Knowledge Sharing - The Future of Professional Membership Associations - 1st Draft - 5th March 2015

KNOWLEDGE SHARING The Future of Professional Associations

Gill Ringland & Debra Fox [email protected]

Knowledge Insights - A Collaborative Approach A new way of working with leading Professional Associations by creating a structure

for knowledge sharing to meet the identified need and the opportunity.

Knowledge Insights

Knowledge Insights Ltd, The Rectory, 1 Toomers’ Wharf, Canal Walk, Newbury, RG14 1DY, UK Phone: +44 (0)1635 36971 e-mail: [email protected]

Directors: Debra Fox, Eric Kihlstrom, John Milner, Gill Ringland, Jonathan Soar, Dr Chris Yapp

Contents Background ............................................................................................................................................. 2

The Need ................................................................................................................................................. 2

Workshop Purpose .................................................................................................................................. 2

Workshop Format ................................................................................................................................... 2

Syndicate Groups Models ....................................................................................................................... 3

Key Success Factors ................................................................................................................................. 4

Offer to Users of Content.................................................................................................................... 4

Offer to Professional Associations ...................................................................................................... 4

Summary Findings ................................................................................................................................... 5

Next Steps ............................................................................................................................................... 5

Appendix 1 – Participants ....................................................................................................................... 6

Appendix 2 – Syndicates Notes – Group 1 .............................................................................................. 7

Exercise 1 - Four Scenarios (Group 1) ................................................................................................. 7

Exercise 2 - Offers and Wants (Group 1)............................................................................................. 7

Exercise 3 - Potential users (Group 1) ................................................................................................. 8

Appendix 2 – Syndicates Notes – Group 2 .............................................................................................. 8

Exercise 1 - Four Scenarios (Group 2) ................................................................................................. 8

Exercise 2 - Offers and Wants (Group 2)............................................................................................. 9

Exercise 3 - Potential users (Group 2) ................................................................................................. 9

Appendix 2 – Syndicates Notes – Group 3 ............................................................................................ 10

Exercise 1 - Four Scenarios (Group 3) ............................................................................................... 10

Exercise 2 - Offers and Wants (Group 3)........................................................................................... 10

Exercise 3 - Potential users (Group 3) ............................................................................................... 11

Exercise 4 - Key Success Factors (All Groups) ....................................................................................... 12

mailto:[email protected]

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Background On 5th March 2015, we held our third workshop in the series of “The Future of Membership Associations” at the z/yen offices in London. The topic was Knowledge Sharing among Professional Associations, all participants are listed in Appendix 1.

The Need Professional Associations are facing a number of challenges. As new jobs emerge, one estimate is that 65 percent of today's primary school students will grow up to work in jobs that have not yet been invented. The changing nature of work, careers and demographic of members are common concerns that have emerged from our previous events on the Future of Membership Associations. Professional Associations of all types are looking for ways of increasing their attractiveness to their members, attracting new members, and finding new ways of engaging with non-members in their profession, and with the wider public. The workshop focused on content – training material, events, how to guides, etc, as one avenue for this. Most Professional Associations maintain a structured set of events, publications and training and qualification modules specifically related to their profession. So, the British Computer Society maintains these in ICT. These form a ladder, which can be represented as the upright of a “T”. But computer professionals as they get more senior need additional skills – e.g in health and safety, or negotiating skills, or -------. And it is time consuming and costly for individuals or Associations to form the links to get access to the modules – for training, case studies, events – developed or run by Professional Associations other than their own. The need is for this content, on the cross bar of the “T”, to be shared, of known quality, and to be accessible through an agreed taxonomy.

Workshop Purpose To explore with a few leading Professional Associations the opportunities for new revenue streams and increased profile from: re- using existing or using new content, access by their Members, by the wider public and by Members of other Professional Associations. Also to consider a structure for Professional Associations that they could work with other owners of content, set standards for trading content and operate at arm’s length in a neutral space for trading content

Workshop Format Working in three syndicate groups these four questions where discussed:

1. Four scenarios – Reflecting on scenarios for the future of Membership Associations, where do they currently operate and where might they like to be in the future?

