PEOPLE...You Are Who You Surround Yourself With

This week we will focus on the 5th "P"... PEOPLE.

Now that you have defined your PURPOSE, discovered your PASSION, decided your PRINCIPLES, and set your PRIORITIES, it is a must that you surround yourself with great people to pull life and business off successfully.

I've learned throughout my entire life that there are few vital things to remember when you look at the PEOPLE part of your life.

• You never "ARRIVE" and know everything (we all need people)
• You CANNOT do "life" alone
• You ARE the PEOPLE you surround yourself with
• Choose them WISELY

People are a MUST in life.  It's too busy, chaotic, and tough to try and do it alone.  To be successful, you need to master the art of networking and grow a group of people around you who know your heart, soul, and mind, and can give you incredible advice on big issues.

Networking is perpetual, so NEVER STOP networking.  You never know when someone can help you years down the road.

Let's side bar to being a master networker...there are some keys in growing your power network around you.  Here are a few:

• It is a MUST Life Skill
• It is all about the CONNECTION
• Focus on finding INTEREST GROUPS you want to grow in
• Get connected to at least two MENTORS
• KNOW yourself and; others  (be a master of the 4-personality types)
• LISTEN more than you speak
• GIVE more than you receive
• Give WITHOUT expectation
• Always have BUSINESS CARDS on hand
• Be VIRAL (Online)
• Be CURIOUS
• Remember NAMES
• Not everyone will LIKE YOU (that's okay)
• Minimize or eliminate TIME-WASTERS

The key to people is to find people who challenge you to grow, are not afraid to tell you what you need to hear, ask the hard questions, are there when you need them, and most importantly, encourage you in your life journey.

When choosing to surround yourself with the right people, choose people of character.  Character is defined as someone whose beliefs and behaviors are in direct alignment.  They say what they mean and mean what they say. 

Choose people who are better than you are.  Think about it...if you want to improve your golf game, you don't ask someone who shoots 10-strokes worse than you, how to improve.  ...you ask someone who is shooting 10-strokes better than you.  The same holds true in business and in life.

The greatest leaders, business owners, and successful people in life, surround themselves with a TEAM of people who will help them achieve their goals.  Start looking at your Linkedin, Facebook, and Outlook contacts.  Are the people in your network, both online and offline, the people who can help you reach your goals in life?  If not, it doesn't mean you need to alienate those from your life, but it tells you that you need to expand your networking to meet some new people who will help you achieve success.

Step out of your comfort zone.  Look at your PURPOSE, PASSIONS, PRINCIPLES, and PRIORITIES, and start assembling the network of PEOPLE that can help you achieve excellence, excitement, and success.

Do it TODAY and make today the START OF THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!

PRIORITIES... Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Now that you have Defined Your PURPOSE, Discovered Your PASSIONS, Decided on Your PRINCIPLES, it's now time to get your PRIORITIES in order.  PRIORITIES are an association or individual's visual display of their actions, matching up with your words.  Specifically in two areas:

1) Where you spend your time
2) Where you spend your money

It has been said, "you can tell a man/woman's priorities and what he/she believes by looking in his/her calendar and checkbook, to see where they invest their time and money."

This is so true.  When I do my "Power of P" talk, I have everyone answer a set of 10 basic questions.  I'm never amazed at how many come back with the following:

• How many hours do you work a week:  75
• How would your spouse rate the quality time you spend with her on a scale of 10:  3
• How would your children rate the quality time you spend with them on a scale of 10: 4
• What is your top PRIORITY in life:  My Family

This simple example illustrates that family is NOT their top priority, but work is.  Now there are times when, in order to provide for the family, that someone must work more than 40 to 50 hours a week.  Knowing that, what would change this dramatically is if the ratings of quality time from the spouse and children were 8's or 9's.  This would say that even though your time is having to be pushed more towards work at the present time, your #1 priority is still your family.  And your family KNOWS it.

This is so true in associations as well.  More often than not, associations are characterized as a "good old boy network."  A good way to way to judge that is to look at where they spend the association's time and money, and how big of an impact it is having on the "full" membership.  Is it only benefiting a certain sector of the membership, or is the leadership making decisions that are for the good of the full membership?  Are your actions matching up with where your strategic action plan says you are supposed to be spending your money and time?

I have learned in both my professional association and personal life, that if your list of PRIORITIES are not in alignment with your PURPOSE, PASSION, and PRINCIPLES, you will experience conflict and frustration within your membership, yourself, and those around you (your Board, members, family, wife, children, etc).

As an Association and in personal life, it is critical that you have your priorities written down and ask yourself:  Do those we serve see our PRIORITIES matching up with our PURPOSE, PASSION, and PRINCIPLES?  If not, it's time to make some changes.

