So I am finding this hard to believe, but it has been 10 years since we published We Have Always Done It That Way: 101 Things About Associations We Must Change. The book is essentially a collection of 100 blog posts written by Jeff De Cagna, David Gammel, Mickie Rops, Amy Riccardi and myself, with each post raising a different issue that we felt associations need to deal with if they are to adapt to the reality of the 21st century. We talked about the danger of combining strategy and planning, the need for innovation, the possibility of getting rid of committees, the dysfunctions of our boards, and challenges associations face in areas like certification, professional development, and technology.
And here’s the depressing part: 95 of the 101 things we talk about are just as relevant today as they were ten years ago. Seriously, I looked at every post in the book this week, and nearly all of them felt like they could have been written today. I only found 6 that I felt were no longer relevant or were areas that associations had since caught up with:
- Using blogs
- Selling digital downloads
- Using social security numbers as database identifiers
- Embracing social media in general
- Using video within social
- Using RSS feeds
To be honest, I don’t really know if the social security number thing has changed, but I’m giving the community the benefit of the doubt on that one.
So congratulations, association community–6 down, and 95 to go. And I’m glad to see you handled the really tough ones, like selling PDFs online. And hey, it only took you ten years! At this pace, you’ll have caught up to the issues you were facing in 2006 by the year 2174!
And in case my sarcasm isn’t coming through loud and clear, let me state it more plainly:
I am outraged. The fact that we as a community are evolving this slowly in this day and age is simply unacceptable. This actually makes me want to give up on the association community. Seriously. If this is the best we can do in ten years, then maybe I should stop beating the drum for change and just accept the fact that this community, for the most part, is going to fade into irrelevance. There are a few associations that are evolving*, of course, and I am now at the point where I just want to get together with them and plot a new course. Forget the community as it exists today. Let’s just start redefining what association success looks like, and move forward. If you want to stick with the way you’ve always done it, that’s fine. Just stay out of our way.
That is why nearly all of my blogging about associations is on a new site, associationsuccess.org. The folks behind Association Success share some of my frustration with this slow pace of change, my commitment to innovation, and my belief in the power of organizational culture. Join me there.
[*Disclosure – we work with several associations whose stories are linked to above]
This article was originally sourced from Social Fish and was written by Jamie Notter.
