Category: whitepaper

Research and Information Literacy – Learning More

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE
Responsible Consumption and Production of Research

Would you like to learn more about how you can improve your information literacy and become a more discerning and knowledgeable consumer and sponsor of research?

Caveat Emptor co-author Polly Karpowicz and I recently had the opportunity to sit down (virtually) with Jeff Cobb (Tagoras) for an episode of the Leading Learning podcast, where we discussed some fundamental issues in research study design, like primary versus secondary research, qualitative and quantitative research, mixed research methods, the ethics of using people in research, and bias. We talked about the importance of information literacy and how you can increase yours. We also covered topics like data validity, reliability, and statistical significance, and Polly and I shared some valuable tips for the responsible consumption and production of research.

Listen here or anywhere you get your podcasts.

Want something live, where you can hear directly from some of our case studies and have the chance to ask your questions?

  • February 23 – Caveat Emptor (UST Education) with Mallika Bender of the Casualty Actuarial Society – register HERE (it’s free!)
  • March 1 – Caveat Emptor (Association Insights in Old Town) with Mallika Bender of the Casualty Actuarial Society and Marc Beebe of IEEE – register HERE (it’s also free!)

And of course, Polly and I invite you to download the whitepaper, which is ALSO free!

Being Responsible About Research

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE

In this final post celebrating the launch of Caveat Emptor: Becoming a Responsible Consumer of Research, I want to talk about why this matters.

Why do association execs need to develop discernment about research, both as consumers and sponsors? Why do you need to have at least some familiarity with research terms? Why do you need to understand the benefits and drawbacks of various types of research methods?

Quoting from the monograph:

It’s important for associations to get this right, both so that association executives have the best possible chance of making good decisions about how to invest limited association resources to generate the best return for members, and because associations are viewed as trusted, unbiased sources of information for the members and other audiences we serve. It’s incumbent on us to provide quality research products so we remain worthy of that trust.

As a reminder, the whitepaper also includes:

  • An interview with Dr. Sharon E. Moss, co-editor (with Sarah C. Slater) of The Informed Association: A Practical Guide to Using Research for Results, on ethical practices in research.
  • An interview with Dr. Joyce E. A. Russell, The Helen and William O’Toole Dean at Villanova School of Business, on developing discernment in assessing research.
  • An interview with Jeff Tenenbaum, Managing Partner at Tenenbaum Law Group PLLC, on avoiding antitrust liability.
  • Case studies with the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Casualty Actuarial Society, and IEEE.
  • A plain English review of key research terms, and a brief explanation of the rules of formal logic (and how they affect research work).
  • Recommendations for books, articles, websites, podcasts, and courses you can use to improve your research skills.
  • A series of thought questions for you to use to spark discussion with your team.
  • An extensive list of resources in case you want to dig deeper on any of the topics addressed.

My co-author Polly Karpowicz and I are in the process of arranging additional opportunities to learn more, including a webinar with Association Insights in Old Town in April of 2023 – more information to follow.

In the meantime, get your free copy at https://bit.ly/3SYJiAO, no divulging of information about yourself required.

 

“P-Value”? What’s a “P-Value”?

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE | 1 Comment on “P-Value”? What’s a “P-Value”?

And why should you care?

Associations generate a lot of original research, but association execs also use a lot of research created by other entities both to assess the internal operations of the association as a tax-exempt business and to understand what’s happening in the industry or profession the association serves.

And let’s face it: Lots of research terms are pretty jargon-y. P-values and margin of error and confidence interval and representative versus purposeful samples, oh my!

It’s easy to find yourself glazing over in the methods section of the study you’ve chosen, ignoring it all together, or just deciding not to worry about what it reports.

That would be a mistake.

All those things directly affect the validity of the study and the results presented, results which we use every day to make decisions for our associations and the professions and industries we serve.

Quoting the new Spark collaborative whitepaper Caveat Emptor: Becoming a Responsible Consumer of Research:

Good research does not guarantee good decisions, but it certainly helps. And bad research, barring getting lucky and guessing right, almost inevitably leads to bad decisions.

We want you to have everything you need to make good decisions, so in Caveat Emptor, my co-author Polly Karpowicz and I provide plain English explanations of key terms in research design so that you can build your information literacy muscles and choose wisely what research you will – and won’t – trust.

Get your free copy at https://bit.ly/3SYJiAO, no divulging of information about yourself required.

 

Lies, Damn Lies & Statistics?

