Personally, I would like each of you to think about what you are passionate about personally and professionally and renew your commit to yourself and those things that you do in your life to be more passionate about each of them. Once you make that commitment to yourself, answer each of the following questions to become more passionate about everything you do:

(1) What are you passionate about?: Decide what you are passionate about and try to focus on doing those things. You will certainly be much more successful at what you are passionate about personally and professionally. Try to avoid commitments and tasks that you are not passionate about.
(2) How hard are you willing to work towards achieving what you are passionate about?: Once you are passionate about what you undertake, hard work should follow naturally (and not feel as much like hard work).
(3) What did you accomplish?: Passionate people are usually extremely goal-oriented about what they do. They do what they do to be the best and don’t quit until they are.
(4) What difference did your accomplishments make?: Not only are passionate people ultra goal-oriented, they do things for a purpose. They want to make a difference. It helps you to be passionate when you are doing something for special people or a special purpose.
(5) Did you take a balanced approach to your efforts?: Plenty of people are passionate about one thing…and that is commendable. Leaders are passionate about most everything they do. And they understand that striking a proper balance in their activities helps feed their passion. Another way to say this is to “work hard and play hard”.

Now, work to apply this kind of passionate thinking to your association(s). It is not enough for the board to care for your association to reach the next level. A group of general members must also strongly believe in the cause. The more general members you can convince to reach some level of commitment, the better your chances for long-term success. The key is to try and take each member to the next level of passion in their personal journey with your association. At the most basic level, they must have some inspiration about your organization to even pay their membership dues.

But next level associations go way past that point. They find ways to inspire each member to take a personal, passionate interest in the association. This kind of investment in your members takes a lot of effort, resources and time. They must ask themselves the questions listed above and make the same kind of commitments mentioned above. However, it is necessary and worth every second and/or penny invested.

It is certainly true that having a plan helps you know where you are going and serves as a basis for knowing if you have arrived. But please don’t forget to add the “well thought-out” part. That is where most plans fail. Just having a plan is not enough. You must actually spend some time making it a good plan. Next level associations conduct in-depth research and analysis and ask the right questions to determine if their plan is the best it can be.

You must also realize that you might actually want to look at your plan every once in awhile to see if you are really accomplishing it. That is another area where next level associations are cutting edge. For the most part, they understand why their plans are succeeding. And in most cases, the have great analytical systems in place to know exactly how.

The results of this careful planning and careful measurement can be very impressive and misleading at the same time. It is impressive in that it looks easy to the casual observer. However, once you know the in-depth research and analysis, careful planning and review that went into their actions, you realize that there was really nothing easy about it. Their success resulted from a plan that was well studied and that they knew had an excellent chance for success before it was even started. Many military strategists have argued over the centuries that the proper battle plan is to take all factors for success into account so that the battle is won long before it is ever fought. Next level associations understand this fact and use it to their advantage every day.

Associations are no different. I have found over the years that next level associations tend to be more optimistic than anything else. This outlook applies to every aspect of the association, including the way it handles its programming and related financial decision-making. This means that next level associations believe that they are going to succeed and that calculated risks and related spending are acceptable to strive for the greatest possible outcomes for their members.

Don’t let me lose anyone on this one. Expenses are certainly important…no doubt about that point. If we don’t care about our expenses, they can overwhelm our revenues (and we can’t have that now can we?). But notice I used the word “focused” in my title as well. When you focus on income, you are focused on growth. You are focused on the future. When you are focused on expenses, you are focused on the status quo. You are focused on the past. And while we should learn from the past, we should not dwell on (or in) it.

Next level associations are constantly thinking about how they can better serve their members, what problems they face, what oppotunities are available to them and what degree of difference they can make in the lives of their members both professionally and personally.  They are passionate and committed to answering and delivering on these questions.

Remember too that we are talking about growth in all of its many forms.  There are many examples, including growth in new members, growth in knowledge, growth in products and services, and yes, growth in revenues.  However, I would underscore that sometimes you can have positive growth without growth in revenues.  And also realize that sometimes you will try things to grow your association and they simply don’t work.  However, next level associations don’t use this as an excuse not to act and they don’t cry over spilt milk.  They make consistantly make educated decisions, they take appropriate risks and they learn from both their successes and their mistakes.

