View from HQ
Don Koranda Executive Director
Why should I belong to the association?
I received an E-mail from one of our members today. He has concerns about a number of issues—some old, some new—and as a result he is questioning the value of his membership in AMA. Thankfully, this type of letter is more the exception than the rule.
Every member has his or her own perspective on the problems facing our organization, what we are doing right, and what we are doing wrong. One member may see a big problem and another sees none. When one member offers a solution, another cries foul and opposes it.
Normal? You bet! It’s just another day in the life of an average association staff member.
In my 27 years as an association staffer, I’ve dealt with a number of issues and answered hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of questions. Some are easy, particularly when you help solve a person’s problem. Some are unpleasant and difficult, such as when you can’t change the association’s policy to accommodate a member’s particular viewpoint.
Most people don’t like being told you can’t do something for them, and as with all responsible association employees, I hate not being able to help them. Even after 27 years it still bothers me when I can’t fully satisfy a member’s request. That’s probably a good thing given the nature of this business, but it also comes with the territory. If you don’t like having to answer for your actions or those of your association, you probably need to find a different career path.
My first job in an association was a position called “Mister Answer Man.” I was the lucky guy who had all the answers to pretty much all of the questions. In the interest of full disclosure, I really didn’t know all the answers, but I learned pretty quickly where to find them and how to point our members in the right direction.
While the questions were generally technical in nature, I learned quickly that it didn’t matter whether it was technical or about their magazine subscription, a change of address or a policy issue; when you’re the one tasked with responding, you need to handle all of their questions—carefully.
Why? It’s simple. Your answer could impact their decision to stay with the association. That’s a lot of pressure on one staff member, and it’s something you learn to live with in this environment, particularly one such as ours—an individual membership association in which every member counts and size gives us the clout to do battle on behalf of aeromodeling.
Even way back then, I still remember my most challenging calls and letters involved that same simple question: “Why should I belong to the association?”
On the surface the answer is easy. We belong because of all the benefits and services connected to the association.
In our case, we can point to MA, our Web site, an organized club structure, self-regulation, insurance protection, a technical staff prepared to answer your questions, our promotional efforts to grow and expand the sport, flying site assistance, our connections with local, state, and federal authorities, competition programs, awards and recognition programs, our efforts to preserve modeling history through the museum, our educational outreach programs—and that’s just for starters!
I’m tempted to fill the remaining space with all the things we do, but I know none of that will make any difference because of something else I learned during those early years. Members driven by a single purpose or overriding issue—whatever that might be—often overlook the other good things you do. Is that shocking? Nope, it’s just human nature.
The fact is the answer to that simple question is rooted within the context of the person asking the question. And it’s not as easy to answer as you might think because buried in that simple question is a complex set of circumstances that varies from person to person.
If the person’s issue is safety, then it probably doesn’t matter much that you have awards and recognition programs or that you have a club structure or insurance that will help protect you from a disaster. Likewise, if the problem is one I call a “hot-button issue,” where very strong feelings exist on a particular subject, it almost doesn’t matter what else you do; it’s all wrong because that one item is wrong.
Thankfully, the overwhelming majority of our members understands this point and judges us against all the things we do, not just one issue or at one point in time. From a staff perspective, it’s important to listen carefully to these complaints and identify areas we can improve. AMA has a lot of things it does and does well, but there are many things we could do better.
When all is said and done, it is member involvement along with a competent professional staff that makes an association work effectively. Without members there would be no association and the activity we all cherish would be far different than it is now—if it even existed.
Safe flying.
Don Koranda Executive Director [email protected]
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
