The countdown has begun to the #ASAE11, ASAE’s annual conference in St. Louis, MO.  There are many reasons I am excited including the session I will be involved in on Monday, August 8 at 8:45a. This session, “Design for the Future: Creating a Sustainable Local-State-National Member Community”, shares the journey the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) took to retool their local chapters for the future. With Nadine Merker, AADE director of volunteer services, and Scott Balthazor svp, customer operations, Socious, we will share AADE’s new chapter model and its new online member community.

The three of us probably had more fun compiling the “lessons learned” handout than any other part of the presentation. That’s probably natural since its fun to look back. There’s nothing like being a Monday morning quarterback. Four of the most telling lessons we’ll be sharing – by story – are: ...

Day 15 ... My son had a routine stop by a police officer. It passed without incident. My son complained that the only reason the officer stopped him was because of his age. Other parents had similar stories. And then a few of my peers shared their similar experiences as teens.

Bottom line, police do "profile" teen drivers. But most parents I talked with agreed this was necessary. We collectively cited the number of accidents teens are involved in and the tragic deaths of teens we knew. We characterized this profiling as a strategy for staying on top of teen behavior. One mom noted, after all, it takes a village to raise a kid and the police were simply being there (on the road) when we aren't.

The liberal in me and the protective parent in me alternately agreed and worried. When was profiling right? When did a police officer's stop and subsequent search of a teen's car "just because" cross the line to harassment?

I don't know. But I do know that profiling is going on in all walks of life. Sometimes the line was clear. When my chapter's board for example didn't want a young professional to lead the chair because of age, that was clear profiling. When another chapter passed over potential volunteer leader who was in their late 50s, that was clear profiling. In both these situations, you could make the case that the position lost could have had a positive impact on their careers. Clear or fuzzy?

Where should we draw the line?

Day 12 ... Let’s just say that when I read Carol Kinsey Goman's post Seven Seconds to Make a First Impression on the Forbes blog it struck a chord. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen chapter leaders make all the classic mistakes including #1 in Carol’s list. They start off a meeting with a shrug like the meeting is a burden or a grimacing smile suggesting “let’s get started so we can get it over”.  And then the meeting goes downhill.

This post along with a few others will make a good summer reading list for chapter leaders:

• 5 Body Language Secrets Every Leader Should Know, alsoby Carol Kinsey Goman
• Emotions are Contagious by Jamie Notter
• Board Members: Rocket Fuel or Rocks by Lucy P Marcus on the Harvard Business Review blog
• Does Your Organization Need Cultural Rehab by Lori Halley on the Wild Apricot Blog. It offers a number of links that are good reads too.
• The Fundmental Purpose of Your Team, another post from Harvard Business Review, this written by Linda Hill and Kent Lineback

Happy reading! Any to add??

Day 10 ... Day 10 ... The trails in Eagles Mere are well-marked and so when we embarked on the Yellow trail for a 3-mile hike we didn't take a compass or a map. We didn't even study the map because all we had to do was follow the markings. And it was only a 3-mile hike. We took our "certainness". Well, we would have been better off with a compass and a map.

Much to our amazement, the 3-mile Yellow trail stops - and that stop is a bit from the cottage. In fact as best as I can now say, it's more than 1 mile away. The hike isn't too difficult but at the proverbial "fork in the road" the wrong choice would have been. At the fork, we initially chose wrong. A second guess, based on the sun setting, turned out to be right.

Somewhere about 70 minutes into the hike I berated myself for leaving the map and compass behind. At the crossroads, I knew we would arrive home by following either but if I had studied the map I would have know which turn was more direct. I would have known whether to follow the red or the blue blazes.

Later, I was struck by the intensity of the message here. Being prepared. Studying the maps BEFORE hand. Knowing how to choose the right path. I was also happy that I remained calm, looked for clues, remembered how to rely on the sun and was fit. In many ways the first and last items on that list were most important.

It's the internal and external compass we all need.

Day 9 … A colleague asked me for recommendations on questions for a board candidate to determine if they were right for the job. It made me reflect on how so many of us don’t bother with that step at all. We don’t put as much thought and effort into finding the right person for the board as we do in finding the right person for a paid position. Yet in many ways the volunteer leader has more power and often can do more damage (whether through bad actions or inaction).

