Happy Friday! In case you missed the post earlier this week, everyone is invited to the MemberClicks Holiday Shindig on Thursday, Dec. 16. If you’re going to be in Atlanta, please stop by our office and celebrate with us!

Of course, there were lots of great posts in the association community this week. So let’s get right down to it!

1. Cindy Butts at AE on the Verge had a great post about a new word she learned: thank-a-thon. Basically, the association sets aside a specific time to call members or volunteers (or write thank-you notes). With Thanksgiving just last week and the holiday season now upon us, this is a great way to reach out to members and volunteers alike.

2. Deirdre Reid discussed transparency in association leadership, and how important it is for members to trust their association. Without transparency, the association has nothing. Leaders shouldn’t hide their decisions behind closed doors, Deirdre writes. Good food for thought.

3. In a great post at the Acronym blog, Joe Rominiecki writes about member engagement and which method is more effective: one big push or chipping away slowly. He uses fundraising as an example, and the comments on this post are definitely worth reading. Lots of good questions here.

4. Jeffrey Cufaude discussed two evaluation questions association professionals should be asking in order to measure lasting impact and change. His suggestions are simple but could prove imminently helpful for determining the usefulness of a conference or learning session.

5. Jeff Cobb discussed the correlation between happiness and success, and how difficult each term is to define. (Probably because they’re different for every person!) Does success lead to happiness or does happiness lead to success? An interesting, thought-provoking post.

We hope everyone has a fun/productive/relaxing/fill-in-the-blank weekend!

Happy Friday! I hope everyone’s had a fantastic week and is looking forward to a fun or productive weekend (or perhaps both?)

As usual, there was some awesome content around the association world this week, and it’s all making me more and more excited for ASAE’s Annual Meeting and Expo in Los Angeles! If you’re going to be there, be sure to stop by Booth 332 to say hi to the team!

Now, without further ado, five of my favorite posts from this week…

1. Joe Flowers has been writing  a great series about his association’s Web redesign. With part three this week, he discussed how the organization went about narrowing the choice down between two vendors. It’s definitely worth taking a look at this series to see one example of how a small staff organization goes about redesigning one of the most important aspects of its presence: its website.

2. I loved Lisa Junker’s post at the Acronym blog about lessons to be learned from Pixar. Encourage unplanned collaboration, have reminders of the central purpose and see challenges as inspiration are all lessons Lisa gleaned from a documentary about the animation company. Rather than cutting corners, Lisa wrote, the Pixar team always saw challenges as inspirations to be better.

3. Jeff Hurt had a great post this week about organizational transparency, with a handy checklist for associations to learn from. For example, does your organization offer open board meetings? annual audits? financial disclosure statements? disclosed partnerships? Members — and those who donate to the organization — may want to have this information readily available. Transparency will never stop being important to associations.

4. We can do better, wrote Jamie Notter this week. Taking an example from Apple, who has to deal with many of its devices (which contain toxic components) end up in landfills, Jamie wrote about changing the culture of improvement to promote more value among everyone. Rather than just looking at benchmarks that improve the organization, how can your organization promote good in the culture at large?

5. One of my favorite posts at the new AssociationTECH blog this week was about the tip-a-day alerts program by association members from the American Evaluation Association. The benefits of the program — such as sharing ideas and expertise, engaging a variety of members and collaborating with other groups — are great, and so are the lessons learned. Definitely a great post for those looking to engage members.

From everyone at MemberClicks, have a fantastic weekend!

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So after discussing why passion transforms a good leader into a great leader last week, I wanted to discuss one more important quality: humility. Case in point: the recent Facebook privacy situation. Obviously, Facebook is a huge company with millions of users, but it doesn’t matter how big or small your organization is – every leader needs a healthy dose of humble.

Some background: After a lot of backlash involving its latest privacy changes, Facebook has responded by saying that the company made mistakes and will overhaul privacy features to make them simpler and easier to understand.

(I first wrote about Facebook’s new privacy settings a few weeks ago.)

