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.
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?
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.
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.
Issue Education
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)
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.
“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.
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.
Here are some action steps:
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.”
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.
However, there are some caveats.
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.
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.
One of the other blogs I read regularly is Associations Inc. Kevin's entry this morning prompted the following thoughts, which I've re-posted on "Off Stage".
Most “committees” will no longer exist
“Mobile” will be the primary association communications channel
What’s “free” and what’s “paid” will look very different
Niches will grow in importance relative to the mass market
Geography is no longer that important, and as a result local components will focus on active, valuable and sustainable products and services, or else fade away
Leadership development models will change by necessity, because few people want to make multi-year commitments
The line between “member” and “customer” will become even more blurred
The list above is from Kevin at Associations Inc, and I thought it had a lot of very significant challenges for managers of trade associations, particularly the Realtor-flavored ones. Let's look at some implications of Kevin's general trends:
1. Get rid of your committees. Earlier I posted an article about running an association with just three committees. Think about that...and while you're thinking, start turning committees into work groups, task forces, online forums, users' groups, and wikis.
2. Mobile? What tools are in your mobile applications basket? Maybe an I-phone ap (see the California Association's product). A property search for smart phones? An association phone based network? Newsletter and event announcements via phone?
3. What's free and what's paid? Well, first start with understanding your core services. Know what's included in the members' dues dollar investment, and know the exact annual cost per member (don't forget enforcing professional standards--that's an expense component usually included in dues). Then, what add-ons that are free to the members? And then what menu services to you offer at additional fees? And are those fees enabling the product or service to be self-sustaining or profit making? Got business plans for each? Gives the phrase 'run your association in a business-like way' a whole new meaning, doesn't it?
4. Niches. Does your association accomodate specialists like commercial specialists, international real estate, resort marketing, seniors, young professionals? Perhaps you need to combine forces with adjoing associations, states, or NAR to offer these services, but in this market place your members are no longer generalists (even though our whole membership structure is based on an association of generalist-salespersons and brokers).
5. Geography--another outmoded concept. No matter how isolated a local association thinks it is, if the truth be told--it isn't. And let's face it, the Realtor organization was founded on a geographically-based membership structure which no longer applies in an internet-based world. We spend a huge percentage of our resources preserving this anachronism: get over it. The average member doesn't do business this way any more, and he/she has little patience with an association whose restrictions limit his competitive abilities in a new business world.
6. You want new members? Knock holes in the walls. Let people who want to lead, lead. Eliminate some of the prerequisite hoops (gotta chair a committee, pass muster of the nominating good-old-boys). Also, recognize that not all leaders want to be president: they have no intention of leading in traditional channels. They just want to do a good job in an area for which they have passion. That area may not fit in our traditional governance models. As Clay Shirkey says, "Here comes everybody." Your governance needs to be prepared for the onrush.
7. Who's our customer? "Why, our MEMBERS", you say, with wide-eyed innocence, lip-syncing the party line. There's a problem here, of course. Not all products should be designed for all members, even if you consider that your members are card-carrying home salesmen and brokers. There's a difference between the skilled, seasoned professional and the new guy or gal. Hard to design programs that satisfy both at the same time: so know how to define your target market. Secondly, more and more the trend is to offer consumer services: it's just good image for Realtors. So what kinds of public service programs are you sponsoring: dispute resolution? a resource website? consumer education programs? a grass roots political action program for property owners? Affordable housing? (notice I've left off the generic mitten-collecting variety of public service). And what about those affiliated businesses? Are you genuinely building an informed, smooth-running business community regardless of function? Aren't these professionals customers too?
Interesting and very direct questions, aren't they? The real estate industry is coming to a crossroads, and so is its professional association. Now, more than ever, we need to be joining with association professionals like Kevin, and looking into the future and its very tough questions.
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.”
“How many of you didn’t go?”
“Me! Me!” I say. “But I WANTED to!”
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!
Would I do almost anything to get to the next event? In a heartbeat!