Next level associations are constantly seeking growth opportunities and don’t take a “wait and see” approach.  They are proactive, but prudent.  They are looking for and talking about new opportunities constantly.  However, they have learned when to take advantage of opportunities and when to continue to study a particular course of action.  Their officers, boards and committees are actively engaged in these discussions and this leadership by example is infectious to the rest of their members.

We have all conducted strategic planning sessions, member surveys and many other outreach programs to determine what members want from their association.  And these programs are certainly worth the effort.  However, don’t expect much new information in return.  What you do hear may help you improve existing programs, but it is often hard for members to truly articulate what they really want from you.

Simply put, most members expect that their association (and especially their leaders) already knows what they need.  They also believe that you should be monitoring the current and future landscape and anticipating their needs.  Scary, isn’t it.

In a way, it’s not.  If you know this going in, you can simply deal with this reality in a proactive way.  Next level associations do this all of the time.  Ask yourself what challenges your members currently face and is there a program that the association can create to address it?  For example, you know that many of your members have free-standing businesses.  What needs do these businesses have?  For those that work for other businesses, these programs can still help.  Adddressing these key issues can create the membership programs that members will really support (and convince them to join and/or renew their memberships even in a down economy).  You make membership too valuable for them to lose.

On the other hand, stay away from programs that offer little return to your members and the association, even though they may be popular within the association management community.  The real question is: what is the return on investment to the members and the association?  For example, a credit card affinity program that returns $1,500 per year may sound great, but if you are spending $5,000 of your time on it, is it really worth it?

Thinking like one of your member businesses and taking their daily business problems seriously will truly make for outstanding next level member benefit programs for your association.

On the other hand, I have seen these thoughts backfire into leaders opting for radical change for the sake of not doing what has always been done.  An individual or group breaks from the “norm” and shows their leadership by reinventing the wheel, questioning everything and reviewing all programs for pure return on investment.  If it is not producing a net profit to the association, it is terminated.  This to me is the pure “business” approach to meeting member needs, with a business focus dominating any social aspects.  While having a business focus is essential for association success, a pure business approach cancels out the social nature of an association at the core of its existence.

Much more than in the past, associations have been faced with making these types of tough choices to create balance. 

As association managers, this is where we come in.  We need to retrain these leaders in a positive yet direct way that what we do each year can change, but it doesn’t have to either.  We can maintain our current programs, or we can add new programs, but reviewing each of them in a fresh way to make them all the best they can be is always a good idea and good use of our time.  Nothing we do as an association should be placed on auto-pilot.  We should always praise and reward new ideas, whether we end up implementing them for our association members or not.  We need to offer the idea to our associaitons that having leadership that is focused on member needs is about balance.  Not radical change for the sake of radical change, but a complex social discussion of the business needs of our members to produces positive results.  And while operating in this balanced way takes more work in the short term, it makes the association stronger and more diversified in the long run.

(1)   Focused on Member Needs:  If anything your association does is not somehow related to meeting the needs of your members, then why are you doing it?  Don’t use the politics of the board or tough pockets of resistance as an excuse to allow your association to do stupid things.  Take a stand.  Demand accountability.  Spend your time on important member needs, not on somebody’s personal political agenda.  And whether you realize it or not, your association will spiral into the pit of despair if you allow it to happen.  Quietly, you will lose important active volunteers who get tired of the hassle.  If it goes on long enough, you will lose substantial chunks of your active membership.  Is this happening to your association right now? 

(2)   Focused on Growth:  The key to long term success for an association in any set of economic conditions (especially like the crappy ones we face now) is growth.  We should always be doing something for our members.  But remember that we are talking about growth in all of its many forms.  There are many examples, including growth in new members, growth in knowledge, growth in products and services, and yes, growth in revenues.  However, sometimes you can have positive growth without growth in revenues.  And also realize that sometimes you will try things to grow your association and it simply will not work.  The key is that you are constantly seeking growth opportunities and not taking a “wait and see” approach.

(3)   Focused on Income Not Expenses:  Don’t let me lose anyone on this one.  Expenses are certainly important…no doubt about that point.  If we don’t care about our expenses, they can overwhelm our revenues (and we can’t have that now can we?).  But notice I used the word “focused” as well.  When you focus on income, you are focused on growth.  You are focused on the future.  When you are focused on expenses, you are focused on the status quo.  You are focused on the past.  And while we should learn from the past, we should not dwell on it.

