Membership engagement: a global conversation about the importance of facilitation
International Association of Facilitators
The International Association of Facilitators (IAF) is a participatory worldwide organisation with members in more than 80 countries. As a professional association, we set internationally accepted industry standards, provide accreditation, support a community of practice, advocate and educate on the power of facilitation and embrace the diversity of facilitators. Every meeting or process that is facilitated has an impact on the individuals and the groups of which they are a part. Good facilitation can change the way people think, speak and act, and support them to positively change the world around them. Our vision is to see high quality facilitation address the challenges faced by people in their groups, organisations and communities, thorough the world.
Europe
Toronto,
CA
www.iaf-world.org
Success achieved
Including as many voices as possible in a global conversation by increasing the net of professionals we can offer our services to, through delivering to members in their native languages.- Website
- https://www.iaf-world.org
- Project dates
January 2016 - Ongoing (May 2017)
Project team
Overview:- Board of Directors
- Hector Villarreal, Regional Director for Latin America & Caribbean
- Taiwan Conference Volunteers
- Portuguese Special Interest Group
- Regional Volunteers
- Cameron Fraser, Director of Professional Development
- Lindsay Sumner, Director of Operations, Certification
- Ajit Kamath, Regional Director for Asia - 2016
World Bank Adjusted Fees:
- Beatrice Briggs, Director of Memberships & Chapters » Peter Van Kamanade - GUSTO
- Asuf Ishaq – GUSTO » Managing Matters
- Member Volunteers
- Regional Directors
Tools & Systems
The new fee structure was approved by the board & implemented in our CMS.
We reached out to our members through our CMS in an email campaign, CiviCRM and let them know about the implementation of the new membership fee structure that would assist members from lower income countries.
We use Basecamp for any association projects and all updates made to the website were managed by the Board liaison, GUSTO and Managing Matters as a project tracking list of to-dos and making sure the final product was available on time for our members.
In addition to the attraction of adjusted membership fees for their regions, we continued to offer our membership benefit that our members have found to be helpful over the years. The board approved the creation of special interest groups based around languages across borders by technology. We have implemented and volunteer engagement strategy whereby including our members in the activities of the association and encouraging participation. We continue to hold our International Facilitation Week worldwide and our Methods Database which continues to attract members and beyond the monetary gain.
Introduction
Member geography
IAF is a participatory organisation with members in more 70 countries who vary in their facilitation practice. Some are new to the field, while others have years of experience. Our members work in government, corporate, non-profit, education, community, and international development sectors. Some work in-house, others operate as external consultants. Majority of our members have previously belonged to North America & European Regions, the latter being our largest in numbers. In recent years we have seen massive growth in Asia which is now almost as large as Europe & Middle East region. In 2010 our total membership was around 1233 worldwide. Our current membership is at 1710, a 38.6% rise over the last 7 years.
We have engaged our members through a strategy of inclusivity and embracing their diverse backgrounds as professionals. Our members engage with us from their local chapter events, all the way up to participation in Regional boards, Global Conferences, International Facilitation Week, Facilitation Impact Awards and they also pay membership fees adjusted to their country’s WB classification.
The association also hired a new association management company last year in order to expand capability to deliver to our large membership in a more agile manner.
Discovery
The basic idea for our strategy was developed from our membership survey conducted in 2010 that laid the foundation of this engagement. The survey sent out using Survey Monkey to our existing membership and the data collected signaled a need for IAF to do more to reach and connect with its members.
Our primary feedback has been through members that reach out to our Board members on a regular basis. There is also feedback received at the four global IAF conferences that are held in the year, and many more chapter and regional conferences where that feedback from members at conferences where professionals facilitators regularly meet to learn new techniques and methods in the field of facilitation.
Feedback was also received from our chapter and regional board that frequently meet and run a lot of events on the ground for the association and are in many cases the first point of contact for facilitators.
Objectives
The objective of our engagement has been to become more inclusive and embrace the diversity of our membership. As an organization we want to support the growth of our members and their professional.
The board decided in 2015 to adjust our membership structure In order to make it more feasible for members in lower income countries to join. Membership fees were adjusted to be in accordance with World Bank economic classifications.
IAF has also incorporated other languages in what we offer as a professional association. We realize that as an international association, our members work in a variety of languages and are incorporating translated versions of critical documents as well as offering our certification in other languages to encourage participation and including facilitators across the globe.
Our core competencies, which guide our international certification program, are now also available in Dutch, French, Mandarin, Spanish, Polish and Portuguese. Our plan is to take this to the next step and offer our certification assessments in all these languages as well, beginning with Mandarin.
Activities
World Bank adjusted fees:
A working group of board members & members at large was set up to begin the process and reached out to targeted focus groups to get feedback. A survey to members on in general was sent after later in 2014 with a final confirmation that we are moving forward with the idea and to get suggestions from members.
A motion was presented to the board after feedback from members at the chapter and regional level. Once the new website was tested and launched, the implementation of the new fee schedule was started.
Guidelines for the new membership fee structure and categories was sent to Gusto in order to begin the technical planning and implementation. Updated data was downloaded from World Bank’s website and added on the back end to base the new registration fee options.
Once in place, Gusto, Board Members and Managing Matters were involved in the testing of the new updates on a development server to ensure a smooth transition to the live website.
Schedules and Procedures:
The board discussed the conceptual idea at its annual face-to-face meeting in 2014. Its launch was delayed to make sure a new website was in place first. Gusto and Membership Director began working on the implementation process in October / November of 2015 with a 2016 launch
New communications and procedures were put in place especially for member’s requests discounted memberships.
Materials Produced:
- Updated Reports in the database to include the new membership categories.
- Documents on policy and procedures were updated with the new policies.
