Deirdre Reid, CAE is an association consultant, speaker and trainer focusing on member engagement and social media at Deirdre Reid LLC and Leadership Outfitters. Connect with her @DeirdreReid.

Last week I shared how Lululemon Athletica, a successful yoga and “sweaty pursuits” apparel company, encourages employee personal development and wellness as part of their corporate culture. Innovative companies like Lululemon are a source of new ideas about organizational culture and customer (or member) experience. What else can we learn from them?

Lululemon strives to be a community hub providing its customers and employees with what they need to create healthy and fulfilling lives, physically and mentally. Isn’t that somewhat similar to what associations do? Be a community hub that provides members with the tools needed (knowledge, relationships and advocacy) to have successful professional lives. Associations can provide valuable knowledge via social media hubs where members connect with each other and nurture professional (and personal) relationships.

Store employees are not called sales associates, but rather educators. They talk to customers about fitness and healthy living, while selling expensive yoga pants. This is content marketing, using education to build trust and develop relationships that lead to sales. Associations can also do this by providing news, information and other resources via public platforms such as blogs, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to not only members, but also prospective members, thus demonstrating their position as the preeminent source of knowledge in their profession or industry.

Lululemon stores actively solicit customer feedback. This helps the brand stay lean and profitable by only stocking what’s in demand, and quickly getting rid of stale inventory. How often and in how many ways do you check in with your members about their current and future needs? How often do you research the possible needs your members (or their customers) will have in the future? Do you review and sunset stale committees or programs regularly? What can you eliminate to free up resources for more valuable programs? It’s difficult to try new ideas when staff and financial resources are tied up in old ones.

They also get feedback from their ambassadors — yoga and fitness instructors who get discounts and the opportunity to market themselves by teaching free classes at the stores. In return Lululemon gets their professional opinions about the design and technical aspects of their products and free talent to teach classes — classes that draw customers into the store, a win-win for everyone. Supplier members often provide educational sessions for free in return for marketing exposure. What other types of partnerships can your association create with thought leaders, suppliers, service providers or anyone who can provide professional guidance, content or services to your leadership or members?

To keep in touch with their customer base every Lululemon corporate employee must spend at least eight hours a month working in stores. What if all association staff spent time each year learning about and experiencing days in the lives of their members? How would that change your culture? How would your member services and programs change? Has your association tried any of these ideas?

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