2. Offers & wants - Consider what would organisations like to share and like to be available?

3. Potential users – Think about who might the consumers / contributors be and what might they ask for?

4. Key success factors - What is required in this neutral space and the consortium to make it work?



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Syndicate Groups Models All three groups developed models to aid their discussion: Figure 1 –Shows how a traditional member with deep expertise could transitions to two or eventually more specialisms to gain greater breadth in the future.

Figure 2 – Shows how a professional association can think about three distinct audiences, internal, their members and members of other collaborative associations and the public who might be interested in the profession. This applies to both individuals and companies

Figure 3 – Shows a structure based on offerings across the traditional four life-cycle stages;

Figure 3

Figure 1

Figure 2



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Key Success Factors

Offer to Users of Content

Offer to Professional Associations

Compelling Content & Online Hygiene factors 1. This offer must be compelling in

cost/time/value terms

2. Brand weight: transparency of content

brand owner

3. USP compared with organisations like

the CBI

4. Value (price would be one metric)

5. Quality of content

a. Content breadth with defined

scope

b. Price flexibility with some free

content

6. Futures perspective – if 65% of primary

school children will do jobs that don’t

currently exist then content must

reflect this

7. Simple to discover, accessible, easy to

use, transparent and secure

8. Quality of communication of the

content

9. Trust (users need to be able to trust the

content so it should not be advertorial)

10. Individual users would require:

11. Hygiene: secure, robust, 24/7

availability

12. Multi-lingual and tailored to regional

markets

13. Simple registration/sign-on even some

content un gated

14. Ability to provide feedback – tied to

both the individual and the page. Also

a process to review and respond to

feedback

A Consortium, Individual, Partners, Prof. Assoc. 1. Must solve a compelling problem

common to all professional associations

and potential users (both individuals

and corporates)

2. Good transparent governance

3. Right partners

4. Well defined business and pricing

model and benefits eg

a. Demonstrably greater reach

b. Ability to leapfrog internal

technical restraints

c. Avoidance of conflicts of

interest by not partnering with

competing organisations

5. A comprehensive marketing plan

including explicit ways of growing

participating organisations reach to

new audiences

6. Rules of collaboration (vital to maintain

trust)

7. Community coalescence (keep the

content coherent so that there is a

feeling of “us-ness” about the website)

8. Add to existing offerings and web site

9. Commitment from all content providers

to maintain and update their own

content

10. Rules around usage of their content to

be supplied by the content provider

/professional associations – cost, who

can access it etc.

11. Tracking of all content views and

purchases – tracking statistics to be

provided to all content providers



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Summary Findings Two strands emerged in the discussion the:

1. Need for a set of training and other material covering the core needs of any business and with the first target SMEs – finance, HR, legal, marketing, facilities

2. Opportunity for sharing across a more specialised area e.g. medicine, engineering, ethics, foresight.

The details captured are summarised in the attached at Appendix 2.

Next Steps To make this happen we will start with the core set of topics and seek to set up a consortium of interested Professional Associations with agreed target markets. We will discuss with them the need for a formal structure, its nature, and funding. We will propose a simple transparent business model for a startup. At the same time we will work with interested parties to set up a pilot web site, capable of providing extra revenue. This will use a SaaS platform which is separate from and can be accessed through the existing web sites of Professional Associations, or directly. The platform enforces algorithms for charging in multiple currencies; manages access rights; and handles pdfs, video clips, images and graphics, etc. For more information contact [email protected], or check our web site www.knowledge-insights.com .




