Why 5 association sector challenges for 5 years? Well, it’s all about me. It’s been five years since I launched this business, providing strategy consulting services primarily to the association sector. (Although I’d been doing strategy work with associations for a couple of years before that.) And this is the week where I would be …
Should qualitative research be a DIY activity for associations? Even in our wildly data-driven world, qualitative research remains an unparalleled method of gathering evidence on the environment and performance of an association. Since it’s really just talking to people, and because the investment can be fairly significant if done by a third party, it’s something …
Do you make your strategic plan visible? I’m not even talking about the specifics of your actions or metrics. The vision, mission, values, and strategies should drive everything in the organization, from major investments to the phrases you use to answer the phone. In theory. In practice, you’re lucky if your board chair can come …
“We’ve been talking about this for years, but we don’t come to a resolution.” “We can’t seem to get anything done.” “Things take forever around here.” Sound familiar? Sure, some organizations move forward decisively and quickly with their strategic agenda. But for many, that’s not the case. It’s common to get bogged down, mired, stymied. …
So many meetings and discussions – from a board meeting to a quick chat in the hallway with a colleague – get sidetracked and bogged down. Sometimes that’s fine – a little chitchat to build relationships can build relationships and spark ideas. But that can’t be the norm in your meetings. Because that’s what kills …
When things are uncertain, ambiguous, volatile, complex, it can be tempting to think that it makes no sense to think about association strategy. Why spend a lot of time investing in a complicated strategic plan if you know that your world is changing, and fast? Well, first of all, let’s remind ourselves that a complicated set-in-stone …
Making sure your board becomes and stays strategy-oriented is a topic on which many people have ideas – and challenges too. I know that because this post is crowd-sourced to a great extent from the members of the Trillium Chapter of the Canadian Society of Association Executives who were eager to talk about it. Last week …
A recent Associations Now is showcasing the work of Nancy Barrett of COMP, the Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists, in translating a strategy to action through tactical planning. I had the chance to work with COMP through this process, and was delighted to be interviewed for the article as well. You can read the whole piece here. And you can download the white …
Associations are filled with smart people who are used to making tough tradeoffs about how to accomplish their goals. Yet, when it comes to tactical planning, which is where staff weigh in on how a strategy will come to life, it is a challenge to get that brainpower applied strategically. People are often vague or …
Association strategy is not management, but it is so often muddled. Here’s the difference: strategy is the set of choices you make (and live by) to be successful. It’s doing this, not that. Going down this path, but not that one. Designing for these activities, not those. Management is about running the association. Which of course …