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. “
Paper Tweets, that’s what we’re talking about here.
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.
Sep. 21, 2009 - Building Association Online Communities: Step Three
Ok, it’s clear in your mind what you want to achieve with online communities, and you’ve identified the behavior that will signify that your community is a success. Now the next step is to begin.
Yep, go to Facebook and design your site (or Twitter, or Ning, or whatever tool you’re using), keeping your objectives and your audience behaviors in mind. When you've completed the project, you’re ready to do a soft launch—that’s step three.
Repeat these words: SOFT LAUNCH. That doesn’t mean let go of the helium balloons and clink the champagne glasses and invite everybody you know to this wonderful new service. It means, take a lesson from Google’s “Wave” product launch and letting some qualified users try it out first. “Here’s the site,” you say to four or five or ten people. “In a week I’ll call you and we’ll talk about what will make this site better for the average member.”
And you say to Alice Average, “Just hang on, Alice. This new association social networking service is really going to be a benefit to all of us. But we’ve got a few members working on a beta test to make sure everything is absolutely perfect before we release it. We’ll put you on the mailing list, and you’ll be the first to know when you can sign up!”
In the meantime, let the beta testers go full speed ahead. Encourage them to start the discussions, establish special interest groups, post links, sell used office equipment, whatever. When Alice Average finally receives permission to sign up, there will be activity going on already.
And when the your beta testers give you ideas like “we’d like to develop an interface between our Facebook site and the MLS” or “why can’t we have a link where they can click and donate to RPAC right from our site?”, listen to them carefully and act on their suggestions. Remember that their job is not to tell you how good your product is; their job is to find ways to make it better. Once the beta testers are satisfied, you'll have a better product AND a cheerleading section to support your service.
Sep. 20, 2009 - Association Online Communities: Step Two
In Step One, we brainstormed some objectives for developing an online community within your association. As you thought about what strength an online community can bring to your organization, what your ‘big picture’ objectives might be as the association CEO, you began to get excited, didn’t you? I mean, you really began to see the possibilities here, right?
And then you dumped the bucket of cold water over your own head. “Can’t you imagine Ernest R. Emeritus trying to find something meaningful on Facebook, for heaven’s sakes? I mean, he’s still putting carbon paper between the pages of his listing agreements. He’s not gonna do this. Forget the idea!”
Step Two involves defining the two or three measurable objects you’d like to have the members accomplish through social networking. You’re not thinking about the whole forest landscape here, you’re thinking about picking out a few clearly definable trees. And you won’t reach everybody, so clearly define your target market. An online community may not provide anything of value to Ernie Emeritus, but for a large number of Americans, social media tools are an integral part of daily living.
In step two, you will the performance objectives for members who will participate. Let’s say you set up an association Facebook page, for instance (or you might be doing this on your association website, or maybe using a service like Ning for your association). What do you want members to DO when they get to your Facebook site? Here are some thoughts that Maddie Grant (www.socialfish.org) suggests in her excellent blog:
Log in. This means they need to set up an account, and set up a Facebook page for themselves. (Hint: try offering a short seminar or online tutorial in how to set up and maintain a Facebook professional profile)
Add their photos! A faceless online community isn’t at all interesting.
Send some Friend requests to business professionals and clients
Obtain information on your organization events
Register online for an event, or respond to an invitation
Read the association news items
Participate in discussions on issues of concern to members
The secret here is to outline the expectations. You might even set up an achievement widget: “if you complete four or five steps, we will sent you our gold star award for your Facebook profile. …” Your job is to encourage use, and to define a clear understanding about what your site is intended to do. Then communicate that to the members. And don’t make the mistake of thinking that social networking is a benefit in and of itself. Members don’t want to network just for the pure joy holding hands with each other : I, for one, am always put off by all the invitations to join ‘fan pages’ or become ‘friends’ with people I don’t know
“What’s in it for me?” I ask. Your members will ask that too.
