Professional Membership Organisation Improvement

1. Introduction
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The recent convergence of changes in markets, member preferences, and technology have given
rise to unprecedented and relentless competition in a space that once belonged exclusively to
noncompeting associations and societies. The number of professional membership bodies serving
industries and professions has grown dramatically, resulting in increased association versus
association competition. Competition from the for-profit sector has also increased for virtually
every association offering, from publications to trade shows to educational programmes.
The ‘needs and wants’ of members have also changed. Many professional membership bodies
current model requires large time commitments from its members, but their members working
hours are increasing. Value expectations have also changed; membership of a professional society
or college was considered part of being a professional, because it was ‘the right thing to do’. No
more. Individuals expect return on their investments. The pressure on associations to demonstrate
value has increased, and it’s not going away. Many professional associations and societies are
increasingly finding it difficult to adjust to this new paradigm, and are struggling to remain relevant
to their membership and establish a sustainable financial position in this challenging and fluid
environment. Project7 have developed a proven approach that can assess and help associations
and societies address these issues to ensure their long-term success and future.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) is the professional membership body for pharmacists
and pharmacy in Great Britain. Its main aim is to advance the profession of pharmacy for public
and patient benefit to secure the future of the patients and members. It achieves this through
supporting its members and customers to improve health outcomes for society through professional
development and support, and the provision of quality medicines information and advice. The
RPS had been investing heavily in new products and services for its members and customers and
wanted to create further funds for investment over the coming years. Part of the challenge for a
member organisation is to ensure that the services are the ones members most value and their
objective was to increase the quality and value of their offering through an objective assessment.
Project7 worked closely with the RPS Executive Team to just that – to identify the shifting
membership ‘needs and wants’, to re-orientate the organisation to better serve their members, and
to reduce operational costs and enhance revenues – to achieve a sustainable long-term future.
Ensuring continued relevance and financial stability
of professional membership organisations in today’s
changing environment

2. Understanding and prioritising the member’s needs and wants
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An overview of our work
and its outcomes
Not all services generate financial revenue but are highly valued by members. Our approach
started by capturing the ‘voice of the member’ (VOM) to understand what they rated as most
and least important. This data was captured, analysed, and each requirement was quantitatively
prioritised and given an ‘importance rating’. The data was further analysed to understand
different ‘segments’ within the membership population. This allowed us to ask probing questions,
for example do members in Scotland value Local Practice Forums more than people in England, or
do newly qualified members value development programmes more than experienced members?
The data was incorporated into a matrix; the VOM data (what the customer wants) was correlated
to the services provided by the organisation (how we satisfy what the customer wants) to
understand how well their needs are satisfied. The costs of the providing these services was then
quantified.
We then plotted the relative importance of the client’s products and services to the relative cost
which they consume to determine their overall value. We then worked to formulate a ‘new direction’
for each product or service.

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Realigning products and services to better serve the member
The ‘voice of the member’ analysis coupled with the cost and competitor analysis identified a
wide spectrum of improvements, ranging from streamlining the internal RPS processes, improving
services and products offered to members and making it easier for members to consume them.
Some projects specifically focused on raising standards and services for members, or improving
internal efficiencies. Many interventions however addressed both increasing value and raising
efficiency, through fundamentally redesigning services to improve quality and reduce the costs of
providing that service.
The individual improvement projects combined to form an overarching programme to raise
revenues and reduce costs for the organisation, and increase value for members.
Restructuring the organisation to make it cost effective
An organisational structure analysis (OSA) was conducted to understand how ‘economic’ the
organisational structure was. We found examples where the organisation had assigned single
managers to separate tasks or types of task, resulting in too deep a structure and narrow spans
of control.
Project7 often find unnecessary numbers of managers within many organisations, creating fertile
conditions for an uncontrolled increase in the whole staff – a ballooning of the numbers employed
– usually needlessly. In our experience nearly all objective reviews of organisational structure
reveal managerial jobs that could be eliminated. Theoretically, an organisational pyramid of only
five layers with an average span of eight can house close to 33,000 people – big enough with
plenty to spare for most organisations!

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The outcomes of our work
The three separate streams of analysis were combined and triangulated to help realign services
and ensure the RPS remains relevant to its members, and to provide longer-term financial stability.
Three scenarios to restructure the organisation were set-out: a ‘downside case’, a ‘base case’, and
an ‘upside case’ to reflect the range of options available to the executive team. The ‘downside’
represented a cost reduction of 12%, the ‘base’ equated to 18%, and ‘upside’ a 25% reduction.
The overall financial benefits, through raising revenues and reducing costs represented a potential
benefit that was 14 times greater than the investment made in the consultancy service provided
by Project7.
Following the OSA, we conducted a process activity analysis (PAA). We did not only ask only
which department people work in. We also asked what they actually do. PAA data was viewed
in two ways. The functional view to show how the departments spend their time. The process
view showed who works on a given process and how this effort is distributed throughout the
organisation. This initial analysis determined the main processes, activities and tasks, and
revealed overlapping activities which allowed us to expose and challenge…
The assumptions about what needs to be done to run and develop the enterprise
The activities done out of habit (and comfort) rather than need
The aspects that truly support and promote business performance
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The subsequent detailed analysis of how people devote their time to the different processes
and activities identified and quantified the effort being allocated to work that yields low value
to the business and members but that incurs high costs. The OSA and PAA analysis allowed the
RPS to make informed decisions on how costs could be reduced without diminishing the overall
performance of the business, revealing opportunities…
To improve performance and productivity, and generate more value
To streamline the organisational structure - managerial layers, spans of control, and costs
To reduce duplication and inefficiency
To standardise processes to comply with good practice
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If you require more information about this case study or would like to discuss how we could
support your improvement effort, please contact Peter Brodie:
Email: peter.brodie@project7consultancy.com | Tel: +44 (0)7825 128 592