Are you venting about members or just making fun of them?

Having worked in the association industry for as long as we have, we’ve done our share of venting about members. We’re pretty sure you have too. But, in a recent post on his blog, Certified Association Executive, Ben Martin made an interesting point about criticizing members. His bottom line is, don’t do it.

It’s understandable how making fun of members happens, but Ben’s message is that the members that we make fun of are most often our most passionate volunteers. They care about the profession and the industry. Why do we criticize that? Would we rather have them disengaged from our organizations? These are the members that communicate with us and give us the feedback that we need to make positive changes. To quote Ben’s blog posting, “Criticism is free consulting.” When anything is free…you take it!

One other point we’d like to add about making fun of members is to consider the type of office environment it creates. Sure, jabbing fun at the volunteer committee member may seem funny, but be careful how often it happens. As staff, we expect a certain level of professional respect. Wouldn’t our members expect the same respect?