I’ve been crisscrossing the country recently, speaking to associations on leadership, member engagement and networking. What has struck me is how many people want to talk about how their business impacts their ability to do their association work, and vice versa.
They’re not alone. The constant effort to find a balance between business and volunteerism is a common theme I hear when talking to association leaders. That’s because the kind of people who own their own businesses are the kind of people who like to make things happen. They’re the kind of people who see a need or opportunity and they jump in to get it done. They’re the kind of people who end up as association directors, board members and committee chairs.
That also means they’re the kind of people who sometimes find themselves taking on too much. If that’s you, read on.
Why Are You Too Busy?
I hear two basic things from these leaders: Some say their volunteer leadership work with their association is getting in the way of them doing what they need to do in their business. Others say they’re too busy doing the day-to-day work of their business to be able to give the attention they want to to their volunteer activities. Either way, it’s the same challenge: There’s not enough time to do everything you need and want to do.
Some people might tell you that’s because you’re spreading yourself too thin with too many commitments. That definitely can happen, but I never want to start by telling someone to stop doing something that’s important to them. I first want to make sure they’re doing those things as efficiently as possible. That’s why my answer to the question Why am I too busy, Jim?! isn’t Dude, you’re doing too much! It’s Let’s look at how you’re doing those things.
How Do You Run Your Business? How About Your Association?
Whenever I talk to business owners about how they run their business, I talk about the 5 Functions of Business. These are the five categories that all of the different tasks of your business fit into: Bringing in Business, Hiring and Training, Getting the Work Done, Creating Raving Fans, and Admin and Finance.
What many people don’t realize is that associations have 5 Functions, too: Bringing in Members, Onboarding and Orientation, Getting the Work Done, Creating Raving Fans, and Admin and Finance.
Do you notice something interesting about the 5 Functions for Business and the 5 Functions for Associations? Except for some minor wording, they are exactly the same. Let’s look at them together:
What’s important about the 5 Functions is that they help you organize your business and your association in such a way that you get your work done more efficiently and effectively. In essence, they help you get more done, in less time, with less stress.
They do that in part by helping you delegate. Let’s look at a couple of organizational charts, one for business and one for associations:
Again, not much difference, right? In each case, an owner or board (or executive director) is ultimately in charge, with a manager or staff reporting to them. You’ve got the 5 Functions, with Divisions or Committees responsible for making sure each Function gets done. This example breaks Divisions and Committees out under Getting the Work Done, but the illustration is true for each of the Functions.
My point is that running a business and running an association are incredibly similar. It’s often a surprise to association executive directors and boards when I tell them that they need to run their association like a business. That’s because association success has the same key components as business success:
- Revenue brought in by new clients (new members)
- Delivery of great value by a team of employees (volunteers) who are trained, empowered and mentored
- More revenue brought in by current clients (renewing members) who are thrilled with the value of the product or service (membership) they’ve gotten
- Even more revenue brought in by referred new clients (referred new members) who heard about you from those raving current clients (renewing members)
A quick point: Despite three bullets about revenue, revenue isn’t the only component of success. Absolutely not. Revenue is a result of the other components: value that attracts new customers and new members; a highly functional, invested team of employees or volunteers to deliver that value; an incredible customer experience that wows current clients and members and leads to referrals; and a smoothly running organization that facilitates all of the great work going on in the business or organization. Revenue is one of the easiest indicators that you’re doing all of those functions well.
But Why Does This Matter? How Does It Help Me Get More Done?
Great question! Now that we’ve established how incredibly similar running a business and running an association are, we can make this statement: Because running a business and running an association are so incredibly similar, if you know how to run one well, you can run the other well.
This is important because when you’re struggling to juggle what you need and want to do for your business with what you need and want to do for your association, you don’t have to double your effort to do what you need and want to do for both. You take what you do for the one and apply it to the other.
Let’s take a couple of examples:
Casting a Vision and Mission to Ignite Hearts and Minds (and Increase Revenue)
Here’s that first Function again: Bringing in Business/Members.
