ShareYou’ll receive a snapshot of your association -- either as it is today or as you’d like it to be in the future -- based on your responses in the questionnaire about five essential categories:
- Governance, Planning and Organizational Operations
- Staff Competencies
- Member Services
- Internal and External Relations
The tool can be used as an assessment of your current association management processes and to map a growth strategy. You can fill out a questionnaire every year as part of your strategic planning, and you can also have several members or your leadership and staff fill out a questionnaire, then compare your answers. Given the passage of the Organizational Alignment Core Standards, this may be a more critical function than you once thought.
How to Complete the Questionnaire
You’ll evaluate your association in each category by selecting one response from the available choices. Read through all of the questions before you begin to get a better understanding of the nature of the questions and the time you’ll need. You must select an answer for each question within each section of the questionnaire. The questionnaire allows you to respond for both current (where your association is now in delivering services) and future (where you would like to be in terms of delivering services) operations simultaneously.
Sample Question:
Which statement most closely represents staff relations in your association:
-Chief staff executive is visionary leader for staff members, and does not focus entirely on day-to-day operations; delegates decision-making to senior staff; maintains a succession plan for key staff positions
-Chief staff executive handles management functions, while receiving support from other managers; staff members provide clerical support
-Chief staff executive administers all day-to-day operations, with support of clerical personnel and outside resources
-Does not apply to my association
Review/print out a sample general assessment questionnaire.
Time Commitment
Plan to spend about five to 10 minutes responding to each of the five sections, about 30 to 45 minutes to complete the questionnaire. Read through all the questions before you begin to get a better understanding of the nature of the questions and the time you’ll need.
Avoid Skewed Results
Although you may think not all of the questions apply to your association, answer every question as best you can, because skipped questions will skew the percentages in your results.
Save Your Answers and Return Later
If you’re interrupted or cannot finish in one sitting, you can save your incomplete questionnaire, then return to the database to complete it at a later time. Once you submit your completed questionnaire, it is archived in a database that you can access any time with an authorization code from NAR. Note that there is one authorization code per association, so everyone filling out a questionnaire from your association will be able to view the results for all questionnaires submitted for their association.
Get more information on obtaining an authorization code for your association.
Proceed to the Questionnaire >
Disclaimer
This assessment is a tool that will help provide guidance in the delivery of products, services, programs, and value to the association. This assessment is only one tool that should be used to examine expectations and responsibilities for the association and its volunteers and key staff leader.