Chapter of the Future
What if you could build your chapters from scratch? What would you keep? What would you toss out? What would your volunteers keep? And toss out?
“We live in a Knowledge Worker Age
but operate our organizations
in a controlling Industrial Age Model that
absolutely suppresses
the release of the human potential.” – Stephen R. Covey
“The real voyage of discovery
consists not in seeking new lands
but in seeing with new eyes.” – Marcel Proust
Join us
in a voyage for a new model. Start here for some resources, visit our blog
to join the conversation or contact us to map
out your own exploration.
Chapter of Today vs Chapter of the
Future
In
associations, members naturally gravitate to groups within the association
based on these elements. These groups are an association’s
components. Our traditional special
interest groups (SIGs), communities of practice (CoPs), specialty sections and
a myriad of ad hoc self-forming groups evolve from the first three. Chapters
are all about location. The purpose: maximize opportunity for and value of face-to-face
interaction among members.
Fact: Associations are driven by four
fundamental forces clearly summarized by Forbes
Group president Bruce
Butterfield:
Fact: Associations have committed
significant resources to components. An ASAE & The Center survey on how
associations are supporting and measuring components reported that nearly 80% offer some level of
Fact: In a 2006 industry survey
conducted by Whorton Marketing & Research and Mariner Management &
Marketing, we found that more than 40% of survey
respondents
indicate, in essence, that the chapter's presence has a positive effect on
their likely future renewal in the sense that, if chapters did not exist, they
would be less likely to participate. Full report here.
Fundamental Questions
Each association needs to answer
for itself:
- What is the component offering that is unique to it?
- How do we measure performance – not standards of performance, but true outcomes?
- What level of structure and support by the parent
organization will ensure each chapter fulfills its purpose without under- or
over-utilizing the volunteer pool available?
- What level of effort are volunteers willing to give?
Mariner’s
research with volunteers from dozens of organizations along with ASAE & The Center’s groundbreaking
research on the Decision
To Volunteer tell us…
What today’s volunteers & members are
asking for at the local level:
- Fun
- Connections
- Making a difference
- Flexibility
- Balance
What today’s volunteers & members chafe at:
- Re-inventing the wheel
- Meetings for the sake of
meeting
- Paperwork (without connection
to results)
- Standing committees
- Lengthy required
time-commitments
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Traditional Model Weakness –
Mismatch of structure to level of activity
The chart below shows that many of today’s
chapters produce activities of a size below the minimum threshold, but remain
saddled with an
The consequence: volunteers burn an
excessive number of calories meeting irrelevant compliance standards rather
than member-centric and size-appropriate performance standards. The result:
volunteers don’t step up, participation goes down.
 |
Chapter of the
Future – Driven first by
function, then by form
|
Chapter of Today |
Chapter of the Future |
|
Chapter Charter |
Principals of Affiliation |
|
Board of Directors |
NA * |
|
Articles of
Incorporation/By-Laws |
NA * |
|
Elections |
NA * |
|
Standing Committees |
Task-Oriented Teams |
|
Regular Meetings |
Meet Only As Needed |
|
Bank Account |
HQ Funding Pool |
|
Independent, Stand Alone Data
Systems |
Centralized Data Collection
& Reporting |
|
1-up Communications Systems (e.g. Web, Email) |
Centralized Communications
Systems |
|
Limited Program Management
Expertise (Event Planning, Marketing/Comm,
Etc.) |
Program Management Expertise
Highly Supported and/or Provided Directly by HQ |
|
Limited Member Needs Assessment |
Needs Assessment Tools &
Data Supplemented and/or Provided
Directly by HQ |
|
Awards Based on Activity Rather
than Results |
Awards Based on Results Rather
than Activity |
|
Knowledge Uncollected |
Knowledge Harvested & Shared |
* Some chapters may eventually achieve a financial size that requires some traditional structure, such as a central governing body, incorporation, formal by-laws.