Joining the right professional organization
By Lynn Ruby, Business Development Manager, Henry & Horne, PLC

John has been a member of the National Manufacturer's Association for years. This year, management cut expenses and professional memberships were first on the chopping block. John was told that memberships didn't benefit the company directly. He was flabbergasted! His NMA membership was extremely valuable—for both him and his company—yet he couldn't articulate why.

How could John make a case for renewing his membership? Better yet, how could he have avoided this situation altogether? Perhaps if John had taken the following steps, his membership would not have been so quickly axed.

Why join?

Consider your true purpose for joining:

New Business. Are you finding valuable contacts? Joining a group of your competitors will do little to help increase business. Join the organizations your customers belong to, not your competitors. Many intelligent professionals make this simple mistake.

Education. Choose an organization providing training at the appropriate level. Then take one idea from each conference or seminar, implement it and report to company management on the value of that one idea. Do this and questions about your membership will vanish.

Networking/Visibility. Increasing your visibility involves a lot more than just showing up at each monthly meeting. You need a plan for maximizing your visibility and your contacts.

To Give Back - to your profession, to society. Make it very clear to yourself and management if this is your purpose.

Which group?

Once goals are set, pick the right group. Attend several meetings as a guest. Do you like the people, the topics and the meeting times? If not, you won't regularly attend. Talk to long-term members and find out how membership has benefited them.

Make sure that the organization you devote your time to is well established and hopefully well respected in the community. Research the organization on the Internet. You want to belong to a group that is passionate about its mission.

Although established organizations are always good, your voice could be lost. Weigh your ability to have an impact with a stronger organization against that of a newer organization with a lot of dedication, but the current inability to make an impact.

If you've found the organization is a benefit professionally, you may find it valuable enough to continue on your own dime, even if your job situation changes.

Make an action plan

Once you've joined, create an action plan detailing what you will accomplish at every gathering. Identify key members and develop one-on-one relationships with them outside the scope of the organization. Serve on a board or committee. The membership committee is especially valuable for meeting new people. Offer your services to speak or teach on your area of expertise.

Without this action plan, and follow-through, your membership is headed for the chopping block—just like John's. e