Organizations Must Make Members A Top Priority

Successful organizations are those whose leadership realizes that they must prioritize their members and donors. Too many organizations are perceived as taking their members for granted, and without members,
organizations fail! Organizations must put members and donors first! Membership and donor satisfaction are the highest priority.

Many organizations put too much of the communication with members in the hands of paid staffs. However, while staff contact is certainly important and relevant, most members and donors prefer contact with \volunteer leaders. President Clinton was famous for speaking to the public and indicating that he felt their pain. Most people want others to be empathetic, and have certain shared experiences. Since, in most organizations, members share certain common interests, either business, occupational, religious, social, or political, they only perceive this empathy when it comes from a "peer," in this case a volunteer leader. Think of it as the "been there, done that" perception of reality, but it is far easier in most cases for volunteer leaders to effectively communicate than it is for paid staff!

Paid staff is an important part, however, in the overall member relations/ communication arena. It is essential that paid staff answer the organization's telephones in a professional, helpful, caring and attentive manner, and is responsive to the needs of members. Staff must send out any item requested in a timely manner, and always keep its promises made to members. Unfortunately, due to a number of reasons, including economic, educational, social, training, etc., it is often difficult to have a consistently efficient and reliable staff. In today's technological age, with the availability of personal data devices, such as Blackberry's, etc., there is no excuse for staff not to reply to e-mails in a prompt, reliable manner, all the time. When staff is constantly making excuses, and not getting necessary items done, organizations must consider either formal training or changing staff.

Member relations should be far more than a mere cliche. Member relations means opening up lines of communication, engaging membership in dialogue, requesting feedback, offering member benefits, and most importantly, truly caring about the needs of members. Leaders must make every effort to assure that the organization continuously evolve, without losing its identity. Leaders must communicate clearly why the organization is both relevant and important to members, and why members are so important to the organization.

Unfortunately, I have witnessed far too many organizations that have "lost their way" over the past three decades of organizational and management consulting. Leaders must constantly revisit the idea, "Why should someone want to belong and be active in this organization?" Organizations whose leaders do this are invariably the strongest!

Attracting And Maintaining Members

The lifeblood of any organization is its membership, yet many organizational leaders often seem to ignore that fact. Organizations must constantly make its existing members feel proud of belonging and that their membership is valuable and worthwhile, as well as a priority. At the same time, successful organizations reach out to lapsed members, and attempt to address in a positive manner why certain members give up their membership. This group is extremely important to an organization, because it is generally easier to re-up a lapsed or former member, than it is to attract new members. Leaders must realize that lapsed members were at one time members, so at least at one point, felt it was important to belong. It is the "job" of leaders to make the organization attractive once again.

I have observed some organizational leaders who explain that they are not actively seeking new members because their existing membership ranks are sufficient. These leaders need to realize that the reality is that certain members give up their membership, others age and get less involved, and others die. Many formerly proud, successful and grade organizations and associations run into difficult times because as their membership "grays," they do not have new leaders and "joiners" to take up the slack. Successful organizations are always seeking new members who believe in their mission, and want to get involved.

One of the major challenges that many organizations face is insufficient communication. In recent years, much of this has been the result on certain "leaders" over-dependence on strictly digital communication, using the internet, websites. E-Blasts, and e-mail almost exclusively. Effective leaders understand and realize that optimum communication depends on using various areas of communication, and while digital is convenient, relatively inexpensive, and quick, it is often impersonal, "cold," and inefficient.

Marketing studies have shown that effective postcard campaigns are still the third most effective at eliciting a response. The highest percentage of recipients view and respond to them. The first and second most effective means of communication are face-to-face, and telephone contact. Texting has been shown to even be more effective than e-mail. While there is certainly a place, and a need for all these forms of communication, membership satisfaction is directly related to members feeling welcome and wanted.

Organizations need to reach out to grow their membership ranks. That often means that leaders must go outside of their comfort zone. It also means that leaders need to know how to speak to, rather than at, members and potential members.

All of these obstacles are part of a far greater challenge that most organizations face, which is a dearth of effective leadership. Those organizations that emphasize leadership qualification and in-depth, professional training, invariably fare much better than those that do not!

Leaders Can't Please Everyone

An interesting feature about human nature is that most individuals want to be liked, and if not liked, at least avoid most confrontations. However, when organizational leaders transfer that trait with them to their leadership role, it often causes or creates inefficiencies, at best, or breakdowns in a worse scenario.

In three decades of working with not-for-profits and organizations, I have observed that a large percentage of leaders, however, act as if they wish to please everyone. This often causes procrastinating, indecision, or conflicted decisions, where decisive and/ or swift action or activities might be called for. I have observed fat too many individuals in leadership positions whose "own decision" is based on the last thing they may have heard from someone. Too many organizational leaders initially determine a course of action, only to digress because they "did not wish to offend" someone. Unfortunately, a reality of effective leadership is that whenever any decision is made that is at all meaningful, and will bring forth some sort of change, there will always be supporters or proponents, as well as naysayers or opponents. Too many ineffective leaders end up getting bogged down in wishing to please everyone that it nearly paralyzes any type of effective action.

Effective leaders realize that leadership demands making decisions, and making decisions often creates an opportunity for critics. An interesting attribute of many of these critics, however, is that while they have no difficulty being critical, they rarely offer alternatives that might remedy what needs to be addressed. It is also somewhat interesting to note that many of the harshest critics are also the most thin- skinned, when one disagrees or opposes them.

Leaders must understand the decision making process, become proficient in it, be confident in their research and understanding of the issues, weigh all ramifications, put a price tag on either action or not acting (in terms of money as well as time and personnel), create a goal, then create a plan, then make the plan into an action plan,place a timeline on it, and proceed. A leaders understands and accepts criticism, yet if he followed the proper process in making his decision, should be confident in his position.

Leaders must also understand "opportunity costs." "Opportunity costs" are what the present course of action might be costing the organization in terms of lost opportunities, either in terms of appealing to donors, attracting and maintaining members, or advancing the organization's mission. Organizations must continuously evolve to not only survive, but to ensure they keep their mission viable. Leaders who spend inordinate amounts of time worrying about pleasing everyone take away from the opportunities to get things accomplished!