http://www.knowledge-insights.com/

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Appendix 1 – Participants

Royal Town Planning Institute Andy Levene

TechUK Adam Lincoln

Knowledge Insights Alison Hagger

ITMSA Bev Burgess

SAMI Consulting Cathy Dunn

Charterer Institute of Marketing Chris Daly

Strategic Planning Society Chris Hafner

Charterer Institute of Personnel Development Claire Bishop

Knowledge Insights Debra Fox

Knowledge Insights Emma Cox

Knowledge Insights Gill Ringland

SAMI Consulting Hue Williams

Zyen Ian Harris

Ashridge Communications Ian Phillips

Royal Society of Medicine Janice Liverseidge

Law Society Jenny Crewe

Career Innovation Jonathan Winter

Non-Executive Directors Association Louis Cooper

Charterer Institute of Personnel Development Sam Whittaker

Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Sarah Hathaway

Charterer Institute of Personnel Development Sinead Burke

Assoc. of Learned & Professional Society of Publishers Suzanne Kavanagh

Association of Accounting Technicians

Tracy Allison



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Appendix 2 – Syndicates Notes – Group 1

Exercise 1 - Four Scenarios (Group 1) Reflecting on scenarios for the future of Membership Associations, where do they currently operate and where might they like to be in the future? All felt their PA were positioned in at least two of the four scenarios on the matrix, eg:

>Publishers – aspiration to be joined up, in reality priest-hood and café flux >AAT – paid services closed, gives value to subscription. Law society – priesthood for membership with member benefits; joined up for public >CIPD – elements of membership priesthood at different levels; joined up for public work; café flux for new areas e.g. international expansion. Maybe moving towards priesthood: looking to tailor membership offer to different types of members >ACCA – global organisation, approx 50% members in UK.

Lots provided for general public but move towards more membership only/priesthood. Suggested that most Professional Associations will always have an aspect of Priesthood as charging for membership and offering members some benefits other cannot get. PAs with ‘old boy’ network as governance to move towards masonic cartels. Potential for some aspects to move to Joined Up to expand globally and extend their brand and reach

Exercise 2 - Offers and Wants (Group 1) Consider what would organisations like to share and like to be available? During the discussion it emerged that their where three audiences that they would want to share and have access: 1. Internal to employees of Professional Associations 2. Their members and other association’s members 3. Global/Interested Public. These three could be further segmented to consider individuals and business e.g. if HR director of a company deciding on how their organisation trains its accountants.



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Exercise 3 - Potential users (Group 1) Think about who might the consumers / contributors be and what might they ask for?

Topic of Interest Raised by Offering Wanting

Developing Forums/dynamic groups of members

ACCA Yes Getting members creating content for members

Careers advice AAT eg interview skills, which lots of PAs must be doing

HR advice CIPD Yes

Apprenticeships CIPD Consortium to develop and offer apprenticeships in PAs

CPD/qualifications Publishers Materials for ‘generic’ skills to enhance membership offer eg developing digital skills

Making business successful Law Society Yes – legal aspects eg DP Law

Law Society provides business consultancy to members, but would like modules eg HR, career development, digital. ; help in business aspects to enhance membership offer

Skills and knowledge for Boards ACCA As well as current best practice for Boards, also helping junior/entry levels start developing these skills

Framework for problem solving for members


Exercise 1 - Four Scenarios (Group 2) Reflecting on scenarios for the future of Membership Associations, where do they currently operate and where might they like to be in the future?

T traditionally the member of a PA has been a deep specialist with only a little breadth

M now it seems that more and more have two specialisms and would like to be members of more

than one PA and generally have greater breadth.



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Exercise 2 - Offers and Wants (Group 2) Consider what would organisations like to share and like to be available? CIPD would welcome access to a wider range of training and other materials to extend their offer to corporates, beyond their core. Topics mentioned were finance, business analysis, strategy and also soft skills such as interviewing. RSM would also welcome this portfolio, and also a focus for material across the range of medical specialities. The group thought that the scope could also include material from private companies as long as it was of the required quality and reputation.


