Association chapter permaculture: Value edges
In ecology, edges are where two different environments come together. Think about the bank of a river, where the interior ecology meets the water ecology. There on the bank is the traffic of life going from one to the other, including deer and raccoons coming to drink and bear and osprey coming to fish, for example. Going the other way, beaver go onto land to fell trees for making their dams in the water. A riverbank is a high traffic area that facilitates the rich exchange of information and materials between the environments. It is here at such an edge that there is an increased variety and diversity of life; these community junctions tend to foster biodiversity.
In the association world, we are familiar with the maxim that innovation comes from the edges. As the eyes and ears on the ground and as the places where an association's industry and its practitioners interact with society and community, chapters are fertile ground where new ideas emerge. I've seen chapters spin out innovative marketing campaigns, fresh new membership programs, and unique products.
Unfortunately, too often these innovations are ignored by the national organization or, worse, actually discouraged. A permaculture approach pays attention to these edges. The energy which gives rise to diverse ideas at an association's edges can be stewarded and protected by recognizing and celebrating the innovations through something as simple as the association's newsletter and supporting that energy with administrative services that enable chapter leaders to focus on programming.
Besides being passively recognized, an association's edges can be actively cultivated. I once toured an urban homestead, a single-family home on the corner of a block within a mid-sized city. The home had a strip of yard on the two street sides, and all this space was being gradually converted to food production. The site featured lots of edges. A myriad of heritage fruit and nut-tree saplings had been planted along the curbs, and in between the trees and the perimeter foot path the farmer created irregularly shaped beds for leafy greens, onions, herbs, and many types of vegetables. At the back of the house, a short slope rising up to a flat area adjacent to the alley had been terraced for expansive vines such as beans and melons. Every square inch was designated for something, depending on the particular micro-conditions it offered. Chickens foraged around the property, yielding eggs, and honeybees enjoyed various flowering plants. All these cultivated edges gave rise to an abundance of diverse edibles, much more productive than a bland, grassed yard.
Similarly, edges in an association can be cultivated and developed to optimize productivity. Chapters can be encouraged to share or sell their innovations across the network, and the national organization can actively encourage new ideas from the chapters with contests or revenue-sharing models. The important thing to keep in mind is that the productivity at the edges will vary, according to local conditions (local culture, local market, etc.), and this is as it should be.
If you know of any examples of valuing edges in the association world, please share them.
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Comments
Kris - great post! I am a big fan of ecological theory as it relates to "people populated" institutions. I really liked the idea of innovation at the edges because I think there is truth in it. Often times we need to start from the outside and work our way in.
Thanks!
Shelly
Posted by: Shelly Alcorn, CAE | August 11, 2010 10:54 AM
Great post on the value of chapters and on looking at associations from the edges. The challenge for associations will be to think of the edges as being valuable and in such worthy of real support (administrative services, technology, dollars). The other aspect to consider here is that in order for chapters to really thrive and focus on programs and innovation they need to be thought of not as mini-assn with full governance, bylaws, and all the trimmings. This really means we need to embrace new structures for chapters.
Look forward to hearing more.
Posted by: Peggy Hoffman | August 12, 2010 9:22 PM
Anyone who knows me, knows that my heart is in building relationships between chapters and the national association, however my current association that is struggling with their relationship with their chapters and I am starting over. This couldn't come at a better time - I inherited a culture where the chapters are completely separate - now the work begins - thank you for this thought provoking post.
Posted by: Cathi Eifert | August 13, 2010 10:17 AM
No examples to share, but was thinking about the contrast between this approach, and how passive our efforts generally are to incubate good ideas and encourage their propagation. I'm thinking in two contexts, of HQ to its geographically defined chapters and/or special interest groups, and of the association and its many members.
We often collect & disseminate information regarding central tendencies, tabulating and reporting how prevalent common practices are. Or we collect data by trolling for positive exceptions which we may feature in articles, awards, case studies, education program exercises, etc.
It often feels to me that we have opportunities to generate greater value as an idea catalyst by stretching these two top-down & bottom-up activities to better meet in the middle. Benchmarking should ensure a clear-eyed analysis regarding how productive common practices are relative to best practices and feature the positive outliers as case studies with these kinds of reports. Our content presenting interesting anecdotal, 'N=1' cases should be made as accessible and extensible as possible into how-toss for other chapters or members to emulate the best practices.
In the chapter example in this post, adopting an attitude that the association is an open market not only for the national association's products, but also for products of other chapters in the network, might provide the incentive to fully share rather than shelter the best ideas and most innovative programs from one another. Often volunteers are motivated to do more and have efficient administrative support networks in place at a national and local level, but what they're missing is a creative & competitive spark that better idea sharing of successful programs might offer them.
Posted by: Kevin Whorton | August 15, 2010 10:11 AM
I think most chapters would rather be thought of as in the mainstream than at the edge. Nevertheless, I can recall two examples with the Community Associations Institute. The first example was a training program developed by the Southern California Chapter less than 5 years after the national organization was founded. The HQ was sorting out a role vis avis chapters, and chapters were looking for canned programming. The chapter offered the program to HQ, which de-Californiated the text and sold it to other chapters with a royalty going back to the chapter.
A second example also came from California. The state actively regulated condominiums and homeowner associations. members in the state saw the need for coordinated action by several chapters in the state, and a need for funds to hire a state lobbyist. HQ agreed to add a voluntary government relations contribution to the invoices of members in the state. The state leadership subsequently documented its activity and learnings into a manual for other states (no charge).
Posted by: Doug Kleine | August 17, 2010 3:00 PM