November 19, 2007

View from the Ivory Tower, Part 1

Posted by Kevin | Print This Article

Scott argued that associations should strive to “lead” rather than “serve” over at Acronym earlier this month. I actually agree with him, to a point, but also tend to agree with Virgil’s comment, that the discussion was interesting but not actionable. For an organization of any breadth or depth in membership, figuring out what members “want” or deciding what you think they “need” is much easier said than done. And in fact, I think wants and needs are very related, and perhaps not even different things. It is not possible to hazard a guess as to what an industry or profession “needs” until you firmly understand what its practitioners “want.”

I remember several years ago at a conference, someone I used to work with created a workshop featuring some Washington types talking about Very Important Things that will seriously impact the members (deep voice) In the Future.

Five people came. The staffer gnashed his teeth. “This is Very Important! The members need to hear this!”

Actually, no, they didn’t. These are adults, and they chose to attend workshops that seemed like a more valuable use of their time. (Since no one came, he suggested that we get the same speakers to talk about the topic at a general session, and, you know, force everyone to listen.)

We’ve all experienced this: The committee chairman (or department head, or Board of Directors) for whom it’s not enough to post something on the website; it has to be on the front page. Because it’s Very Important. And the rest of the members need to know about it. In fact, we should probably send them a special letter in the mail about this Very Important topic. Because it’s so important they might not notice it.

This isn’t leadership; it’s management by anecdote. It’s using personal experience, and personal passion, and assuming that every other by-god member should have that same personal experience and should share that same passion. It’s also why suggesting that associations should “lead” rather than “serve” is merely an endorsement of the status quo, because that’s what most associations think they already do. They don’t really know what members need (or even what they want), because they are not using data properly to figure them out.

Here’s the thing: You should know what your members want and need to know about more than they do themselves, because unlike them, you should have a treasure trove of data about the online behaviors of large numbers of people just like them. You should know what articles get read, what links get clicked, what files get downloaded. And you should also know what articles don’t get read, what links don’t get clicked, what files don’t get downloaded.

Most people think of “data-driven” decisions as those based on surveys or asking people “what do you want?” I’ve always preferred to rely on real data about real behavior. With e-newsletters and dynamic websites, we have more of this data than we ever dreamed possible — and many associations don’t even bother to use it! With a few years worth of this information under your belt, being able to tell what your members want becomes second nature. Until you know and truly understand what it is that your members want, it is simply impossible for you to push through the other side and begin deciding what they need without introducing biases based on your own passions and experiences (or the passions and experiences of a limited number of members).

But, if you understand what your members want, you can give them what they need, in a way that they want to get it.

In Part 2: Does what your members “need” seem suspiciously similar to the sorts of things your association already does (or the sorts of things you’re really interested in?)

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