Empowering Growth with Real Data

Let’s start the discussion with a question.  It is a fact that no company or organization will ever achieve greatness until all barriers for everyone to participate and contribute are broken down.  So why is it so hard to get it right, and why are organizations hesitant to tackle the issue?  I submit that the reason is that they don’t know where to start, and they fear what they may find. 

If we learned nothing else from the last 2 months, it is that you can’t properly treat or react to something that you do not understand. From day one, the politicians, the healthcare officials and the media have all basically been flying blind. Everyone is in the same boat, in that we are dealing with a disease that we know little about. Safety first caused us to take the most aggressive and drastic measures. Disagreements abound when it comes to almost everything except for the fact that we need more data and more testing. Timing of data has proven to be just as important as the data itself. A test that takes a week or more to return a result is not nearly as effective as one that can produce a result in hours.

The statement above rings true in the association world as well. Almost daily we hear our members say, we need more data. Everybody wants data, but collecting it can be a tough job for associations. Conducting a survey today about the impacts of COVID 19 that takes 2 weeks to produce a report, does not help our members. They need information yesterday. That is why associations that were already benchmarking, or at least understand the value of benchmarking can pivot quickly to address member needs. For many of our clients, we were able to stand up COVID-19 specific question set in 24 hours that helped their members understand temporary trends and movements within the market place. When things are happening as fast as they did in the last few months, it is important for your members to understand how others are reacting and to feel confident about their own behaviors and actions.

No one understands this better than Casey Sclar, the Executive Director of American Public Gardens Association, whose member gardens welcome almost 120 Million visitors per year and have been benchmarking since 2015.  Casey stated, “Pulling trusted data provided by our members from our benchmarking platform was paramount. We were able to easily translate the “green” it takes to make the “green” (earned revenue being lost while closed and ongoing expenses needed to maintain their living collections) to our members, stakeholders, and the general public. When you say that collectively our gardens are losing $3M per day in earned revenue (63% of their total revenue) and spending $42M per month in horticulture and facilities expenses alone, you know this is an estimate grounded in fact. People wake up at hearing these numbers, which could not have been possible without benchmarking.”

About Dynamic Benchmarking
Since our founding in 2010, Dynamic Benchmarking has been committed to helping businesses succeed by providing them with the most accurate, up-to-date and relevant performance metrics available. By combining the proven business concept of benchmarking studies, with the immediacy and reach of online crowdsourcing, we have built a powerful solution that delivers real-time, actionable data and comparisons. Through the KPI’s that are provided via our platform, both businesses and individuals can clearly determine areas of improvement as well as areas of success.

“For associations to make better decisions and fewer mistakes, they need to embrace the idea of collective intelligence.” Lior Zoref, a researcher and author of Mindsharing: The Art of Crowdsourcing Everything 

February 14^th, a day that is loved and loathed all over the world.    All one must do to prove this, is take a peek at one of their social media feeds and there will be a variety of posts negative and positive about this celebrated day.  Whether you are a Valentine’s fan or not, it serves as a good reminder to organizations of all types and sizes to take a look at the ways they are showing the love to their clients, members and employees throughout the year.  For associations, this is even more important because our purpose is to deliver for our members.  Members expect the association to know their needs and fulfill them with the same level of service they provide their clients.  But with a diverse membership base, how does the association management team know that ALL members are feeling the love?  

Recently we provided a webinar for clients about the business benefits of having an inclusive work environment. Kim Drumgo, Director of Diversity & Inclusion |
Association of International Certified Professional Accountants provided all attendees with a great understanding of today's Diversity & Inclusion landscape and how to set their association up for success in regards to Diversity & Inclusion.

Below you will find the recording and slide deck from the presentation. 

If you'd like to learn more about how to get your association started with a D&I Maturity Model, please contact us and we will be happy to assist your team with setting up questions and launching a platform for collecting the data.

Click Here to Watch the Entire Webinar

Recently we were asked by a client why more associations don’t benchmark salary data for their members. As we approach our 10th anniversary serving the association industry as a benchmarking provider, we’ve learned that comparative industry data is one of the most highly beneficial tools that an association can supply its members, yet most associations don’t overcome three common stumbling blocks when attempting to implement their program.

Do you feel like you have more than enough time to do everything you need to do? Do you feel like you have just the right amount of time to do what you want to do? If you are shaking your head no, you feel like most busy professionals. Not only are we feeling stressed about our lack of time, our members are too. I know this because I’ve talked with over 400 association members about the challenges in their professional lives.