Tightening Standards and Stressing Ethics Prove to be Right Direction for IECA
by Mark Sklarow, IECA Executive Director
The trend among associations today is to make membership as easy as possible. When I attend workshops at conferences for association CEOs, the advice is consistent: simplify the application, lessen standards, lower the bar, reduce fees, let people fill in a few bits of contact information and pay online. Particularly in this economic environment, professional societies and associations from Bangor to San Diego are doing just that.
The Independent Educational Consultants Association decided to do the opposite. Over the last few years we strengthened both our admission requirements and our ethics policies. We may be the only association in the nation that reviews every applicant’s marketing materials and Web site, rejecting for membership those we feel reflect values we find unacceptable: preying on parental anxieties or implying consulting is about using tricks and secrets to package a student for admission.
We require scores of campus visits and evidence of working ethically and successfully with students and families. No one else in our field demands these. Our membership fees, while unchanged for 28 years, remain higher than anyone else’s. Our Summer Training Institute, heavy on ethics and best practices, has been described by attendees as being on the receiving end of a fire hose blasting away for four days; there’s that much information we feel must be conveyed.
My association colleagues ask me how we’re doing. Their assumption is that here in the midst of a recession, as we take a direction opposite of all other groups (and with easier-to-admit standards offered elsewhere) we must be in trouble. Nationwide MOST organizations are in shrink mode–and that’s with the lowering of admission standards.
The answer: we’re doing just fine, thank you. The standards make us stronger and more respected. Colleagues and the media in virtually every article on the profession, point to IECA membership as THE hallmark of a qualified, knowledgeable, ethical consultant. And the result of these tough standards for admission: our membership is growing more quickly than ever. Inquiries are up, interest is up, attendance at conferences is up. Consider next week’s Summer Training Institute: we closed registration when we hit our maximum of 90 attendees (a record) and have a wait list of many more with upwards of 20 inquires coming in during the last few days.
IECA is evidence that when you commit to excellence, ethics, competence, and serving students as first priority, you will attract the right people.
Now I know full well that some look at IECA and our requirements and categorize us as being elitist or unwelcoming. As anyone knows who joins us, our Outreach Committee and members individually are incredibly welcoming with scores of mentors, group activities, shared tours, regional groups, and more. Those who complain, I think, confuse high standards—and a commitment to the thousands of families each month who come to us seeking help—with elitism.
If the price for high standards and ethics is a perception of being elitist then it’s a price I’m willing to pay, and based on our growth and acceptance, is clearly the right course.
Related posts:
- Welcoming New IECs; Maintaining Standards & Reputation
- Ethics Matter: IECA Taking Bold Action to Ensure Professionalism
- Executive Board Meeting Details
- A ‘Newbie’ Reflects on Applying for Professional Membership in IECA & Shares a Few Tips
- IECA’s 34th Year Comes to Close with an Eye to the Future
Simplification of application is always needed, but I think what IECA has decided is right. Simplification is important by the by policies must be strong enough. Ethical work is always important to bring success.