Find the next best version of yourself.
Said Erika Napoletano (colorful language warning) during a Good Life Project podcast. The idea behind the statement is that life is a process. You are always learning, growing, working on being a better you. There’s never really a best you, there is aways room to grow. Hearing this made me think of organizations.
At some point in a organization’s early life cycle they figure out what works. They figure out the benefits members most respond to. They discover the marketing and selling stories that generate the most interest. Around this time staff and board members say, “phew! We are finally seeing success. These products and services work. The stories we tell about the products and services work. This is what we do. This is who we are. We are the association that provides (list your member benefits here)” That is, until what you provide and what you say doesn’t work any longer.
“Finding the next best version of your association” has appeal. To me this speaks to a constant process of innovation and always striving to meet member’s needs. This is being focused on “member need” and not being all caught up on what “we provide”. The benefits of this strategy are twofold:
1. Best member experience – making little course corrections all the time that add up to a superior experience for members.
2. Less risk – constant little improvement changes means less torque to the system. Constant improvement also means meeting member’s needs, providing less of an opportunity to be scooped by the competition and a energizing your staff that’s working for a common goal. All of which can equal far less organizational risk.
Find the next best version of your association. Then do it again. And again. Beating previous successes are good for the organization, good for members and good for the staff.