Take time over the next week to look at the following:  PRIORITIES for your Association and you personally, and ask yourself... are our actions matching up with our words?

Association Priorities

1) Layout your action items in your strategic plan from top priority to the last
2) Look at where your funding in your annual budget is allocated
3) Look at where staff and volunteers spend their time

Does the time and money you are spending have your association headed in the right direction, given the mission and action items outlined in your strategic plan?

Are your priorities aligned to help solve your members deepest problems and threats to their business?

Me and My Son

If the answers to these questions are not a resounding "YES", then you either need to change direction, or realign your priorities.

On a personal level, I would challenge you to take the following typical priorities in a person's life and list them from highest priority down to the lowest priority.  Afterwards, look at your day-timer and checkbook...better yet, have those around you (your wife, kids, and friends put these in order for you).  ...Talk about a humbling experience!

List of Priorities (put them in order related to where you spend your time/money)

• Wife
• Children
• Other Family
• Work
• Faith
• Volunteering (church/nonprofit work)
• Friends
• Personal Health

Investing time to make sure your professional and personal PRIORITIES are in alignment will pay huge dividends in member value, loyalty, and greater bonds with your family and friends.

Bottom line...let your actions match your words, and you will begin to experience the "Ultimate Life."

Next week I focus on #5 of the 10 P's...  PEOPLE.  Don't miss it!

PRINCIPLES... They Drive EVERYTHING!

Now that you have engaged your thoughts about defining your Purpose and discovering your Passions, the third element to living the "ultimate life" is to decide what Principles are you going to live by.  The dictionary defines Principles as:  a fundamental, primary, or general law or truth from which others are derived, a fundamental doctrine or tenet, a personal or specific basis of conduct or management, or a guiding sense of the requirements and obligations of right conduct.

The key words in the definition are truth, personal, conduct, guiding, requirements and right conduct.

You see, your principles are what guide your conduct, your heart, and your beliefs which speak to your character and integrity.  Principles are the road map of how you will go about accomplishing anything in your life.  They will determine the types of people you will surround yourself with, the type of actions you will take, and how you make key decisions.

When people look at you, what kind of Principles do they see in you?  When you are walking towards people in your company, what are they thinking about you as you approach?  How do you make people feel as you approach without saying anything?

Your Principles people see in you, drive what they think about you and how willing they are to help you.  If people do not think you are trust worthy, you will have a hard time finding people willing to help you.  If people see you as a user of people, you won't find people willing to step out on a limb for you.  If people don't see you as a hard worker, they will not be willing to jump on your team and work hard for you.

The key to Principles in your life is asking yourself:

- Who are my biggest influences in life?
- What do I believe in the areas of trust, truth, honesty, ethics, integrity, work ethic, friendships?
- What do I expect from other people?
- What are people's perceptions of me?
- Do my actions match up with my beliefs and what I say?
- Am I doing the right things when no one's watching?
- Who do I go to for advice when I'm in need of guidance?
- What books to I read do strengthen what I believe in life?

One of the the most comforting emotions in life is the "confidence" you have when someone says something and you can take what they say "to the bank" because their actions always match their words.  It breeds confidence in the workplace as a leader, in relationships as a mate, and especially in friendships.

I've seen one lie break 10-years of friendship.  I've seen people fired over dishonesty.  We have all seen marriages broken over mistrust.   Your Principles dictate how everything takes place in your life.  The question is....are your Principles aligned with your Purpose and Passions?

If you are running off course, in achieving your purpose, the first place to start is looking at the Principles that guide your life.  Look at your life purpose, your passion statement, and ask yourself... Is what I believe (My Principles), going to get me where I want to go?  If not, its time to rethink your Principles.

A Life PASSION Statement Can Mean Everything

Everyday, people wake up in a fog.  You could be one of them.  You go through life each day doing the same mundane tasks.  You get up...you go to work...you come home...you do chores around the house...you go to bed...you get up and repeat.  This mundane activity ultimately drives you crazy over time.  One day, you wake up years later and feel like you have wasted years of your life with no passionate energy that gives you LIFE.

One of the most amazing reasons I love working for an association is it is an open forum to make a difference in people's lives...to transform their being from going no where, to heading somewhere.   Associations are all about making a difference and transformation.  The question is, are you working in the association for the "one thing" you have a passion for?  Is it the disabled, needy children, helping war vets, or sports?  You name it, there is an association for anything and everything. 

I've been working in association management since February 20, 1995.  I remember it like it was yesterday, and everyday has been an incredible journey.  It hasn't come without its set of challenging moments, but when your purpose is in place and you are serving in your area of passion, challenges are always seen as opportunities, not obstacles.

If purpose gives you a direction, then passion is what defines you.   It's what gives you energy everyday because you are working or serving in an area that creates an emotional excitement in your life.

What you are passionate about is what causes you to take ACTION in life.  My questions to you are:

• What are you accomplishing with your life?  
• What gets your blood boiling?
• What do you care about?
• What people would you like to serve/help?
• What would you do if money was no object?
• What would get you excited everyday to get out of bed?
• Who would you help everyday of work for no pay because you loved it?
• What is your hobby?

Some of mine are:  I LOVE playing drums...it drives my emotional high.  I LOVE dancing to 70's and 80's music...it makes me feel good physically.  I LOVE speaking to groups of people on life and association management.  I LOVE seeing them write down action steps to help them transform their lives.  I love making videos that share stories of how associations are making a difference in people's lives.  ...bottom line, I LOVE PEOPLE and HELPING THEM achieve success.

If you like your job, but it's not exactly your passion, check out the local charitable organizations in your city and decide which one allows you to help those you feel most passionate about.  If you don't like your association, start panning the globe for the association that you pinch yourself everyday and say, "I can't believe I get paid to do this."

Make a commitment today to design your Life Passion Statement and live it out.  Someone out there needs your passion in their challenging life.

Tom's Life Purpose:  To engage people in conversation and network them with others to help them reach their maximum potential to live a deeper and rewarding life experience.

Tom's Life Passion:  Seeing people go from "I'm struggling", to "I LOVE my LIFE!"

Next week I will share about the 3rd "P"...life PRINCIPLES..

Achieving the Ultimate Life in Associations - The Power of "P"

Serving People on Mission Trips

Over the last year, there has been a lot of talk and blogging on how associations can be more human to take advantage of the human capital that exists in the workplace and industry.  While an association that taps into the human spirit of its people is the greatest possibility, a lot of associations do not have this quality.  The question is...what do you do as an individual while your organization is looking for that human spirit?  Lets face it, you spend the majority of your life at work and it needs to be a fun, exciting, and encouraging place to be.  Most people allow work to dictate the spirit of their life, both professionally and personally, because of the pressures of performing, a horrible boss/ supervisor, or just a bad work environment.

I'm hear to tell you it doesn't have to be that way for you as an individual.  You can be better than that.  You can rise above your circumstances to be so much more than what you are experiencing in the work place.  You can achieve the ultimate life if you put focus on a ten key areas I'm going to talk about over the course of the next several weeks.

I have found in my life that the letter "P" has more power words than any other letter, and can help you live the "ultimate life" if you choose to pay attention to them.  There are ten key words that can reshape your life at work and home...words that can begin to overflow from you into your other co-workers, where you begin to change the organization from the inside out.  No longer are you going to go home blaming your organization for your crappy day because it isn't a great place to work.  They will no longer have that kind of control over you because you are going to make a choice to be more than that...to see a vision for your life that allows you to experience the ultimate life everyday.

The first of these power words is PURPOSE.  The definition of PURPOSE is "the reason for which something is done or created, or for which something exists."  The key words here for you are "for which something exists."  My question for you is why do you exist each day?  The most successful and happiest people have figured this out.  They have a center focus on why they were created, why they exist and who they were created to serve.  The heat of a bad day at the office or a supervisor screaming at them doesn't get them down because their "purpose in life" is much bigger than that one moment that most likely will not mean anything one week later.

The People Lives I Impact

If you don't think PURPOSE is a big deal, then why do so many reach 40, 50, even 60 years of age and look back asking themselves after all that time, "What has my life meant?  Why was I put here?  Would it even matter if I disappeared?"

My PURPOSE is to engage in peoples lives, to help them progress forward towards purpose and away from pain.  I like helping people solve the pain in their life so they are free from the troubles that keep them from enjoying each day.  Don't be that person that lives most of your life without a life PURPOSE.  Define it on paper and live it out in reality.

So my challenge to you, is define your purpose is in life today.  Here are a few questions to contemplate as your PURPOSE:

• What brings the most meaning to your life? 
• What people or cause do you feel for and want to help?
• What life experiences have you had that has prepared you to serve?
• What gets you excited when you see the progress
• Where do you feel the most reward when its accomplished

Whatever it is, figure it out today.  It will change your life forever and make every day a great day no matter how un-human your association seems to be.  Stop blaming them.  Don't give them that control over your life.  Take control of your PURPOSE today.

Once you define your PURPOSE, nothing can shake your character, your emotions, or your strength.

Tom's Life Purpose:  To engage people in conversation and network them with other to help them reach their maximum potential to live a deeper and rewarding life experience.

Next week, I will blog about "P" #2....  Discovering your PASSION.

Return on Management.... Is Your Team Worth Your Board's Investment

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As this past year ended and my review by my Board of Trustees was upon me, I contemplated a number of metrics I could provide them that could share in the big picture what our management team’s value has meant to the association over time.  I needed a number that quantitatively could, in the big picture, sum everything up, and that everything pointed to:

• Was membership growing or declining?
• How was our management cost in relation to other associations our size?
• Were members participating in programs?
• How was the net worth of the association performing?
• Were association expenses in line?
• Was meeting attendance growing or declining?

