Last week, Cobalt’s President, Chris Capistran, co-hosted a webinar with Teri Carden, founder of ReviewMyAMS. The topic was “Are you getting the most out of your data?”
While some of the discussion called back to Chris’s blog, Associations Need to Do Away with Vanity Metrics, the most valuable takeaway from the webinar is the importance of establishing a data culture for your team.
“If you really have data front of mind it becomes easier to collect that data. Think, ‘while I’m doing this, is there a key piece of data that I can collect or get people to update while they’re in this process?’”
Chris made the point that keeping your member data front of mind is, for many associations, a cultural shift. Attendees echoed this sentiment in their feedback, one executive commenting that, “as associations we’re often reactive and not proactive.”
Chris highlighted the CRM life cycle of data: Acquire, Analyze, and Adapt, emphasizing the importance of ingraining this in your team and always coming back to it. On a regular basis, Chris said, organizations should be taking a step back, looking at the numbers, and having honest conversations, versus acting anecdotally and missing the opportunities and threats that can be found in their data.
Not sure how to make the cultural shift? You’re not alone – changing organizational culture can be an uphill battle. Check out this SHRM article: How to Change Your Organizational Culture.