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE

Association execs consume – and produce – a lot of research in our day-to-day work, but most of us don’t have formal training in research. A lot of the language of research programs– p-values and confidence intervals and margins of error – can be pretty jargony, and some of the concepts behind what makes for good (or less good) research can be challenging for people who haven’t had the opportunity to take a graduate level methods course.

How can you be sure that the research you’re using or sponsoring is giving you the insight you need to make good decisions? How can you protect your association’s reputation as a trusted source of unbiased information for the profession or industry you serve?

In the latest Spark collaborative whitepaper, Caveat Emptor: Becoming a Responsible Consumer of Research, Polly Karpowicz, CAE and I tackle the sometimes thorny issue of what you need to know to be a savvy consumer and sponsor of research even if you DON’T have a formal background in research methods or much formal training (which, let’s be honest, most of us don’t).

The whitepaper also includes:

  • An interview with Dr. Sharon E. Moss, co-editor (with Sarah C. Slater) of The Informed Association: A Practical Guide to Using Research for Results, on ethical practices in research.
  • An interview with Dr. Joyce E. A. Russell, The Helen and William O’Toole Dean at Villanova School of Business, on developing discernment in assessing research.
  • An interview with Jeff Tenenbaum, Managing Partner at Tenenbaum Law Group PLLC, on avoiding antitrust liability.
  • Case studies with the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Casualty Actuarial Society, and IEEE.
  • A plain English review of key research terms, and a brief explanation of the rules of formal logic (and how they affect research work).
  • Recommendations for books, articles, websites, podcasts, and courses you can use to improve your research skills.
  • A series of thought questions for you to use to spark discussion with your team.
  • An extensive list of resources in case you want to dig deeper on any of the topics addressed.

I’ll be blogging about the whitepaper more in the coming days, highlighting some of our major findings, but in the meantime I invite you to download your free copy at https://bit.ly/3SYJiAO – we don’t collect any data on you to get it, and you won’t end up on some mailing list you didn’t ask for. We just use the bit.ly as an easy mechanism to count the number of times it’s been downloaded.

And don’t forget to check out some of the other FREE Spark collaborative whitepapers, too, on topics ranging from content curation to digital transformation, blockchain, DEI, lean startup, member-centric engagement, and more!

Digital Transformation: Where Do I Start?

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE

This is what it really comes down to, right?

Learning about what digital transformation is (and isn’t), why it matters, what barriers are unique to associations, what advantages our industry has – that’s all interesting and useful.

But how do you actually accomplish digital transformation in your association?

Maddie Grant, my co-author for The No BS Guide to Digital Transformation: How Intentional Culture Change Can Propel Associations Forward, and I have you covered:

  1. Assess where you are now.
  2. Secure leadership support and a funding commitment.
  3. Identify strategic areas where digital tech could make a difference.
  4. Review your legacy systems and processes (make sure you’ve got the “digitizing” part covered, for Ross/Mocker fans).
  5. Recruit your team.
  6. Get comfortable with experimenting (for more on how to do this, see the earlier Spark collaborative whitepaper Innovate the Lean Way).
  7. Improve your culture management.

THEN AND ONLY THEN, chose your tech investments and make it happen.

For more on how to do all that – including case studies of associations that have (the Construction Specifications Institute, the Healthcare Financial Management Association, the Independent Community Bankers of America, and the School Nutrition Association) – download the full whitepaper at https://bit.ly/3y4O6dy, no divulging of information about yourself required.

Culture Change + Vendor Selection

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE

As my The No BS Guide to Digital Transformation: How Intentional Culture Change Can Propel Associations Forward co-author Maddie Grant is fond of quipping, that’s what digital transformation is: culture change + vendor selection.

The technologies of digital transformation are:

  • Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • Cloud
  • Data analytics
  • Internet of Things (IoT)
  • Mobile
  • Social
  • Web

First of all, you don’t want a cloud strategy, or an AI strategy, or a social strategy – you need well-thought-out organizational strategy that includes these things. The tech is not the end – it’s the means to the end of accomplishing your larger organizational goals in a member-centric way. 

But it’s the culture part that gets really tricky. In order to be successful, you’ll need strong, consistent support from your C-suite (and your board or volunteer leadership), actively providing direction and the resources for that change to happen, and that involves identifying and, as necessary, adjusting your culture patterns.

To learn more about how you do that, download the full whitepaper at https://bit.ly/3y4O6dy, no divulging of information about yourself required.

Why Do Associations Struggle With Digital Transformation?

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE

In our research for The No BS Guide to Digital Transformation: How Intentional Culture Change Can Propel Associations Forward, Maddie Grant and I learned that, while associations definitely still have work to do on the technology front, it’s not technology that’s holding our industry back: it’s culture, and more specifically, culture change.

This is also why a lot of the copious digital transformation advice that exists don’t quite hit the mark for associations: for-profit culture is fundamentally different than association culture. 

On one level, that’s because a member =/= a customer.

However, associations also struggle with awkward collaboration, reactive transparency, uneven discipline, and unclear priorities.

To learn more about all of these, and what your association can do to overcome them and use what makes member relationships special to accelerate your transformation efforts, download the full whitepaper at https://bit.ly/3y4O6dy, no divulging of information about yourself required.

What IS “Digital Transformation” Anyway?

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE
What IS “Digital Transformation” Anyway?

When Maddie Grant and I were researching The No BS Guide to Digital Transformation: How Intentional Culture Change Can Propel Associations Forward, we found all sorts of definitions, depending on the perspective of the definer (marketing, tech, HR, C-suite, etc.). People also tend to define digital transformation too narrowly, as just about the adoption of new technologies and/or as adopting a “digital-first” culture.

The thing is, as my pretty post header graphic reads, the challenge associations face in our digital transformation initiatives is that it’s an iterative process that includes both of technologies and culture, and our members. Associations focus on creating more value for our members and for the professions and industries we serve, which means we need to continuously change the way we work, which means we need to be on the lookout for the tools and technologies that will allow us to do that. And the cycle repeats.

Which sounds, if not easy, then at least simple.

So why aren’t we doing it?

To discover the answer, download the full whitepaper at https://bit.ly/3y4O6dy, no divulging of information about yourself required.

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Digital Transformation…

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE

…but were afraid to ask.

Organizations of ALL types – for profit and tax exempt – have been talking about digital transformation for many years, and yet association efforts, both to digitize and to go digital, continue to lag.

Why is that?

In our new whitepaper, Maddie Grant, co-founder of PROPEL, and I posit that it’s all about culture. There’s a ton of great research and advice – Maddie and I review a good chunk of it in the monograph – but it’s missing our community because it misses what makes us unique:

associations have both unique advantages and particular challenges we face in trying to transform ourselves, assets and drawbacks that the extensive existing literature on the topic doesn’t really address. Associations have been struggling with digital transformation because the advice that exists on how to do it misses what makes our community special.

In The No BS Guide to Digital Transformation: How Intentional Culture Change Can Propel Associations Forward, Maddie and I analyze a decade of research that demonstrates that the key to lasting, responsive digital transformation is intentional and focused culture change. We delve deeply into how that impacts associations particularly and what association execs need to know and do to be successful in their DT initiatives.

The whitepaper also includes:

  • An interview with Martin Mocker, co-author (with Dr. Jeanne Ross and Cynthia M. Beath) of Designed for Digital: How to Architect Your Business for Sustained Success.
  • A summary of digital transformation maturity assessment tools, and a recommendation as to which we think you should use.
  • A summary of PROPEL’s culture management maturity model.
  • The definitive answer to the perpetual “Should we build an app?” dilemma. (Well, OK, *we* think it’s the definitive answer.)
  • Case studies with the Construction Specifications Institute, the Healthcare Financial Management Association, the Independent Community Bankers of America, and the School Nutrition Association.
  • A series of thought questions for you to use to spark discussion with your team.
  • An extensive list of resources in case you want to dig deeper on any of the topics addressed.

I’ll be blogging about the whitepaper in the coming days, highlighting some of our major findings, but in the meantime I invite you to download your free copy at https://bit.ly/3y4O6dy – we don’t collect any data on you to get it, and you won’t end up on some mailing list you didn’t ask for. We just use the bit.ly as an easy mechanism to count the number of times it’s been downloaded.

And don’t forget to check out some of the other FREE Spark collaborative whitepapers, too:

Preview: The No BS Guide to Digital Transformation

Posted on | by Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE
Quote from podcast

I’m so excited to announce that the next Spark collaborative whitepaper will be dropping ONE week from today.

In it, Maddie Grant (Digital Strategist, PROPEL) and I discuss digital transformation for associations, seeking to address what makes the process of digital transformation different for associations. Spoiler alert: it’s culture.

I recently sat down (virtually) with Carol Hamilton of Grace Social Sector Consulting to talk about our findings for her Mission Impact podcast. Some of the topics we touched on in our wide-ranging conversation include:

  • The significance of digital transformation for nonprofit organizations
  • What’s different about digital transformation for associations
  • Avoiding shiny object syndrome in your tech related projects

Check out the full recording here, or on your favorite podcast app.