It was too much to push through and show metric after metric.   I didn’t want to show tons of trends.  I needed one metric, one trend line that everything pointed back to….a metric that every number, and all activities led to.

Meet the Geeks!

Then it hit me.  If we were to judge an investment such as a mutual fund, we would ask ourselves annually, for the amount of money we invest in the stock, how much is it worth at the end of the year?  That gives us a return on investment or ROI.  Looking at this number at the end of each year over time provides you a trend analysis of whether you should continue to invest or make an adjustment in your portfolio.

As I thought this through, I realized that we could provide the very same analysis for the management of an association.  We call it Return on Management (ROM).  ROM shows for every dollar invested annually into the management of your association, how much money is your association worth.  The calculation is an easy one to perform:

If the association is managed by an Association Management Company (AMC):

Total net worth of the association divided by the AMC annual fee

If association is NOT managed by an (AMC):

Total net worth of the association divided by the total of salaries, payroll taxes, employee benefits, the cost of office space, and expenses associated with maintaining an office.

ROM is Key to Inspiring Staff to Change

Here is a sample calculation: if the association’s total net worth is $800,000, and the total cost to manage it is $330,000, then the return on management (ROM) is $2.42.  What this says is, for every $1 the association invested in management, it has $2.42 in net worth.  Over time as management fees rise or fall and the association net worth rises and falls, the ROM metric gives you a trend line to help you quickly identify if you are on the right path or have a problem.

Keep in mind, this number doesn’t mean a thing for one year.  The power in this metric is trending it over time.  Seeing the direction of this number provides an incredible visual to management and staff.  It shows how effective they are as a whole in delivering value and building financial strength for its membership related to the cost of management.  Every activity we do as associations always leads back to increasing or decreasing our net worth.  If we are making good choices as associations, the net worth will rise.  If we make bad choices, the net worth will decline.

We mapped it out for our association and here is what it looked like:

In 1990, our association had $1.40 for every $1 it invested in management costs.  From there, they started a slow gradual decline to .25 cents in net worth for every $1 invested in management costs in 2005.  A 73-year old organization almost wiped out its reserves and didn't see it coming.   If staff and board members had seen this graph annually starting in 1990, I would venture to say that somewhere along the way, early in the 1990’s, change would have been considered.

Fortunately dramatic change happened in 2006, and as you can see, the ROM has turned around and has dramatically risen, and it's now over $2.

I challenge all associations to internally perform this metric on a trend line for the last 10 to 15 years and share it with your staff.    The direction of the line will quickly share with your team, if they are delivering value towards the financial strength of the organization.  It also is a great visual if it's rising, to provide your board a historical perspective on the value of the management team.  Sometimes it's easy for them to forget that value.

Summary is simple….if ROM is trending up, pats on the back, we are on the right path.  If ROM is trending down, change needs to happen...and now.   What is your ROM Trend?

Why Boards Need to Innovate

Posted in the January Edition of ASAE's Associations Now

Associations are currently experiencing one of the biggest dynamic shifts in technology and demographics ever experienced in human history. Business is changing at lightning speed, traditional business models are no longer relevant, and each demographic group wants things differently.

Yet many boards are choosing to ignore these changes and instead make decisions that are driving their associations to become irrelevant to their members. One of the biggest challenges associations face today is motivating and inspiring their boards to face facts and take steps to move their association’s communication strategy, value propositions, and member service models into the future.

The problem, you see, is that many board members believe they are in the membership business. Success and failure is defined by asking, “How much did we grow membership this year?” That is wrong thinking.

Your association is in the business of creating a financially strong organization that has the funding to do the purpose of the organization. If you do that, people will want to join.

The questions that you, as a board member, constantly need to ask are, “What real value are we delivering to the member?” and “Is it shifting with the changing demands of our current and future members?”

Many boards today are predominantly controlled by baby boomers, who in large part rebel against making radical changes away from how it's always been done to adapt their associations. Baby boomers belonged to associations just to belong, but that’s not the case with younger generations. They want value.

Engaging with the concepts of innovation and change isn’t about making some radical shift that disrupts the association so much it splits the membership. Successful innovation and change starts with small steps, and continues with targeted, incremental changes that sees member value, loyalty, and excitement rise year after year. (I’ve seen this in my own association, where in the past six years membership has increased 8 percent, member revenues up 28 percent, and our overall net member surplus increased 582 percent.) 

Some associations may actually require a radical shift, but most simply need a series of small consistent changes over time to create the wave of excitement every association longs for. Below are three keys for tapping into innovation as a board member.

