I wish to share with you seven top takeaways on association management which I curated from the 49 articles I have written and published in this column in 2021.
1. On membership engagement:
Member value (MV) + member experience (MX)—membership engagement (ME). MV represents the tangible benefits a member expects in joining an association. MX consists of actuations on how the association engages with its members, like providing a sense of belongingness (during a first-event attendance), a welcoming posture (upon joining), and means for connectedness (like networking sessions with peers and other members).
2. On strategic planning:
The seven pitfalls in the conduct and implementation of strategic planning are: (a) wrong reasons: initiating strategic planning for reasons other than the determining long-term goals and strategies; (b) wrong people: involving the wrong participants in the process without the capability, capacity, or interest in its success; (c) wrong roles: failing to clearly define the roles and responsibilities of participants; (d) wrong process: implementing a strategic process that creates mistrust or fails to properly inform strategic decisions; (e) wrong help: engaging external support without the proper competencies or cultural alignment; (f) wrong outcomes: focusing on tactical and not strategic outcomes; and (g) wrong implementation: failing to link the new strategic plan effectively with ongoing operations.
3. On revenue generation:
The pandemic disrupted the revenue intake of many associations. Using “navel gazing,” which means looking from within your association and asking your board, members, and staff for ideas and solutions on revenue generation, provides your association the impetus to learn and solve problems first by themselves before looking for solutions elsewhere.
4. On online community:
When managed well and built on an online community platform that is reputable and reliable, associations can use their communities to: (a) drive engagement with personalized experiences, (b) unlock the knowledge of the group, (c) create loyal members and enhance membership retention, (d) drive new revenue streams, (e) boost new user acquisitions, and (f) reduce support workload and administrative burden.
5. On digital transformation:
Digital transformation is more about transformation than about digital. It’s about organizational, people, and mindset change than about technology. Digital transformation presents associations with both challenges and opportunities. When planning for digital transformation, associations need to consider that their focus, assets, and expertise are aligned with the change they wish to happen.
6. On legacy making:
The four guiding principles in legacy-making are: (a) creating a positive impact in the long term at the policy, association, member and community levels, and at the level of the organization of the event; (b) focusing on the participants, local residents, entrepreneurs, and the place of the event; (c) undertaking co-creation opportunities with various actors, e.g., local authorities, businesses, and academics; and (d) monitoring for improvement, e.g., sharing lessons learned and enhancing efforts to do better.
7. On success:
The traditional way of doing things for an association has changed completely and will never be the same again because of the pandemic. Reflecting on these “5 Us” can perhaps make a difference: universality of purpose, uniqueness of value, unity of the community, urgency of action, and unrelenting pursuit for resources.
Octavio Peralta is the founder and CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives. Email: obp@adfiap.org