Sep. 18, 2009 - Seven Steps to Building an Association Online Community: Step One
In this series of articles, I’m going to explore with you some steps involved in launching an online community in your association. There are a series of incremental planning steps you can take as the organization manager, actions which will really assist you in building an asset which is truly capacity-building for your association.
Many association execs have ooohed and aaaahed at various seminars and education presentations over the course of the last couple of years: ‘social media’ is the new buzzword in management circles. But like any other shiny new toy, the glitter can fade quickly once the reality of daily living sets in. Who wants to tweet about the joys of collecting dues or the excitement of revising bylaws? Clearing the meeting room clutter after yet another RPAC Fundraiser just doesn’t make it for fascinating Facebook contribution to share with family and friends.
Of course, the goal in this case is much more comprehensive than a tweet or text message: you are using social media tools to build an online community. Like any other project you might introduce into the organizational culture, building an online community needs planning. Step One is predictable: define your objectives for building such a community in the first place.
Here are a few suggestions to think about adding to your list of goals:
Attract and empower volunteers, especially younger members
complete better association work through more feedback, more open participation, more voices
better track committee tasks and objectives
meet people where they are, not where you are
communicate faster, do work faster, accomplish things faster
improve outreach, communications, engagement
make your organization friendly and inviting
have a safe space for open, honest communication between staff and members (inside the organization, not in the parking lot)
get out of the way (as staff) and let work happen
assist members who don’t travel by getting them involved in ways that does not require face-to-face presence
let all members know (even the ones who don’t participate in the online community) that things are happening in the association!
I’m sure you’ve got other goals in mind—now’s the time to make a list. Write them down, every one you can think of, and then highlight the four or five objectives you think are the most productive to the association. Go ahead. It will only take about five minutes. Then you can go on to Step Two.
Sep. 4, 2009 - Reviewing Association Management Products
One of the services I think can help Realtor AEs as well as other association managers of my non-profit clients is a product review site. I think it would be helpful to everybody to have some consumer reviews of products we are using and finding helpful, or not useful. I'm thinking along more universal terms than MLS vendors--there are plenty of email lists right here at Internet Crusade where those views and opinions can be shared among others who care.
But I'm thinking about the 'Aha!" moments that we as association staff have when we step outside Realtor-dom and find that there are products and services which we can't live without--or maybe we've tried them and want to suggest that others approach with caution....
So I'm starting a series of product reviews and I'd like your help. You're willing to suggest products you'd like me (or someone else) to review, or you're welcome to review something yourself, and I'll make you a guest blogger!
In any event, my first review in this series is at my Circle Dance Blog, which I intend to keep a little more generic to all types of associations. I reviewed the latest ASAE offering, "Are your Members Ready for Web 2.0", which is available free to ASAE members, or costs $19.95 for non-members. Is it worth it? Head on over to Circle Dance and find out!
In a recent Cooperative Intelligence blog, Ellie Naylor asks the question “Will Associations Go the Way of Print Media?”
For me, that question is an attention-getter: I’ve blogged about the parallels between print media and other professional areas— new delivery technologies creating obsolescence of current models.Think music and film, retail stores, and yes, even real estate.
So what’s endangering associations?Naylor thinks it’s technology—everyone’s nemesis (and opportunity).Traditionally, associations provided networking and information: two fundamental attractions for members.Associations have had publications, trade shows, seminars, conventions—all learning activities which gave members a competitive advantage over the non-members.They’ve had meetings and parties and committees and public relations campaigns, designed to encourage networking and cooperative ventures between members.
And we are no different in Realtor®-dom.We have the MLS as well as many of the same traditional activities as other associations and our organizational mission is a community of informed professionals, working together.
But look!Information is now ubiquitous: it’s everywhere.Nobody, including associations, has a corner on the market for information.Even the lofty American Medical Association has only one-third of US physicians as members, and is losing thousands of members each year.Information and training, one of the key reasons for joining the AMA, is now readily available through a multiplicity of sources.And the AMA hasn’t been able to produce discernable results in the two areas of AMA member interest, malpractice reform and Medicare rates.If you can’t be the deliverer of quality information unavailable elsewhere and if you can’t produce pocket-book enhancing advocacy results….why pay dues?
