ASAE article on measuring engagement

The ASAE just posted a great article about the measurement of value. You can read it here: Four Keys to Meaningfully Measure Community Engagement

It turns out it's not exactly about measuring. Well, almost none of it is about measuring anything.

But, they do make a couple of good points about setting priorities and working from goals.

Here's a good example, from the article:

“Sometimes leadership stakeholders are thinking, ‘Yeah, we want to make money back on this expensive platform that we bought,’” Mbugua explained. “But it’s not really about the platform. It’s really about your members and your community.”

What I love about this is that she calls out a pretty common error in thinking among boards and organizations, which is to first make a purchase of technology or tools, and then to try and figure out how you can squeeze value out of it.

After all, isn't the secret to success to acquire the fanciest tools you can get?

Yeah, no. Actually it's not.

To counter this misconception, she offers a different line of thinking:

Mbugua recommended starting at a more fundamental level when trying to get at what you’re measuring and building, asking these three questions:

Why does this community exist?

What are the business goals?

What are our shared values between members, and what do we want to achieve as a business?

Boom, there goes the dynamite.

Before you even think about trying to get value out of an expensive tool set, it is imperative to remember what your goals are, why you exist as an organization, why you're even undertaking this project.

By starting with clear goals, you can understand what it is you should be measuring. I couldn't find much in the article about actually measuring anything, but the reminder to get back to basics and set priorities based on your actual goals, makes this article a winner in my book.

All the best,
A.