Burning Questions

No. 1, Spring 2009: What’s keeping you up at night?

“Uncertainty” has become the new buzzword in these difficult times, but it doesn’t have to cripple your organization.

In the first of its original quarterly surveys, called “Burning Questions,” Association Strategies, Inc., discovered that regardless of mission, membership, size or geographic location associations are feeling challenged by the same issues.

Projected losses in dues income, meeting attendance and advertising have organizations puzzling over how to protect and invest resources wisely and how to remain viable. Communicating the value of membership and staying relevant seems more difficult than ever. Staffing issues from layoffs to compensation and incentive programs threaten morale, create the potential of losing vital staff and crack the culture organizations have worked diligently to create and nurture. And, the shifting regulatory and legislative priorities of a new administration combined with the omnipresent challenge of doing more with less have broken a sweat on the brow of many CEO’s.

Grounded in the science and principles of organization development, ASI’s nationally recognized team has spent more than 20 years helping associations, professional organizations and non-profits turn crisis into opportunity. “This is not the time for an organization to play ostrich and put its head in the sand,” says ASI’s founder and President Pamela Kaul. “Now more than ever, organizations need to connect with staff, volunteers and their networks.” A few critical approaches may help:

Get the Facts:

Conduct a vigorous assessment of all programs and activities, justify cuts on the basis of hard data and adjust member expectations based on these assessments. Expand support for successful programs. Are there different ways to offer them through social media, reduced fees or other means? Look strategically at your financial resources. Ask the Board to address the realities of your current environment and marketplace and how these have changed. Impress upon them that you can no longer do all the things you’ve been doing – but do it with data and facts.

Don’t Waste a Crisis:

This is a great time to get reacquainted with your membership and to offer what they need right now and refocus your products and services and start around true member value. “Declining sales of our traditional products does not mean that no products will sell,” said one respondent. The current economic situation offers an opportunity to assess membership needs in a fundamentally different way. What can you offer new and renewing members? How can you make it easier for them to stay involved and retain their membership? One of our respondents shared their association’s experience creating a “pay-what-you-can” approach to meeting registration. The organization was pleasantly surprised by the number of individuals who registered -- and who paid close to the proposed fee. They also won members for life. Another CEO sent each renewing member a personal thank you note with an enclosed gift certificate for a free educational event.

Beyond this economic graveyard lies significant opportunity. How do you identify and seize these opportunities without losing focus on the moment? What strategic steps can you take now that will position you for a stronger future when conditions improve?

Activate your Network:

Opportunity exists in sharing resources and staying visible and active in your professional network. This is the time to share ideas, concerns and experiences in small groups, through ASAE and other organizations. Be alert to the fact that a loss for one organization can become an opportunity for another. One savvy respondent created a new and lucrative trade show when he heard a competitor had left the scene. Reach out to the young professionals among your membership by engaging them in a task force or other short-term project that has a defined goal, start and deliverable dates.

Consider a Volunteer Leadership Team Approach:

Effective, consistent leadership is needed now more than ever and there’s no better place to start than at the top of your own organization. Many associations experience weak and ineffective leadership at times, but now is the time to strengthen the CEO/volunteer leadership team. Motivate and empower your “Presidential line” to step up to the plate by serving the association with one voice as the center of communications, information exchange and trouble-shooting.

Spend More Time with your Family:
Your association family, that is.

For organizations facing staff losses, it is critical to pay vigilant attention to the internal culture. Use your current downturn as an opportunity to reengage with staff by opening up communications, conducting more frequent informational meetings, seeking their input and concerns and by being candid and straightforward about your circumstances. Keep the culture alive by identifying organizational symbols and rituals that resonate among staff and can indicate benefits of change and thinking creatively and differently.

If the culture needs to be changed, survey staff asking them to describe what the ideal culture might look like and how you can work together to achieve it.

Examine human resource programs including compensation, incentive and performance management. Retain and motivate high performing staff by exploring ways to incentivize them. Across the board pay cuts and pay freezes will not do that. If your organization is unable to send people to professional development programs, identify mentors and learning opportunities inside and outside your organization that don’t impact resources.

Be a Sleuth:

The six questions reporters use to get all angles of a story – who, what, why, when, where and how -- prove useful for mapping problems as well. So ask yourself this:

WHO are the key players -- individuals and groups -- that will most likely influence our future?

WHAT do we know about them, their needs and expectations?

WHY are their goals, needs and expectations important? Is our proposed course justified by relentless organizational data and informed assessment of our programs, issues, opportunities and threats? What are the emotional issues behind all of these?

WHEN do our stakeholders expect change to begin? Based on this, how can we prioritize our own goals and manage expectations? Revise plans accordingly and include change and stability goals.

WHERE should we be? What events, meetings, receptions, industry groups and general networking are most important? What relationships need to be tapped and developed?

HOW can we achieve all this in the most cost-effective, results-producing way? How can we be alert to opportunities we haven’t identified before? How can we refocus and reposition ourselves to come out ahead when the crisis abates?

The most successful organizations thrive on challenge, and welcome the opportunity to ask the hard questions such situations demand. ASI provides a constant resource for negotiating tough terrain in the most effective way. So tackle those issues today – and get some sleep.

Burning Questions is an original research product of Association Strategies, Inc. based on quarterly surveys. For more information or a fuller recounting of participants responses, please contact Pamela Kaul at (703) 683-0580 or Pamela @assnstrategies.com.

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