Positioning SLA for the Future:Principles & Process for the Alignment Initiative

January 21-25, 2008Louisville, KY

Principles of Alignment

“Companies that enjoy enduring success have core values and a core purpose that remain fixed while their business strategies and practices endlessly adapt to a changing world.” – Collins & Porras

Principles of Alignment

Alignment is a discipline for thinking, communicating and behaving as one enterprise connected by a unified mission• Focus and cohesion to drive organizational outcomes

• Who you are, what you stand for, what you deliver

• Clarity, Credibility, Consistency

Alignment from the inside-out: mission, vision, values• The essential truth of the organization and profession

• The fundamental idea – core purpose, ethos and values; essential truth of being

• A promise of value that builds a relationship with stakeholders, securing preference, loyalty and trust

• A position that is relevant, differentiated and credible

Principles of Alignment

Elements of Organizational Identity

• Identity: The unique characteristics of an organization that defines its value-creating potential

• Personality: The attributes of the organization that inform how it communicates and behaves

• Positioning: The promise that an organization makes that shapes its relationship with all stakeholders, based upon its identity and personality

Identity + Personality = Positioning

Principles of Alignment

Positioning Statement:

AARP is the leading membership organization that champions positive social change through information, advocacy, philanthropy, products and community service to enrich people’s lives as they age – today and for generations to come.

Principles of Alignment

Visual identity & materials integrating key messages

Principles of Alignment

How communication of core identity works

The Landscape: Membership

• Decline of boomers in the global workforce has impacted membership numbers

• Perception exists that librarians and information professionals are no longer needed

• Gen-Xers, Gen-Yers and Millennials are exhibiting a declining rate of membership affiliation

• Increased focus on recruiting and retaining younger members and members outside of North America

• Increased opportunities among individuals in second careers and adjacent career tracks (e.g. competitive intelligence and knowledge management)

Membership growth is a priority

The Landscape: Technology

• Value-added intelligence is not a widely known or appreciated concept

• Many business leaders think that consumer search engines like Google are all they need

• Speed, convenience and self-service are gaining momentum

Sweeping technological changes are challenging the role and perceived value of information professionals

The Landscape: Opportunity

• Opportunities to highlight the value of librarians and information professionals to senior executives

• As the roles and responsibilities of information professionals continue to evolve, SLA has the opportunity to be at the forefront and foundation of the field

• Opportunities to expand membership beyond traditional library workers and information professionals

• Opportunities to reach new audiences through graduate and undergraduate library and information management programs

SLA has an opportunity to position itself as the premier association for a broad range of information professionals

The Landscape: Key Milestone

• Opportunity to establish a shared vision of the future and the role of information professionals in it

• Opportunity to establish clarity and unity around SLA’s and the profession’s core purpose, ethos and value, including defining an institutional positioning that is relevant, differentiated and deliverable

The SLA Centennial in 2009 and its prelude provide unique opportunities

Key Objectives

• Examine: Conduct thorough examination of the future roles of librarians and information professionals in a new and evolving information landscape

• Explore: Explore current position in the marketplace and define a platform –based on sound scientific research – that is relevant, differentiated and deliverable and will stand the test of time

• Develop: Develop a strategic framework that underscores SLA’s value for existing members and enables outreach to a broad spectrum of information professionals

Key Objectives

• Align: Bring alignment to SLA’s diverse activities through a relevant and compelling platform that expresses core values of the Association and the profession as a whole

• Identify: Identify the programs, tools, language and materials that uniquely express and amplify SLA’s positioning to members, employers, partners, regulators and the public, and highlight the value of information professionals in today’s information economy

The Process

Define: Audit Existing Resources

Fleishman Hillard conducted a review of existing information, research and supplemental resources provided by SLA, including:• Interviews with SLA leadership and membership

• Task Force reports

• Member and board profiles

• Existing surveys (i.e. Exhibitor Surveys, Attendee Surveys, Information Outlook surveys, Peer-Reviewed Journal Survey, Board Survey and Member Surveys, etc.)

Define: Audit Existing Resources

Fleishman Hillard conducted supplemental research including:• Review of SLA’s current communication framework

• Scan of media coverage in mainstream outlets and trade publications over the last 18 months

• Audit of blog and online editorial coverage

• Audit of competitor communications, messages, positioning and member offerings

• Inventory of key terms and descriptors for the information profession

• Analysis of target audience perceptions using existing research from Outsell and Social Technologies

Define: Strategic Issues

Information and research audit indicates several key strategic issues to be addressed, including:

• Core values of information profession—detail, depth, thoroughness—are not aligned with customers who seek speed and convenience, often at the expense of accuracy

• Instead of functional descriptors, librarians and information professionals need to be defined in terms of the value, benefit and impact provided to their organizations (e.g. advancing business development, facilitating good decision-making, managing crises, etc.)

• Messages that validate strategic ROI of library and information management professionals need to be more actively promoted

Define: Strategic Issues

• SLA’s positioning must cut across multiple dimensions within the broader librarian-and-information professional category

• SLA’s diverse membership base and membership targets will require tailored communication strategies as well as overarching positioning

• SLA’s competition for membership, services and market leadership has intensified and diversified

• SLA’s current communication framework and visual identity need greater alignment, structure and consistency

Key Findings (cont.):

Define: Strategic Issues

• Formal mechanisms are needed to ensure all extensions of SLA are thinking, communicating and behaving as one enterprise

Key Findings (cont.):

Define: Strategic Issues

Feedback from board members and key influencers suggests a framework that focuses on five key areas:

1. Growth opportunities for SLA and the profession as a whole

2. Priority activities to drive and sustain membership

3. Role and growth of SLA outside North America

4. Key value drivers for the profession and the Association

5. Consistent and compelling language to describe the profession and the Association

Define: Knowledge Gaps

Where are the gaps?

