Things I’ve learned
Jeff De Cagna posted a great list of things he’s learned as an association professional. I found both his ideas and the format to be inspiring, so I’ve cooked up a list of my own. I hope other Acronym bloggers (and any and all readers) will have lessons to share, too.
Hire slowly. No, even more slowly than that—Getting the right person for an open position is critical. No matter how much you’re suffering because it’s open, making hasty hires in an effort to reduce the pain will lead to greater heartache down the road. The right person is out there. (That’s not to say that you might not have to re-think your requirements, of course.)
When someone who works for you has a great idea, tell the world—Giving people credit for their great ideas encourages them to come up with even more great ideas. Hiding their lights under a bushel leads to you losing your best people, fast. And then where will the great ideas come from?
Base your structure on the people you have—Don’t be tied down by job descriptions. Let people run with what they’re passionate about; it will help tide them over during the periods of scutwork, which, let’s face it, all jobs have. (But always look for ways to automate, outsource, or otherwise reduce the scutwork, too, because too much of it deadens passion.)
Always take time to rethink your assumptions—When you’re so busy that your main focus is staying afloat, it’s very easy to just keep doing things the way you’ve always done them. Force yourself to break out of those ruts. Set aside time—actually schedule it in your calendar if you have to—to reconsider basic processes or assumptions. Talk to new staff to see what they find illogical or unnecessarily bureaucratic.
Pass good energy on—If you hear great feedback about someone’s performance, let him or her know about it. If you find yourself thinking, “Pam did a great job on that project!” let Pam know, and copy her supervisor. Do whatever you can to contribute to a positive atmosphere in your office and you’ll see the benefits in attitudes and dedication.
Always plan for communication—When you’re planning any sort of significant change in your association, spend a good chunk of your planning time considering a) who will be impacted and b) how to communicate with them about it. People who feel surprised by a change are 10 times harder to convert than people who are communicated with enough to feel a part of the change process.
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Comments
Lisa, these are great learnings to share. I like this one, in particular: Base your structure on the people you have. Associations tend to be very fixed and rigid with their job titles and roles. If you're membership, that's what you do. But if you want to try your hand at publications or learn more about meeting planning. Well, sorry...there's already someone doing that. And that's a shame because with most associations, there's very little lateral or upward career movement. I always felt stuck in one spot. Once I hit my ceiling of learning, there was nowhere else to go. So I left associations in order to learn. One thing that most for-profits will do...if you're valued, they will find you a place within the organization. They know talent is scarce, and if you're good, will do whatever it takes to keep you. It's something that associations should give more thought to.
Posted by: Chris Bailey | March 27, 2007 9:08 AM
I agree with Chris (and Lisa) regarding a structure that allows for flexibility and movement within the organization. (Fortunately in my experience I was able to wear multiple hats). But I would be careful with the assertion that an Association should "base it's structure on the people they have." I think in some cases this could cause an Association to think too small - aim too low. Just because you don't have an expert in-house on blogging or SEO doesn't mean you shouldn't do those things. I think the key is figuring out how to get the most out of the personnel you have and then assess what work you need to look outside the organization to accomplish - be it "scutwork" or something more sophisticated.
Posted by: Alan Evans | March 27, 2007 4:28 PM
Lisa, great post. I especially like your ideas about including everyone in the "thinking about and planning for change" process, and the "telling everyone when someone has a good idea."
One thing I learned (when I worked for associations and supervised employees) was to advance your employee's career (and sometimes, where possible, their personal growth) dreams. I think it's one's job as a supervisor to promote your people. Many people are afraid to do this because they fear their employees will leave.
But I found that this practice creates loyalty (and a great network). And when they do leave, as they eventually will because of the limited opportunities for advancement in associations, they've raised the performance bar. This has always drawn in other good people (from in house) to fill the void, because they know you'll challenge (and reward) their talent.
Posted by: Joanne Lozar Glenn | March 27, 2007 6:18 PM