Feb. 5, 2010 - Public Relations Disaster Plans

It' 6 AM, and Alice the AE's telephone is ringing. She rolls over, groping blindly in the direction of the offending noise.

“Lo,” she mutters.

“Alice, this is your President speaking! Have you seen the morning news? Have you SEEN what they're saying?”

“It's terrible,” she screeches. “They've arrested John. JOHN!! The vice president! OUR vice president! He's being accused of fraud. FRAUD! Misrepresenting listings! Buying distressed properties. Bilking sellers of bazillions of dollars! He's in JAIL!”

And so Alice's day begins.

***

John's arrest quickly becomes known to everyone in town: John is a prominent civic leader as well as incoming president of the Realtor association. And in a community which is experiencing economic hardship,job loss, and falling property values, the rumor that a well-known businessman is being accused of theft and unethical business practices is soon the subject of discussion in every coffee shop and service club meeting.

Worse yet, people are pointing angry fingers...and not just at John. One reason our home values have fallen, they accuse, is because Realtors are using their knowledge for personal gain. They're unscrupulously making personal profit from all of this.

Alice and the Board of Directors convene in closed session: it's crisis management time.

Here's the question: How can a crisis management plan be implemented in an age of social media? In a time when Susan Boyle can be an overnight hit, and “Pants on the Ground” a worldwide refrain in 24 hours, the opposite can also be true—as Toyota has just discovered with the world-wide recall of its defective gas pedals and obstructive floor mats.

A self-serving media release just won't cut it, quite frankly. As Newsweek journalist Matthew Phillips points out, “Managing a public relations disaster isn't what it used to be. Back in 1982, even as Chicago people were dying of cyanide poisoning from tampered Tylenol bottles, ...Johnson & Johnson didn't have to worry about Internet message boards inciting panic or fueling rumors and fear mongering. The strategy of corporate crisis management hasn't necessarily changed, but in the Google, Twitter, and Facebook, era the execution has.”

So what's the answer? How can associations prepare a public relations crisis management plan that for our current social media environment? Here are some thoughts:

1. Plan an immediate response plan. Not just fast, but instantaneous. If you need to have cooperation from your board or executive committee, you must be able to reach them at a moment's notice. Don't wait for a meeting, or even to set up a conference call. Don't trip over your association's clumsy governance structures. Establish an emergency response protocol that everyone on your team understands.

2. Send a uniform response message to everyone involved, not just the media. In an association, you'll need to give the members your position and talking points: make sure they understand the association's public statements and can respond to important questions. Members will voice their opinions, so help them give a consistent message.

3. Keep your media statements simple and direct, and don't send mixed messages. We live in a world of 30 second sound bites and 140-character tweets. Be quotable.

4. Monitor negative rumors. Know what is being said, and don't fool yourself by glossing over it. Toyota had to perform Google searches on phrases like “Toyota sucks”: people aren't going to be saying nice things about you. Look for your critics and understand their concerns.

5. Set up a public response, probably on your website, and aggressively direct the public to your association position. Don't depend on the media to make your statements for you—they are not always known for being fair. As I watched the Toyota situation unfold on Miami news, I noticed that the source for most stories were the frail little old ladies who had been waiting fearfully at the dealership for hours, afraid to drive home in their monstrous cars with treacherous sticking gas pedals and attack floor mats. Imagine a TV special of a reporter interviewing one of John's past clients who lost the family home and are now living in a cardboard box in the town park. Same idea.

6. Once you've established your public position, aggressively direct people to your website. Respond with your own Twitter campaign, or a Facebook fan website, or an online forum where people can ask your organization direct questions and get straight answers. Use this opportunity to position your association in a positive light. Alice the AE might, for instance, set up a consumer assistance website for folks who need housing help.

That's it: an association public relations crisis plan must be structured to be fast, to have a simple but consistent message, and to be proactive. To do that requires careful planning and an ongoing familiarity with the technology available to your critics—and to your organization.

Jan. 28, 2010 - Scarlet Letters of Association Management

Blogger Mike Masnick spends a lot of thoughtful energy on the issue of creativity—how to protect it, encourage it, share its results, and market creative projects (either artists themselves, or their works). Mike has developed an interesting theory about value and his ideas have significant relevance to associations.

Masnick asks the question, “In a digital world where so much of what a consumer can access is 'free', what creates a reason to buy?” In a world where music is shared on the internet and news is available on your cell phone or iPad, why buy a CD or subscribe to a newspaper or magazine? Or, to bring it closer to home in the Realtor association, when the consumer can access all the housing information, why purchase the services of a sales representative?

Associations need to be asking these questions too. What makes your association valuable to its target market—the members? What's the reason to buy the association product? Isn't your biggest competitor the economy of “free”--particularly in our current downturn?

“Value,” you answer, “we offer value. Why, every week we have an education session for only $5!”

Wrong answer, Bucko. Rule Number One of marketing a product is that there's a world of difference between value and price—and that distinction is even more clear when the product offered is abundantly available. The information you present in your weekly $5 education bargain basement is undoubtedly available on any number of websites, or perhaps offered by an affiliate member in an evening session with cocktails, or in an online tutorial from a commercial source.

So what makes your offering 'valuable'? What's the reason to buy?

The first reason is access. Internet shopping is increasingly popular because the consumer doesn't have to GO anywhere—busy people will pay extra for the convenience being at home in their p.j.s, working in their own schedule parameters. And, of course, 'access' means more than just internet availability: online consumers will be comparing your offering with the very best marketers in the business: Amazon knows your name and your buying preferences, eBay will notify you when something you're looking for becomes available, and L.L. Bean knows your size and when you're going to need a new winter jacket.

Members expect the same treatment, of course. They want to be greeted by name and presented with the information they need. They want to be able to use PayPal and credit cards and have automatic reminders in their desktop calendars. (It always amazed me that for years one national association had a very elaborate online calendar program for its huge annual convention—but never any way to download it to a desktop or PDA. You had to print it out at the last minute, and then pencil in any changes made at a later date.)

Consumers pay for access and convenience, for saving time even when free options are available. Members do the same. That means that access and delivery are as important as content, maybe even more so. That's something to think about in planning your education program.

Another reason for a consumer to buy is 'attention'. Masnick points out that attention is a remarkably scarce commodity in our multi-tasking world. Once you've got someone's attention, he reminds us, you can do a lot with it. For example, as I get ready to attend a national Realtors' meeting, I am always interested in what will be the 'crisis du jour', the Important Action that attendees will rally around in order to better understand the significance of the association, and the message they will then carry back home to other members. Cynical, you say. No, I respond. It's a good marketing technique. My advice is to make use of your consumers' attention any time you have a meeting or gathering, use it to emphasize your value.

A third reason to buy the product/join the organization is 'authenticity'. That's closely allied with trust, of course—and in the world of hype, authenticity can be a scarce commodity. Will a deodorant get you a job? Will getting rid of gray hair attract a trophy wife (or husband)? Will empty self-serving association promotions attract new members and retain old ones? Will falsely optimistic market statistics attract new buyers?

Or are the association's decisions genuinely made in the best interests of the members? And is the decision-making focus bottom-up rather than top-down? I can only think that the National Association of Realtors recent “Game Changers” program represents a huge step forward in this regard: go to the local associations and ask for their best revolutionary ideas in membership programs. Then fund these ideas, get them working, and make them available for other locals to use if they wish. How better to move a national association forward than to start where the action is, at the local level? How better to move a local or regional association forward than to consistently base your decisions on what the members want (and then respond to their answers)?

That's it, the A-list of membership attraction and retention: Access, Attention, and Authenticity.

Build these attributes into your association business plan: you'll gain a good foundation for strengthening your organization's position in today's competitive environment.

Jan. 25, 2010 - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Agents: Here to Stay?

