Happy Friday, everyone! We hope everyone has had a good, productive and fulfilling week. In keeping with our Friday tradition, below are five our of favorite blog posts from the last week in the association community.

1. Jeffrey Cufaude shares 10 tips for engaging a volunteer community. Small staff associations likely have to rely on volunteers for many things due to limited resources, so this list is definitely a must-read!

2. How do big brands manage social media? Maddie Grant shared a great – long! – video about how large brands manage their social media efforts. There’s also a conversation about social media management systems. Of course, most nonprofits and small staff associations likely do not have those types of resources, but there are always lessons to be learned and idea for how to scale your own efforts.

3. Could your association implement social dining? Deirdre Reid examines the concept and gives some great background info. (I kept comparing it to the speed dating concept in my head as I read.) Although your organization might have to rely on volunteers, social dining could be a fun member meet-up.

4. Pinterest really is everywhere right now – even on association blog! KiKi L’Italien shares how nonprofits and associations can utilize the popular pinning social network. You may already be familiar with the social network for personal use, but KiKi shares great tips for how your association can get involved. The best tip? Make your content pin-friendly.

5. Aaron Wolowiec shared feedback from one of his quotes from LSAE: There is no such thing as constructive criticism. Does “real” constructive criticism exist, or is it simply criticism cloaked in good intentions? There are great lessons here for all leaders and managers – the first being, to give positive feedback first, then follow it up with things that could use improvement.

From everyone at MemberClicks, have a great weekend!

Remember Summer Reading? You’d get a list of books from your future teacher with instructions to have them all read before the first day of school – and sometimes with the dreaded book report. Now, I love to read, but I never appreciated being told what to read. I like to choose my own books, thankyouverymuch.

But sometimes, no matter how much I resisted, despite my initial frustration, I ended up liking the assigned books. Some of them – “East of Eden,” for example – are now on my mental list of favorite books.

But we’re adults now, and we don’t have to write book reports anymore and reading is just for fun … right? Well … often reading can be related to our careers. After all, we can’t rely on blogs and magazines!

So, without further adieu, here are some of my top picks for this year’s “summer reading.” They may not be lighthearted enough for the beach, but I guarantee you you’ll learn something.

1. A Guide to Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing: Advice From the Leading Experts

2. The Future of Nonprofits: Innovate and Thrive in the Digital Age

3. Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential

4. The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry)

5. Creating Healthy Organizations: How Vibrant Workplaces Inspire Employees to Achieve Sustainable Success

6. ON: A Brilliant Way of Living and Working

7. Decade of Change: Managing in Times of Uncertainty

8. Strength Finder 2.0

9. Conflict 101: A Manager’s Guide to Resolving Problems So Everyone Can Get Back to Work

10. The Positivity Pulse: Transforming Your Workplace

Do you have a summer reading list?

Happy Friday! How are things in your area of the world? Cold? Warm? Busy? Laidback? Wherever you are, I hope things are going smoothly for you and your association. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to hear that there were tons of great posts in the association community this week, and as usual, I’m sharing five of my favorites. Feel free to share your own favorites in the comments!

1. Lindy Dreyer wrote an insightful post counteracting what many people (myself included) have said about mobile applications. She argues that they’re a waste of time for associations, as most people use applications to play games, get the news and weather and as navigation tools. There’s often a huge barrier to entry with mobile applications and many members just aren’t interested. What do you think?

2. At ASAE’s Acronym blog, Joe Rominiecki points to a post by Brian X. Chen and my Monday post (thanks!) to ask, why wait until a crisis to reflect on what your organization could be doing better. He’s right, of course – if you wait until your circumstances force you to change, it may already be too late.

3. Jeffrey Cufaude had a great post that pointed out something we all probably realize is true, but can be difficult to be put into practice. If you act like a situation is a big deal, it becomes a big deal by nature. However, if you stay calm under pressure, others around you will stay calm too.

4. I always enjoy Wes Trochlil’s blog because he’s able to accurately discuss technology for associations in “layman’s” terms. This week, he discussed the necessity for a translator of sorts during a new technology’s implementation. The association’s staff and vendors may not always be quite on the same page, so sometimes, communicating can be tough.

5. If you’re an executive director, how do you manage others? Do you manage other people’s expertises, or do you try to force yourself to be the expert at everything? (Hopefully, it’s the former.) Erik Lanke discussed management by collaboration at The Hourglass Blog this week and it provided some great ideas about how younger people need to rise to this challenge.