Identify the problems you need to solve as an association. I’m amazed at how many associations
embrace solutions because “everyone is doing it” without identifying the problem first. You shouldn’t be putting up a Facebook page without answering the question, “What problems are we solving by having the Facebook page?” Real innovation means matching up tangible solutions to meet real member problems, while also introducing futuristic ideas to solving problems we aren’t aware of yet. The key is to define the challenges of your members, and help them solve the problems they can’t solve effectively by themselves.

Survey your membership. As a board member, you serve the membership. That’s why you were elected. A key element to making great decisions as a board is to survey your membership on its thoughts about problems and solutions. Keep your finger on the pulse of how your overall membership views programs, services, and technology, and use the data to drive your value proposition. If they believe in the programs, they’ll remain members.

 Look at your financial trends. There are four key metrics you need to look at over time. These four numbers tell you whether board decisions are enhancing member value, or driving the association into the abyss.

·  Total Member Surplus at Year End. This displays the overall success of the organization in building financial resources to do the work of the association.

·  Total Membership Each Quarter. This tells you the direction of member confidence. If members have confidence in your association, retention rates are high, and membership continues to grow.

·  Rolling 12 Months of Revenues and Expenses Each Quarter. This helps you see the impact of your board decisions on monthly basis.

·  Revenue Per Member on a Quarterly Basis. This shows how engaged the members are in member programs.

Looking at these trends graphically at a board meeting will tell you within seconds if you are on the right track, or if you need to do something different. It’s amazing how quickly the conversation changes when you see any of those numbers heading south.

Stay tuned for next week's blog post on a new metric many associations are fearful of looking at and sharing with their boards....it's called Return on Management (ROM).

Why Are You Here and Do You Know Your Vital Signs?

With it being the end of the year, it's typically a time of reflection and a renewed energy towards making the future better.  My question to you is, do you know "Why you are here" (your association mission), and "Are you looking at the vital signs that can instantly tell you if you need some type of change"?

I want you to watch the following video.  It's 180 seconds seconds, and is a powerful message from John Maxwell, one of the leading speakers on purpose and leadership.   Take a moment to listen:

You see, just as knowing your purpose is a stability for successful people, your association mission is a stability for your association.  Your mission provides a confidence to your members that the industry could tumble tomorrow, but you will be OK because you are a member of our association.  The question is...do you have the right mission for your membership?  One they find great confidence in?   Is your mission clear, measurable, achievable, and supports the future picture of your organization and its member's needs?

I'm a believer in that before you can decide your mission, you need to look at your association's vital signs to see how much and how radical your change needs to be.  In my opinion, there are four key vital signs you need to be looking at every quarter on a graph to see a big picture perspective.  These graphs will tell your board in an instant if they need to make change, and where to make it.  The following are what I feel are the four key vital signs of an association, with a supporting visual for you to see what they look like for our association, with a line where we made change:

Total Membership - Tells you the health of your membership.  This line doesn't have to always be growing, but at least steadily moving upward because you are not in the membership business.  You are in the business of doing your purpose, and if done with awesomeness and clarity, non-members will want to convert to supporting members.  You can see before the line in the middle, if that is all you saw, you would know instantly you needed to make change because of the downward trend.  Our change has provided steady increases towards our previous highs in membership.

Per Member Revenue - This tells you the participation by members in your overall association activities. This number is simple...all revenue paid by members the previous 12 months including dues, meetings, programs, training, etc, divided by the number of total members each quarter.  As the following graph shows, when this association made some real change, their per member revenue rose over time from $1,500 a member, to $2,000 a member.  With a membership of 370, that is $185,000 of new funding.  They would have had to recruit 100 new members to gain the same.  We all know it's much easier to get members to spend more with you, than to recruit a new member...

Rolling 12-months of Revenues and Expenses - This helps you to see how the flow of income and expenses are each quarter, so you can quickly judge how your overall decisions are impacting both. You can see that when our per member revenue began to rise, it had a nice impact on our revenues. Costs began to rise as meeting participation rose, but seeing that on this graph, we have been able to curb expenses and keep revenues up.  The reason a graph is so important is it tells you the relevance of a number at a period in time.  The same number can look good or bad depending on if it's on the upswing, or on a downward trend.  Graphs make every number clear whether they are good or bad.

Total Net Member Surplus (Net Worth) - This tells you the overall health of everything.  If this number is rising, your overall health is good.  If this number is falling, you have a problem because you are dipping into reserves to pay bills.  Not a good thing.  When you look at this graph, tell me if you and your board were looking only at the graph to the left of the line, don't you think you would start thinking about making some changes...and quick?  Some of the same numbers on the right hand side look good because they are on the rise.  The same number on the left is bad because it's in the middle of a severe decline.  Visualization of your vitals signs are empowering in motivating decision making.

