Membership is a team sport. It cannot be achieved alone.
But let’s face it, working with people is tough. Even if you’re a small-staff association, you still have several opinions to take into consideration, not to mention, those of your board. And with so many ideas/opinions floating around, it can be hard to land on one, meaning your association can’t move forward.
Not good.
So how do you eliminate silos within your organization and get everyone to work as a team? Here are a few tips:
1. Set goals (and frequently refer back to those goals)
Sometimes, when people are working in silos, they’re working towards different goals. It’s very easy to do. I mean, how often do you get lost in your day-to-day responsibilities? But if you really want to move your organization forward, it’s important that you’re all working towards the same goals.
To do that, clearly define your current and future goals and refer back to those when meeting/making important decisions.
2. Define roles
Now this is important for a number of reasons. First, you need to know who your decision makers are so that you can collect feedback and determine next steps accordingly. But also, you need to have leaders in place to keep the team moving forward. Without leaders, it often seems that people take a passive approach – and that’s not good for reaching goals.
3. Encourage creativity
Regardless of who your decision makers are, everyone should have a voice. Brainstorming and creativity are what spark the BEST ideas. That said, give everyone an opportunity to speak and encourage unique and transformative ideas.
4. Communicate
No matter how you spin it, the root of effective teamwork is communication. If you want your staff (and board members) to work efficiently together, you need to keep everyone in the loop. You need to keep people updated about current projects, future projects, and more importantly, why certain decisions were made (particularly if there were different opinions about it).
The more people know, the more included they’ll feel, and the more willing they’ll be to help. (Plus, the value of those ideas will improve.)
Teamwork is what it takes to successfully manage your organization – but that doesn’t make the management process any easier. If you need help with membership management, particularly when it comes to member acquisition, engagement, and retention, check out our free Membership Management Guide below!