Wherever you are, have a great weekend!

Photo source

Is your to-do list out of control?

Professional development. Workplace growth. Time management. New responsibilities. Stress. Presentation skills.

Every day, we take another step forward in our careers. But though we may have learned practical skills in academia in school, the business world is an entirely different animal. Business enhancement, communication and project management all become complex issues when you work in a membership-driven organization.

I recently found out about the free webinars offered by the American Management Organization, so I wanted to share some links with everyone. There are a few each month, and they cover topics as diverse as communication, administration, leadership and management skills. Each one offers practical advice you can really use — and they’re also available on-demand, so you don’t have to watch them live!

Here are a few upcoming ones that may interest association professionals at small-staff organizations:

- How to be a Successful Manager as an Introvert (April 8 – today!)

- Managing Your Workload: How to Prioritize When Everything is Important (April 20)

- How to be a Communication Problem Solver (April 29)

- From Chaos to Control: How to be Resilient to Workplace Stress (May 4)

- How to Turn Your Marginal Performers into Productive Contributors (May 13) 

Sometimes, one useful tip can make all the difference when trying to get a handle on your to-list or de-stress a bit. Consider these the next time you’re stressing out or feeling like you can’t handle everything on your plate. (And remember, it’s almost the weekend!)

Image credit

By Mark Sedgley, Director of Sales and Business Development

Excellence as defined by Webster is the fact or state of excelling; superiority; eminence. Unfortunately for me, a dismayed Red Sox fan, this is the definition of Yankee baseball.

What is it about those “Darn* Yankees?” I know, I know, they have the largest payroll in baseball — that must be it. Or maybe it’s because they are from the largest city in America?

And their fans are better, right? Would you believe me if I told you that the Yankees started out as the no-name stepchild to the New York Giants? They were a transplant team from Baltimore, kicked out of the National League so they could be a pawn for their cross-town rivals. Hard to imagine but true.

The Yankees aren’t excellent because their payroll is large (see: Dan Snyder’s 2-6 Redskins. Nor are they the best because of their venue (see: the New York Mets’ Citi Field).

They are excellent because that is what they expect. No more, no less. Excellence is a state of mind. It starts from the top down and, when done right, is pervasive. When Col. Rupert bought the Yankees, he brought an expectation of excellence and he was willing to put his money where his mouth was. This expectation has carried on through the team’s storied history.

The funny thing about excellence is it becomes a habit. (Failure does too, but no one aspires to failure.) So what is the trick to obtaining excellence? If you follow the Yankees’ model, it’s by starting small and investing in what’s important: your people.

There has been enough business literature written over the years to substantiate an investment in people. I’m not going to belabor that point. However, it is important to understand that unless you expect excellence from your colleagues and others, you won’t get it.

In a lot of ways, expecting excellence is a statement of confidence in your own abilities. How can you expect excellence if you don’t believe you can deliver it? Teams, individuals, employees … all of them want to give their best. They want to be excellent. They need, however, to be asked for it. This happens in a number of ways:

1. Set small success goals: Don’t shoot for the stars right from the get go. You will set yourself and your team up for failure. Creating a foundation of successes allows you to take it to the next step.
2. Stretching those goals: Build success — don’t sit on it. Sounds simple, right? The Atlanta Braves won 12 straight Division Titles and they only won the big game once. However, when this was brought up to management, they consistently pointed to their accomplishments and the division titles. Wrong approach. This will never breed excellence. Push further than you ever thought you could. It creates a culture.
3. Give people an opportunity to be excellent: Be deliberate about putting people in success situations. Marry up their strengths with a task that feeds to the goals and watch them flourish. This approach can be infectious in an organization.
4. Compassionate confrontation: I once asked someone “What does constructive criticism mean to you?” His reply “Criticism worth taking.” People want feedback. They want to get better. Compassionate confrontation or constructive criticism is a great opportunity to do just that. Put criticism in the context of obtaining the over all goals and focus on the opportunity moving forward.

All of these steps help foster an environment of excellence. However, at the end of the day, if you don’t expect excellence and you simply play lip service to it, then you will be just like the Philadelphia Phillies — pretty good, but not the World Champion New York Yankees.

P.S. Go Sox

Photo via Chang W. Lee/The New York Times