The moment these visual images were created in picture format of our 4-key vital signs for this board to look at, making change became easier.  No board wants to be the board that drove the association into non-existence.   Downward trends in the key vital signs are truly disturbing to any board, because they can now see how their decisions are directly related to the health of the association.

In my 15+ years as a CEO of three different organizations, I have found the following to be keys to them all growing to be the best at what they do for their industry and members:

1. Graph out your key vital signs to get the big picture of where you are heading.
2. Establish your mission that is clear, achievable, measurable, and supports the future picture.
3. Identify your controllable and uncontrollable threats that will get in your way of achieving your mission
4. Create an action plan to achieve your mission, taking into account threats.  Have an action item to deal with each controllable threat, and a contingency action item for each uncontrollable threat if it occurs.
5. Make sure to continue to plot out your vital signs to watch the impact of your action plan on the overall success, or need for an "innovation adjustment" to them.
6. Debrief your action plan with your board and staff, and look at your vital signs each quarter to look at where you said you want to be, where you are, and any "innovation adjustments" needed to bridge the gap.  The key is to watch your vital signs and make changes as needed.

Having an association that rules your industry is not that complicated to obtain.  The key is to know your vital signs, know your resources, know your members needs and wants, and match a plan of innovation and action that meets those needs.

Connecting With the Next Generation... Not as Hard as You Think!

So I was thinking on my plane ride today as I was looking at our Annual Meeting attendance, our new board members to be installed at the meeting and some recent pictures of me with members, and I noticed how the young blood is beginning to take shape within our association.

It frankly was quite exciting because I have heard many around the country say:

• “Those young people are not joiners.”
• “They don’t see our association as relevant.”
• “They don’t feel like they need us.”
• “They only want to connect through social media.”

 As passionately as I think "the association model is the strongest business model for banning people together to take action to make lasting change", I also think "associations offer young people a special connection and bond they can’t get anywhere else."

Young people have a desire to meet face to face.  They do join things that are relevant to their lives, and they don’t just connect through social media.

The problem with most associations is they are not embracing the youthful ways, which causes the “disconnect.”  They instead are trying to force their age old ideas on young people, who think those ideas aren’t good anymore.  They are seeking more!

Our association goes out of its way to make the young people feel important and give them a platform to be a part of the process.  We make them feel like their ideas count.  We tell them they ARE THE FUTURE!  We have created a premier industry management training program that energizes them and lets them know they have achieved something.  We educate them that this program is their stepping stone to serving at the highest levels of leadership in our industry.

If you want to attract the young people in your industry, take a lesson out of the military advertising, where young people join by the thousands everyday.  Young people believe they will see their world in ways they never thought possible, have an amazing experience along the journey, and be better off in the end, all while fighting for an amazing cause.

We have followed that model, and it has worked with amazement.   We even end every one of our online webcasts with, “You're not just strong.  You're MTI Strong!”  

I encourage every association to take a look at your next generation outreach efforts, and see what will it take to let young people know they can trust you, that you care about them, and you do things in a way that will be exciting to them.  They want an experience for sure.  

Associations need to "connect" with where younger people are, to draw them in, and sometimes that means taking somewhat crazy steps.  Let me leave you with one example.   Earlier this year, I found out one of our participants (a 24 year old), in our Young Executive Management Program, was the 2008 National Beer Pong Competition Champion in Las Vegas.  After finishing our networking dinner at the first meeting, and looking for what to do next, to keep the networking and bonding among the managers lively, he said he happened to have his beer pong table in his truck.  I told him to go get it, asked the banquet manager if we could keep the room open until midnight, and told the other 20 participants to meet us in the banquet room for some team building.

What transpired was amazing.  I sat in awe, watching 20 managers from different parts of the country, relax and bond as they connected with one another, forming teams of two, and playing beer pong for 3 hours.  They talked business, shared war stories, and laughed a ton.  My favorite comment came from a conservative guy named Dave, from the midwest.  He turned to me at one point and said, "Tom, this is so far out of my comfort zone, but I'm having the time of my life."

You see, we allowed a group of young managers to connect at their level, inside a game they enjoyed, in a safe and controlled environment.  We made it a team building event, used it to our advantage to connect and built loyalty among our next generation.   Throughout the night they learned strategy, focus, accuracy, patience, teamwork, and moderation.  Most associations would have stuck them in a room with an open bar and let them drink uncontrollably, or let them go out on the town, where who knows what would happen, and been okay with that.  Not us....we wanted to create more for them.  

We wanted that connection between them and our association...and we got it.

I suggest all associations figure out where your connection point is with your next generation, and go for it, even if it looks unconventional for associations....

WOW...This Membership Thing Really Works!

Over the last year, I've been hearing and reading from many people about the "so-called" change in the association membership model.  How you "must" look at the "free dues" model to succeed in the future.  How people will not pay you for what they can get for "free" on the internet, and that young people are not joiners.