Real estate blogger and St. Paul broker Teresa Boardman recently published an article in Inman News, “Bad Agents are Here to Stay”. Boardman says:

“I have never heard anyone say that the bar is set too high and that it is too hard to become a Realtor. Take a few classes, pass a test, get a license, pay your dues to the National Association of Realtors and you are a Realtor. It all takes two to six weeks, depending upon which state issues the real estate license.”

She observes that the only measure of industry success is whether or not an agent makes money by selling houses. The “how”, or the quality of a salesperson's performance isn't an issue, and neither is skill or ethics. She concludes by saying, “The economy and the housing market are changing the way agents do their jobs, but I don't see any evidence that "bad agents" will be weeded out, and the bar for entry is still low. As real estate companies struggle for head count, any licensee who can fog a mirror is in.”

Sad, Teresa, but true. And it's not a new complaint: in the thirty years I was an association exec, quality control was always the central issue in the association. Members always rated “Enforcement of the Code of Ethics” as a close second to “MLS Service” in their response to the ever-present “rate the association services” questionnaire—sometimes “Code of Ethics” even came first in member priority.

Of course, what I always knew was that the enforcement process was designed for somebody else, not the complainants. And what I also knew was that most of the dissatisfaction lay not in unethical behavior in the larger sense of the word—the 'ethics' complaints were often just plain lack of professional respect for others and sloppy and unskilled performance. In her article, Boardman cites Bad Agent behavior as “rude” and irresponsible. These characteristics are not really unethical in the larger sense of the word, and they are certainly not things which any association can control through enforcement of the Realtor Code of Ethics. In fact, most of the ethics complaints I heard about association members from other association members had to do with lack of communication, insufficient education, and thoughtless, rude and predatory sales behavior.

There's no real way to enforce these kinds of behaviors. Just as there will always be doctors with poor a poor bedside manner, or lawyers who chase ambulances, so to will there always be Bad Agents: Boardman is right. The thing is, we as real estate trade associations don't have to turn our backs on efforts to mitigate the problem. We can provide some solutions. Here are a few that have surfaced and deserve some consideration:

1. Quit reinforcing dollar volume as the measure of success. Many associations have gotten rid of the “Million Dollar Award” celebration, especially since “Million Dollars in Sales” really doesn't mean the sales person made a million dollars—quite the opposite. But sales awards do substantiate the public perception that our members are all very rich—and very greedy. It seems more to the point of professionalism to identify the qualities which need to be encouraged in members—like professional courtesy and respect, and dedication to the good of the industry—and reward those instead.

2. Develop some other method for identifying and encourage professional behavior besides fines and punishment. One of the things that has always amazed me is that real estate associations seldom tell members what professional behavior IS. Of course they teach the Code of Ethics in some fairly uninspiring ways, like boring case studies of Realtor A and Realtor B. But our members aren't lawyers and don't learn well from case studies, and the Code of Ethics really doesn't address the daily irritants of unprofessional behavior, like not returning phone calls or turning in Under Contract listings.

   “What other ways can we encourage professional behavior”, you ask. “We have designations, but most members don't get them, and the public doesn't know about them so all those letters after one's name really don't mean much.”

Wow, that's true, isn't it? In order for it to be valuable to the designee, the public needs to understand the designation, and care about it. And does the public know, or care about the letters after one's name? Not really. Even lawyers, medical doctors, and Ph.Ds seldom us their professional designations anymore. So what's the answer?

First, let's try and identify professional behavior. AEs might try something as simple as asking the members: “What are the three things that cause you to know a real estate professional when you see one?” Then, compile a list, aka David Letterman, of the most popular responses. Tell the members—in orientation, publications, whatever. Give them a clue!

Secondly, devise a 'body of knowledge' with some benchmarks. It's interesting: if you go to Realtor.org and search on 'body of knowledge', the only responses which are returned are for the valuable document, the AE Body of Knowledge. Our members don't seem to have any such guide—and if we are depending on individual state licensing requirements or individual brokerages to be that guide, we are subject to a great delusion. You've heard the comment, “He's completed his first year in real estate —seventeen times.” Maybe we need to identify and articulate what the expectations are for the second year in real estate...and the third.

Third, associations need to provide the consumer public with a way of articulating values. What constitutes a successful transaction experience? With a few exceptions, the industry has not supported consumer ratings or satisfaction survey. It's interesting that consumers can more easily rate an $80 a night hotel room, but not a real estate brokerage to which they may have paid thousands of dollars. Certainly the consumer is not likely to use an agent's sales volume as a measure of success.

One of the biggest problems Realtors have as a trade association is the antitrust issues that cooperative business practices, particularly with an MLS, bring to them. An an association, Realtors bend to accommodate every applicant for membership in order to give them access to the MLS as a business tool, and seldom deny membership to anyone except for non-payment of dues. Certainly, none of this structure ever will promote competency and skill. It's probably easier to get disbarred or have a medical license revoked than it is to be denied MLS access. There are a lot of legal reasons for this, of course, but the pure fact of the matter is that when the MLS ceases to become a member service, the silver lining may be that real estate will be able to be more proactive about professionalism.

Until that time, Realtor associations can encourage professionalism by devaluing the perception that real estate success is measured in terms of dollars, and by articulating and honoring the characteristics which are indicative of a true professional.

Jan. 20, 2010 - Projects and Management

One of my current clients is working on a large project, a community service program which has the enviable characteristics of being not only helpful to the public it intends to serve, but also very appealing to the members who will be sponsoring the effort. As a result, this organization is besieged by offers of assistance. The project itself seems to be taking on giant proportions, outgrowing its original clothing at a dizzying rate.

It's a happy phenomenon, of course—but also one that is dreaded by association managers: suddenly a bright idea becomes a fast-burning wildfire which is sweeping the forest and threatening your carefully tended garden of planned activities and programmed resources.

That's the case with my client. And the question we are working through basically involves imposing the discipline of careful project management. There's no secret to good project management, by the way, but there are some learned control techniques, and these are applicable to every project, from the smallest committee meeting to a high-impact event of magnificent proportions.

The first step is to carefully define the project. That sounds simple, but in reality this is the first point of major failure in any given program. All participants come to a project design meeting with a different vision in their heads: the Christmas party is a five-course dinner, a cocktail party, a potluck. My advice to the manager: start with a blank slate, and then write a contract for what the project will be. I'd suggest you go through the actual physical exercise of writing down everything that would appear in a contract between you and your employers/directors: specific results you and your team will be expected to produce—how many you will serve, location, food, parking, invited guests, results (attendees will have fun, raise funds for charity, install officers and get enthused about the coming year, and so on). You really can't begin to plan the strategies until you have clearly defined--and agreed upon—the outcome.

In the case of my current client and her project, that's our first problem. There's no real definition that everyone can embrace.

Take time with this step: again, most of the failures in a project result from lack of care in articulating the expectations and making sure that key stakeholders share the vision.

Once the project has been defined, then the operaltional structure can be built. A clearly identified project will suggest the right action plan. In the case of the Christmas party example, the work areas might include publicity, logistics, entertainment—you know the drill. Design a breakdown structure for your project, a series of activities. Make the action steps small enough to be benchmarked and managed.

The third step is to allocate the tasks to your team members and order the actions so they can be performed in a sensible sequence. With more complicated projects this can be a complex task, and there are software programs designed to assist you. Again: keep the results in mind, and the outcome on target.

On method of staying on track is to establish controls early in the planning. One control will be allocation of resources: staff and volunteer time, and money. Another milestone will be the time sequence, a clear definition of when recognizable tasks will have been completed (“the Christmas party invitations will be sent out on November 15th”).

