Can Associations Become High Performance Organizations?
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Possibly. It depends on how a high performance
association is defined and whether or not an association board
and staff are willing to make the investment and deliver to their
members. Based on research and writings on high performance organizations,
and adjusting for the association perspective, a high performance
association would possess the following key characteristics:
- Vision and mission are shared and owned by all stakeholders
- Strategy is performance-based, clear and mapped to ensure
individuals and members of teams turn vision and mission into
action and results
- Goals are challenging and make a difference to the way in
which work is completed
- Teamwork is effective and empowered
- Better business practices are used to secure efficient organizational
practices which are driven by focusing on:
- Member and employee satisfaction,
- Fiscal and operational accountability
- Quality
- Strong emphasis is placed on performance measurement using
key performance indicators
High performance associations have a culture of continuous improvement
and strong leadership that believes the association should be
a learning organization and should develop and provide the necessary
competencies to get things done. With the right competencies,
individuals and teams develop a commitment and apply the right
tools to achieve desired quality and satisfaction levels.
The above characteristics can often be measured by specific performance
indicators such as these examples:
- Fiscal targets met, i.e., accumulated surplus policy
- Member retention and growth targets met
- Strong and diverse volunteer targets met
- Reduction in cycle time in dealing with significant and routine
issues
- Low staff turnover rate
- Number of new innovative measures
- Number of complaints or member service problems
- Number of successful team efforts
- New best practices implemented
- Planning policy and process is complied with
- Member input and satisfaction with strategic direction
Making it Happen
- A powerful and strong commitment to the vision, mission,
values, goals and strategy of the association by all
- Effective and clear communication lines within the association
from the Board down and from the member up
- A culture of performance in which all want to meet the challenges
set and they are regarded as outstanding
- Leadership growing and developing with change
- Use of strategic management, benchmarking for best practices
and other key tools
- Acquiring and engaging the necessary competencies to make
it all happen
How Does Your Association Rate Out of Ten?
Association managers in the Association Management Education
(AME) Program course - Association Leadership, Change, Strategy,
and Structure - were asked on a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being high),
"What score would you assign to your association in terms
of being a high performance association?" Students were also
asked to identify an association that would have a high score
and explain why. A review of 22 recent responses reveals that
the scores range from 4 to 8 with an average score of 6.3. This
score may suggest that associations have considerable room for
improvement. I have previously reviewed close to 200 responses
and it was rare to find scores higher that 7. It was interesting
to note that associations with higher scores had recently improved
communications and strategic management activities such as strategy
formulation (strategic planning) and strategy evaluation (performance
measurement).
One manager raised good questions, " Should a high performance
association rate a 10? Would it rate itself a 10?" The manager
concluded it would not be likely as a high performance association
knows there is always room to improve.
Common improvements identified and planned by association managers
are:
- Improve strategic management activity such as strategy implementation
and performance measurement activity
- Increase member opportunities for involvement
- Improve communications between members, members to Board
and Staff and staff, and Board to members
- Reduce the number of one time attempts to get strategic direction
in place and develop a policy and supportive process that will
ensure increased frequency of activity
If some of these problems exist in your association, they need
to be addressed in order to get on the track to becoming a high
performance association.
- Budget driven decisions
- Crises driven management
- Membership restlessness
- Board is not chosen for competencies and ability to perform
- Communication challenges exist and everyone admits there
is a need for improvement
- This is the way things have always been
- Implementation plans are not clear or focused with appropriate
accountability
- Products and services are not relevant
- Resources spread too thin
- Not enough focus on measurement and impact
- One part of the organization does not know what they other
is doing
- Errors in providing service to members
- Not enough time and knowledge to get things done
Who are the high performance associations?
From the outside looking in, managers in the course identified
associations they perceive to be as high performing and provided
reasons for their choice. A short list of associations mentioned
on more than one occasion and based on the reasons provided are:
- Alberta Medical Association
- Alzheimer Society of Canada
- Association of Regina Realtors
- Canadian Chemical Producers Association
- Canadian Dental Association
- Ontario Library Association
- Retail Council of Canada
- Society of Management Accountants of Canada
Even though others perceive these organizations as high performance
associations, it is likely that directors and staff from these
organizations may see themselves as a high performance association
with lots of room for improvement. If this is the case, it is
normal, and part of the quest to become a high performance association.
A good site to start an Internet search on high performance organizations
is: http://www.hgc.edu/~gmaffeo/hpo3.html.
This column features innovation and practical solutions applied
to challenges, trends, issue and opportunities for the association
community. Column editor Jim Pealow, MBA, CMA, CAE is a consultant
and the Association Management Education Program Lead Instructor/Coach
for CSAE. He can be reached at jim@amces.com.
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