Notice that the word value shows up in both of these descriptions. Value is why customers buy your product and members join your association. They need something that you provide. In order to provide that thing they need really well, you have to truly understand and believe in its deep, important value. If you don’t truly understand and believe in its deep, important value, you can’t sell it.
In fact, when you truly understand and believe in the deep, important value that you have to offer, you don’t have to sell it. By communicating it clearly and evocatively to the people who need and want it most, you ignite their hearts and minds. They will want—even need—to be a part of your organization because they know that buying your service or being a member of your association will break through barriers for them and change their lives. Not only do they buy your service or become members that first time, they become long-term partners by buying from you again and renewing their membership, and also by raving to others about how your organization will change their lives, too. Right there, you’ve supercharged two Functions: Bringing in Business/Members and Creating Raving Fans.
When you cast a vision and mission, your prospective customers and members aren’t the only people whose hearts and minds will be ignited. You will also inspire and motivate your team: your employees, your association board and staff, and your committee members and volunteers. You’ll see that impact in your other three Functions:
- Hiring and Training/Onboarding and Orientation: A powerful, compelling vision and mission attracts the highest quality, most enthusiastic employees and volunteers; building training and orientation around a great vision and mission pumps them up about being a part of your organization, and sets them up for success.
- Getting the Work Done: Employees and volunteers who are excited about your vision and mission do their best work because they want to be an integral part of bringing that vision and mission to life.
- Administration and Finance: Even in the seemingly mundane world of administration and finance, you’ll see challenges evaporating and processes running more smoothly and effectively.
If you don’t have a good grasp of your vision and mission or think you’re not tapping into it properly because you’re not having the experiences I’ve described,
So is our next example: Going for green with your team.
Going for Green with Your Team
What if you have a clear, inspiring vision and mission and do a great job of sharing it with your target audiences, but your business or association is having a hard time following through with bringing that value? That’s when it’s time to assess your team and make sure they have the tools, training and support they need.
Start with the 5 Functions: Where are things falling short? For instance, are you rocking bringing in business or members, but you’re not getting repeat customers or renewals? Do you find that new members don’t show up to events, that committee heads aren’t following through on work they’ve been tasked with, or that new employees aren’t performing to your expectations despite seeming like a great fit during the hiring process?
I like to take a simple and direct traffic light approach, assigning a color to each function: green means everything’s going great; yellow means there are some tweaks to be made to get things running more efficiently and effectively; red means there are serious challenges to tackle. In the example above, the association version of your organizational chart might look like this:
The business version might look like this:
Now that you’ve identified where the challenges lie, you can figure out how to deal with them. If members aren’t renewing, have you provided enough direct value? Do you understand what they need from their membership in terms of education and networking opportunities? What specific actions can you take to deliver that needed value, and help them take advantage of it?
If new employees aren’t performing, are they getting the right training up front during onboarding or do they need more mentoring as they really dig into work in the second or third month? If committee members consistently don’t turn in reports on time, are they struggling in their own businesses and can’t find the time to do their association work? Can you help them by introducing them to the 5 Functions to help them streamline and balance their business work and their volunteer work?
Just like in casting a vision and mission, helping your team go for green positively impacts all of your 5 Functions by helping you and them get more done, in less time, with less stress.
Bringing It All Together to Run Your Association and Business Without Running Yourself Down
The work we do is important, and if you’re like me you don’t want to compromise: You want to run a thriving business that makes a difference in the world and you want to be involved in a thriving association that makes a difference in the world. The great news is, you can absolutely do both. Because the work of businesses and associations is so similar, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You don’t even have to shift your mindset. You just take the tools and techniques that are already working in your business and apply those to your association, and you take the ones that are already working in your association and apply them to your business.
I know what I’m talking about. I’ve used the 5 Functions to grow my own businesses and to take my Central Virginia BNI franchise from 0 to 1,600 members in less than six years. If you’re ready to experience that level of success for yourself and your business,