And finally (and most importantly and often most ignored) is the communication structure you will use to make sure that all members of the team are fully informed of progress. Even for the most limited projects, the reporting is important: it encourages enthusiasm, responsibility and a sense of progress, and it identifies the times when your milestones may have become millstones. Be clear on your project communication structure (“we'll have a report on your progress every Monday at 9 AM”).

Of course we all know managers who are so intrigued by the process that they overburden everyone with meetings to check on the progress, so be mindful of the balance between reporting and action.

And finally, plan for failure. One of Judith's first laws of association management is “Always have a Plan B.” What will we do if there's an ice storm and no-one comes to the party? Or if the guest speaker is snowed in and can't install the officers? Or, as in the case of my current client, the funding doesn't come through from the major sponsor? How will we cope and what will we do?

Behind every successful project—no matter how large or small-- is good, solid project management, and at the heart of every management structure is the careful definition of the expectations everyone has for the results.

“Ok,” I say to my client. “Let's go through this once again. How many people do you intend to serve with this your public service project? And over what period of time? And your three-year budget for the program will be? And...”

Jan. 15, 2010 - "How to Say Stupid Things about Social Media" (and association management)

('Geek and Poke' cartoon by Oliver Wedder)

Cory Doctorow recently posted a thoughtful article in The Guardian, “How to Say Stupid Things about Social Media.” Doctorow lists three criticisms of the phenomenon: it's inconsequential, it's ugly, and it's ephemeral. Translated into everyday language, these objections sound something like:

“I don't care what people ate for lunch.”

“The visual and verbal content is amateurish and low quality.”

“ It's a fad. It will be gone tomorrow.”

Now I know the guy who utters these sentences about Twitter, Facebook, and the rest--he's a member of my former association. Once, many years ago, he was a leader: thoughtful, innovative, articulate, charismatic. Now, he's a heavy rock, to be levered out of the way. Failing that, we part like flowing water as we move around him.

From superman to boat anchor.

Much as associations try to devise programs which honor and respect our history and the contributions of past leaders, what we all must inevitably realize is that these leaders are, in fact, passed. In my illustration, that former leader is now the person who saps limited resources by requiring special treatment: he's the member for whom we still print the news letter and accept dues payments made by check or cash. He insists on a written invitation to the Christmas party, and face-to-face classroom education despite the considerable expense to himself and the association which provide sthis type of learning environment. He wants clearly defined prerequisites for officeholders, a nominating committee, paper ballots, and standing committees. In short, he wants an association which can no longer exist successfully in today's world.

Harsh words, yes—but let's take a look at what Doctorow says about  such people as he discusses some common objections to social media.

First, social media like Twitter and Facebook are no more than efficient technology at work: we've always been 'social' beings, beginning our conversations with questions like “How are you?” and discussions of the weather. These are expressions of humanity, of that which is common to all of us. A Facebook status update is no different: “George's cold seems better today” is the same sort of sharing of life's small but important moments. In associations, these are the interactions which build our community.

As an example, I will offer a criticism of one large national association I know (which shall remain nameless, of course). The association is characterized a very large gap in its communication structure : the ongoing failure to build community within key segments of its membership. For instance this association has a membership constituency of professional staff of its various chapters, the people who manage programs and services and provide association continuity. Until recently, however, there has been no real means of personal communication within the group; no way of knowing who is ill, needs help, is getting married, has a baby, or has lost a job—no way for individuals to share those moments, until the appearance of Facebook and Twitter. Unfortunately, however, the large association in my example has lost the opportunity to become the significant conduit of much-needed communication about an important part of its members lives..

Secondly, social media is by definition a form of amateur communication—that is to say, reading tweets or looking at Facebook pages is not a professional experience. And because they lack the layer of professional polish characteristic of commercial media, our social media communications are more direct and less contrived. For associations, this also means that even the smallest group with the fewest resources can reach out to members and the public using tools which are easy to use and readily available.

This week, I was struck by the parallels with the reporting of the earthquake in Haiti. First, the main source of important communication from the island was social media. I saw several national newscasts being broadcast from the communications room of the television stations: newscasters were reading directly from Facebook pages and showing pictures which were being broadcast on Twitter. Secondly, once meteorologists had explained the scientific aspects of the earthquake, what people wanted were the human interest stories. It's no different in our associations.

But back to the point: the third major objection to social media occurs from critics who tell us social media is ephemeral, a fad. Doctorow counters this by saying that 'the technology that underpins social media is changing fast, and social media companies' bone-deep intuitions about what it should and shouldn't do are made obsolete every 18 months or so.”

I read this sentence and thought, “There it is! There's the lesson association managers need to think about. What would happen if we all ran our associations as if they would need to be reinvented every 18 months or so?”

Of course some things need to be constant in a time of rapid change. Members need to know what the game rules are, and they need to trust the consistency. As an association management I know guru used to say, “Don't let the members f**k with the bylaws.” And he would go on to explain that the NBA doesn't change the size of the basketball very often: to do so would have unimaginable consequences on the game, the players, the audience.

But let's ask ourselves how, short of changing the size of the basketball, would our associations be run if everyone knew that Friendster would soon become Facebook, which would soon become something else (for an amusing insight on this, visit The Onion). How much of our resources as associations are spent trying to immobilize that which will certainly morph along with the member demographics, the economy, legislation, and legal decisions? And of the new ideas associations do invent, how much time and energy is spent trying to institutionalize them, and make new ideas permanent?

Doctorow says, “Only ancient, clueless dinosaurs like Rupert Murdoch are dumb enough to pay hundreds of millions for social media companies with the belief that they will grow to be immortal giants.” In fact, these new ideas are destined for obsolescence, and it is only laziness and inertia which tempt executives into thinking that the painful process of invention can ever end.

The question for us as association leaders then becomes, “what if for every new idea associations invented, we felt we had to institutionalize it, make it a giant and organic part of our association structure? What if associations behaved like lazy corporations, trying to expand and capitalize on innovations which will soon be made extinct? As Doctorow says, Most ... companies won't be able to adapt. They will die and be replaced by a generation (of companies) who have better, more contemporary sensibilities.”

So too will be the fate of our associations—unless we realize that our programs and services have a shelf life of, say, 18 months.

Dec. 28, 2009 - Don't Wake Me When You Leave

Don

I drove past it twice. It was just a little motel, a run-down ma-and-pa independent, and the unlighted sign was sort of hidden among the overgrown bushes on the side of that stretch of highway. There was no advance warning, either—just the tiny little drive curving around behind the dense greenery.

On the third try I managed the correct turning and pulled up to a door with a sign that commanded: “Register”. The motel lobby was a narrow glassed porch with a pass-through window into someone's living room, a kitchen beyond. Everything smelled of pot roast.

“I have a reservation,” I said to the unsmiling woman who emerged from the back. She made a show of looking through a metal file card box and produced the only card in the first divider. “Lindenau?”

“That's me,” I responded.

“King bed, no smoking, number 22 in the back, leave the key in the room when you leave, that'll be $65.”

She handed me the key on a large plastic tag marked “Country Motel 22” and pushed the sliding window closed. Her broad back was outlined briefly against the kitchen light, then she disappeared.

Well, I mused, welcome to me after my long drive down here. I drove around to the back of the building and found single story rectangular gray building, six brown doors, each separated by a curtained picture window. I parked in front of '22' (which more accurately should have been '3') and entered the gloomy room.

Maybe it was because I was thinking about tomorrow's presentation for a client, a leadership training session for 2010 association volunteers, but I couldn't help ask myself, “What's the lesson here? What is the Country Motel teaching me about Realtor association management—particularly about the treatment of new customers?”

In the first place, the prospective member shows up at an association office to sign up because she's been directed there by her broker. Just as my client said to me, “Stay at the Country Hotel, it's real close to the presentation venue”, the new Realtor is at the association door because her employer said, “You gotta do this if you want to get MLS service. Go pay your money, and then come on back to the office.” Not an endorsement or an explanation—just a directive.

