I’m fond of using abbreviations and acronyms in my column articles. I must have started this fascination when I was in elementary school and “Roy G. Biv” (the seven colors of the rainbow —red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet) comes to mind. This may have to do with memorizing things easily and, in the case of writing, brevity.
So after watching one of the videos entitled “T.W.E.A.K. for Big Wins” (presented to me as a bonus for attending the virtual introductory session of Survive! Bootcamp by Convergent Experience), I tweaked and contextualized it into what associations can do to navigate their way into winning the battle during this Covid-19 pandemic.
“T” is for taking stock of human and financial resources, among others.
In the case of my own association, we first looked into its financial survivability. The first thing we did was to review our financials, specifically our revenue sources, overhead costs, and reserve funds.
Since revenues were down due to the pandemic, our recourse was to rationalize costs while keeping the staff employed. We are constantly monitoring our reserve funds and, at the same time, developing new revenue sources.
“W” is for weighing current options and alternatives.
We undertook a much more proactive cash flow management by prudently cutting costs and identifying shifts in income, such as moving to online events. It was also time to continuously manage our relationship with members, sponsors and supporters.
Equally important was to ensure that our staff members are supported to deliver the planned outcomes in an environment where they are comfortable (e.g., work from home) and to minimize their health risk by automating and streamlining processes where possible.
“E” is for eliminating the unnecessary; in our case, reviewing our product- and service-offering portfolio.
It was an opportune time to enhance services relevant to members and generate revenues, such as our e-newsletter, online learning, survey results and awards program, among others. At the same time, we want to discard those that are underperforming like printed publications, microsites and training topics already offered by other organizations.
“A” is for asking for help or seeking partnership for opportunities by looking at and consulting with what other associations are doing, as well as reaching out to potential partners and collaborating with them to fulfill common interests and have economies of scale. This resulted in us working with same-purposed organizations in organizing joint webinars and pursuing information exchanges.
“K” is for keeping on the move and being creative and innovative.
We hastened our digitalization project, no matter modest, such as converting our in-person training events into e-learning modules, maximizing the use of our content resources and re-packaging them for sale using updated technology for video conferencing; and pivoting our printed publications into digital formats.
The point is to keep working on something and not being stymied by snags and obstacles.
I am sure you have many things going on right now in your associations. Keep it up and do some tweaking here and there to ultimately achieve your goals.
The column contributor, Octavio “Bobby” Peralta, is concurrently the secretary-general of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific and the Founder & CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives. PCAAE is holding the Associations Summit 8 on November 25 and 26, 2020 with the theme, “Leading with Agility.” The two-day virtual event is supported by Adfiap, the Tourism Promotions Board and the PICC. E-mail inquiries@adfiap.org for more details on AS8.