News
Chris Swanker, NADP Board Chair
School may be
out for many, but this month nadp learned a great deal from the results
of the 2015 Member Survey. The Nadp Membership WorkGroup commissioned
the survey because the industry has undergone significant changes since
the last study in 2006. The primary objectives of the 2015 Member Survey
were to learn about members’ needs in the new business environment and
discover how we can improve member services.
A common theme
emerged from the survey responses: Members highly value nadp’s industry
knowledge and the sharing of relevant news and information.
When asked to
name the three top-of-mind most important Association benefits, an
overwhelming 66.8% of survey respondents listed Industry News and
Information. This broad category encompasses all areas of nadp programs
and services and demonstrates how the combinations of these services
blend to provide significant value to our members.
The report
further illustrates the value of CONVERGE, the NADP Annual Conference.
CONVERGE is a valued vehicle for developing further our approaches to
advocacy and is an import vehicle for sharing insights and fostering
collaboration.
CONVERGE is a
result of the knowledge, insight and direction provided by volunteers
serving on the Education Commission. NADP’s industry knowledge and
expertise are generated from the work of all the various volunteer
groups whose talents guide and direct a host of programs and
initiatives. Additional responses regarding the three top-of-mind most
important benefits included:
- Legislative Tracking and Updates (50.6%)
- Advocacy (46.8%)
- Networking/Collaboration (46.4%)
- Research (33.6%)
- Education (14.4%)
- Converge (8.1%)
The survey
also asked specific questions regarding the core services of Advocacy,
Education and Research. These questions asked for specific needs from
and improvements for each program. Responses throughout the survey
indicated the desire of combined efforts from one or more core services
areas. For instance, members strongly desire educational programs based
on NADP Research or Advocacy efforts. Other highlights include:
- Requests for
educational programing on product development, sales and marketing,
electronic data interchange, dental benefits basics and industry trends - Seven of eight advocacy functions were rated as critical or absolutely critical by survey respondents
- An impressive 83.5% of members use NADP research reports
The individual responses and comments to the Member Survey are interesting. You can read the entire survey via this link to
the Members’ Only Library (login required). The 40-page report includes
an Executive Summary on pages 3-5 and in-depth findings and comments on
the following pages.
What’s Next
Volunteer
groups and staff are digesting the information relevant to their
respective programs and will develop action plans in support of the
Strategic Plan to address survey the findings. NADP will communicate
more about what we will do with the knowledge we have gained throughout
the year. We will use this information when new volunteer groups are
formed this fall and at the 2016 Leadership Conference. In addition, I
will be reporting on both the survey and progress of the Strategic Plan
in my monthly newsletter columns.
Finally, I
want to thank the 235 individuals who responded to the Member Survey.
Unlike other NADP survey instruments, NADP wanted confidential input
from as many member contacts as possible, rather than one response per
company. We learned some valuable lessons as we conducted this survey.
One of the most important was about timing. In the future, surveys will
be conducted earlier in the year resulting in less time contraints.
As always, if
you have any questions or suggestions about NADP, I’d like to hear from
you. Please contact me at cswanker@nadp.org or (610) 807-8485.