Now here's the question: what's your association's process for welcoming applicants? Can they find your driveway? Are they greeted warmly or do they feel as if they've interrupted your office routine? Does someone smile at them and offer to spend a few moments answering questions? Do they feel as if they've made a good investment in the organization, or are they just send around to the back, to some anonymous structure which is even more unappetizing and bleak?

To further the analogy, as I entered my room at the Country Motel I found the bare necessities: a miniscule bar of soap, an old TV, some thin towels, a square pushbutton telephone. What I could not find were people comforts: a local map, a restaurant directory, internet access, coffee, food, ice.

I did, however, discover ample evidence of my unworthiness as a guest and a human being: the word “no” was everywhere.

“No smoking, you will be fined $500.”

“No long distance phone calls—phone will not work when a '1' is dialed first.”

“No pets.”

“Air conditioner not working during winter months.”

“Don't take Kleenex box.”

“Motel office closes at 9 PM. Do Not Disturb after that.”

“Hangars remain in room.” (And how could they not? They were curled tightly around a metal rod.)

“Do not remove TV remote.”

OK, I got it. I am considered an idiot and a thief. The management has anticipated every wrong move I might make and emphasized each with a rule and a punishment.

And I wonder, is this how a new member feels in our associations? We take her money and we hand out the rules: here's the code of ethics and here's what we will do to you if you don't play the game right. Here's the MLS rules and the fines for ignoring them. Here's the menu of services and products—and the prices for each. And oh by the way, here's the list of committees: we expect you to be a participant, an RPAC donor, a good citizen.

In the morning, just leave the key in the room. Don't wake anybody on your way out.

Dec. 10, 2009 - Ten Red Balloons: Lessons in Volunteer Management

DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, is known for its interesting projects. The latest was a one day contest held on December 5: DARPA asked people to find the coordinates of 10 red weather balloons floating above the U.S. on that one day. Since no one individual could plot the location of all 10, participants had to figure out how to work with others to solve the puzzle

The prize was $40,000—and Team MIT won it by constructing a worldwide social network that resulting in finding all 10 balloons in just 9 hours. And, of 4,300 who signed up to participate in the challenge, MIT was the only contestant to accurately locate all 10 balloons.

Team MIT's strategy offers lessons for associations considering using social networking to achieve their goals.

Here's how MIT did it. MIT researcher Riley Crane lead a 5-person 'Red Balloon Challenge' team. The team's strategy was to build a Web site designed to attract more and more followers--people who might know the balloons' locations themselves and those could bring aboard others who knew the coordinates, essentially creating a chain effect.

As Crane explains it, “If you heard about our Web site and went to sign up directly, and you found a balloon, you would get $2,000, and $2,000 would go to charity. If instead you signed up and then you told your friends (using social networking), and one of your friends found a balloon, that person would still get $2,000 because they found the balloon. And you, because you signed someone up who found the balloon, would also be rewarded with $1,000, and then $1,000 would go to charity.

“We think this recursive incentive allowed people to feel as though they were a part of a team helping to solve this proverbial needle in the haystack challenge. And they could participate in a meaningful way, even if they really had no chance of finding a balloon themselves. We had a lot of feedback of "We won." And people really felt they were a part of the team because of this.”

Clever, eh? It worked beautifully. What are the lessons learned for associations?

• Numbers count. That's not a new concept for associations, particularly in the area of political advocacy. One of the interesting projects in the “Game Changers” contest of the National Association of Realtors is the creation of a public membership category of home buyers and sellers. Those folks can become not only informed consumers of Realtor services, but also participants in grassroots legislative efforts.

• Carefully build the infrastructure. Team MIT's success was in the organizational design. A clearly defined job description, easy participation, meaningful incentives. How many associations are trying to create new products using outdated governance structures? (One example: attempting to run a technology-based information system like an multiple listing service through a cumbersome committee structure of participants whose understanding of technology is limited at best.)

• Make it easy for volunteers to contribute. In the MIT scenario, each person signing up was assigned a web site, from which he/she could recruit other participants. Too often associations erect up roadblocks for volunteers in the form of meaningless per-requisites--”You can't be chairman of the board unless you've been secretary, treasurer, and first vice-president”, we insist. “Ah,” you say, “I don't have time to be an association groupie. I have kids to raise.” On the other hand, Team MIT said,”Hey. We need your eyes to spot those balloons. And the eyes of your friends. We'll check your eyesight later.”

• What's in it for me? MIT recognized that people are motivated in a variety of ways. Altruism is certainly one, and personal recognition is another. The MIT team also offered up profit sharing in the form of monetary reward for those who spotted the balloons and for those who referred the successful spotters to the contest. Lesson for associations: devise a reward system which motivates members. Clue: often motivation won't be association loyalty or a shiny plaque.

• Make sure the job description includes everybody. Team MIT didn't just reward the ten folks who found the balloons, they rewarded those who recruited the successful spotters. And the rewards all fit together to produce a focused, and clearly-defined effort.

• Include all possible players on your team. Finding 10 red weather balloons hidden around the US has to involve more people than MIT alumna and students: it involves everybody possible—even people located elsewhere in the world. NAR is encouraging the use of consumer participation in a real estate trade association. Look outside your membership walls for new vision.

Of course, these aren't new concepts (and I thank writer Mike Masnick for his insights into this subject) but the story does illustrate how a incorporating technology into a wise understanding of human behavior and group management can really bring stunning success.
 

Oh, and did I mention that Riley Crane and his team put the MIT project together in four days?

Nov. 21, 2009 - The End of the Poodle Skirt as an Association Management Tool

“Can you believe it?” one of my dinner companions asked, awe in her voice. “I mean, we've been coming to national meetings for all these years, usually looking for something to take back with us—some idea or trend or event which would justify our attendance. This convention, we are right in the middle of a whirlwind of real excitement.”

She was speaking of the annual convention of the National Association of Realtors, held recently in San Diego, and her statement clearly articulated the mood of the meeting. For once the excitement was real, not generated by banners and balloons and hype. It was tangible and intoxicating. Meetings were filled to capacity, hallway talk was animated, and twitters were piling up at #NAR09 and several less official channels.

I couldn't avoid remembering the countless times I'd been a part of planning committees for member meetings and conventions, and how desperately we'd tried to think of ways to generate this kind of excitement and participation. We'd held countless 50's Mixers, free food and drink in the Expo area, honorary celebrations for Realtor-of-the-year, discount registrations, door prizes and gift basket raffles. And still, even in our finest moments, only a miniscule percentage of members attended and those were usually yawning behind their hands and departing before the final event.

What made the difference this time? It was this: the National Association of Realtors was embracing innovation—significant, risky, breath-taking change. NAR was saying to members, “Hey! Listen up! We're not trying to stuff the change genie back in the bottle any more. The transformation of the real estate business is a reality, and we're ON it!”

The most obvious change NAR announced was a multi-million dollar commitment to Realtor Property Resource, a national property database for members. Of course there were grumbles, finger-pointings, and peekers-under-the-bed. But the pure fact of the matter was that this tool was long overdue, and is happily embraced by the average member (whose only vested interest is in his or her own professional success). Better yet, the commitment had been made: there would be no 6-hour box-lunch directors meetings with 800+ uninformed directors trying to make a business decision of a 12 million dollar magnitude: this was a done deal. “Just work out the details of implementation—RPR is a necessary step and we've taken it.”

Be that as it may. I must add, as a 30-year veteran of Realtor association management, NAR's most significant change effort was in the announcement of the “Game Changers” winners.