One can ask the same questions of the Realtor® organization and, in fact, members are asking those questions.“I can get information from lots of sources,” say members.And quite frankly, they add, MLS operations are really stifling business.Restrictive and confusing policies on VOWs and geography-limited data access are foremost among complaints—before concerns about fines and rules and business models are added to the heap of issues causing member unrest and dissatisfaction.
The other part of our cumulative vision as trade associations is promoting camaraderie among members.That’s the reason we most often give for committees (the members that work together do good business together) and parties and general membership meetings.
Wait: technology has given us other ways of forming networks, learning personal things about others in our areas of specialization, and establishing meaningful relationships.Those other ways include all kinds of social networking systems from wikis to Tweets to Facebook updates to Ning sites where specialists can gather and share.These opportunities are inexpensive, and take a lot less time than a convention or a general membership meeting.
Of course social networking and face-to-face meetings aren’t mutually exclusive…but by the same token, the opportunity to meet face-to-face (at significant time and expense to the member) is not enough reason anymore to pay dues to an association.
So what’s the answer?How do we, as associations, plan to keep ourselves more viable than the Ann Arbor News?More specifically, how to we as Realtor® associations, practice preventative medicine in order to maintain good health?
Ellen Naylor says the following:” Associations need to adapt their model to their membership in these changing times since the old value proposition won’t work. Here are a few ideas to consider:
1. Multiple, affordable means to connect members electronically
2. Free services that are interactive, like Webinars
3. Continuous PR blasts about the profession’s benefits to both users and providers of that association’s constituency
4. Strong industry knowledge by association staff…
5. Steady corporate and service provider sponsorship (financial and time)
6. Cooperative affiliation with complementary associations or industry associations which value your association’s skill”
Naylor’s suggestions are as important for the Realtor® community specifically as well associatons in general and suggest some practical applications Association Execsmight consider:
A. First, admit to Naylor’s premise: The old value proposition won’t work. That’s a hard one for Realtors®, I think: our very organizational infrastructure is based on 80 year-old market areas, and we spend a lot of time not admitting that the Internet has made that obsolete.
B. Embrace many avenues of networking technology.Learn about it, and use it as a part of your daily association toolbox.
C. Have a long look at your public relations efforts, both with your members and with your association publics.Don’t count on the old loyalties to carry you through: the consumer is indeed king, and the loyalty is in the pocketbook.If you aren’t providing a perceived value, the consumer (member) is gone, gone, gone.
D. Be knowledgeable as the association administrator.Understand the real estate industry, the brokerage business, and your local markets.Learn about association management techniques.And get the designations which firmly establish you as an expert.
E. Cultivate your association sponsors.Those are not only your brokers, but also your affiliated community.Be proactive in establishing contacts and integrating these folks into your organization’s business and strategic plans.
F. And finally, look outside your licensed salesperson/broker membership to build community.Find new ways to include business affiliates into the core professional community: they deserve more than just a chance to provide golf tees or the Christmas party wine.Increasingly, other specialists are playing an important part in how Realtors® do business, whether they’re in law, banking, or cellular telephones.Bring them in!And while you’re creating new community, think about the general public of real estate purchasers and sellers.How can your association interact with them to provide a more confident and knowledgeable buying and selling public arena in which your members can work?
Aug. 14, 2009 - The Board of Directors as Employer: Building a Better Board, Part 3
I am continuing my series on building the Strategic Board of Directors—what a strategic board is and how AEs can build one. The process clearly is ‘building’ one, a gradual process lasting over time. One leadership conference, one guest speaker, or a year on the board of directors won’t magically produce a strategic-thinking, productive leadership team.
