Are Your Leadership Efforts Focused?
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Volunteers and staff are constantly seeking ways
to improve their association. This is especially true for newly
elected chief volunteers or recently appointed chief staff officers
who are anxious to make their mark on the association. If these
key association leaders fail to focus their efforts on the real
needs of the association or the work of others, major challenges
can occur.
There are usually three different leadership teams in play in
an association at any given time, a volunteer team, a staff team,
and a volunteer and staff leadership team. The roles and responsibilities
assigned to these teams and individual association capacity usually
dictates the activities for each. One thing is certain - the activities
of all teams must be congruent.
If leadership efforts are not focused, the association may experience
confusion and uncertainty, resulting in resource allocation and
performance challenges. This type of scenario leads to intense
frustration on the part of staff, volunteers and members. Is this
unique? Not at all. This situation exists in many associations
and the level of concern varies from time to time based on the
quality of staff and volunteer leadership. Volunteers and staff
who have the required competencies through training or experience
understand the need to ensure all leadership efforts are focused
and work hard at doing so.
It is not unusual for an association experiencing some of the
above symptoms to believe that changing volunteers or staff will
solve their problems. I am often baffled as to why staff and volunteer
leaders fail to invest in training for themselves to help them
fulfill their leadership obligations. Training can often solve
these types of problems. Many boards deal with confusion and uncertainty
by putting a new or first time strategic and business plan in
place. Often times they rush into planning and start setting strategies/solutions
before they have truly explored the current situation.
Time spent exploring the current situation through an assessment
of policies, plans, structure, practices, products and services
to the best practices used by others is key – it will help
the association get closer to the root cause of many challenges
and define real opportunities.
A good leader or team will take the time to determine the association's
current situation and areas requiring improvements. What do we
know for sure? This is a critical question. Understanding the
gap between where you are and where your heading becomes clearer
with a good assessment of the current situation.
Pursuing new strategies may be premature if you don't have critical
pieces of information, or, if you have made some incorrect assumptions
about the current situation. If you believe leadership efforts
need to be focused in your association, then you may want to consider
undertaking an association assessment. The assessment benchmarks
your association planning, structure, policies, practices, and
products and services to those used by high performance associations.
Assessments are not always doom and gloom. They often identify
successful activity, explore challenges, set direction, determine
expectations and clarify areas needing improvement. Depending
on who is doing the assessment, you may also benefit with some
helpful advice that will make life easier for many in the association
and improve services to the membership.
When should an assessment be done?
The best time to conduct an assessment is prior to a strategic
planning session. The assessment will help draw a clearer picture
of your strengths and weaknesses. Planning is not the only reason
why you would conduct an assessment. A member survey may indicate
a need to have an assessment take place, or it may be appropriate
prior to the search for a new chief staff officer or within months
of a new hire. In the case of a new chief staff officer, the assessment
information can help establish expectations and serve as a benchmark
for future performance measurement activity.
Assessments in associations are not new. A few organizations
have completed full organizational projects while many others
will often look at a specific segment or segments on a regular
basis. No matter which approach is taken, improvements usually
result. It should be noted that caution is needed when dealing
with specific segments to ensure all interrelated components are
considered. Otherwise you may end up with a screwdriver with no
handle or a communication and marketing plan without the proper
technology support.
There is much evidence that suggests association assessments
create a momentum for change and engender a spirit of renewal
for an association. The information developed sets the stage for
some strategic thinking prior to engaging in the development of
a strategic plan.
Of late, there appears to be an increased level of interest in
assessment and strategic focus. This has been largely brought
about by association managers who are trying to implement a strategic
management model for their association and engage in benchmarking
of best practices on a regular basis.
Students in the Certified Association Executive educational program
are developing or have developed knowledge and skills to help
align focus and engage in assessment. Assessment tools are often
being used to seek improvements or develop new products and services.
Searching the Internet will reveal the existence of many assessment
tools. Many of the tools are complex, too basic or very segment
based but still provide value. Over the years I have been building
on the best and developed an assessment tool. The tool is called
"Association Best Practices Evaluation" and currently
is in a draft form. The structure of the tool is based on the
CSAE Association Management Competency Standards.
This assessment tool, or any other assessment tool, can be used
by an internal or external (outside of the association) individual
or team. I have seen staff, board, and key committees use the
same tool and come up with different understandings and perspectives.
Identifying differences along with quality discussion and communications
will play a key role in keeping the association's leadership focused.
Prior to offering the Association Best Practices Evaluation tool
to CSAE for general member use I am looking for some reviewers/contributors
to help build on the work completed to date. If your interested
send me an email and I will put you down as an official reviewer/contributor
and send you a copy of the draft.
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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