The background is this: in August, NAR announced to its more than 800 associations and specialty divisions that it wanted propositions for 'game changing ideas', ideas which would significantly transform the profile of the association and which could be utilized by all members as a resource. In return, NAR would fund and assist in the implementation of these ideas.

Once again there were folks who were on their knees, lifting the dust ruffle and peeking under the bed for boogeymen. But there were over 200 entries, twelve winners, and 20 runners-up. The announcements of the winners included an astonishing display of new ideas, many of which clearly challenged existing traditions in governance and policy. The winners included everything from the development of member communications and virtual fund-raising to public relations programs and consumer membership categories.

And not only did NAR fund the implementation of winning ideas, it also hired consultants to work with each of the winners to make sure each idea had a good chance of success. The goal is to produce a working guide for each program, a blueprint for success that others may adopt in their own operations.

This is association change which originates at the grassroots level, not from the top down. And the unspoken result will be the opportunity to watch some counterproductive association policies, practices and assumptions wither and disappear in the face of fresh new programs.

Watch my lips: can you say 'member benefit'? I think NAR said just that at its November Convention, and we all came away with renewed optimism and belief in the real estate industry.

Sure beats the heck out of poodle skirts and a sock-hop mixer.

Nov. 8, 2009 - Hairy Bodacious Member Service: San Diego Homework for Association Execs

San Diego Zoo Gorilla
Photo by Robin Reid

This week the National Association of Realtors announced the implementation of a BHAMS (Big, Hairy, Audacious Member Service), a real estate database for members only which will comprise the largest accumulation of property and property-related data in the world.  It’s going to be known as RPR (Realtors’ Property Resource), but I like the acronym ‘BHAMS’ myself.

Now, NAR has always been quite masterful at creating a flurry of consternation before any national meeting so that attendees feel as if there’s a significant reason to attend.  (It’s a good technique: left to themselves, a group of bored members can be a dangerous thing.)  This time, though, NAR has outdone itself. We will all descend on San Diego and participate in a man-made quake of earth-shaking proportions.

The problem will be one of conflicted interests.  The major conflict is, of course, change—a hated word in any association’s lexicon. But more directly, the BHAMS will be seen as competition for existing MLS organizations, and there will likely be dramatic wringing of hands and bloodshed in the hallways. Some of that will be legitimate: the Big Hairy was birthed because MLS operations are often autonomous local “silos of information”, often serviced by vendors who remain far behind the technology curve.  And looming behind these towers is the great Cloud of Google, with its challenging technology announcements, one of which came as late as last week.

As the melodrama plays out next week, one prominent collection of villains will certainly be named: the Association Executives and MLS administrators.  Just 24 hours after NAR’s webinar announcement I am reading comments on blogs that say, “There go the jobs of the high-priced staff,”  and make reference to the tyrannical hold  staff members have over Realtors’ business success.

My point in writing this blog is this: no matter how you as an AE or an MLS manager personally feel about the Big Hairy, you’re going to need to pay attention to your role on stage.  You’re already cast as the bad guy (along with a few others, of course).

The solution? First, get informed.  Read some vendor and consultant blogs, considering the source of the comments and the personal agendas that may be lurking behind the words.  Go to Realtor.com and read the RPR Fact Sheet.  Secondly, spend some time thinking this through as a part of a bigger picture:  list your personal pros and cons quietly and thoughtfully, by yourself, with your office door closed.  Then, professional that you are, list the pros and cons of RPR for your MEMBERS.  Compare the lists.  Know what’s on each—they probably won’t be the same in every point.

Now, having armed yourself with some quiet reflection before you get to San Diego, and independent of the hysteria that’s rapidly building, plan your position statements.  Remember, every statement you make about the Big Hairy should be prefaced with “It will be good for members' business” or “It will be detrimental to members' livelihood”.  That first list you made should never see the light of day—it’s your personal list of conversational red flags.  And try to spend as little time as possible stuffing the tired old cat back in the paper bag: RPR is inevitable.  Don’t waste member resources on succession from the union or shooting the messenger or suing NAR: these methods won’t work, and you’ll be the ‘bad guy’ with a special interest (i.e., protecting your “empire”. One question posed in the comments of a blog bluntly asks, “So you think it’s more likely that Association Executives will voluntarily take pay cuts and lay each other off, rather than trying to find ways to disassociate from NAR to save their jobs?”)

Instead, understand that this is an opportunity for you as an AE to be wise, rational, and supportive of necessary industry changes—without sacrificing your organization’s health, viability, and importance to members.   It’s an opportunity to lead by example, to sort through the fears and myths (no, the RPR is not a national MLS).  The devil will be in the details, and the details will give you plenty of opportunity to contribute your expertise and insight as we work together on finalizing the implementation of the Big, Hairy, Audacious Member Service.

Nov. 6, 2009 - Facebook Fail

I am sure getting tired of being asked to join Facebook fan and cause pages . I actually refuse to do it anymore: for the most part it seems to be an ego trip on the part of the organizer—it has little to do with creating community and building business. Organizations (and that includes associations, non-profits, and commercial groups) seem to think that if they’ve tossed a Facebook page out on the internet, they’ve completed the course in Social Media 101, and their members/fans/target market can not accuse them of avoiding ‘technology’.

Well, guess what? The whole social media thing requires a little more attention than a couple of hours of work on a Facebook page. In fact, those two hours you spent on an organizational page may well have been time wasted: you invite everybody, they agree to be a fan or a friend, and then they go away, never to return. No community, no contact, no contribution. Nothing.

What’s the solution? First, think of your organization’s Facebook pages as an integral part of an entire marketing program. Link your Facebook page to your Twitter account. Add your Facebook url to every email signature that originates from you or your staff. Link your Facebook page to your blog and your association website. Add Facebook apps which will enhance your readers’ experience: YouTube, MyFlickr, and Twit Poll.  Loosen up controls so that members can freely post and interact with your page: get out of the way of the user! 

Secondly, ask yourself how a Facebook page can enhance the value of membership in your organization. There are many instances when Facebook simply isn’t a fit, and your page building efforts are time wasted.  Members of some organizations simply aren’t receptive to social networking. That may be because they plenty of other opportunities for other forms of cooperation, or because the demographics of the membership aren’t a good fit. If, for instance, you have a viable website with a lot of public and member interaction, a Facebook page may be redundant. Let’s say you’ve developed a great Realtor association website, complete with a public property search, access to your MLS for members only, standard forms, a couple of informative blogs, and some forums with lots of input. What’s to be gained by a Facebook page? 

And even if you don’t have a compelling organizational website, if you don’t have a dynamic content on your Facebook page, why would anyone remember to come back to it?              

·         Doug DeVitre’s excellent article, “Common Mistakes Realtor Associations Make with their Facebook Page.”

·         DIOSA’s blog, “Facebook Best Practices.”

·         Social Fish, “How Associations Can Use Facebook”

·         Wild Apricot, “Facebook Applications for your Non-Profit Page.”

I’m an enthusiastic advocate of Social Media Done Right, but not of Social Media Done for the Sake of Doing It. As a part of your evaluation of your Facebook efforts, consider adding one of the statistics programs which monitor your visitors (like Friend Statistics), which will help you quantify how effective your page really is.

Nov. 3, 2009 - Association lessons from Flower Mound, Texas

(art by Jack Haas)

Each year the Center for Digital Government takes a survey of U.S. cities to evaluate how municipalities are integrating information technology into operations to better serve their citizens.   This year’s report is just out, naming Corpus Christi, Santa Monica, and Flower Mound, TX, as winners in the various size-based categories. The cities instituted various projects: on-line meter reading, traffic light management, and a fiber optic infrastructure—all enabling citizens to have better, more efficient municipal services.