In a column for the Washington Post, Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg clarified some user concerns and said the company would work on simplifying its privacy settings.

Although it took a little bit of time to elicit an official response from Facebook, it’s difficult to admit to the world that you made a mistake, as Zuckerberg did. Perhaps the company could have responded quicker, but I think the statement served a good purpose.

So, in addition to humility, I think organizations and leaders can learn a few lessons from this incident.

Ask members for input. It’s important to take members’ opinions into consideration before implementing sweeping changes. It’s better to be up front with members and ask for input to avoid backlash than to deal with a possible public relations headache that could easily have been avoided.

Respond quickly. Zuckerberg and Facebook took a few weeks to respond, which is a fairly long time in the digital world. A more immediate response demonstrates that you’re invested in the wants and needs of your members, and that you’re listening to them.

Be transparent. It’s vital to be transparent and approachable, especially as you begin to integrate social media tools into your communications.

If you make a mistake, admit it humbly so everyone can move past it. And by “everyone,” I mean everyone – members, staffers, board members and volunteers. Owning up to making a mistake is professional, courteous and should earn you some respect.

No matter how big or small your organization is, everyone makes mistakes from time to time and part of being a leader is admitting it and taking responsibility for your actions.

Happy Friday! Tomorrow is Derby Day, so a few of us in the office got dressed up in our Southern finest and are rocking some hats, sundresses, seersucker and bow ties. (Look for photos on our Facebook page later!) Anyone else celebrating the Derby with a mint julep or two?

Anywayyyy … without further adieu, here are a few of my favorite blog posts from the past week. Share some of yours, as well!

1. I found a new blog this week via Jeff Hurt on Twitter, and I loved this post about why people really join associations. Every once in awhile, it’s good to remind ourselves why people join membership organizations and what they hope to get out of them – everything from professional development to social interaction is included here.

2. This week’s What if Wednesday from Jeffrey Cufaude discussed terminology and language – specifically, declaring a “truce” on arguing about whether “purpose” or “mission” is the right choice, among other words. Jeffrey writes, The meaning (or in so many cases, lack of meaning) behind them is what we need to address.

3. It’s no secret that many membership organizations are broken down into silos. This week, Dave Lutz wrote about the importance of breaking down silos and working toward transparency. I think the “silo mentality” problem is less likely to occur in small-staff organizations, but this is still definitely worth a read.

4. Cindy Butt wrote this week about addressing criticism about your association’s service in social media. I think her post raises some important points, such as monitoring your association’s name, being open with staff and members about your efforts and create your own case studies.

5. Over at the aLearning blog, Ellen Behrens wrote about a few more LMS options for associations on a budget — definitely a good read for smaller organizations. She discusses a lot of good options for association learning and shares comments and quotes from those who have tried them out. Great post, Ellen!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Every time I visit New York, I try to walk, walk, walk everywhere. It’s my preferred way to navigate through the city. Sometimes, though, it’s necessary to take mass transit Now, I’m pretty familiar with the city, so rather than spending $8 on a cab ride whenever I wanted to travel, I just took the subway.

To a first-time subway-user, this map can be extremely confusing. New York is a unique city because it’s divided into five different boroughs, each with several unique neighborhoods. The subway is by far the most effective way to get around, but I’ve seen countless tourists staring at this map, bewildered.

However, it can be deciphered and understood, and people (tourists and locals alike) can travel between different neighborhoods and boroughs.

Imagine each neighborhood in Manhattan is a silo or department in your association. (I hope there aren’t that many, but bear with me.) Is there a clear road map for members, staffers and board members to help them navigate through it? How transparent is your association’s all-consuming “policy?” And how long does it take for people to digest and understand?

Sure, the Metro Transit Authority isn’t perfect (I used to accidentally end up on the wrong train occasionally, and some lines are mysteriously closed on the weekends), but it’s transparent and easy to understand. If your association’s map or policy is this intricate, is there a way to simplify it for those who may not be familiar?

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