Participation Versus Involvement- I Think I Found My Answer

CEO Viewpoint:

I received the ASAE report today, Impetus to Join, and had my AHA! moment. It clarified the quandary I had in my mind about weighting participation regarding my Warm Bodies post. I knew I was getting at something, I just couldn't figure out exactly what it was. The turning question in my mind was "Why does a body count have so much import?" I just really couldn't pinpoint a value to that. The question came about after participating in several meetings regarding the proposed OKCMAR budget. Each year we invest substantial resources (time, money, staff) in the Inaugural Celebration. The overwhelming sentiment appeared to be (of course this is just my perception and my opinion) ... This event is so successful we have close to 500 members attending. Which led to my question, What is the value of that participation- why is this considered a success?

It seemed that many were very impressed by the turnout but as the CEO I didn't see the perceived Return on Investment (ROI) considering resources consumed. The ROI has to be more than an attendance count. We have 500 people in a room for a few hours- what is the benefit to the membership as a whole and is the greater good of the membership served? Do these 500 go back to their offices and talk about OKCMAR, promote OKCMAR's purpose, recruit committee members, get interested in serving, donate to RPAC,become our future leaders? We have over 500 members contributing to our Facebook and Facebook is free - So if participation is measured by count then Facebook is a far greater ROI because it is free!

Anyway, now that the readers have the background, I can go back to my AHA! moment. The report basically said we need to move from Participation as the performance metric for the association and replace the metric with Involvement. There is a huge difference in participating in OKCMAR events/offerings (attendance) and becoming INVOLVED in the association. Participating is attending a luncheon- Involvement is greeting REALTORS as they walk in the door for the luncheon- forcing one's self to actively promote and embody the association and its purpose. Network with all the members attending versus sitting with those REALTORS in your office.

I realized I was trying to grasp the difference of physical versus online attendance and the difference really is moot- the only real measure of success is involvement. Involvement doesn't mean attending everything and sitting in a committee meeting. Involvement is the understanding that one is working with and for the association to further the "greater good". OKCMAR DOES NOT EXIST MERELY TO PROVIDE SERVICES although that is why many join. OKCMAR exists to assist its members in fulfilling an obligation to advance the common good and professionalism of the real estate industry.

So I have my answer- I need to track not just attendance but involvement. Another spreadsheet- my staff will be so happy- LOL!