IN my column last January 21, 2018, “Why Associations Matter,” I wrote about the significant but silent contributions that associations make to society. These are: (a) committing resources to lifelong learning and professional development, (b) creating industry and professional standards, and (c) promoting enterprise development, product and service innovation.
I will follow up on item (a) and approach it in the context of education-to-employment experience in our country. I am also basing this on a paper, entitled “The Association Role in the New Education Paradigm” by Shelly Alcorn, principal at Alcorn Associates Management Consulting, and Elizabeth Weaver Engel, CEO and chief strategist of Spark Consulting.
We all know that the education-to-employment system in the country is evolving and is in need of adapting to current realities in an open and mobile environment. New enterprises that require new skills, as well as the advance of artificial intelligence and automation, are making many employment options obsolete.
The paper mentions the advantage for associations to fill this growing gap. “Some believe the job of college is to teach you how to think and the job of employers is to teach you how to work. Back in the mid-20th century, that might have been true, but it is not any longer. Someone needs to fill the gap. Associations have a golden opportunity to assume that burden, provide work force training that is robust and meaningful, and reap the rewards of doing so. Even if we only look at one feature of the new landscape—capacity— it seems obvious that no one sector will be able to handle every need. It’s truly an ‘all-hands-on-deck’ moment in history,” according to the paper.
Here are three examples of how local associations are building the capacity of members to grow professionally. These three associations are all members of the organization I belong to, the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PCAAE), the “association of associations” in the country.
One is the Philippine Franchise Association (PFA), which offers the Certified Franchise Executive Program. This enables franchise professionals to earn, grow professionally, and reach a recognized standard of excellence in the franchise community. Another is the CFA Society Philippines that offers training programs and other learning sessions locally and internationally toward being a chartered financial analyst. In addition, the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP) provides degree and nondegree educational programs for human-resource practitioners.
Indeed, associations develop and deliver educational programs that are unique in scope, are conducted by practitioners and are not available in schools. This catalytic and supplemental role has been going on for many years yet has not been promoted extensively. This is why PCAAE exists. Only five years old, the PCAAE has been the “go-to” organization for association knowledge resources, collaboration opportunities and peer-to-peer networking.
As the paper I mentioned concludes: “Learning is a process, not a place. Some of the most compelling learning opportunities present themselves in collaborative, social settings. It is exciting to think that we may be standing on the edge of the creation of a new, more powerful era for learning. Associations may very well hold some of the keys to the learning kingdom in our hands, and we have a responsibility to use them wisely.”
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The contributor, Octavio “Bobby” Peralta, is concurrently the secretary-general of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (Adfiap), founder and CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PCAAE) and president of the Asia-Pacific Federation of Association Organizations. The purpose of PCAAE—the “association of associations”—is to advance the association management profession and to make associations well-governed and sustainable. PCAAE enjoys the support of Adfiap, the Tourism Promotions Board, and the Philippine International Convention Center. E-mail: obp@adfiap.org