How to Foster Leadership Development for Association Members

Let’s say two associations recruit new members around the same time. At Association A, the member joins and immediately receives a comprehensive email welcome series and a guided orientation session. Over the next several months, Association A recommends tailored engagement opportunities and invites the member to lead small volunteer projects to sharpen their skills.

Meanwhile, the new member of Association B receives a brief welcome email, but communications soon taper off to nothing more than a monthly newsletter. They’re interested in leadership, but the association never promotes opportunities for them to practice their skills.

Between these two associations, which one do you think has more members who are ready, willing, and excited to lead? Are you leveraging technology to actively guide and engage your members like Association A? You hold the power to shape members into capable and inspiring leaders—explore this guide to see how to put that power to good use.

Foster community-building and networking

According to a survey of more than 250,000 professionals, 42% found their current job via a referral or another form of networking. While applying directly to companies is still a viable option in the job market, building a broad and deep professional network will always lead to more promising job opportunities.

Strengthening and expanding their networks could be your members’ first step toward securing a promotion or leadership role at a new firm. To help them do this, implement community-building strategies and events, such as:

• Dedicated networking events in various formats, such as social events like cocktail parties and dinners or more structured events like roundtable discussions or forums on hot industry topics.
• Member directories and online member groups facilitated with a membership management platform to help members connect virtually and form deeper relationships.
• Member-led committees in which each member has specific responsibilities to promote active involvement in your association’s offerings, forge new connections, and strengthen leadership skills.
• Mentorship sessions or programs that pair newer members with more experienced ones—the mentee gains valuable knowledge while the mentor gets one-on-one leadership experience.

Implementing these strategies can also improve the health of your association. Offering networking opportunities tailored to your members’ preferences is a great way to show that you value and appreciate them, which eCardWidget notes will boost retention, engagement, acquisition, and even fundraising.

Share personalized communications and invitations

A robust communication strategy is the backbone of member engagement. Through consistent conversations and touchpoints, you can better understand which members are interested in leadership opportunities, how they prefer to learn, and what experiences would be most helpful to them.

Follow these steps to share personalized communications with members:

1. Collect member data. Track information collected from enrollment forms, engagement with your marketing communications, event registration forms, and surveys. Note members’ backgrounds, career level, and leadership goals.
2. Create segments. Group members based on shared characteristics, such as their industry experience, current leadership positions, or interests.
3. Develop content. Create tailored content based on each segment’s preferences. For example, you might share resources about how to write job descriptions for members who are responsible for hiring at their companies.
4. Leverage technology. Deploy your messages using your association management software (AMS) and integrated marketing tools. Make sure your technology can accurately track success metrics like open and click-through rates for each segment.

Because this strategy involves a significant amount of member data, following any relevant data privacy guidelines is essential. Select technology that follows stringent security measures to foster trust and credibility with your membership base.

Provide online learning opportunities

Online learning courses and training sessions provide members with tactical tips and leadership knowledge. To seamlessly deliver these exclusive resources to members, Protech’s guide to association management systems recommends selecting software with a membership portal and 24/7 access to resources.

For example, you might offer:

• Interactive leadership workshops where members can practice with roleplay scenarios and group discussions.
• Q&A sessions with current leaders in your association or broader industry.
• A guest speaker series in which your association invites leaders of top companies in the industry to present on specific leadership topics.
• Webinar series that cover a cohesive set of leadership topics, pain points, and more—for example, you might create one for leadership basics and another for task management for C-suite executives.
• Book clubs that focus on reading and discussing literature about leadership techniques, styles, and best practices.

Promote these resources via website content, social media posts, and personalized recommendations to boost awareness and participation. Record any live sessions or webinars so members can access them in the future.

Inspire young leaders

It’s easy to focus only on current leaders in your organization—after all, they have the most immediate need for tips and knowledge. But don’t forget to uplift and train the next generation of leaders. The sooner they learn leadership skills and put them into practice, the stronger they’ll be in their future roles.

The guest speaker sessions mentioned above can be a great way to introduce fundamental leadership skills. Younger leaders will be exposed to topics they want to learn more about, issues they’re willing to advocate for, ways to incorporate leadership into their current roles, or skills they would like to hone. Then, they’ll feel compelled to refer back to your association’s offerings to learn more.

In addition to new perspectives and ideas, consider giving these young professionals some hands-on experience. Provide low-stakes opportunities to test out their leadership chops and get feedback along the way. For example, perhaps they create and present a short segment with industry updates during monthly meetings. Or, maybe they serve as “buddies” for new members, helping them navigate their first year as members.

Develop leadership capabilities among your members to build their confidence and professional abilities. By cultivating new skills in every cohort of your member base, you’ll build a stable foundation for long-term growth and increased impact—plus, members will experience career wins like promotions. Along the way, be sure to collect feedback from members to see what you’re doing well and what needs improvement so you can drive the best and most enriching member experiences possible.