May. 20, 2009 - Transparency in Association Management
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One of my favorite Washington insiders, Chris Dorobek, is a blogger and commentator whom I follow regularly. His insights on government and technology are a good focus point in understanding how Web 2.0 and the accompanying issues are affecting government policy and workings, and – by extension – what lessons we, as association managers, can learn from what’s happening in Washington.
Recently, Chris has posted several thoughtful articles on transparency in government. Here’s an excerpt:
Transparency can be valuable. One White House official joked with me that the Obama transparency initiative will be a success if it puts my blog out of business. I joked that I wasn’t worried. In fact, transparency can be incredibly powerful. In the end, it enables people to tap into the wisdom of crowds. And transparency is at the heart of Web 2.0 core beliefs: that all of us together are smarter than each of us individually. Therefore, transparency is elemental to government 2.0. These concepts feed and depend on each other. One cannot co-exist without the others
Transparency, he continues, cannot be implemented just for the sake of being transparent: there really are many operations which need to be kept private—contents of contracts, for instance. To expose them to public scrutiny may possibly impede relationships with a vendor, exposing information which the vendor may not want the public to know. The information is private, it may impede a vendor’s competitive advantage—there are a lot of valid reasons why not everything needs to be made public.
On the other side of the coin, however, is the fact that shared information is the order of the day, and technology is making that sharing process easier and more pervasive than ever before. Dorobek summarizes that “the theory of Web 2.0—and I would argue of transparency as well—is that information, in fact, becomes much more powerful when it is shared.”
In associations, it’s becoming clear that our members want information—in fact, they expect it. When we as association leaders protect and guard information, members assume that ‘something is wrong’, that we are hiding things and keeping secrets. It seems to me that I’ve been reading an increasing number of questions from association managers about that very topic: should we publish minutes? Distribute the budget? Reveal the staff salary structure? In an economic environment where our members are experiencing profound economic uncertainty and the re-invention of their professional roles, they are insistent in their demands to understand what’s going on around them, and to get the ‘full picture’ of what they perceive as the giant sucking sound of their dues dollars disappearing down a black hole.
Can we blame them? I don’t think so. But the problem is, how do we balance the two sides of the transparency issue? As association managers, how can we use the transparency tools to build a stronger organization and a community of more informed and satisfied members, and—at the same time—keep our association’s place as a successful business working in a world which changes at warp speed and demands instant decisions of knowledgeable people?
The answer is complicated and worth a book, not a blog. But in brief it means that as an association executive you must embrace the following:
1.Cultivate members’ respect. Be an executive, and position yourself to make decisions. That’s a long term process in some associations where the AE has long been little more than a gopher for transient leadership. But if you are to be successful in this career, you need to get the knowledge (try for an RCE and a CAE, go to seminars, get informed) and present yourself as a professional. Sharing information with members is totally different from making responsible, informed, and acceptable decisions as an administrator of their professional organization.
2.Be clear about the mission of your group. A mission is something the association needs to agree on and clearly understand, and any decisions you make as an administrator need to be based on what is helpful to the group as it accomplishes its mission. If, for instance, the association mission is to help members be more successful in their businesses, then each decision you (and the organization leadership) makes should answer the question “does this action assist in our mission?”
3.Then, with regard to transparency and shared information, sit down and make a list of transparency initiatives that would make your association better—stronger, more efficient, with less wasted resources on sustaining controversy and frustrating the member’s need to know. Let’s take the financial statement issue. Members want to know how their money is being spent, how their association is furthering its mission with the resources it has. So, tell them! You may decide on a presentation mechanism which satisfies their need to know without compromising your business decisions, but you do need to keep members informed. And, once they see that that travel budget they complain about is, say, 3% of the total association expenditures, the controversy may die down, or perhaps be directed more appropriately at some other expense item. (Of course, there’s always the possibility that you’re spending way too much on travel and there are ways to cut down or temporarily eliminates an item—transparency also means accountability, you see.)
What would your ‘transparency list’ look like? Minutes? Newsletters? Blogs from key leaders and staff about important trends and issues? White papers on in-depth subjects like short sale ethics or using social media to enhance business? Topical ‘tweets’ from staff on MLS matters or association programs? Forums for members to contribute information on professional topics or discuss association-related issues? Videos of highlights of the Directors’ meetings or of the annual meeting?
Chris Dorobek ends his blog with the following quotation: ” … I also think that transparency is also a significant enabler for true government 2.0 — (it is) government as a platform. In the end, the government doesn’t have to do everything. But the government can be an enormous enabler, in the best sense of that word.”
The same can be said for our association governance: transparency can assist our organizations in becoming stronger and more effective through shared information and conversation. Transparency can enable us—in the best sense of the word.
Jul. 9, 2009 - RE: Transparency in Association Management
Posted by shortsales
Being a part of this Real Estate web 2.0 marketing site means you have to produce better posts and blogs. The content of your blog contribute a lot to the traffic in your site.
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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