Effort:
- Process of final implementation was around 6 months from September 2015 till February 2016
Multiple languages
IAF Chair and Regional Director for Asia started on a pilot project to translate documents and submitted a report afterwards on what worked and what did not. First test was a simultaneously translated assessment in Japanese in 2014 that was successful.
Afterwards, the board put out calls for translations of documents and people volunteered for the translation work.
Schedules and Procedures:
Translated materials were added online for our members as received and promoted through our monthly updates.
Materials Produced:
- Produced Certification Application in Mandarin, Dutch and Spanish for applicants.
- CPF Core Competencies were translated and made available in Mandarin for candidates ahead of time.
- Final Assessment Reports were sent to the candidates in Mandarin by their assessors.
- CPF Core competencies were also translated into Dutch, French, Spanish, and Portuguese & Polish.
Effort
- CPF Assessments are a 6 month process, from initial application to the actual assessment event day.
- Translations projects are ongoing and done as demanded by our members.
Innovation
IAF continues to embrace the diversity of our members. As such, we are running another certification assessment event that will be held in Mandarin and we are looking to add multiple languages to our certification process.
An innovation that has come through via our engaged members is called Special Interest Groups and that the board approved to be added into its structure. This recognizes groups of members that connect beyond geographic boundaries and have common interests, such as language. The first such Special Interest Group is the Portuguese speaking group that includes members from Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique and Angola. This is an extension of our strategy to engage our members and help them succeed professionally.
Our board has also approved a bursary program to assist professionals to get certified even if they are unable to pay the full fee for circumstances beyond their control.
Marketing
As an international association, we are restricted to use online methods and tools to reach our membership.
Our primary method of reaching out to our members is through our website. Content, updates, events and offers posted on our website are communicated to our members by our monthly update, our Global Flipchart. The IAF Global Flipchart is our quarterly member’s publication with tips, tricks and resources for individual facilitation practices and ideas to help members to build their facilitation business and impact.
In addition to regular updates, emails are sent to members regarding events and initiatives that only apply to specific sections of members or a certain geographic region.
IAF has four social media channels that are also used to engage members:
Challenges
There was a significant amount of time spent to make sure the backend updates were made in time to launch the program.
There was some push back from members in higher income countries trying to get lower income fees
We had to turn away some candidates for the Mandarin assessment due to conflicts of interest between assessors and candidates. This was largely due to the small pool of Mandarin assessors.
While we do not have a budget for translations, we have relied on volunteers to translate critical documents. Turn around is longer but the translations are better as they understand the field and context of the contents.
Achievements
IAF continues to enjoy membership growth, which currently stands at 1710. Membership is now more affordable in lower income countries, where facilitators can take advantage of our services at lower cost. We continue to grow our engagement with them online with frequent updates for fellow professionals.
By being more inclusive we have seen a rise in the number of volunteers looking to assist in association events and initiatives, with over 170 that were recognized by certificates of appreciation. Many of them responded back with willingness to continue their service as volunteers, creating a pipeline of future global board members that are ready to promote and support the field of facilitation.
Supporting growth of members and their professional development across geographic regions as well as languages has increased the reach of IAF beyond the global restrictions of the English language.
Targets & Statistics
Social media - statistics
Financials
- $10,000 CAD to Managing Matters a month in order to manage the operations of the association. ($120,000 annually)
- $5040 USD a month to Gusto in fees which provides us with support to update online tools as well as implement critical changes to our service for members online. ($60480 Annual)
- $5000 USD in translation of documents for our members last year.
What would we do differently?
- We would have more communication with our members about the changes coming out, make the roll out much more smoother from a customer service perspective.
- Promote our idea and work more to raise the profile of the association’s efforts.
- We would have conducted a PR and Marketing drive in the regions that benefit the most from lower membership fee rates.
Feedback & Testimonials
"In 2015 the IAF developed a membership fee structure based in statistics of the World Bank regarding country development and economy size. This helped us provide membership opportunities to prospective facilitators in middle and low income countries that before just couldn’t afford that type of investment reducing the fee in half or even less. Prior to it, Regional Directors such as myself would have to devote time to answer messages from interested facilitators requesting special discounts according to their economic condition. It is my belief we enhanced our reach attending to the needs of the professionals we seek to represent."
Hector Villareal Lozoya, Regional Director, Latin America & Caribbean - Partner & Chief Facilitator, Kunlaboro, Monterrey, Mexico
"The IAF board showed a lot of global understanding in making the tiered feed schedule last year. This allowed professionals and budding facilitators from many developing economies to become members of that IAF and leverage the professional development opportunities. The special circumstances fee allows individuals with genuine circumstances to continue to be a part of the IAF. Overall this tiered fee structure has provided many people the opportunity to be part of the community of a IAF and not just increased the membership but also added to the diversity of the community."
Vinay Kumar, Regional Director for Asia - Director and Principal Consultant, C2COrganisational Development Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore, India
"Thanks to the IAF on offering the Mandarine assessment in Seoul 2017, there are already 10 members who have reached me for the participation and I am communicating with them on how to go for the nrxt step. This assessment in Mandarine has helped the promotion of facilitation standard in China, helping the local members professionally, and offering recognition to those quality facilitators with more acceptance in the market."
Sean Xiao, IAF Shangai Chapter - Consultant, TeamPlus Solutions, Shanghai, China
Wider impact
The impact of our strategies has been an increase in membership from countries where the membership fee is now much more affordable.
We have seen a larger number of members willing to volunteer and assist in the planning and execution of association initiatives.
We have certified our first 6 facilitators in a Mandarin last year and hope to continue offering certification assessments in other languages in the future.
In addition, 23 certified professionals have taken advantage of our adjusted fee structure.