Feedback is required from the following target audiences for future growth:

• CEOs and senior executives of global IP employer organizations

• Younger audiences already in the profession

• Professionals in adjacent career tracks where information

management plays a key role (i.e. medical research, analysts,

mergers and acquisitions)

• Students and faculty in library science programs

Define: Knowledge Gaps

What do we need to know?

Input that will inform a positioning framework for SLA, including:• Benefits and essential value that cut across all dimensions of special

librarianship (ROI research)

• Perceptions around information technology, either as a tool or a competitor

• Outsourcing trends and the impact on the profession

• New, emerging career tracks

• Emerging business models and functional domains

• Skill sets/core competencies today and tomorrow

• Labels, terms, and language to describe the information management profession, information professionals and their value

Define: Knowledge Gaps

What do we need to know?

Input that facilitates membership recruitment, including:• Key psychological factors that create an emotional connection with

SLA

• Key products, services, programs, and areas of advocacy

• Key factors that best meet the needs of the varied segments of the

profession (i.e. multiple chapters, alliances, geographic breakdown, etc.)

• Key factors that best meet the needs and support the aspirations of

students or entry-level professionals

Define: Knowledge Gaps

What do we need to know?

Trend research (Social Technologies and Outsell) that can inform the alignment and positioning process, including:

•Cultural flows

•Gen Y information behaviors and preferences and impact on

the profession

•General work trends

•General outsourcing trends

•General technology trends

Define: Knowledge Gaps

How do we close the gap?

•SLA membership studies

•Outsell studies on the Information Profession

•Social Technologies studies on future trends

Outcomes of analysis will yield essential ingredients for primary research and positioning exercises, including:•Segmentation, sample plan, survey design for primary

research

•Draft language that effectively positions the information

profession based on relevant research and analysis

Analyze best data available from multiple sources, including:

Define: Knowledge Gaps

Outsell Data Assets

• Surveys of information users & decision makers in enterprises since 1998: 15,000 per year

• Annual benchmark surveys of information managers since 1999: 600+ per year

• Hundreds of custom needs assessments/surveys and interviews with users and stakeholders

• 7,000+ information companies’ market size, share, forecasts

Define: Primary Research

Input from SLA and Outsell research will inform the development of a Web-based survey that:

• Obtains information from target audiences specific to SLA membership recruitment and retention

• Obtains quantitative and qualitative feedback (using Interactive Editor) to develop a framework that positions SLA and the industry for future growth

Define: Primary Research

Interactive Editor

•Respondents can rate the

appeal of key words and phrases

•Provides a truly interactive

concept testing experience

•Quantifies how compelling

your language is before you

go to market

Define: Primary Research

Interactive Editor

• Rates products/services along intensity of appeal and frequency of mention

• Identifies concept strengths and weaknesses

Frequency of Mention

Inte

nsit

y o

f A

pp

eal

Most Appealing

Least Appealing

• Logo

• Claim

• Support 1

• Benefit 1

• Brand Tagline

• Support 2

Translate: Message Exploration

• Positioning statements

• Taglines

• Organizational mission, vision, values

Step 1: Aggregate data from Outsell, Social Technologies, and primary research to develop language around:

Step 2: Taped Q&A sessions of key influencers and new messages to:

• Identify common points of positioning among different explanations of profession and SLA

• Demonstrate how target audiences react to key influencers

• Measure current language against new language

Translate: Message Testing

• Identify immediately which messages are promising and which should never be used again.

• Provide accurate measure to determine exactly what works, what doesn’t and why.

Step 3: Conduct two Instant Response Dial Sessions to:

Translate: Message Testing

What is Instant Response?

•Combines the most important components of quantitative, qualitative and in-depth public opinion research to test message delivery, understanding, believability and impact.

•A computer-based system,the IR dial displays second-to-second measurement of participant reaction to any verbal communication.

Translate: Message Testing

Instant Response Sessions

• Data from the InstantResponse dial sessions are displayed as computergenerated, continuouslines superimposed on thescreen.

• The video will illustrate the messages that work – and those that do not.

Translate: Message Testing

Instant Response vs. Focus Group

Instant Response Focus Group• Allows for testing of long-

form messaging• Allows for refinement and

crafting of new language to address target market reactions

• Tests limited amounts of pre-determined language.

• Provides detailed feedback on exactly which words and phrases resonate, which don’t, and why.

• Provides general impressions of words and concepts

• Allows for testing of multiple approaches from actual information professionals

• Uses written presentations of language

Translate: Platform & Positioning

Outcomes of research, analysis and positioning exercises will provide the optimal language to:• Build a platform that unites key programs, resources,

products and services, and cultivates and promotes relationships with key audiences

• Build a platform that stands the test of time and remains relevant to librarians, information professionals, their employees and industry partners

• Articulate a common vision, identity and core purpose—mission and vision statements, a formal definition of the profession and SLA, and tailored positioning statements

• Create a framework for the development of communication materials that enables consistent application of key messages through all SLA programs and services

Positioning SLA for the Future:Principles & Process for the Alignment Initiative

January 21-25, 2008

Louisville, KY