1. Where can I get thought leadership on a topic? (without being ‘sold to’) 2. Where can I get the latest information on x? 3. Would I rather pay to get article/info, etc rather than simply give out my email address? 4. How do I get a job in x? (or a better job) 5. Is there an event on x near me in the next y days? 6. How can I find out more about x in the next y time (hours/days, etc)? 7. How do I deal with a particular situation (whatever it might be)? 8. Can I find a quality controlled YouTube type service and, if so, where? 9. Is there event streaming available? (cf the RSA events) 10. Where’s a meaningful forum to continue conversations around specific content? 11. Can this be a networking substitute or enhancement? 12. Who knows about x or knows a specialist in x? 13. My degree was in x, how can I move to a career in y? 14. Where do I get the required portfolio of training for myself or for my staff? 15. Where (or how) do I find my opposite number or a specific specialist in another association? 16. Are we thinking of ‘shared services’ for PAs? 17. How do I deal with Trustees? 18. What’s the governance process? 19. What’s best practice in the governance process? 20. Or just what’s best practice in x? 21. What’s the best way of organising Regions/Branches, etc 22. How can I offer my expertise to the next generation? 23. Where do I find a good mentor/coach? 24. Why would I go to this site? 25. Is it free or paid for?



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Exercise 1 - Four Scenarios (Group 3) Reflecting on scenarios for the future of Membership Associations, where do they currently operate and where might they like to be in the future?

Group 3 found these scenarios a useful way to think about their organisations. ITSMA has corporate members rather than individuals so is about sharing. NEDA helps non-Execs so has no formal qualifications. The others all offer some form of accreditation and have exams.

Exercise 2 - Offers and Wants (Group 3) Consider what would organisations like to share and like to be available? Using a structure based around the way NEDA builds its offerings. NEDA has offerings across the 4 life-cycle phases; CIPD, CIM and RTPI across the first three – were interested in idea of the fourth. ITSMA was much more focussed on phases 2 and 3. 1. ENTRY - All apart from NEDA worked with students, some with schools. In some cases accredited college courses were accepted as credits towards a professional qualification.



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2. DEVELOPMENT - Offers and wants included: Job hunting, finding candidates, CPD, Tools, best practice case studies. Delivered by conferences, website, events, newsletters, branch meetings. Also awards and recognition to help people demonstrate progress, improve CV 3. SENIORS - Mainly networking, thought leadership and giving back to the community. 4. EXIT/SUCCESSION - Mainly networking 5. All the organisations also identified– LOBBYING on behalf of the community – developing generic policies, conducting research and just championing the profession.


1. ENTRY (and pre-entry)

WHO WHAT VALUE

Schoolchildren Creating awareness of the profession, what it is and what subjects you need to study.

Only to profession itself

Students Accredited courses giving credits to professional qualification

Value to colleges

Students Material to help pass exams Low



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2. DEVELOP

WHO WHAT VALUE

Junior members

Want to broaden my skills. How do I do X? What tools can I use?

Low, increasing with seniority

All Accredited CPD Medium, increasing with seniority

All How to impress my boss – speaking opportunities, awards Low to medium

SME Specialist assistance, helplines – eg unfair dismissals, finance

Medium to high

Career movers

Building a career plan; what competencies do I need? What opportunities are there? What else can I do

Low- Generic High - Tailored & personal

3. SENIORS

WHO WHAT VALUE

New board member

Want to broaden my skills. What do I need to know to be on the Board?

Medium, higher if tailored

Senior execs How to be the best in the field? Benchmarking, 360 reviews, improvement plan

High to Very High; must be tailored

Senior Execs How to show off? Give talks, win top awards, demonstrate though-leadership

Medium

Senior Execs; SMEs

Keeping up to date – digital tech/mkt; regulations; governance; helplines; safe and trusted sources

Medium

Board members

How well is the Board performing High; tailored

All seniors Where is the profession going? What’s the next big thing? Discussions, forums

Medium to High

All seniors Opportunities to mentor Low to Medium

Exercise 4 - Key Success Factors (All Groups) What is required in this neutral space and the consortium to make it work?

