Do You Know What Your Members Know?
Many associations have identified the body of knowledge of the fields they represent and used them for specific purposes, such as developing training or certification programs. However, often the body of knowledge is used only for that specific and independent purpose. And, associations may have even identified several different bodies of knowledge for unrelated projects. As a typical example, the professional development division creates a knowledge matrix for tracking its curriculum, the certification division formally identifies a body of knowledge for its certification examination, the publications division compiles a topical index for its books and magazines, and the communications division identifies an index for its Web portal. All are created at different times, using different methods, by different units, for different purposes. These often informal and unplanned knowledge efforts can be valuable to the association and its members, but they could have much more impact if they were coordinated as part of an association’s overall knowledge strategy.
If you haven’t identified the current body of knowledge of the field in which your members work (or a portion of that field), consider:
- How do you determine what knowledge and skills are currently and will be needed by your members in the next 5 years?
- Then, how do you determine what to teach members in your educational programs?
- What do you use as your basis for selecting content for your publications?
- How do you prioritize research efforts to advance the field? (How do you advance a field if you don’t know its current status?)
- What is the foundation of your certification program examination?
It’s time for associations to get strategic and purposeful about how they will advance the knowledge of their members and/or advance the fields in which their members work. Identifying the body of knowledge can be an important first step. It may, but does not have to be an elaborate research project. How sophisticated the approach depends upon the identified uses for that body of knowledge. Certification, for example, does warrant a sophisticated approach ““ usually a formal job analysis. However, if you are trying to identify the gap between what members currently know and what they’ll need to know in 5 years (so that you can be purposeful in getting your members there!), qualitative research of key employers may do the job fine. So, that takes us back to strategy. Associations need to identify what their knowledge goals are first and then identify the strategies and action plans to get there.
Still questioning the value of a knowledge strategy? The Project Management Institute has been purposeful in its knowledge efforts and it has paid off: its Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge book is currently on the BusinessWeek Best Seller List!
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