I'm here to tell you I'm more excited than ever about the paid membership model!  We live it everyday here at MTI, and it is working better than ever, because we have put our focus on three key areas "every" association must do in order to create amazing value, charge "RETAIL" dues to their members, and have them love paying it.

KEY #1!

You MUST Provide services and products that your members can't provide themselves effectively.  Did you hear me?  Provide themselves effectively.  Let me share the big lie many have bought into...members can get everything more effectively because of the internet.  IT'S NOT TRUE.  Here is an example.  I was at a FSAE Think Tank, with 35 top association executives a couple of weeks ago.  We were talking about this subject, and an executive right next to me started talking about the issue of, "he didn't need FSAE to be able to pull together people and have a meeting like this.  Members don't need an association for that anymore as much," he claimed.  He has BOUGHT into the LIE!  I immediately piped in and stated that, "You paid $50 to be at this 2-day event with 35 of the best minds in association management, and you're telling me, that for the $50 you paid to be at this amazing event, you could pull together this crowd for 2-days?  Who's going to do your day job?"

You see, this executive didn't understand how to relate his own value to the value he was receiving from his association.  It would cost thousands of dollars in raw cost, time, and lost opportunity cost for him to take time away from his daily association duties to pull together a 2-day meeting of 35 association executives.  Each attendee received it for $50 from FSAE.  That is amazing value!

The association I manage, MTI, is experiencing this amazing phenomenon every month.  This past month, we sent a letter to 45 former members, to let them know if they were continuing to use a copyrighted legal document on their invoicing, that that was for MTI members only, and they were subject to penalties and fines for copyright infringement.  MTI had just spent $10,000 to strengthen the document earlier in the year, and didn't charge members a dime.  The phone rang off the hook, and numerous former members have rejoined.  Why??  Because they recognize MTI was doing something "more effectively" than they could individually.

Many Assns. Membership Model

KEY #2

Narrow Your Focus of Benefits!  We don't live in a, "throw it on the wall and see what sticks" world anymore.  It is imperative associations pick the 3 to 5 things they do better than anyone in the world, and handcuff their members to it, and give them a reason to love it.  MTI does 5 things their members need, better than anyone in the world of its industry, and that members CAN'T do effectively on their own:

1. Online training that is relevant and member driven.
2. Monthly, quarterly, and annual benchmarking to help members make great business decisions.
3. "Instant Access" to 5 professional consultants, and the largest network of heat treaters in the world, to get quick solutions to daily operations and technical challenges.
4. Instant, online connection to members online, with like areas of expertise, demographics, and years experience.
5. Face to face conferences that allow members to combine business with pleasure, and experience nice economies of scale, while connecting their families with other industry families, as well as, business opportunities and education (becoming a nice trend for associations).

No one in our world provides those 5 things better than we do, and members CANNOT do them more effectively themselves.

KEY #3

Do ALL that you do with the WOW Factor.  Members want to be a part of something exciting and bigger than themselves, and they want to know three things when looking at you as an association:

1. Can I trust you?
2. Do you care about me and my needs?
3. Do you do EVERYTHING with EXCELLENCE?

We do everything to ensure our member experience at every level is not boring, but has the opportunity to create memories and emotions that drive them to love our association.  For example, we don't just ask people to update their online profiles.  We have a 60-day spectacular, online event, where if you update your profile, you will be placed in a drawing to win one, of two, $250 American Express Gift Cards for Christmas!  We will hold the drawing in a video, and call the person up live to capture their excitement, and push it out for members to see.  This shows members they are part of something exciting!

Our performance reflects that excitement:  Our membership is 15% higher than it was 6 years ago.  Our per member revenue is 28% higher, driving our total member surplus up 572% by year end 2011 (during an economy in 2009, where our members sales dropped as much as 70%).  Our member sales are back to record levels, and that growth in member surplus has allowed us to do some pretty amazing and valuable things for our members, without adding cost to them.  Now that is a valuable member model!

Don't buy the lie!  The membership model works.  The key is focusing in on the 3-things I've stated above.  I know, because my staff and I live it everyday!

Why the Traditional Association Model is Stronger Than Ever

A lot of talk has been pouring over the internet recently regarding whether the traditional association model works in today's crazy, fast, and ever changing environment.  The answer is...it is more powerful than ever.   Let me share why.

I like to compare the traditional association model to that of the traditional car model.  Cars of today have the same four components they did in the 1960's, with an engine, body, frame, and four wheels.  The car has always been the best and most efficient mode of transportation for the average person.  Yet the cars of today outperform cars of the 1960's, because of technology advancements and re-engineering.

