Growing membership is often the biggest challenge that associations face—and with good reason.

People talk about “quintupling membership” and boosting renewals.

But what if a decrease in membership wasn’t the worst thing in the world? MultiBriefs Content Editor Brie Ragland argues that there is a silver lining—in the form of a followup survey—in what is otherwise considered a setback.

When a member requests to leave an organization, he or she should be asked what leaders could have done to improve the experience. Was it location, benefits, or something else that caused dissatisfaction?

“The beauty behind the idea of surveying these members is that a brief follow-up conversation is really all it takes,” Ragland writes. “By taking a few moments over a quick phone call, or even a short email survey, associations can do more to grow their association than most even know.”

As all organizations know, feedback is super important—and feedback gained by losing members could give associations the opportunity to learn from failure.

A 21st-Century Problem

Batteries just aren’t keeping up. New phones always boast a new feature or two, but improved battery life is rarely on that list. That’s because battery technology is difficult to manage and advance.

“The entire industry is dying to solve the battery problem, in one way or another,” Walt Mossberg, executive editor at The Verge and cofounder and editor-at-large of Re/Code, writes of the problem.

Mossberg highlights what’s brewing behind the scenes in the worlds of science, psychology, business, and technology, with the end goal being a little extra juice for your devices.

Additional Links For Your Day

“Is our content meeting our members’ needs?” On her Smooth the Path blog, Amanda Kaiser argues for adding action plans for members in the content marketing equation.

How far should you go for your goals? How much energy and time? Blogger Adam Chudy says that “the extra mile is never crowded.”

Time to learn a lesson … or seven. Inc. Contributor Will Yakowicz looks at the seven biggest social media mistakes this year.