Who Do You Trust I was reading an article recently about Warren Buffet’s “rules” for how he chooses companies to invest in. One of these states that, if he doesn’t trust the CEO of the company, he doesn’t invest. No matter how good the numbers, the fundamentals, the market share, if Buffet doesn’t trust the …
It’s impossible to measure progress if you don’t know your starting point. This sounds axiomatic, but too often it is overlooked by associations looking to improve their data management. Measuring progress requires setting initial benchmarks. The new year is a perfect time to establish your data management benchmarks. Some ideas: How many data integrity reports do you …
A client of mine recently wrote the following to me: “It’s so hard to set up a new database and decide how/where you want to track information when you don’t have a really good understanding of the database and how different fields/screens relate to each other. I think at some point when things slow down …
You’ll make incorrect decisions. Acknowledge them and fix it. Read More »
In Dan Gilbert’s book Stumbling on Happiness, he writes: “Experience is unobservable to everyone except the person who it happens to.” I found this incredibly profound as I thought about how often I’ll hear from my clients and other association executives, “The software should function like this, because that’s how we do it, and that’s …
"Experience is unobservable to everyone except the person who it happens to." Read More »
The phrase is a bit trite, but nonetheless true. What we give attention to (i.e., praise or rewards), especially as managers, gets done again. And so it is with data management. What behaviors are you praising? Are you praising at all? Too often, like payroll, it is just assumed that data is being managed correctly, …
The new year brings new resolutions. May I suggest that one of your New Year’s resolutions be the creation of one new data management habit within your organization? Here are some suggestions: Develop and use data integrity reports. Establish an internal users group that meets at least monthly. Conduct internal “data awareness” training sessions, so that all staff …