Association Volunteers! Fan Page Launched
Association Volunteers! Facebook Fan Page is launched and you're invited to join in the conversation.
What is this? An effort to highlight the energy, enthusiasm and work of association volunteers. It's a place to share our stories and celebrate our work. And it's a place for those interested in volunteering for associations to chat and learn more.
Some estimates say association volunteers log in more than 200 million volunteer hours to communities each year. But that's just the tip of the iceberg because we're giving as many hours directly to our associations in
- positions of governance
- standards development
- developing and administering professional certifications
- workforce coaching and mentoring
- writing and teaching and
- so many other roles.
Yet all the volunteer service buzz rarely mentions the work we do in our associations. Changing this is the why behind the effort … very simply - we want to celebrate association volunteers. In that celebration, we're creating a vibrant network to support and grow association volunteerism.
What can you do? Become a Fan! Join in the discussions, share your story, share photos and thanks. And invite all your friends to become fans too.
Association Membership Remixed
When your association surprises you - in a good way - they've remixed their membership. When your association does something worth modeling in your own organizations - they've remixed their membership. When those two things happened to me, I just had to pick up the phone and find out more. Check out my SmartBlog Insights posting for the rest of the story on how an association shifted how they looked at the membership cycle and rethought engagement. Love to hear your feedback!
#Hashaction & Association Innovation
Just checking out the new unconference headed our way: The Hacking Associations Unconference is coming.
Its about putting your money where your mouth is (ok and getting a pay back!). It's all inspired by Acronym's Big Ideas Month. Behind it are Principled Innovation's Jeff De Cagna) and DelCor Technology Solutions' KiKi L'Italien. If you are ready for innovating your association, check out the video here, mark the date (April 22) and follow #hackaction.
Is is enough for volunteers to get the job done?
Last week we had an office full of volunteers. The mission was to check-in and validate entries for the awards program. Two volunteers arrived early. Another joined very soon after. Three volunteers arrived late. One sent a last minute email apology. Another - well just didn't. The job got done.
This is not an unusual situation. We all face this at the chapter level. The question then is - can you call this successful?
Bottom line the job got done.
I should mention, based on the interaction during the "event", that fun was had. Relationships were cemented.
I'd say it was successful for three reasons:
- The job was done.
- Fun was had.
- A few new faces were in the group.
I'd say it was also unsuccessful for two reasons:
- The weight behind the event was provided by two diligent volunteers for whom without we may not have accomplished the job.
- There were no-shows and late-shows.
This gets into a sensitive area. The reality is though that we put a lot of pressure on our super volunteers and we don't always put the right sense of urgency or importance on our ad-hoc volunteers. What went wrong here was in many ways that we simply followed the adage of "this is the way it's aways been done" and leaned on a few super-volunteers to get the job done. What if we had turned the job over to a couple of total newbies with well-written procedures? That would have underscored the importance and transferred the responsibility. That may have generated good questions about the procedures which in turn could perfect the process. Who knows! But we missed the opportunity this year.
How many times do you in your chapters lean on super volunteers and get the job done and miss the opportunity all the same?
Always in search of ideas.