In previous posts I’ve suggested how an executive director might create an atmosphere for more productive financial management, and how actual board meetings might be structured to become more strategic and policy-centered. Hopefully, you’ve already incorporated some new activities into the meeting agenda, like asking the board to approve a complete financial policy and introducing regular progress reports on the process of the strategic and/or annual plans. You might have started a series of analyses on how much things REALLY cost, like the annual summer outing or administration of your lockbox program. Directors are, hopefully, getting used to the fact that opportunities to nitpick the color of the drapes in the conference room are becoming increasingly more limited as they are being asked to converse on a somewhat broader scale.
At this point, my blog is going to get into a topic that NOBODY likes: the role of the directors as an employer. Members of boards don’t like this role because (a) they’ve never done it (they’re independent contractors or employers of one person, maybe) or (b) the whole idea of measurable evaluation and legal responsibility is not why they signed on as volunteer leaders (“YOU WANT WHAT? All I want to do is make sure we have a better Christmas party than last year’s”).
Joking aside, volunteers really want to do a good job for our associations, and they want to make meaningful contributions. But managing an employee? Most directors simply don’t have the skills and knowledge base to do it well. And most executive directors feel uncomfortable training their bosses in how to be good bosses.
Here are some suggestions about how you, the AE, might set the stage for good personnel management from your directors. First, answer the following questions:
1. Does our association have clearly stated goals for the coming year, and have we formulated measurable results for each? Often an association has definite goals (“We want more affiliate members”) but no measurable results (How MANY more members? How will you know when you’ve reached your goal, in other words?)
2. Has the role of the AE has been clearly stated in these goals? No strategy is complete without an assignment of responsibility. If the association wants twenty more affiliate members by the end of the fiscal year, who’s going to do this? If it’s a task force of members, what’s the AE’s job in the process? Once the Board has stated its goals and measurable expectations, you can come back to them with the statement of how you’re going to assist in the implementation (“I’ll work with the Task Force to set up a job description, make sure staff supports their efforts, and I’ll make sure their progress is reported to you each quarter.”)
3.Does the board have a consistent, ongoing process to review the progress toward its goals and recognize the AE’s responsibility in bringing those goals to fruition? As AE, the ‘you’ includes your staff: your job is to manage staff performance, and if the MLS director doesn’t complete her job, for instance, YOU are held responsible: this goes without saying. By the same token, you are the one to issue reports to the directors on the progress of the goals. I suggest you do this regularly, perhaps at every meeting. Give a report from the AE which in essence says, “this is how I am doing what you told me to do in the annual work plan”, and “this is how close we are getting to achieving the measurements you established at the beginning of the year. “
Are you getting the message? Once the board establishes clear and measurable outcomes, the process of evaluating the AE’s performance becomes straightforward. The board personnel committee can sit down with the AE, review the progress and discuss the results—or lack of them. By doing the initial work of clearly defining goals and outcomes in the beginning of the year, the process of evaluation becomes automatic.
That isn’t to say, however, that the board members are going to WANT to do the evaluation. If things are going well, they may go kicking and screaming into an evaluation session: “You’re doing fine,” they will say. “We don’t need a MEETING.”
“Well, yes”, you reply, “you do. You need to meet, fill out a written evaluation form, sign and date it, and put it in my personnel file.”
“Here’s why”, you continue:
1. As directors, your job is to be responsible for carrying out the organization’s mission. It there are not good results happening, you’re responsible, and you are expected to intervene.
2. It’s not in the association’s best interest to delay coming to grips with a AE’s failure to produce expected results. Delay gets you nowhere, and hoping the issues of unsatisfactory performance on the part of the AE will just disappear—well, it’s not gonna happen.
3. If in fact it is the responsibility of the board of directors to see that the organization’s mission is accomplished, then you need to find out what’s going well and what’s not. And if there are results that you have defined and are expecting, then you need to tell the AE about it. By the same token, the AE needs to know what IS going well. Only then is there a chance that the mission will be carried out.