Interesting to me were the categories used to incorporate technology into the provision of services and reach out to a wider range of constituents. Certainly, Realtor organizations have long been aware of the need to provide a cooperative of business services to members, the MLS being the foremost example. That alone has driven the technology awareness of the association. But perhaps it’s time to take a cue from digital government and look at some of the other categories of association technology infrastructure.

Online Self Service. The CDG report states that 82% of participating local governments have webcasts: streamed audio and video, both live and archived, and that 74% have RSS feeds to their sites. Associations might consider using the same technologies for providing member and consumer education: think brief podcasts on topics of specific and timely interest like short sales, foreclosure issues, consumer questions, and technical advice for members. The important concept in designing sites is to ask “What does the site audience --member or public-- WANT to know?  That’s a far different question from “What would we LIKE for them to know.)

                And of course RSS services are absolutely essential to understand and utilize. Begin your tutorial in RSS with Wikipedia and go from there: there are lots of informative sources on the internet and it’s a subject every internet user needs to know about and use.

                Don’t forget online courses and short tutorials for your website, too. For Realtor associations, NAR is releasing an online training program for new leaders, and the Internet Crusade folks are finalizing a program which will enable association staff to write their own online courses.

Participation and Transparency

                The CDG report states that as far as municipalities are concerned, a whopping 87% have meeting minutes available online (archived and searchable) and 73% conduct online surveys or polls. Another 67% have blogs and 64& use social networks (Facebook, My Space) and microblogs like Twitter.

                As organizations, we must be aware that our members are demanding transparency. Gone are the days of secret handshakes to get information like financial statements and minutes of the board of directors.   The ‘real world’ expects information to be increasingly available—note the current government initiatives on transparency as an example—and our members expect no less. As association managers we find ourselves needing to learn how to present information effectively, not how to protect it from scrutiny by uninformed eyes.

                In the municipal government sector, issue awareness and education is translated into ‘environment sustainability’, a current core value of cities. As trade organizations, Realtors must have real estate business sustainability as a its core value—that goes without saying. The question, however, becomes “What are we doing to utilize our resources to promote real estate business sustainability?”

                Telling the public that it’s important to use professional real estate services is no longer adequate. (Actually, statistics tell us that the public already knows this, even in the age of accessible property information. )  Producing meaningful market statistics and analyses for our members and for the public is a core value. Becoming a source for timely and relevant information on general economic and specific business trends is another. Mobilizing immediate and successful member and public response to legislation initiatives is yet a third—how many real estate associations have turned to the public to assist with their campaign of  extending homebuyer tax credit, for instance?

                As an industry, real estate is in a period of monumental re-invention of itself. Developing an organization of members who are informed about the future and energized by its challenges is the job of the Realtor organization at all levels. Is your organization among the top digital organizations working to achieve this goal?

                (Author’s Note: If you’ve got a digital success story or a percolating idea, share it here, now! Blogs are supposed to be interactive. Practice up! Jwl)

Oct. 30, 2009 - Your Trust Account

 The Association Executive Committee of the National Association of Realtors is planning an upcoming magazine issue themed on building a bond of trust between the staff and the members.  I’m looking forward to that issue, as it’s a dynamic which greatly interests me in the association management profession.  In my experience, I’ve seen association execs come and abruptly go, and I’ve heard a number of stories which are shocking—from both sides of the aisle.

Trust is a difficult component of the equation which leads to successful association management: it’s hard work to build, and devilishly difficult to maintain.  Even if you are the most scrupulously honest association exec in the world, the members need to be convinced of that fact and that requires proactive image maintenance (to put it nicely).

No matter what the cause of member distrust of the AE, and no matter whether or not the skepticism is deserved, the fact is that credibility is missing.  And when it is, so is the effectiveness of the AE. 

In my experience, the lack of trust in the AE and/or staff will manifest itself in one of two ways: accusations of financial mismanagement or questionable voting practices.  In either case, the members will ‘win’ this discussion, so the AE needs to practice preventative medicine—not in ounces, but it pounds.

Fortunately, prevention is not too difficult.  Here are some suggestions for  good practices in building trust:

 In finances,

1. Always encourage transparency.  Members should be able to see budgets and financial reports
whenever they want. (I’ve written a previous blog on how to present this information so that it’s meaningful to members and they don’t waste energy worrying about the ply of the toilet paper).
2. Make sure you have internal controls in your operations, and advertise that you have them. Let everyone know that you are scrupulous about maintaining good practices. Get advice from your CPA, or SCORE, or your association legal counsel--or all three.
3. Establish and follow a sound and thorough financial policy manual.  Educate the directors and staff about the contents of the manual, and don’t accept friendly amendments to it.
4. Things like expense reports and credit cards for members and staff should be carefully controlled.  Be uniformly nasty about usage, reporting, and approval, if you have to be.
5. When coming into a job where financial abuse has taken place previously, conduct a complete organization inventory--every bank account, every stick of furniture, every napkin in the kitchen. Ask the directors to sign an acknowledgment, and then move on, again with transparency, integrity, and complete paper trails.

In the case of voting, either for candidates or on issues,
1. Follow every date, mandate,  and every bylaw scrupulously.  Conduct a training session with your staff so that they understand the procedures,  Make it clear that you will not tolerate any deviation from these rules, or heads will roll.
2. Have the vote count verified by a third party.  Your CPA firm, or an affiliate
member committee are good options.
3. Follow the same procedure as your local government elections, if you can.  Sign
for absentee ballots, use numbered ballots, and set up online voting with a system
that crosschecks member records. 

These procedures are just as important in small associations as in larger ones, and it's ok to be adamantly against any suggestions for departure from them, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant.  Always insist on a formal process of changing the rules, one that is public and transparent.

 Over time, you'll be rewarded with member trust.

Oct. 28, 2009 - Dealing with Disruption

“I have an individual member who is so negative, condescending and questioning EVERYTHING!   He does not follow procedure, and has put the Association in compromising situations with local political figures…Now he has asked to see all the financials to the Association.   What advice do you have to help an AE who would like to SCREAM….”go sell real estate and get off it!””

Well, THAT question brought back memories! One of the longest years of my professional career came from dealing with “Tom”. I’d forgotten about Tom until this question arrived in my email inbox—and then it all came back.

Tom was a member of our association. He didn’t really sell real estate—he was one of those young men who had a working wife and not much going for him in the way a personality: his real estate sales were negligible. In fact, he spent much more time as a self-proclaimed geek, with delusions of Bill Gates dancing in his head. He earned some money producing statistical analyses for brokers, based on MLS data. At least he did, until our MLS upgraded its computer system and there were more statistic reports available than the brokers quite knew what to do with.

End of Tom’s fledgling career—and he was very angry. “The Board (and the AE, of course) had made a huge mistake with the computer system: the reports were faulty, the statistics unacceptable, etc, etc.” From then on Tom spent all his excess energy questioning the staff, the directors, the MLS committee—everyone in sight. He became obsessed with finding fault and sent out blast faxes to the membership and even went to city hall to take out a permit to hold a protest on the busy street in front of the association office. The madness went on for a year or more: phone calls at home, legal threats, scathing emails and letters to the local newspaper. It was a nightmare for everyone.

I learned some things as I was living this scenario—not easy lessons, because this is not an easy problem. And the first thing I learned is not to place much faith in the Pollyanna Prescriptions: you know the ones that say “Address the problem head on, try and understand the motivation for the behavior, and act with sympathy and acknowledgement. “  Uh-uh. This advice is usually offered by behavior specialists and optimists. The fact is, you are too busy being a leader or manager with lots of people claiming your time and you aren’t a trained psychologist. You have neither resources nor training for this approach.

Secondly, understand that compulsively distructive persons are truly dysfunctional. There is most likely an emotional disconnect which interferes with their perception of reality: they don’t care if they are respected or their actions valued. They are focused on disruption. Sounds melodramatic, but we all know people like this and it stands to reason that some of them will be members of our associations.

