Membership has Its Privileges–and Responsibilities

By Rick Petry

In the four months or so I’ve spent as ERA’s interim president and CEO, I have learned enough to fill a book–well, a matchbook anyway, where every insight is like a matchstick ready to ignite a fire; in this case, a fire in the belly of the membership the association serves.

Prior to my arrival in Washington, D.C., I had no idea that an entire industry of trade associations exists; there are some 5,000 of them in the area. They even have a trade association for trade association professionals. With headhunters stalking the Beltway plying shiny rungs up the vocational ladder, an association professional might be eradicating pesticide regulation one year and then advocating for plastics manufacturers the next. This explains why many trade association careerists know little about the industry they are serving. No wonder: that’s not the industry they’re in.

But to be fair, since most associations essentially do the same things–which include advocacy, events and research and education–the wherewithal to execute these functions is critical–something at which a seasoned trade association professional should be skilled. But that vital ability makes up only part of the success equation. An association only thrives if it creates relevance for its members and in order to create relevance, one must have a firm grasp of context. And that is where you come in.

ERA relies on its volunteer members through its Board of Directors and committees to provide the context that will inform its relevance. It’s imperative that the organization be membership-driven versus staff-driven. That doesn’t mean that every suggestion from the members should be executed verbatim, because there are occasions where self-interest is promoted in the guise of the greater good with all the subtlety of Red Riding Hood’s hairy nana. On the other hand, members should never feel like they’re being patronized, either. We’re volunteers, after all. Besides, many of us have teenaged children for that.

Further, when there’s a sense that members aren’t holding up their end of the bargain, it can engender an unhealthy attitude. As one former staffer cautioned me, “We don’t want the tail wagging the dog.” Excuse me, but I always thought in a service-based business, the staff is the tail, and the clients (the membership) form the body.

Fortunately, the current staff of ERA understands this service model, yet it is still incumbent upon all of us to be part of the solution. As this year’s Volunteer of the Year, Jeff Meltzer recently commented at the Awards Gala, “I hear people complain about this thing or that and don’t do anything about it. Do something. Change doesn’t happen by itself in an association. It takes members who volunteer to make changes.” It was a Mahatma “Be the change you seek” Ghandi-like moment, with a New York flair–and it brought down the house. Now it’s time for the hands that gave him a resounding ovation to join one another in a unified front.

Rick Petry is a writer and creative services professional and interim president and CEO of the Electronic Retailing Association. He can be reached at (503) 740-9065, or via e-mail at rick.petry@me.com.