Social Strategies for Associations – Choreography (Part 7)
Deirdre Reid, CAE is an association consultant, speaker and trainer focusing on member engagement and social media at Deirdre Reid LLC. Connect with her @DeirdreReid.
Umair Haque, in his Harvard Business Review post, From Social Media to Social Strategy, believes social strategies will change the essence of organizations and social media tools can be a catalyst for that change. He talks about seven social strategies that will be the key to success and help organizations provide meaningful and sustainable value to members, customers and communities. I’ve already examined Character, Control, Creativity, Culture, Clarity and Cohesion. The last social strategy is Choreography.
Choreography
If you’ve been reading this series, you’ve likely noticed that some ideas on how social media can be a catalyst for designing social organizations keep popping up: encourage a diversity of perspectives and experiences in leadership and staff; emphasize lateral networks (collaboration) rather than vertical hierarchies (control); invite online feedback (listening) and interaction (responsiveness); embrace learning and innovation, and accept risk and possible failure; provide real meaning and value to members; and nurture member relationships and communities.
Haque describes choreography as designing “the steps of a better dance,” “a better dialogue” and “highly productive relationships between buyers (members) and sellers (associations).” He believes our usual ways of doing things is no longer sufficient. In fact, he believes it will lead to the organization’s demise. Our challenge is to figure out what this new dialogue and relationship with members will look like. ASAE, an organization that could serve as an experimental lab for all of us, might be getting some ideas about that.
Social media gives ASAE the opportunity to listen to their community’s online dialogue about the recent Annual Meeting and to let us know they’re listening. It’s true that our online community is only a small subset of members, but we do represent a variety of members from all sectors of the industry — Millennials to Boomers, small to large staff, outposts to DC, and allied professionals to association staff. Social media gives us a place to discuss what we liked and disliked about our recent conference experience. How we interact and react to ASAE’s programs can give us insight into how our members might interact and react with us. We learn lessons that we can apply to our own organizations.
I’d love to have more opportunities, at conferences and at home, to share ideas and figure out new approaches and solutions to issues that associations are facing. Unfortunately that dialogue isn’t always part of the program at conferences, except in rare sessions or off-site at a bar.
What if instead of keynotes and promos at general sessions, ASAE had used that time for town halls or moderated discussion groups that focused on our pressing needs? What if we had the opportunity to discuss new ideas and approaches to common issues? This would certainly be more meaningful and valuable to attendees than hearing promos about the new ASAE logo or study trip.
What if speakers and others submitted case studies for display throughout the convention center alongside comfortable seating for conversation? If we missed a session, we could still see how other associations are approaching an issue and have the opportunity to discuss it with other attendees, perhaps even the speaker.
I’m focusing on the ASAE experience because I’m an ASAE member, but imagine that I’m your member. Do you really know what I need? How will you improve our interaction and relationship? How will you design a more valuable and meaningful member or attendee experience for me? Let go of “the way we’ve always done it” and join us in the online dialogue about creating social organizations.
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