7DoB Day 5 (Live from Austin): What's your theory?

Well, for the first time, the AIB goes on the road, with a posting from my hotel room in Austin, Texas! I'm here on a business trip, attending a meeting for one of my clients. I am not leading this meeting, which is a somewhat refreshing change for me, since I obviously lead many sessions for different organizations.

Today, I spent most of the afternoon listening to experts in the profession that this association represents. One of these "thought starters" discussed the need for a "new theory" of this profession, which resonated with me because I've been having some very specific thoughts along those same lines about the association profession. I've been reflecting on what constitutes the intellectual core of association work, and the need to re-define it for the 21st Century, which is why I've called for the development of a specialized master's degree in association leadership. I see the creation of such a degree as a major opportunity for the consolidated ASAE/The Center organization.

But let's not focus on this issue in this post. Instead, I'd like to ask for your response to this question: what's your theory of association work? As an association practitioner or consultant, what is the core idea at the center of your thinking? I hope you will contribute to this dialogue. It's an important conversation for our community to have.

Comments

[Cecilia Sepp]

Jeff:
This is just not good in concept -- it's what I did as a Chapter (Component) Relations professional at every place I've had that job. It is the ONLY way to be successful at building a vital and vibrant volunteer and membership community. I would estimate I spent 65% to 70% of my time on this. It took a lot of phone time, well-thought out emails, hours of preparation for committee meetings and conference calls, and taking LOTS of notes about what members were interested in and then connecting them to the right people. By keeping good notes, I could quickly and easily refer members to other members that they needed to connect with. I've even gone so far as to find a member wandering the hall during committee meeting time at annual meeting, asking him what he was interested in, and then walking into a Labor Policy Committee meeting, interrupting it briefly, introducing him to the Chair and then putting his butt in a seat. If that's not practical, hands on, P2P connecting I don't know what is.
Cecilia

PS -- I can supply more examples, but I think you get the gist.

[Jeff De Cagna]

Cecilia:

Okay, sounds good in concept, but truthfully how much time were you able to spend on this work during your association career? Even though we claim to value building P2P connections, do we make it a real priority?

Jeff

[Cecilia Sepp]

I have always summed up my theory as building connections between people. To do this well, you must get to know them. All other projects flow from this.