One of my favorite sources for board interview questions is a Guidestar article “What to ask every prospective board member.” In particular, I like these:

• How much time can you give to us?
• As you think about the three primary board roles—ambassador, advocate, and asker—in which role(s) do you think you will want to be most active?

 Three other questions I’ve used or heard used:

• How will the organization benefit from your participation?
• What would make for a satisfying board experience for you?
• What kind of work do you hope you don't have to do as a member of the board?

 There were two that she is using that I’ll add to my arsenal:

• If the Board took a vote and moved forward in a direction that was the opposite position of your chapter, how would you respond if you received an email or question from your colleagues regarding this outcome?
• Describe in your words the association’s strategic vision and how our chapters support that strategic vision.

It would be interesting to post these questions with the descriptions of your volunteers roles and on the call for volunteers. Do you have any others you've found useful?

Psst - it's National Volunteer Week. Yep it started on Sunday, April 10. It runs all week. Not that you'd notice in the association world. But turn to the c3 world and it's a different story. Even the White House took time to notice ... as it fought the budget battle.

So what's up with associations? Don't we get volunteers?

Funny that's what we were saying on the last Executive Explorations call, a series of free discussions on volunteering in associations hosted by the ASAE Executive Management Section Council. We talked more about that on our innovation peer group call. We know we rely on volunteers. We just don’t invest in volunteers. We know we struggle with poor performing volunteers and in some cases a dearth of volunteers. We just don't invest in robust volunteer management programs.

Even my professional society focused on membership organizations hasn't spent a pixel in recognizing this week. I haven't (yet) received that generic email thank you for my hours (although I did just get a request to sign-up again for a volunteer project - does that count??).

Here's the interesting rub. We are doing a lot of talking about member engagement. It seems somewhere along the road, we figured out that if you connect - really engage - a member, they are way more likely to renew. And guess what, the best forms of engagement are through volunteering. So ... why the disconnect? We spend lip service on training, evaluating, and recognizing. We often don’t reward either. Volunteer management can be found scattered all over the association.

There are some associations who have a more enlightened approach. We’re beginning to see titles like “Director of Volunteer Relations” and “Director of Member and Volunteer Services.” Associations like PMI are looking at new training and development models.

I think at the heart of problem is this sense – at the top, yes I mean the board – that it’s a responsibility for members to serve. They are supposed to want to “give back” and to work for their profession. That’s a different mindset from the c3 crowd. They see their volunteers are partners and resources. They see them as a valuable commodity and even a strategic resource. They invest in robust volunteer management programs. They brand their programs. They celebrate. They even embed their volunteering into the community – witness high school students’ requirement for service hours and volunteering as a critical component in a political resume.

So here's my challenge to all of us: let’s put volunteer management and development as a strategic goal. Let’s apply resources to developing robust programs. Let’s be “volunteer organizations”.

One easy step is to "like" our Facebook Association Volunteers! page and add a note about how great your volunteers are.

In case you want to explore a little more about National Volunteer Week:

• Lots of ways to get in the know beginning with #NVW11 stream on Twitter
• Piece in USA Today
• Engaging Volunteers blog series over at Volunteer Match
• Huffington Post's "Volunteering - Some news is so big it needs it's own page"
• IABC/BC chapter offers a reason - make that 5 - you shoudl volunteer for your professional association.

There's a lot of talk about leadership succession planning for chapters. It regularly comes up as the top 1 or 2 pain points for chapters. Most associations provide a succession planning guide and tools forchapters. Many offer training at the chapter leadership conferences and webinars. So what's missing here? If we're doing all this talking, why is still the pain point?

Could it be that all this talk is missing the point? That these tools don't get to the point?

I looked at the succession planning tools provided by four national associations for their chapters. And yes, they are missing the point ... it's not succession planning, it's succession management. This is not a linear process with a starting point and an end point. And its not about filling positions. It should be about an ongoing focus on developing leaders.

