From the perspective of a 25 year membership in American Society for Quality, I would like to share the benefits of a progressive membership journey. The overall approach is targeted to ASQ’s individual members who join as Professional Members.
Four distinct actions are recommended to ASQ Professional Members for optimal results:
- Increase affiliations with internal communities within ASQ to gain targeted knowledge and networking opportunities.
- Obtain qualifications to enhance a professional portfolio of achievements.
- Pursue and obtain membership upgrades (upon demonstration of merit and fulfillment of qualifications).
- Achieve recognitions, mentoring others toward similar pathways and levels of accomplishment.
Through a combination of these four pursuits, ASQ’s Professional Members can “unlock” additional opportunities to realize value, gain stature, and yield personal benefits. This augments the existing array of benefits available to ASQ’s individual members, which include global networking, discounts on programs and events, access to published and online content, and updates on best practices and emerging trends within the quality profession.
ASQ is a global society which houses specific communities. These include localized geographic groups to help members connect within proximity of their homes or workplaces. Also, as quality spans many industries and capabilities, ASQ contains “technical” communities emphasizing particular specializations. Within these communities, members exchange specific and relevant information and content, providing a more cohesive and relevant experience. Fortunately for ASQ members, there now exists the flexibility to join and partake in any and all of ASQ’s technical communities with no extra fees.
These communities are very welcoming and receptive to new participants, and ASQ’s Professional Members can not only attend and learn, but be invited to volunteer, organize, present, and even lead these groups. When networking extends to active involvement, opportunities abound for positive personal interactions.
Through these specialized and concentrated communities, ASQ’s Professional Members can more effectively prepare themselves and others to obtain and sustain their qualifications. ASQ members have abundant opportunities to pursue training and certifications, which are internationally accepted and accredited. By having the qualifications, the ASQ Professional Members can grow their stature and perceived expertise, enabling subsequent expansion of career positions or contracting opportunities.
ASQ supports the convenient and cost-effective renewal of its advanced certifications. ASQ’s Professional Members have the option to rewrite the exams; or qualify through a range of professional activities including volunteering, attending events, presenting, writing, organizing, and leading others. These are all constructive components of a professional journey, providing abundant outlets for collaboration and accomplishment.
For those ASQ Professional Members who qualify, ASQ offers cost-free membership upgrades. This represents a level of membership through which additional benefits are “unlocked.” Certain opportunities which were previously restricted are now available, including the privileges of reviewing conference abstracts and moderating sessions for ASQ conferences, volunteering at positions of senior leadership, and acceptance for inclusion in particular initiatives and committees. For those who enjoy academic journals in the quality field, ASQ Senior Members also get a cost-free subscription to the ASQ-published journal of their choice.
A select group of ASQ Senior Members, who demonstrate sufficient merit and qualifications across a range of evaluation criteria, can be nominated as ASQ Fellow Members. This is a prestigious recognition and membership peer group which offers a more intensive networking experience. This also leads to additional offers and opportunities to collaborate as an author, presenter, or researcher. The opportunity to enjoy ASQ as a Fellow is sufficiently remarkable to consistently result in 99% annual member retention among ASQ Fellow members.
As a membership organization, ASQ embraces and engages people at all levels. This necessitates the dynamic of being a professional mentor and exemplar to other ASQ Professional members. The relationships that emerge between mentors and their protégés can be very satisfying and fulfilling. In some cases, connections that originated from mutual involvement in ASQ can be manifested in career and consulting opportunities toward very beneficial and rewarding outcomes.
To summarize, four distinct actions are recommended to ASQ Professional Members for optimal results:
- Increase affiliations with internal communities within ASQ to gain targeted knowledge and networking opportunities.
- Obtain qualifications to enhance a professional portfolio of achievements.
- Pursue and obtain membership upgrades (upon demonstration of merit and fulfillment of qualifications).
- Achieve recognitions, mentoring others toward similar pathways and levels of accomplishment.
These pursuits represent the consistency and compounded benefits that long-term members of ASQ have been realizing and yielding for decades. Professional pursuits continue to grow and evolve over time, so that involvement in ASQ actually generates more value than it costs. Consequently, once a mature ASQ member reaches an optimal point, it will be as if ASQ is literally paying them to remain within the society.
I hope I was able to accurately convey not only the range of benefits available to ASQ’s Professional Members, but a proven set of approaches to consistently generate both advantages and connections that would be constructive for a long-term journey in the quality profession.
