Every official wants his or her association to be successful. Is there a magic formula for success? Where should the focus lie in the association to be successful? Like many things, there is no single entity that generates success. It is a combination of symbiotic processes and efforts that come together and form the elusive target called success.
Definition of success. Before you can be successful, you have to define success. Is success more membership? A larger budget? Better officiating? More clinics and meetings? It is critical that the association understand their customer and what that customer wants and needs from the association. Dues are paid and expectations are set, whether spoken or not. One of the best ways to understand and define success is to ask the membership what success would mean to them. You may get very different and sometimes conflicting answers. It will be the responsibility of the board to look at the input and pick and choose the most impactful and attainable of the choices.
People. The membership is often a key to success. Why do you have membership? Some members may want to better their ability to officiate while others may just be members to meet an officiating requirement. A successful association meets the needs of both ends of the spectrum as well as enlists the membership to do some of the training. The board members have to be motivated, have vision and possess follow-through. The board is often made of volunteers with the best intents and desires but because of “real jobs” and families, follow-through is frequently the biggest barrier to success. Initiatives take a long time to deliver and frustration can set into the board and membership. Follow-through can be a function of organization, self-awareness and passion. A successful association is made up of members with those qualities and a board that knows how to tap into those resources.
Goals. Many businesses work against the axiom “You get what you measure.” For an association, you work hard to meet what you promise. The problem lies when the association does not make those promises and just tries to do better. There is something magical about writing down goals and communicating it to your membership. That public announcement of what you plan to do will energize the participants to make it happen. Some goals can’t be reached in a single year. Therefore, you need to have short-term and long-term goals. The status against those goals should be given regularly and any changes to those goals should be openly communicated. Without those goals, the association will often flounder and not be successful.
Organization. The success of an association is often measured by its meetings. An organized meeting that starts and finishes on time and has professional presentations delivering a clear message is well on its way to success. On the contrary, a meeting that is disorganized and seemingly done “on-the-fly” or “off-the-cuff” is a sign of an association that is struggling to find success. Members have a busy life and do not want their efforts and energies wasted by someone’s lack of preparedness. One meeting, however, does not equate to success. A successful association will consistently deliver those items and will have the dates, places, times and subjects of meetings figured out well in advance so the membership can make plans and be prepared to attend the meetings.
The intangibles. Those are usually the pieces of the puzzle that the association has to recognize and enable. A good example of an intangible is the fellowship that happens before and after association meetings. A successful association will create the proper environment and allow time for officials to tell war stories and to discuss situations that they have experienced. They are often small interactions and not formal presentations. All the members tend to learn and grow from those informal discussions as much as from the formal training sessions. Moderation is the key. If the entire meeting is nothing but war stories and friendly conversations, the membership will likely be disappointed that they do not get the advanced training or unique perspectives that come from well-prepared speakers or outside presenters. Create the environment and nurture it, but cut it off when it is time to start the meeting or time to leave.
Those items are just some of the aspects that can help associations become successful. The list is not all-inclusive. The hard work is figuring out what success for your association is and then finding the way to drive that success.
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