Are You Bending Your Knees?

Can you guess the shared characteristic seen in the best youth athletes? They bend their knees during play. I’ve observed this for years as the coach of an elite girls fastpitch program. A player who moves from a bended-knee stance is typically more athletic, agile, and aware – and, I’ll tell you from experience, they are consistently working to step up their game.
So, what’s the “bended knees” part of your professional life? Do you effectively schedule your time day to day? Do you keep abreast of the latest trends in your business?  Do you look at opportunities for skill development, such as online courses and reading? I take in constantly – that’s me “bending my knees.”
Let me apply this to associations. How can an association up its game? One strategy would be to put a group of really smart, young-minded people together to tackle a project – to create an association that would destroy their own. It’s that simple.
Here’s what can happen if you try this. First and foremost, leadership will likely be presented with some ideas for several innovative programs. Recommendations will probably be made to drop certain products and services – the offerings your members don’t give two hoots about (these should be dropped). This group could offer insights and strategies on how to engage the younger generation. Out-of-the box proposals might be made that could potentially enhance your value proposition. In fact, you might see a fantastic opportunity to relaunch your organization.
In fact, we’ve created a task force at The Moery Company to take on this particular exercise. Our goal? To beat ourselves. We’re bending our knees and looking to step it up in 2017.
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