Forum - November/December 2011

conversation. It provides a neutral base for decisions and helps steer the organization towards a more informed future, rather than the fluctuating agendas of leadership.

on their minds — to contribute. For those and other reasons, it’s important to be curious about what people think.

3. Apply the Data

Just as critical to creating a data-
driven organization is putting pro-
cesses and procedures in place to
apply the data. From new program
development to the assessment of
existing products and services, an
association has multiple opportuni-
ties to set direction and improve
performance. It isn’t about doing
an ad-hoc survey and looking at
the results one afternoon in a con-
ference room; it’s about letting
member challenges drive education
topics, using member demograph-
ics to customize communications
and regularly pulling quotes from
open-ended questions to create rel-
evant testimonials. The data might
come from myriad sources — for
instance, focus groups, telephone
interviews, surveys, website polls
and informal conversations — or
it may come from the back-end
analysis of information in your own
database.

4. Listen Purposefully

Finally, one of the most important
steps to becoming a more informed
association is listening purpose-
fully, which is essential to superior
customer service. Research is pow-
erful because it allows an organiza-
tion to validate what it’s doing and
understand what it can do better.
Research is also powerful because
it allows members to say what’s
Creating an association that is more
informed and member-responsive
doesn’t happen overnight. Even imple-
menting research initiatives is a long-
term proposition. Still, it’s easy to see
how critical data is to your association’s
success. Eckerd’s collapse happened
over many years, with many missed
opportunities to ask, “Why is this hap-
pening?” In the same way, Archimedes
would have never figured out how to
measure density if he hadn’t been will-
ing to see things a little differently. Be
curious about your members, because it
could be the difference between rele-
vance and collapse.

Shelley Sanner, CAE, is managing consultant at McKinley Advisors. She may be reached at ssanner@mckinley-advisors.com.

Midwest Government, Education & Nonprofit banking team welcomes Krenna Weiss

We are pleased to welcome Krenna A. Weiss to the Midwest Government, Education & Nonprofit banking team.

With close to 20 years of experience in the Chicago and Midwest markets, Krenna brings a wealth of experience and association knowledge to our Midwest coverage team.

With the addition of Krenna to the Midwest Government Banking team, we are excited to expand our commitment to meeting all the financial needs of Chicago’s association community.