Tag: DC association consulting firm
Associations are increasingly well positioned to help members and industries build innovative workforce solutions through their professional development and certification products. As waves of innovation, millennials, and baby boomer retirements alter future workforce design, forward thinking organizations can transform themselves and become professional development partners for their members.
In his book “Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time” Howard Schultz, Starbucks President & CEO says “Vision is what they call it when others can’t see what you see.” In a slow domestic growth and a global uncertain economy, how will the future state of associations be defined?
Are economic tides shifting again? According to the Conference Board, corporate profitability may face headwinds resulting from higher costs as “the business cycle matures.” They also suggest that “America’s strength in technological progress needs to help accelerate productivity.” If member companies introduce more innovation to drive more profitability, is your association positioned to respond with equal or greater amounts of innovative solutions?
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that if the current trend continues, Data provider Dealogic estimates that Global Mergers and Acquisitions will climb to and exceed $4.58 trillion in 2015. In a low growth economic environment, corporations seeking growth are actively pursuing the best merger combinations. Although associations don’t control the external business environment, they do have the ability to move away from a “here is what we do for you “posture to a “together we succeed” posture.
With so much new technology available, should associations develop an innovation strategy? Not necessarily. Your association might want to understand what strategic initiatives it should put in place in order to drive your organization’s impact on member business outcomes. If technology is a delivery mechanism to deliver impact on member business outcomes, then it’s an example of Association Outside In Innovation.
In an economy more driven by intellectual capital than ever before, executives actively seek information from multiple sources. Whether it be Greece’s Debt Crisis, market access concerns, or industries seeking new and more opportunistic markets, your members are “in the know” constantly. Is it more impactful to deploy an Association Loyalty Strategy or an Engagement Strategy?
What Association doesn’t want to slow down its Member Resignations and improve retention performance? Member losses are difficult especially when an Association loses larger members. Yet the painful lessons from these resignations can help your organization reposition itself and drive accelerated member engagement and achieve improved operating performance. Since member companies are disrupting their industries to stay ahead of the curve, today’s associations are expected to be nimble strategic partners or members will vote with their feet and go somewhere else.
Are your board members laser focused on their mobile devices during board meetings? Is there a sense of restlessness at your executive committee and full board meetings? Odds are high that your board members are either preoccupied with business challenges or just plain bored with discussions on Association strategies. One way or another, they might be tuning out and if they are, your board meetings might be perceived as association “bored” meetings.
If your members face top line growth challenges, generational transfer issues, and evolving consumer expectations, how can your Association support member success? Through a strategic planning process that transforms your organization from an inside out focus to an outside in focus. The process starts with a highly engaged and strategically focused board and concludes with a strategic plan amplifying industry growth objectives.
What capabilities should your association have in order to deliver revenue growth and strong retention? In the Strategic Member Engagement Survey, Associations & Professional Societies reporting upward 3-year operating results are far more likely to have a very high level of board understanding and strategizing about the business and professional outcomes members seek, and actively engage members in creating new solutions. For IARW, the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses (Global Cold Chain Alliance Partner), these new and innovative capabilities are serving as an accelerant to revenue growth and retention.
“Together we achieve a return on member engagement” reflects a six month strategic planning mantra employed by Corey Rosenbusch, President and CEO, GCCA (of which IARW is a key partner) and the Association’s Board of Directors. Collaboratively they determined their industry’s strategic business outcomes and developed an innovation focused strategic plan to drive worldwide top line growth.
Throughout the process board members keenly focused on capabilities and priorities they wanted from their industry association. Their Board Task Force surfaced opportunities to broaden strategic alliances that will extend the industry’s visibility and global reach.
Identifying member industry “up-at-night” issues and positioning IARW as a strategic partner to drive business growth is already showing results through recovering former member dues, membership and sponsor growth, and a potential windfall through a new Global Cold Chain Expo to be held in Chicago in 2016.
Although Rosenbusch understood the risks of utilizing a different planning process he focused on a different path based on innovation and member business outcomes. To date he reports over $200,000 in new revenue and sees opportunity to grow substantially more and help the industry IARW serves achieve its business growth objectives.
Free eBook “Accelerating Strategic Member Engagement” is available for all Association Executives at www.potomaccore.com.