Thirdly, know that folks like Tom can win at the games they play. We’ve heard the horror stories: the AE who finds her desk cleared out after she returns from vacation, the association president who resigns midway through his term because he hasn’t the energy and resources to continue the job, the leadership team that becomes increasingly lethargic and gloomy because all it ever hears is criticism, the members who lose faith in the benefits of the association and discontinue their support.

What to do? Here are some thoughts:

1. Practice the “red ant” theory of association management. Former CEO of the American Society of Association Executives, Jim Low explained this theory at the ceremony in which he presented me with my CAE designation. “Too often we dignify the loudest and most negative member with a position on the committee in order to show him ‘how everything works’. This is disrespectful to your other members. You should do with this guy what you do with red ants: STOMP him!”

2. Keep your association attorney up to speed on the problems. Chances are the disgruntled member will threaten court action—doesn’t everyone these days? Get some advice on proactive precautions such as having a witness whenever you talk to the offending member and always acting in accordance with the bylaws and written policies.

3. Train your staff and your leadership team in their responsibilities. Again, part of this training should be legal: knowing what to say, how to respond, and what information to release is all a part of the precautionary strategy.

4. Keep a meticulous record of every interaction with the disruptive person. I asked my staff to assist me with a log of all of Tom’s contact with us—phone calls, emails and so on—and the amount of time they spent on any request he made. Eventually I begin to assign dollar figures to this log: what was the monetary value of the staff time he demanded? What kind of legal fees were incurred because of his threats? The directors and some of the other leaders began to contribute to this effort as well and the results were astonishing. It became clear to everyone the extent of his demands on association resources.

5. Never appear adversarial. When Tom applied for a permit to picket in front of the association office, I panicked, envisioning a front page photo in the daily newspaper. “Don’t worry,” our attorney advised. “Make a big pitcher of lemonade and take it out to him when the photographers are there.”

6. Take advantage of the situation to develop a code of conduct as a part of your association operational policies. The AMA did just that in 2008 with a model medical staff code of conduct. It in, the descriptions of appropriate, inappropriate, and disruptive behavior are defined, as well as remedies which may be taken should this code be breached. While you may not feel a need to go to the extent the AMA did, certainly drawing up guidelines for those who wish to object, question or protest is a useful approach to take, and will assist when similar issues arise in the future.

There’s no quick fix to the problem of a disruptive member. Tom finally got discouraged and, following the advice of his attorney, dropped his efforts and did not renew his membership. Thinking back, what is important for me to remember is that his presence caused greater accountability awareness on my part and on the part of the leadership, and that we learned how unfair and enervating his disproportionate demands were to the rest of the membership.

Oct. 27, 2009 - Stamp out Micromanagement!

Recently I received an email from an AE who asked, “Is there ever a time when the Board of Directors should be involved in reviewing the performance of my association staff?” 

Well, I have a hard time with inclusive words like ’ever’ and ‘never’, but my response to this AE was, “I can’t think of a reason why the directors should be evaluating any staff but you as CEO.” Actually, I can think of some reasons why the directors might do something like that: they are afraid of the larger issues facing the industry, they don’t understand the role of a director, they don’t have any confidence in the CEO, or they’re just plain nosy.

The fact of the matter is (and this can be uncomfortable for the CEO) that the directors hire only one person: the CEO. Then they ask their employee to manage their work product which is based on the goals and objectives that the directors have defined and articulated. Finally, they spend most of their time and resources evaluating the progress toward those goals and in developing and specifying new ones. That’s it. Simple.

The CEO, on the other hand, takes those goals and turns them into measurable strategies which are put into effect. She reports back to the directors and they evaluate her success or lack thereof. The CEO works within the allocated resources to achieve the success and if those resources (read ‘personnel’) don’t measure up, that’s the CEO’s problem to resolve.

It’s not up to the Board of Directors to second guess the CEO’s implementation program. It is up to them to evaluate whether the work program is successful and the organizational goals are being met. If the organization is falling short of its goals, only ONE person can be held accountable—the CEO. 

Of course this approach presupposes a lot of accountability on the part of the board and the CEO. The board needs to understand its role as strategy and policy makers, commit to facing the hard issues confronting the industry, and act unflinchingly in the best interest of the association. And the CEO must understand her role in demanding clear policy from the leaders, translating those directions into measurable results, and accepting her accountability.

1. Concentrate on the mission. Put it at the top of every printed agenda, banner it on the web page, paste on the stalls in the association restroom, and print it on the stationary and business cards. 

2. Insist that every check the organization writes contain a memo that allocates the expenditure to a specific reference point in the strategic plan.

3. Annually train directors in their responsibilities. They forget from year to year.

4. Schedule a strategic thinking period on every directors meeting. Use the time to review a part of the strategic plan, evaluate the effectiveness of a component of the plan, or hear from your strategic initiatives task force.

5. Use a strategic screening tool to review every program or initiative considered by the board of directors. Keep the ‘strategic decision-making component’ at the forefront of every motion.

6. Have an extensive plan for stomping out micromanagement on all levels. Minutia immobility raises its ugly head in all kinds of situations. Practice saying the following phrases:

                “We aren’t going to spend any time on a budget item that represents less than 2% of the total expense budget.”

                “Staff will be happy to take care of that detail.”

                “Let’s ask our attorney for an expert opinion (or CPA, or technical consultant, or staff specialist).”

                “I’ve made a staff recommendation in the material that was sent out with your agenda.”

                “Perhaps you’d like to have staff research this matter and present a full discussion and recommendations for action.”

                “Since the expense is already covered in the budget you’ve approved, we don’t need to discuss the color of the new doorknob. We’ll go ahead and make the purchase.”

                 "Thank you for your input.  I will consider your feelings when I conduct my staff performance reviews."

What other phrases do you as association managers practice in front of your mirror to help stamp out micromanagement? And how do you deal with the member who wants to evaluate the performance of your staff? Comments are welcome!

Oct. 23, 2009 - Developing Online Communities: The Seventh Step

The last step is really the Platinum Rule of everything we do as association managers: Think EASY, think SIMPLE.  

If it’s complicated for the user, she won’t do it.  Period.   

If logging in to the site is difficult, or if there are too many clicks to get to the information, your whole online effort could be toast, as they say.  Our members (and let’s face it, ourselves as well) simply haven’t got time for a learning curve.   So keep asking yourself, how can I make this easier?  More obvious?  Did you leave out the instructions (like “Click HERE to register”)?

Our users expect the simplicity they find on other sites.  For instance, I’m happy when I click on Amazon.com and I am automatically logged in from my home computer with the cheery message, “Welcome, Judith”, followed by “Your order is being shipped today, and here’s a couple of other books you might like to read.” 

Or when e-Bay says, “How would you rate the service you got from the seller?”  or “Did you want to buy something or sell something today, Judith?”

In either case, the greeting is warm and personal and the site anticipates what I want to do and allows me to do it in a click or two.  And that’s the same kind of simple, uncluttered technology that’s needed in our association online communities. 

Ever let a toddler loose in your living room?  Put the knick-knacks in a safe place, and place pillows where the sharp edges are.  Cover the electrical outlets with tape. Then put the baby on the floor and say, “Have fun.” 

Plan carefully, and then get out of the way.

Oct. 23, 2009 - Developing Online Communities: Step Six

Staff participation in your online association activities is essential to success. Members can reach out directly to the staff person that can get the job done, or who has the specialized information they need. Communication is direct and simple, personal and informal.

First, develop a social media policy for your staff (see my blog suggestion)—one that encourages them to use these tools and participate appropriately in the association online communities.  

Secondly, review those policies regularly with your staff. Role play some situations even. Discuss what are the strength of staff participation and what are the potential pitfalls. Understand too that you can’t keep your staff from Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn…so have discussions often about propriety and responsibility to your organization.

