Borrowed from ASAE
One of the things I love about the association world is the willingness to share ideas, models, plans, programs, documents, themes, strategies, and more. And how we're pretty okay with letting another association take our ideas and transform them into their own. Within state CPA societies, we have an entire conference where our staffs get together to share ideas (lots of other good stuff happens there too). Some have created almost identical brochures, switching out the organization name and benefits (with permission, of course). Are you feeling the love?
Imagine now if Burger King and McDonalds started selling natural fries with skin and sea salt and had a commercial with customers standing in a giant fry box. The king and clown would be battling Wendy in court.
I thought I'd share the two ideas I recently borrowed from ASAE. I've been on the Associations Now Writer's Resource Pool for a few years. Every month I get an email that asks what I think about what's on the editorial calendar, if I have anything to contribute or know someone who they might interview about a particular topic. Some months I have nothing to contribute and other months I send a quick email. All in all it takes me 5 minutes per month. Associations Now Senior Editor Mark Athitakis told me there are 400 people on the pool, so if I don't respond one month, I don't feel guilty.
It was such an easy way to be involved and NJSCPA was looking for more of these small-scale opportunities to engage members. I prepare editorial content for our e-newsletter for young professionals. We needed a way to make the content more relevant and a way to engage the members who said they wanted to write for the publication through our Volunteer Interest Profile. A writer's pool was the perfect answer. I'm now up to 30 volunteers - several of whom are writing or being interviewed for upcoming articles. Almost all of them had never been involved. We continue to look at our Volunteer Interest Profile in order to develop opportunities that match our member's interests.
One of the article ideas came from the April issue of Associations Now. There was a short article called "What you missed at the Diversity and Inclusion Conference." It included quotes from four speakers and a two-sentence summary of the speaker's overall big idea. I have two writer's pool members writing a "What you missed" article about our upcoming conference. I'm providing them with a cheat sheet they can bring with them to the event and fill in as they attend each session. It asks for the big ideas of the general sessions, one practical tip from the technical sessions and their best take-away.
It's a bit of common sense, but it bears repeating: when anything gets you to act, ask yourself how and why it did so. And follow that up by asking yourself how you could do something similar in your work. You never know where inspiration will come from.
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Comments
I always say, the best ideas are stolen (and I'm pretty sure I stole that line, too!).
Wes Trochlil
Effective Database Management, LLC
Author of "Put Your Data to Work: 52 Tips and Techniques for Effectively Managing Your Database," published by ASAE and available here: http://tinyurl.com/dyw9y2
Posted by: Wes Trochlil | May 9, 2011 2:00 PM
Wes, I was so careful to use the words "share" and "borrow" so we didn't look a bunch of thieves! :-)
Carolyn
Posted by: Carolyn Hook | May 9, 2011 5:29 PM
Love that you put the spotlight on the Writer's Pool. I've enjoyed being a part of it for some time, and also found be on the magazine's monthly cover panel was a great bite-size volunteer experience. We need to create more of these for people who are interested in sharing their insight and input in a limited way.
Posted by: Jeffrey Cufaude | May 9, 2011 6:18 PM
Jeff, I'm on the Cover Panel too. As a volunteer in NJ I don't always have the ability to attend meetings down in VA/DC. These opportunities (along with blogger)are a great way to be involved remotely. Even in a small state our members are looking for these easy ways to contribute and feel like they are contributing. I'd love to hear what others doing!
Posted by: Carolyn Hook | May 10, 2011 8:42 AM
I LOVE this idea - great article and great takeaway. As a staff member at the GSCPA, I am always looking for great ideas to "borrow" :) Thanks, Carolyn!
Posted by: Elizabeth Kistler, Georgia Society of CPAs | May 10, 2011 9:01 AM
Carolyn, you bring up an interesting point in comparing the sharing sensibilities of associations as compared to for-profit fast-food chains. We associations are lucky in that we're not really competing for the same fry-eaters, so to speak, so sharing doesn't conflict with competitiveness. I'm curious if the situation is the same with CPAs. Is there some degree of competition among them that would lead them to hesitate to share ideas for others to use, or are they open to sharing and borrowing ideas as well? I'm curious how other associations, particularly ones with competitive members, can borrow and instill in their memberships the culture of sharing that we enjoy in the association community.
Posted by: Joe Rominiecki | May 10, 2011 9:02 AM
Elizabeth, Thanks. I look forward to hearing if you implement one of these ideas. I'm sure you and your team will get more great ideas at Interchange. I won't be there this year -- I'm headed to ASAE's Annual to steal ideas there!
Posted by: Carolyn Hook | May 10, 2011 4:15 PM
Joe,
I like to think that some of our members are breaking down those walls. We hold joint meetings with managing partners of firms in New Jersey. Years back the agenda was dominated by staff updates. Today there is more discussion among the partners, talking about common challenges and success and even sharing ideas (within limits and confidentiality boundaries). Why? For the good of the profession, clients and New Jersey. What's exciting about this, is that it's leaders in the profession who can instill this culture in their organizations.
P.S. I'm now craving those new Wendy's fries!
Posted by: Carolyn Hook | May 10, 2011 4:28 PM