Facilitation: Master the Art

Do you think of yourself as a facilitator?

As chamber executives aren't we in the business of facilitating everyday?

Yes, we are and those that have mastered this art are the successful chamber executives across the country.

Whether it's at your monthly board meeting or connecting your members with each other, you're facilitating.  That's the business we're in.

There is an art to facilitation. After reading many articles on the subject, the following themes ring true for me:

• A good listener
• Understand what your members are asking of you
• Getting input from all relevant constituents
• Drawing out people who are hesitant to speak up
• And finally, connecting the dots for all constituents/members

A good facilitator keeps the discussion going in the right direction without interjecting their personal views. That's the key in my view of any effective facilitator.

Think back to the many sessions you've attended where you had a facilitator. What attributes of the presenter did you like? Which did you not?

Spend the time to hone your skills in this great art. Your chamber will be better off for it.

For a great resource on facilitation go to the International Association of Facilitators.

4 Tips For Onboarding New Staff

We all hire staff from time to time and how we onboard that employee into our chamber workplace is a critical first step!

Everyone is busy, but it's important to take the time to have a formal onboarding process that will position your new staff member to be successful.

Here are four areas I focus on:

• Job Description - what a great place to start.  Do you have a detailed job description for the new staff member of your chamber?  You might want to even have an operational manual of the duties that the previous staff member has created to help with your onboarding process.  This manual could be broken down into a day, week, and monthly list of tasks.

• Set Expectations - it's very important to set your expectations upfront. That way there will be no misunderstandings down the road.  I wrote a blog post HERE on that subject matter.  For me there are four: professionalism; positive attitude; strong work ethic; and results.

• Resources - give that new staff member the proper resources that will allow them to excel in their new job.  What do I mean by resources? Your time, the technology to accomplish the tasks at hand and the ability to learn your organizational structure (staff vs. volunteers) and the mission of your chamber.

• Feedback - it's critical to be honest and constructive in giving ongoing feedback on how your new employee is doing based on your expectations and the expectations of your members.

I'm reminded of a staffing concept laid out in Jim Collins' book Good to Great. The book talks about a lot of good stuff but I want to highlight where he talks about getting the right people on the bus.

Do you have the right people on your team (bus)?  And are they in the right position (seat)?

Something to think about!

For a great article by The Bridgespan Group on onboarding and supporting a new CEO go HERE.

Membership Shift

In Sarah Sladek’s book "The End of Membership as We Know It," she discusses three shifts that will have a major impact on membership organizations.

While there have been many books written on membership, some with a doomsday approach, this book, for me anyway, just confirms the fact that you need to adapt to change and be relevant to your members.

The three shifts discussed in her book are:

• Economic recession;
• Demographic change; and
• Technology

And by the way, that's not a new concept.  

She goes on to talk about how we need to solve problems and provide solutions for our members.  That's not a new concept either.

I assume you're already doing that!

So while something’s change, others stay the same.

Remember, it's been said here before that you can't be all things to all people/members.  Decide on what kind of chamber you want to be and deliver on that promise/brand.

What is your brand?  For a previous blog post on that go HERE.

If you can't answer that question, you need to go back to your board and members and survey them to see what they want out of their chamber membership.

That's called a needs assessment survey and for a previous blog post on that go HERE.

Once you know what their needs and wants are, fulfill them!

One thing I do know that's not going to change is the need to be a strong advocate for your members before different levels of government.

Explain how the chamber is in the business of advocating and solving problems for their small business which in turn will help grow their business.

Be an advocate!

Never a Transaction: A Relationship

I recently attended a conference that featured Chris Brogan (top blogger) as a general session speaker on membership activities and social media.

His statement, and the title of this blog post, is so true.  We must never let our members think they're just another transaction.

Remember the previous post on membership equations, especially the "Lifetime Value of a Member" blog post which can be found HERE.

That's why you build relationships and never treat your members like a transaction.

You want members for twenty plus years, not two!

Think about the products you love and I bet you feel as if you have a relationship with that product/company -- I do with Canon cameras.

I'm getting that way with Apple products -- I haven't transitioned completely from the PC to the MAC, but it's just a matter of time, I know it.  I currently go back and forth between the two.

Why, because Apple builds a relationship with you.  They make you feel special.  When I buy an Apple product, I feel like the relationship is getting stronger, it’s not just another transaction.

If you're like me, you started with the shuffle, moved on to the iPod, iTouch, iPad, iPad Mini, and let's not forget the iPhone (multiple versions) we bought somewhere along the way.

That's a relationship, not a transaction!

Lapsed Membership Mailings

What's your strategy?

Do you conduct an annual lapsed member mailing?  Or do you conduct it twice a year?

Lapsed mailing campaigns can be very effective.

The key is to make sure your data is up-to-date.  In our business people are moving around and changing their contact information on a regular basis.

Clean your data, and send that lapsed mailing out today.  You'd be surprised what your results might be.

I've been managing membership campaigns for over 15 years now and it is a part of my direct mail strategy.  And by the way, it has always generated money and members.

I've done the mailings in two ways:

• Invoice only; or
• Invoice with a cover letter talking about the latest activities of the organization that they may have missed.

At the end of the day, you want the invoice to get in the hands of the finance department, since they pay the bills.

In my experience, I've noticed that if you just send the invoice, it gets forwarded to the finance department and you'll get a quicker response then with a cover letter.

What's important is that you do one or the other.

Get started today with that lapsed membership mailing.  Find out which method works best for your chamber!

For resources on membership marketing go to Marketing General, Inc. HERE.

What's Your Goal Using Digital Media?

At a recent conference, I attended a breakout session with the same title of this blog post.

What did I get out of the session?

Three key points that I took away were:

• Message needs to be a benefit not an annoyance;
• Integration of data/information is key to your audience; and
• Media agnostic, on demand, mass communication with personalized content needs to be in real time.

I especially want to focus on the last bullet since I believe it's a key component of running a successful digital campaign.

You can't just focus on one medium (i.e., web, a social media platform, etc.).  You must be on all, web, mobile, audio and video and then find the platform where your members our listening (i.e., Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.).

Make no mistake about it, this is not easy to do.  Don't let the perfect get in the way of the good.

For a list of Jay Baer's top 33 digital marketing blogs go HERE.

Just get started today!

Research: Know Your Member

I recently was reading a "100 Super Hints Revealed" document produced by Marketing General Incorporated.

Go HERE to get the original document.

I've talked about the importance of needs assessment survey's and the tools available to conduct them.

For that blog post go HERE.

Having said that, I wanted to focus on two points in the last section under research of the Marketing General report:

1. It's what you know, not what you suspect; and
2. Beware of the board's perspective.

This is so true!

Don't get in the habit of guessing what your members want from past history or current staff thoughts. Survey your members and know for sure what they want.

The second point is sensitive. Ideally, your board members are the leaders of the community, but remember, they are a select group of your entire membership.

Conduct the survey and then use your board to prioritize the results. Don't let them add additional items your members don't want or feel is a priority.

It’s been said here time and time again. You can't be all things to all people.

When it comes to your members:

• Ask
• Prioritize
• Deliver

That's an equation for success!