RFP: Request for Problems!
We need problems to solve! Challenging ones. Problems that require new ways of thinking and innovative approaches to solve.
I’m running a Learning Lab at Annual with Maddie Grant, titled “Counterintuitive Paths to Success: Upending the Status Quo”. The session itself will be pretty dynamic and non-traditional. The last part of the session we’ll be doing group problem solving, inspired by the learning from the earlier parts of the session.
Anyway, we figured it would be more fun if we tackled a handful of real-world association problems/challenges. An example could be the need to immediately increase membership without a marketing budget, or launching a quarterly peer-reviewed journal without increasing dues. Fun stuff like that!
So, if you’ve got a challenge that’s got you stumped, and you believe some counterintuitive thinking would help, please write it up and post it here in the comments. We’ll pick a couple of the more juicy ones and hopefully harness some wisdom during our Learning Lab. And, we'll post results back to the ASEA's wiki.
BTW, this session is inspired by my article in the August issue of Associations Now, “The Right Way to Do It All Wrong”. So ya, wouldn’t hurt to read that first.
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Comments
My problem: ensuring that the profession that you represent is aligned strategically with the organization you work within? This seems like an easy thing to do, unless, like our profession (Auctioneers), life is changing more now than it has in 100 years. Let me explain….
For more than 2,000 years, the auction method of marketing has been used to buy and sell assets. Up until 100 years ago, it was done without any electrical assistance. Then the PA system was born – that allowed the Auctioneer to extend his/her reach significantly. But in the last ten years a new tool has been developed – online bidding platforms. Okay, you say, what is the problem? The problem is the definition of the Auctioneer. Many people believe that an Auctioneer is defined by the “bid call” (the chant), but online, often there is no “bid call.” As a result, many Auctioneers don’t believe that is an auction.
What does the data say? We have seen a decrease in the number of live auctions but we have seen an increase in the number of auctions that integrate online bidding into their live auctions and an increase in the number of online auctions. Does that mean that the people running those auctions are not Auctioneers, because some of them don’t bid call? Or is the bid call like the Internet a tool?
There’s the dilemma.
In What Would Google Do? Jeff Jarvis talks about how an organization will take the culture of their customers. It is totally true in association management. I worked for the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America – we were SO detail oriented that at times it was paralyzing. Now I’m with the National Auctioneers Association – we are SO process oriented that at times it is paralyzing!
So how do you change the culture of an organization’s members so they can be ready to adapt to change? Maybe that’s the problem to solve – I know it is mine!
BTW, I love this session idea – wish I were going to Toronto!
Posted by: Hannes Combest, CAE | August 6, 2009 10:19 AM