Skip to main content

Association obsolescence

Did I spell that right? Kevin Holland has a discussion of that topic over at his blog today. Very interesting. My quick reaction is to say that a lot of associations probably *are* in danger of being overthrown. More market forces are in competition with them than ever and people have high standards. The younger folks like me make quick connections on the internet, and have access to more information than ever. The gap between the information-rich and information-poor just grows and grows, yet so many (you know who they are) says things like, "I don't do the computer." I'm like, okay, it used to be that if people were illiterate they at least weren't proud of it. I hope that's not too harsh, but I am seriously scared for people (many of whom are charged with making important organizational decisions) who have that attitude.

Still, my thought is that associations in general have lots to offer people: a sense of belonging, a community, advocacy and having a voice in policy and the media (a big one, I think), so it's a matter of marketing and creating a need. If people are not able to do that, the organizations will fail I think. One of Kevin's things is the need for lean, mean organizations:
Starting out small and flexible means very short governing documents that leave a lot of room for play, picking one or two services that they can implement immediately with a maximum impact, and then hitting the ground running.
I agree wholeheartedly with this assessment. I really think this is the point when an organization needs to say, "let's do x," or "let's do y" and then makes it happen. So often you see the energy just sapped by loads and loads of wannabe bureaucracy. Which is perhaps code for "I don't feel like doing anything." Or is it just a lack of realism?

I think I see what is happening as a realignment of the association's modality, and a new definition evolving of what it means to associate. Not so long ago associations jumped for joy with all the savings that happened as a result of technological advances. However, they may need to realize that these same advances are really moving their cheese big-time and that the future will involve more than just delivering memos via email instead of in the mail. In the meantime, we'll have the slow "graying" of the traditional model and it will atrophy.

Popular posts from this blog

We've Always Done it That Way: 101 Things About Associations We Must Change

From what I can tell, the impetus for this book was that the folks who wrote it, Jeff De Cagna , David Gammel , Jamie Notter , Mickie Rops and Amy Smith , were “concerned by the instinctively conservative approach to organizational stewardship that far too many association executives and volunteers continue to pursue in the early years of the 21 st century.” I took notes throughout the book, and now I realize they are far too extensive to make a very good book review. And I am definitely the choir that this book is preaching to. However, I really, really liked the problems these folks addressed and they pretty much slaughtered and butchered several sacred cows. This book is not extensive narrative or heavily footnoted, but it is based on the collective experience of 5 people who together have worked with many different organizations, and the collective themes will be familiar to anyone in the field. On a meta level, this book takes observations of what’s happening in the
Read more

Public sector information design

Here's an article from the UK's Design Council talking about how information design is important in public-sector efforts. Of course, it's helpful to everyone, but this is a good example of the universal need for better presentation of information--and more design.
Read more

An Army of Davids

So, I've been spending some time with Glenn Reynold's book (Glenn being of course the seminal and highly influential Instapundit ), and I must say that it gives me lots of language I can use to talk about phenomena that are easily observable right now. I think you could say that Glenn Reynolds has done for technology what Virginia Postrel did with design topics . Which is to say, they beat the drum and say, hey, look at what this democratization of knowledge can do for you! In that vein, the book is really pretty visionary, pointing out the magic of the internet age. And I for one see it as magical. You know how Laura Ingalls Wilder's Pa in Little Town on the Prairie said to Laura that it was an amazing time to be alive (that was in the 1890s)? I've been actively thinking that to myself for the past few years, and An Army of Davids gives me ample evidence to back that up with its talk of citizen empowerment and the "comfy chair revolution." The theme of "
Read more