1. Defined roles; Association Employees, Customers (interested public) and Members of

at least one of the consortium 2. Openness (question why they then need membership) vs. regulatory/closed 3. Visibility of who is accessing content and how to keep direct e.g. at present, if a

member from X company accesses Y information, PA can contact them and offer other support e.g. training

4. Credibility and trust will be important if to succeed 5. What to do if clashing views (e.g. if several PAs offer info on the same subject)? 6. Discoverable access – who knows what information we have already? Must be easy

to access 7. Joint badging – want to maintain profile to members, for both PA supplying the

content and the PA whose member access it



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8. Marketing important: a hub which is seen as the first point of call for expert advice, easily accessible. Create a strong and valued voice as PAs – showing important role for professional bodies.

9. Right partners 10. Clearly defined offering e.g. legal + HR + ? then scale up with marketing etc. 11. Well defined business model and benefits

12. Good transparent governance (BACS example)

13. Feedback loops – regular updates on research etc.

14. Commitment from all content providers to maintain and update their own content

15. Rules around content usage to be supplied by the content provider – cost, who can

access it etc.

16. Simple to discover, accessible

17. Transparency of content brand owner

18. Tracking of all content views and purchases – tracking stats to be provided to all

content providers

19. Some free content (there was a suggestion that this should be viewable without

logging in or registering but this would make tracking impossible)

20. Futures perspective – if 65% of primary school children will do jobs that don’t

currently exist then content must reflect this

21. Rules of collaboration (to maintain trust)

22. Value (price would be one metric)

23. Quality of content

24. Quality of communication of the content (discussed success of TED.com)

25. Trust (users need to be able to trust the content so it should not be advertorial)

26. Community coalescence (keep the content coherent so that there is a feeling of “us-

ness” about the website)

27. Collaboration is not a success factor in itself but increasing the value of the product

by virtue of collaboration is.

28. Individual users would require:

a. Content breadth

b. Brand weight

c. USP compared with organisations like the CBI

d. Price flexibility with some free content

e. Hygiene: secure, robust, 24/7 availability

f. Well marketed (possibly get an organisation to sponsor this – a bank

interested in SMEs was suggested though this was questioned by some as

undermining users trust in the site)

g. Multi-lingual and tailored to regional markets

29. Professional organisations would require:

h. Demonstrably greater reach

i. Ability to leapfrog internal technical restraints

j. Avoidance of conflicts of interest by not partnering with competing

organisations



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30. Must solve a compelling problem common to all professional associations and

potential users (both individuals and corporates)

31. This offer must be compelling in cost/time/value terms

32. Website must be easy to use, transparent and secure

33. A compelling value proposition to professional associations and their members

34. A comprehensive marketing plan including explicit ways of growing participating

organisations reach to new audiences

35. Content boundaries: marketing content from a marketing professional association

would take precedence over marketing content from other types of association

36. Pricing models

37. Rules of engagement including how relevancy is ensured

38. Clearly expressed benefits to professional associations

39. Clear plan for attracting new customers focussing on key groups to start with

40. Rules of engagement covering professional organisations with overlapping

interests/content provision

41. A clear set of shared principles and benefits to be signed up to by all participating

organisations

42. Website easy to find and easy to use

43. Simple registration/sign-on

44. Ability to provide feedback – tied to both the individual and the page. Also a process

to review and respond to feedback

45. Agreed funding formula – taking into account the size of an organisation and any

non-financial contribution

46. Joint professional standards signed up to by all participating organisations

47. Members of individual societies to be given benefits (or credits) reflecting their

individual membership



Documents

Knowledge Sharing - The Future of Professional Membership Associations - 1st Draft - 5th March 2015