I, for one, don’t believe that performance evaluation need be tied in to salary discussions, either. Sometimes an employee can be performing beautifully and meeting all expectations, and there just isn’t any bonus money. Insist on the evaluation and separate it from finances. Establish a pay increase discussion at another time, perhaps during the formulation of the annual budget.
In thirty years of association management, I’ve seen a lot of very fine AEs come and go. What I’ve learned is, frequently the disappearance of an AE has little to do with competence. Some very fine AEs have returned from vacation to find a cardboard box on their front porch and the locks on the office door changed. You as an AE need to understand that if the Board wants to fire you, it will—fair or unfair, politically motivated or not. You can’t stop that.
But what you can do is insist that the board be professional about it. Conduct regular written evaluations based on the agreed-upon tasks, inform you in a professional way when you are not meeting their expectations, and define a manner of termination which will work in the best interest of the association (one good reason for a contract for the AE, by the way). I have a dear friend, now retired, who always kept his signed letter of resignation in his top desk drawer. He told each new board that the letter was there and that if he found it on his desk one day, signed by a majority of the board members, he would be quietly gone in a few hours. It never happened, but he had the process defined and in place, and it would be graceful and quick.
By the same token, you can provide your directors with some tools which will assist them in being professional and, at the same time, doing as little harm to you as possible in the process. Perhaps a termination checklist/succession plan might be a handy education for them should the need arise: it will certainly point out that there are legal issues and protocol involved in a drastic decision—and those considerations may allow clearer heads to prevail in times of real stress in the organization. And of course, should some other unplanned disaster befall the AE, an emergency succession plan (either temporary or permanent) should be easily accessible.
Hopefully, this discussion isn’t about termination or disaster, though. It’s about performance evaluation, and that is a stage that you as the AE can set. Insist on a clear and measurable work plan from the directors, report on your performance in effecting that plan, and insist the board of directors evaluate that performance in writing on a regular basis. Encourage the directors to have discussions about your performance which are centered on those tasks in your job description and that your evaluation be conducted in a transparent and professional manner, rather than in the parking lot after the meeting or at the Malcontent’s Bar on a Friday afternoon.
I have developed a template for succession planning. If you’re interested in a copy, don’t hesitate to email me directly.
"If I was a gambling man, I’d bet on Google disrupting a significant number of property portal markets over the medium term. Brand building is a portal’s only defence and it will be the number two, three and four players who suffer most. Will it benefit agents? Probably, in some cases by putting downward pressure on portal prices but inflation in Adwords prices could cancel this out."
In today's blog from the WAV group http://waves.wavgroup.com/google-launches-real-estate-search-portal Victor Lund describes Google's announcement of a real estate search portal. And Global Edge's blog (reprinted by Inman) trumpets "Property Portals-Expect Casualties".
Speaking as a consumer, the Google search portal for real estate is pretty slick. A lot of the property data infrastructure is already in place from Google Maps, and I found that even for my isolated location in Northern Michigan there's a highly populated data base due to an existing feed from the MLS through the ListHub product. In addition, property owners can add their own listings if they don't have an agreement with a real estate broker--thus increasing the potential listing search for consumers.
Read Google's instructions for agents and brokers http://maps.google.com/help/maps/realestate/data_provider_faq.html. The instructions are elegantly simple and designed to encourage participation. The bare bones, welcoming design is in itself one of the greatest challenges to many of the real estate search portals in existence today, particularly those affiliated with multiple listing services (the Google real estate search is NOT an MLS, as it clearly states). But the Google real estate search is inclusive, self-correcting, interactive, and free--conditions which will be certain to be attractive to consumers and real estate professionals.
If you have a property search portal on your company, franchise, or association web site, scurry on over to http://maps.google.com/realestate and have a look. There are a lot of lessons to be learned there.
Aug. 10, 2009 - The Strategic Board, Part 2: Fiscal Oversight
There’s no more treacherous ground in association leadership and management than the fiscal oversight process: it’s the battlefield of last resort when it comes to staff-leadership relationships, and it’s a topic of ongoing complaints from the membership to the leaders and staff.
