Do We Really Know How Members Feel?
“We might think members don’t engage like they used to because they are so busy, but is that really the reason?” This great question popped up during my presentation to the amazing EOs at this summer’s National Association of Home Builders Association Management Conference.
Here’s what prompted that question. I asked the participants to brainstorm why it is hard for people to engage today, and here’s what they said:
Association CEOs and staff say members have difficulty engaging because they are too busy. Members don’t have a lot of time. There are many other obligations like family, and there are a ton of distractions like cell phones, social media, and technology. Members, potential volunteers, and attendees have a ton of other priorities, so they feel they are too busy to join, contribute, or volunteer. This is what association professionals said, BUT are they right?
YUP! Absolutely! 💯%!!!
The lovely audience of 80+ people crammed into a standing-room-only space who sat and stood along the sides of the room—they were totally correct.
Over the last ten years, I’ve conducted (and meticulously collected results from) 477 one-hour interviews with members from different kinds of associations (trade/professional, small-large, local-global). And why do members tell me they don’t engage? Time. They are too busy. (Don’t worry. There are solutions to engaging people even when they are super busy.)
Members and association professionals are perfectly aligned on the answer to this question.
But are we always so aligned? Most of the time. Association professionals often know their members well. You know what makes your members tick. You know their challenges and goals. You know all the little unique preferences of your members.
And at the same time, we might have little blind spots. Clients would tell me that the research I conducted for them confirmed 80-90% of what they already knew about their members, but 10-20% was new or debunked some long-held myths.
So, using this data directionally, we likely all have a 10-20% blind spot when it comes to our members.
“That is what we think, but what is the right answer?” is a very astute question. Keep challenging what you think you know about members because there’s always something new and amazing to learn about them.
