Associations Now September Case Study: Walking Away
Imagine what it would have taken 50 years ago to break away from your professional association and launch a new organization: You'd have to find like-minded members, communicate with them via phone or mail, organize in-person meetings. It would certainly take both passion and commitment to sign on for that kind of work.
Today, that kind of passion and commitment have an easier outlet: Find those like-minded members online. Create an email list, or start a blog. You can pull together a group through Ning or a similar platform within days, if there's enough interest.
This month's Associations Now case study examines just such a situation. A special interest group feels underserved, and one of the group's most impassioned leaders decides to head out on his own. What should the CEO and board chair of the original association do in response?
Jay Karen and KiKi L'Italien both offered their take--my thanks to them both for commenting on the action! (You can read their commentary, and the case study scenario, online.) What are your thoughts on what could be done to salvage such a breakaway situation, or prevent it in the first place?
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Comments
This is a scenario that could happen in many associations. I wrote my review on the ASAE site.
Posted by: David M. Patt, CAE | September 3, 2009 5:50 PM
- David: Thank you so much for your feedback! I'll click over there right away to read what you had to say.
Also, for folks interested in another viewpoint, Jamie Notter wrote a thoughtful post about the case study on his own blog. Jamie argues that keeping the special interest group within the fold shouldn't be the main goal here.
Posted by: Lisa Junker | September 4, 2009 12:16 PM