A business colleague from Jacksonville, Florida, Tom Morrison sent me this article from his newsletter which he named “From Relevance to to Revolution, Its Now or Never”
Why
the Traditional Association Model is Stronger Than Ever
A lot of talk has been
pouring over the internet recently regarding whether the traditional association
model works in today’s crazy fast and ever changing environment. The answer is
it is more powerful than ever. Let me share why.
I like to compare the
traditional association model to that of the traditional car model. Cars of
today have the same four components they did in the 1960’s with an engine, body,
frame and four wheels. The car has always been the best and most efficient mode
of transportation for the average person. Yet the cars of today outperform cars
of the 1960’s because of technology advancements and
re-engineering.
Associations are exactly the same. The traditional model
of today encompasses the same core elements as the 1960’s in that associations
provide groups of people with a common passion and purpose a chance to:
- Organize themselves
- Coordinate their efforts
- Leverage the costs over many people
- Do things as a group they could not do individually effectively
- Build trust to take advantage of business opportunities
There is
no other model that allows a group of people with common passion and purpose to
pull off such great accomplishments than the association model. For all of you
who believe social media can assimilate people with a common purpose, your
fooling yourself because someone has got to execute and do the work. Social
media allows people to talk, write and shout out a lot, but at some point,
someone has to leave their computer and do the work. This is where the
associations rules the day.
With technology advancements such as social
media, gotomypc, go to meeting, skype and mobile the association model has made
the association model stronger and more powerful because:
- We have now given the smallest member in the most remote location an
opportunity to be involved in the conversation - We have empowered our members to connect 24/7
- We have engaged our members to have a louder voice because the voice has
expanded - We have become more important as a trusted filter to the incredible amount
of wrong information on the internet
The reason people view the
association model as dead is because many CEO’s and execs have viewed the
technology advancements as a threat to their control and association model
instead of the path to re-engineering that can propel their association to
expand their reach to rule their universe.
I know this because our
organization still runs a traditional model with a baby boomer board of
directors, baby boomer members and committee structures. However, over the last
six years, our association has aggressively made technology advancements and
re-engineering a habit and the member satisfaction, member loyalty, engage of
the younger generation and financial strength of our organization has never been
higher.
Here’s the deal:
- People WANT to accomplish something bigger than themselves with groups
common to them. - People WANT to be a part of something exciting.
- People WANT to believe in an organization who can empower them to make it
happen.
If any association implements technology advancements and the
right re-engineering around the five core association elements mentioned above,
I believe they can rule their universe and engage the loyalty of their
members.
As the commercial says… “Life come at your fast. Stop talking
and start doing.”
