Member-Driven or Staff-Driven? A False Choice

The above question is often posed to association leaders to gauge who sets the agenda for the organization. The assumption being that member-driven organizations are more connected to members’ needs than staff-directed organizations. But that question is a false choice. In today’s environment of short attention spans and over-crowded schedules, an association is unlikely to survive without a strong staff, with equally strong opinions and ideas of where an association must move to stay ahead. Associations today must find ways to know member needs, without burdening volunteers’ time and resources. To that end, Printing Industry Midwest invited a series of executives to participate in brief focus groups designed to reveal top management concerns of today’s print service leaders. The process discovered: