Information overload – we all experience it personally, every day, with our emails and social media feeds and online media and print media and broadcast media, and that’s hard enough to manage. But in 2016, our associations ALSO struggle with information overload. We have many rich sources of data about our members, our other audiences, and our operations that we can mine in a dizzying variety of ways, so many, in fact, that it can be almost impossible to separate the signal from the noise.
On July 19, Trevor Mitchell (American MENSA) and I had the opportunity to address this topic for DMAW’s Lunch and Learn series, presenting “Defining and Using KPIs for Measurability and Success.”
We started the hour-long webinar by talking about the importance of discovering what REALLY drives success for your association. It’s not always the most obvious thing. For instance, in associations, we often focus on member count, and up is always good, right? But if you have a limited universe of potential members, or you’re recruiting marginal members that lead to a lot of churn, maybe constantly increasing membership isn’t actually a KPI for your association – maybe something like market share (that is, what percentage of your overall universe is involved) or member share (that is, how involved are your existing members) would be a better choice.
We also covered the four key categories of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), the siren song of vanity metrics (and how to avoid it), and the importance of measuring what really counts, all illustrated by Trevor’s stories of MENSA’s journey toward identifying their KPIs and using them to drive decisions and create change.
Linda Singer says:
Despite a near lifetime managing associations, at the end of the article I have no clue what it’s about. What the heck is a KPI? Color me dumb, but it would be helpful if you would intro the abbreviation like old-fashioned news reporters did: Name of Business (NOB). Thereafter, it can be referred to as NOB. If I was MENSA qualified, I likely could have divined the meaning of KPI. Alas, I am only average.
Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CAE says:
You’re right – I should’ve clarified that. KPIs are Key Performance Indicators. The term is pretty common in business, but less so in the association space. Thanks for your feedback!