And finally, make sure that you and your staff keep in mind that quick response to the online community is the norm, not the exception. Pay attention to alerts and emails from your community and respond promptly. By the same token, don’t overwhelm the community with useless conversation or too many empty communications. Make sure your social media efforts really contribute to your communications programs: empty, unused Facebook pages, for instance, detract from your organization's dynamic profile.

All this takes some practice, of course, and there’ll be a few mistakes (like the member who sent her love letter to her boyfriend to the entire MLS list). But these things happen. And when they do, go back and review all the reasons you listed in Step One as to why associations should develop online communities in the first place.

Oct. 17, 2009 - Legacy Customers

My good friend and brilliant attorney Brian Larson recently posted an interesting blog entry on Tesseract, “Emancipating innovation from the ‘legacy customer”. Brian was writing about why legacy companies such as MLS vendors are slow to innovate. Most, he says, blame their customers: “as vendors we have to meet the needs of our customers by giving them what they want and are used to. We are not able to innovate because we don’t want to antagonize them and/or lose our reputation as a solid rock in times of change.”

One of my clients, a Realtor association, is also concerned about innovation. “We’ve got to be cutting edge,” the AE told me. “If we don’t move toward change, we are doomed as an association.”

I thought “doomed” might be a bit dramatic a prediction, but after I met with the association leadership I discovered a low percentage of association participation, a concerted effort on the part of the leadership to clone future leaders as themselves, and a sweeping ignorance of the profile and presence of younger members. Yep, “doomed” might be more appropriate than I originally thought.

Brian’s article came to mind: often we as AEs have legacy leadership, and those folks behave like Brian's legacy companies do. The Legacy Leader says:

“Yep: lotsa nice bells and whistles with that new MLS system. But OUR members don’t have a clue about technology. It won’t work here.” (Denial, Brian calls it.)

“Well, who can fund a technology strategic plan? We have enough problems running the association on the members’ dues dollars. If we have any extra, we should give it back to them. These are hard times. Who ever heard of Research and Development anyway?” (Funding Challenges.)

“Our members are salespeople. They won’t learn new stuff: they haven’t got time.” (Legacy technologies.)

“Of course the association next door has listings in our area, and we have some in theirs. But if those brokers want to get access, they can join both MLSs. We don’t do business like they do so we couldn’t fit together in any way. And they’d just come here and try to sell our listings anyway.” (Resistance to partnering—ever heard of it?)

“We’re here for our members. We gotta do what they tell us or there will really be an uproar.” (We couldn’t do anything different if we wanted to. It’s not our mission.)

As associations we have legacy customers. Many have spent years immersed in tradition: lots of committees, regular face-to-face meetings, a surplus of disposable time to be an association groupie, a governance hierarchy that is stiff and unbending. Add to that the phenomenon of the “Compliance Command”: simply stated the Compliance Command is to obey national association policy, or else…. 

(The Compliance Command, by the way, is for many a great excuse for not taking action—certainly not the intention of NAR, which uses policy compliance as a risk management tool, not as an avoidance of strategic inquiry.)

The question then is, how do AEs assist their associations in creating what Larson calls “a culture of innovation”? Is “association innovation” a contradiction in terms? 

Another association thinker whom I regularly follow is Jeff De Cagna, of Principled Innovation. Jeff says: “Innovation is a social process that depends on people working collaboratively to identify, develop and nurture creative ideas”, and he suggests forming a “hot group” of members who act as a think tank and advisory group to the board of directors, and focus the group on solving current member problems, challenging them for new (and even dangerous) solutions. Recognize that solutions need not be costly: limit the group to a budget of, say, $1000 for an initial prototype or test. De Cagna says, “This is an example of a ‘generative constraint’ that can act as a catalyst for innovation.”

There’s nothing inherently wrong with legacy, of course, particularly if preservation is important to your business. However, I’m of the opinion that preservation isn’t a mission for MLS vendors and other technology companies, or for real estate trade associations. As association managers, it’s a good idea to recognize your legacy customers and find a way to balance their impact on your organization as you build a culture of innovation.

Oct. 16, 2009 - Association Inc — The business of associations. Predictions for the Future

Sep. 28, 2009 - Developing Online Communities: Step Five

Take advantage of your association face-to-face activities to grow your online activities! 

“How many of you went to the last AE Institute? Raise your hands.”

And in a way, I did. Because I followed the Tweets. That means I listened in the electronic hallway. I knew who were good speakers. I overheard short, memorable statements and words of advice from speakers. I knew where the ‘meet-up’ was for the Tweeters, and I even got a couple of photos of half-full (or was that half-empty?) beer steins. I watched a couple of real time broadcasts on social networking. And then, later, I was able to review the presentations on-line. 

Was I glued to my computer the whole time you all were meeting? You betcha! 

Did I feel like I was missing out on some really good stuff? Absolutely!

Using online communities to reach out to people who can’t attend certain events is a terrific way to generate interest and extend the conversation to many more members. So as you’re planning your event, make it easy for people to share photos, blog the event, and use Twitter to comment and converse. It will add a new dimension to the event and create a new audience.

Above all else, it’s important to be interactive, whether online or in person. Though we’re talking about online communities in this series, your image of listening to your members has got to be proactive and consistent. Association blogger Maddie Grant suggests an interesting idea for face-to-face events: “Create a Wall of Feedback at your annual conference – give each attendee 12 post-its (6 critical, 6 nice to have).  Arrange post-it’s under topical areas, and use the closing general session to recap people’s comments.  Next year, report back on progress. “

But whatever  medium you choose, it’s the community that counts.

Sep. 24, 2009 - Developing Online Communities: Step Four

No matter what format you select for building an online community—your association site, Twitter, Facebook, Ning, or any number of others—you’ll need a content strategy. Again, remember, this strategy will be instrumental in developing the strength of your community. Without meaningful content you’ll have no chance at a community.

So ask the question, “what do THEY want?” Note that this is different from “What do WE want them to want?”

I have a client with an association website that nobody ever visits. I went there to find out why that was so,  and the answer was immediately clear. There were some nice stock photos of beaches and boats and suburban houses. There were some consumer articles titled “Why Use a Realtor?” And there was a “Benefits of Membership” electronic brochure. Period. All static content. Why would anyone visit this site again?

The same with your online community effort. If all your tweets are only to remind people of meetings or to advertise listings, your audience will soon lose interest and decide that your communication is just a nuisance.  They’ll shut you off, and they certainly won’t initiate a visit to your site, much less to your association functions. So it’s going to be up to you to figure out what will be enticing conversation topics. Of course, sometimes these topics will erupt from the participants, but just like any cocktail party conversation, sometimes you’ll have to fuel the fire.

You may also have to ask for participation. Find people who are specialists in selling vacation homes or commercial properties and ask them to participate in an online conversation on the association website. Suggest to regular committees that they might consider an online component to their committee activities—for instance, a group of members who might be underserved because of location or specialty area. The committee work may be stronger and more comprehensive because of the additional participation.

Also, make it easy for members to hear the conversations. If you have a Facebook site, encourage members to get emails. Use RSS so members can sign up for blog entries. Promote hash tags if you’re using Twitter (hint: advertise the hashtag in all your mailings so members can join the conversation). Use plenty of repurposed material as well—from other blogs, conversations, and websites. Let your community know that it is in touch with the world at large.

And finally, promote your online community in all your traditional communications. Tell the non-participants what’s going on in the online community by summarizing the conversations, recognizing new people who have joined, and highlighting new groups which might be forming (“Did you know that there’s a group of Realtors against the new property tax proposal? Join them on Twitter!”) Let members know they may be missing out on some interesting and useful association activities that are happening on line.