For most unions, the current structure and resulting member expectations have been in place for a long time. Organizational change can be broad and complex, but strategies to create more engagement between leaders and members are better understood and are effective when seen as incremental and strategically targeted.

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It begins with understanding how the current state of the organization came to be, and how we can assess both the cultural and structural factors that build engagement. In support of union leadership who are interested in improving member engagement, we offer a full range of services. Before any services are considered, we recommend discussions and training on the first steps. As appealing as member surveys can be, they are not our natural starting point.

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Consider the following:

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• First steps – we recommend discussions and presentations on the current state and what member engagement can bring to your organization. This is an important first step in defining how the organization wants to move forward. It’s about small steps.

• Strategic planning and choice exercises – engagement is built on shared values within the organization’s culture, as well as leader and member visions. This starts with multi-stage strategic planning that supports each stage of the broader member engagement plan. If we want to create a shared vision, have we defined it ourselves?

• Baseline membership surveys – our team can assess your members’ relationship with their union through deep cluster analysis that examines each variant's relationship to engagement. Surveys can include general union attitudes, leadership evaluation, mission/vision/goal assessment, followership analysis and more.

• Focus groups – even the most detailed surveys present incomplete information. Focus groups can supplement quantitative data with members' learned experiences.

• Leadership training – leadership is an important factor in the development of engagement. It doesn’t require significant retooling of leadership styles but does benefit from adjustments that build leader-member identification.

• Organizational structural assessment – organizations have two parts: the culture, which is shaped by the relationships between members and between members and leaders, as well as transactional, which is the daily performance and policies – basically how the organization works. Each has a role in developing member engagement.

• Communications strategies – this isn’t about developing a website; it’s a broader and deeper strategy that considers how social relationships are developed, and how individual social identity can align with the union’s objectives. It begins with something as simple as new member orientation through communications networks within the membership. It’s about vertical and horizontal social identity.  

• Education – member and leader education is a critical turning point given the historic transactional union business model – members have not had exposure to or pre-employment understanding of unions.   

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Other services can be identified throughout an engagement process