THE TOOL
SHED
How Strong Is Your
Association's Community?
“Enterprises are drawing on community
dynamics to exploit the power of human social
connections among their employees, customers and
business partners.”
"Communities:
Sociology Meets Technology”, Gartner, Inc.
"By 2005, more than 50
percent of enterprises will include community features
as part of their customer service strategy..."
“Community Technologies - Something Old,
Something New”, Gartner, Inc.
Community was a
competitive advantage that associations had over
commercial enterprises, but that is changing. While some associations took and are taking their
community for granted, for-profit companies are focusing
on building valuable communities.
Many of the
reasons why commercial enterprises are creating
communities among customers, potential customers,
employees, and business partners are applicable to
associations. For example, companies are reducing their customer support
costs, increasing the number of customers, and
increasing customer satisfaction, loyalty and spending
through effective use of communities. Associations can do this as well, but they need
to pay attention to their communities, focus on building
more value into the communities, use emerging
community-enhancing technologies, and leverage the
communities to reduce costs, increase member growth and
satisfaction, and increase revenues.
The
American
Society of Association Executives Foundation has undertaken
significant research during the past few years on the
topic of association communities, including on-line
communities.
That research reinforced the need for and value of
communities in associations.
One of the
outcomes of ASAE’s research is the development of a
tool to assess the state of an association’s community
–
The State of
Community Assessment (SOCA) instrument was designed to
not only identify
those areas
where community thrives on its own, but also to reveal
areas in which community building needs a boost from
association staff and volunteers. …[It] aims to
measure the characteristics of community that matter
most. It includes questions about members' personal
experiences with and perceptions of the association,
their use of technology, their involvement in
association activities, and overall satisfaction. These
results may confirm or contradict some long-held
assumptions within particular associations. The aim is
to initiate a conversation among leaders, members, and
staff, and to help association executives identify which
levers will make the most difference.
Source:
www.asaenet.org
AXI is seeking an association that would be interested
in working with us to field-test this new instrument on
their membership. This
is an ideal opportunity for an association to get the
pulse of their membership at a significantly reduced
cost. Contact
AXI president Wayne
Amundson (403) 374-1822. The
Tool Shed is the place to find the right tool for
the right job...and the tools are designed to work in
associations and other not-for-profit organizations.
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