Associations are exactly the same.  The traditional model of today encompasses the same core elements as the 1960's, in that associations provide groups of people with a common passion, a purpose, and a chance to:

1. Organize themselves
2. Coordinate their efforts
3. Leverage the costs over many people
4. Do things as a group, they could not do individually, effectively
5. Build trust to take advantage of business opportunities

There is no other model that allows a group of people with common passion and purpose, to pull off such great accomplishments as the association model does.  For all of you who believe social media can assimilate people with a common purpose, you're fooling yourself, because someone has got to execute and do the work.  Social media allows people to talk, write, and shout out a lot, but at some point, someone has to leave their computer and do the work.  This is where the associations rules the day.

With technology advancements such as social media, gotomypc, go to meeting, Skype, and mobile, the association model has made the association model stronger and more powerful because:

1. We have now given the smallest member in the most remote location an opportunity to be involved in the conversation.
2. We have empowered our members to connect 24/7.
3. We have engaged our members to have a louder voice because the voice has expanded.
4. We have become more important as a trusted filter to the incredible amount of wrong information on the internet.

The reason people view the association model as dead, is because many CEO's and execs have viewed technology advancements as a threat to their control and association model, instead of the path to re-engineering that which can propel their association to expand their reach to rule their universe.
I know this, because our organization still runs a traditional model, with a baby boomer board of directors, baby boomer members, and committee structures.  However, over the last six years, our association has aggressively made technology advancements, and re-engineered our habits, and the member satisfaction, member loyalty, engagement of the younger generation, and financial strength of our organization has never been higher.

Here's the deal:

• People WANT to accomplish something bigger than themselves with groups common to them.
• People WANT to be a part of something exciting.
• People WANT to believe in an organization who can empower them to make it happen.

If any association implements technology advancements, and the right re-engineering around the five core association elements mentioned above, I believe they can rule their universe and engage the loyalty of their members.

As the commercial says..."Life comes at your fast.  Stop talking and start doing."

Keeping it Real for Associations

Question?  Why do you believe “who” you believe when it comes to credible information, and blog postings on growing your association?  As a CEO who meets the challenges everyday in membership recruitment, engagement, meeting budgets, exciting volunteers, and driving a board to make change, I read a lot that comes through my computer via Twitter.  Some will work in reality.  Lots are theoretical ideas, that are driven by a series of assumptions due to changing dynamics of demography and technology.  The truth is that many of the ideas being circulated give no thought as to the vision and leverage of an organizational structure like associations.

Do you enjoy them because they are your friends, or what they say sounds profound and they are good writers, or because you can actually implement what they are saying?  I’ll give you an example.  At the 2011 ASAE Great Ideas conference, as the lead keynote was presenting, people were tweeting these incredible phrases he was stating.  A couple of us at my table, who are run associations, began to see that he did not understand how associations are run.  His corporate examples of Apple, Toyota, and Zappos, weren’t models that were relevant to growing an association, and his ideas were off base.  Yet people continued to tweet his profound statements that don’t work in, or are not relevant to, an association or non-profit business model.

 Let’s face it…1,000 companies/individuals together are more powerful than one of them.  I’ll even go further to say, that 1,000 companies/individuals that are organized through an association are more powerful than 1,000 companies/individuals who are joined together by social media.

The reason…SOMEONE HAS TO DO THE WORK AND EXECUTE SOMETHING MORE THAN JUST POSTS AND SHOUT OUTS.

I will restate what I stated in my last blog post…The association model is NOT dead, but is as strong as it has ever been!  What is dead, is the age-old thinking by baby boomer CEO’s, who are in charge of associations.  They are running a great business model right into the ground, and think their problem is because all their baby boomer members are retiring soon.

Those who see the future as doom and gloom because baby boomer members are retiring, have they not seen that the Gen Y generation is 40% larger than those boomers?  That spells OPPORTUNITY!  Business 101 folks:  The greatest opportunity lies when a shrinking marketplace is replaced by a larger, growing, and more intelligent marketplace.

With that said, I want to give all association professionals some advice as you seek out guidance from what you read in the blogosphere.  Ask yourself a couple of questions before you BELIEVE and ACT:

1)   Have they ever sat in the position as an association leader?

2)   Have they been successful in executing what they are claiming?

3)   Has anyone in the association sphere executed what they are saying?

4)   Are there measurable results from any association to back up their theories and ideas?

Think about it.  If you are shooting a score of 100 in golf and you want to get down to mid 80's, you don’t ask someone who doesn’t play golf for advice.   You certainly don’t ask someone who is shooting 95.  You ask someone who is consistently shooting in the low 80's, or a professional in the game who can provide just one or two tips that are executable immediately, allowing you to see short term results for longer term game change.

I love reading the blogs, love new thinking, and love new ideas.  However, the thinking and new ideas have to be something that can actually be implemented and work successfully.   Just trying to keep it real for the association community.