“What do I get for my dues dollar?”
“We pay outrageous salaries to the staff.”
“You’re travelling to NAR conventions on MY money?”
“My cousin could design a website for half the price.”
You’ve heard these comments I’m sure—probably many times over. Good management will, of course, stop and do a systems check to make sure that they aren’t a sign of a major organizational illness that needs first aid, but all too often these kinds of objections are brought into the board room and result in much time and resources being wasted on trying to satisfy the complaints of one squeaky wheel. In a board of directors which does not have a firm grasp on its priorities, such conversations often result in ill-conceived, hasty decisions which are not in the long–term best interests of carrying out the association’s mission.
The association’s travel budget is often the object of membership concern. In most associations the travel budget is a small percentage of the budget, often 7-10% of operations. Members often see association travel as a perk for leaders and staff rather than as an opportunity to learn from the best practices of other associations and to develop and groom new leadership, among other things. Armed with good intentions, the directors respond to membership complaints by hacking away at this expense item rather than seeing it as an investment in the future.
In reality, gnawing away at specific budget items is a very small part of the responsibility that a board of directors has to the membership. Much more important is the board’s oversight of the fiscal operations of the board, particularly in matters of financial operations, procedures and policy. Board members must not be allowed abdicate their responsibility for providing thoughtful fiscal oversight.
To be successful in carrying out this responsibility board members must:
Have a strong interest in the fiscal affairs of the association, including its overall, current financial position, the reliability of the reports it receives, and the effectiveness of the management of incoming and outgoing funds.
Require regular, timely and complete financial reports from internal finance staff or contract staff and expect the board to hold staff accountable for meeting the standards of timely reporting.
Ask critical questions about the financial reports the board receives, including budgets, periodic financial statements, the annual Form 990 and annual, sometimes audited, financial statements.
I know it seems impossible, but I received a call from a friend of mine, a Realtor in an association in another state, who was assuming the position of President-elect in her board. “Should we be getting regular financial reports?” she asked. “All we ever get is the year-end summaries from the bookkeeper.”
“Argh,” I growled. A board that fails on any of the above issues is incapable of meeting its legal duty of care, and any AE who does not enable the board to meet these expectations is not meeting her responsibilities as a staff manager.
As an AE, you can assist in positioning your board of directors to assume a role much larger than budget BB-stacking by asking them to
A. Approve a comprehensive fiscal policy. You might do this little by little at each meeting, but every association, large or small, should have a cash reserve policy, an investment policy, policies on fiscal operations, employee bonding, and spending. These policies should be reviewed annually by leadership at staff and revised as needed through a consent process;
B. Meet annually with the association financial professional to review the audit or review;
C. Develop a financial crisis plan. What would happen if disaster occurred—the association lost another 50% of the members, or the MLS disappeared? What are the options for survival?
D. Operate using professional reports. The board meeting is the AE's time to inform the board in a professional setting using written reports, business plans, and impact analyses. In an earlier post I mentioned business plans for new projects or services, and summaries for events or programs the association has held. Use operating ratios, too—the travel budget is what % of total operations? Personnel costs are what %? Compare these ratios with other organizations like yours, and make sure your directors think this way, rather than in nickels and dimes.
E. Complete a self-audit on a regular basis, preferably annually. This is a good exercise for the directors and the finance committee. I’ve posted a financial operations checklist on my website—feel free to use it or adopt it to meet your needs. Also visit Realtor.org for additional resources and examples of financial policies.These techniques aren’t limited to large organizations.
Even if yours is an association of just a few hundred members, it should have a clear and current set of financial policies, good reports, and a well-educated and responsible board which sees its job of financial oversight as one of conservation and protection of resources, a role that goes far beyond line-item scrutiny.
A behind the scenes look at organized real estate--what works in an association, what doesn't, and what a long time AE sees as challenges facing the industry from the viewpoint of its professional organization.
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