By reducing this conversation to a "who's up next?' search to filling positions, we're missing the point entirely. And by giving our chapters lenghty plans and detailed charts, we're directing energy to paperwork rather than creating relationships.

My suggestion is simply that we step back and tell our chapters that succession planning isn't planning. It is creating a culture of service and leadership in our organizations. It is getting to know our members and engaging them in the work -- and fun -- of the chapter.Two strategies that will help build this culture are:

(1) Engage members ... talk about engaging first, volunteering comes next. Plug members in from the beginning (or at renewal if you're starting this now) by asking them (a) why they are involved and (b) what types of skill sets are they looking to develop or activities they would enjoy being involved in. The goal is to help your member create an individual engagement plan.

(2) Create a Volunteer Team ... this is your HR team that actively seeks "talent" and matches them to jobs. The team can be led by a "coordinator" and have a team of "talent scouts." The goal is to develop a talent pool and a "pool of activities". This pool of activities shoudl include big and small jobs. It should offer variety. The focus on connecting members.

Let's change the conversation...

Those Gen X and Y won’t get involved in our chapter!

There’s a mantra I’ve heard repeated over and over again.

Meet Ben Eubanks. Follow him on Twitter. He started a great conversation for fellow chapter leaders.

When I spoke to Ben, I was inspired. I think that there are many more Bens – but we have to open ourselves and our chapters to all generations.

Peter and I led an energizing discussion at ASAE's Great Ideas Conference last week and I'm still digesting the good ideas. The session was on embracing the unofficial volunteer leader. Who is this person you say? Well it's the hell-raiser and the quiet saint. It's the person who is doing work for the profession and maybe even the association -- but unofficially. By ignoring these folks, you could miss out on some good work or inadvertently fuel a disruptive force. Here are two examples we talked about where associations embraced the unofficial leader.

It is so unpleasant. But I noted in a recent post, it is more unpleasant to live with the consequences of not firing – or at least addressing – a poor-performing volunteer.

I did in fact have to fire a volunteer. In most cases I have been able to work around the situation with some counseling and shifting of positions. But there came the day, where firing was the best option. I followed the basic HR recommendations:

1. Schedule a private meeting with the person.
2. Be prepared. Plan what you are going to say and stay on task.
3. State the reasons for the termination. You should also present them in writing. Focus comments on the performance and avoid personal issues or value comments.
4. Discuss any recommendations for future volunteer work with the person. This may include whether and under what conditions the person may return and volunteer at your agency.
5. Secure the return of any items (keys, documents) before your conclude the meeting.
6. Stay calm. Say only what needs to be said and nothing more.
7. Document the meeting.
8. Exercise damage control. To the degree you can, let key people know the volunteer will not be returning. You must protect the confidentiality of the person let go, but still don't allow this to be a flashpoint.

It wasn’t easy. But what helped was remembering that this was for the good of the whole and really for the good of the person. What I found was that by doing a few things upfront, we could reduce if not eliminate situations like this. A good volunteer management program should:

• Put in writing the behaviors that will not be tolerated under any circumstance. This information should appear in the volunteer handbook and reviewed in orientation sessions.
• Outline a process for handling poor performance and misbehavior. Depending on the organization this could be a formal process moving from verbal to written warnings to suspension and finally dismissal.
• Put into practice a regular volunteer evaluation. This should be a 360 – engaging the volunteer, the volunteer’s “manager” and his or her team members.
• Establish metrics for all volunteers. These metrics help volunteers know what success is and isn’t.
• Establish a withdrawal policy. This is an “out-clause” that helps volunteers back out. In associations, we know that many volunteers don’t have control of their time. Add the current economy and we know that good intentions can’t always be fulfilled. We understand when a volunteer can’t live up to their commitment. If we know in enough time, we can usually shift gears. But volunteers don’t want to bail. They are concerned about their image. So, it’s very important for our – and their – success that we make it easy to “save face.”
• Offer coaching and mentoring to volunteers. Help them be good volunteers.

 There are many resources - really - to help us navigate this. I find Energize list to be a good resource.

Do you want a good volunteer workforce? Getting it means subscribing to good HR practices – from hiring to firing.