(4)   Has a Well Thought-Out Plan:  There is a famous movie line from The Hunt for Red October that says “the Russians don’t take a dump without a plan son.”  Having a plan helps you know where you are going…and it’s true.  But please don’t forget to add the “well thought-out” part.  That is where most plans fail.  Just having a plan is not enough.  You must actually spend some time making it a good plan.  You must also realize that you might actually want to look at it every once in awhile to see if you are really accomplishing it.

(5)   Has an Optimistic, Proactive Board of Directors: To me, this is the ultimate killer of association growth and long-term success.  Do you have visionary leaders?  Do your board members inspire the general membership?  Do your board members do anything?  Do they hold themselves accountable?  Do they know what they are doing (i.e. have your trained them)?  Without a board that is working hard and promoting the association and its vision in a positive way, you have a rudderless ship adrift going nowhere.

(6)   Reacts Well to Change:  Change is inevitable and there are only two choices.  Your association can deal with it head on in a positive way, or it can point fingers and make excuses.  Choose to do the former or you will definitely start doing the latter.

(7)   Takes Calculated Risks: Reaching the next level demands risk.  “Nothing ventured, nothing gained” has never been a more appropriate phrase to describe the focus here.  Next level associations cannot be afraid to fail to reach greater heights for their members.  And don’t get me wrong, next level associations will fail from time to time.  The difference for them is that they take these risks for all of the right reasons and they don’t fail very often.

(8)   Build Passion in Their Members:  It is not enough for the board to care for your association to reach the next level.  A group of general members must also strongly believe in the cause.  The more general members you can convince to reach some level of commitment, the better your chances for long-term success.  The key is to try and take each member to the next level of passion in their personal journey with your association.  At the most basic level, they must have some inspiration about your organization to even pay their membership dues.  But next level associations go way past that point.  They find ways to inspire each member to take a personal, passionate interest in the association.  This kind of investment in your members takes a lot of effort, resources and time.  Simply put, it is necessary and worth every second and/or penny invested.

(9)   Listens to Their Members:  This point is as important as any on this list.  If you do not know what your members want (or think about what you think they want), how do you know if your plans are appropriate?  Next level associations open an easy and meaningful two way dialogue with their members.  They listen to what their members have to say.  They let their members know that they heard them and they care about what they said.  Then they adjust their plans and activities accordingly.

(10)  Not Afraid of a Little Hard Work:  If being successful was easy, every association would be successful.  Unfortunately for many associations, many members (and unfortunately some leaders as well) are waiting for someone else to do the work.  They say they want to help, but they do very little actual work.  In other words, they are all talk and no action.  Next level associations have some (if not many) members who are willing to put in the work required to be great.  In the words of a great coach and friend, “no execution, no expectation.”  You cannot expect to be a next level association without the investment of hard work.  And remember that the more members moved to help, the less each member has to do to accomplish the association’s goals.

Over the next few months, we will explore each of these factors in greater detail together.  I will try to use specific examples from real associations and their activities that underscore each of these points.  I look forward to reviewing each one of these with all of you!

To me, this answer is simple.  We need real help to offer our associations the best possible leadership, programs, advice, guidance, etc.  Real help, not just some generic regurgitation of the points and checklists found in many association management training manuals.  Real help from real association professionals who have vast experience, who have had great successes, but who have also picked themselves up from great mistakes and missteps.  We also need to be unafraid to talk about the real issues and problems we have in our associations and suggest ways to fix them.  Only then will we create next level associations…associations that thrive and grow regardless of the economy, the ebb and flow of political forces and the changing of leadership.

Therefore, with all due respect and with infinite apologies offered in advance, this blog will take the blinders off and attempt to offer real, uncensored, unabashed discussions of the issues that effect associations everyday.  We will try to be as real as possible and not pull any punches.  We will talk about real successes and failures to hopefully learn from them.  We will offer advice that many of us may have wanted to say, but had been nervous to so until now.

The plan at the moment is to offer a blog entry about once a week, because we know you do have lots of other demands for your time (and so do we since we run successful associations ourselves).  Our goal is to make them straight-forward enough to read quickly, but that you take away at least one or more ideas, thoughts, etc. that you can really use in your own associations to help them grow. 

Advice and suggestions to create next level associations are great as long as they have the potential to create growth.  And when we chart new directions for associations, we all know that our best ideas sometimes succeed wildly and they sometimes fail miserably.  Regardless, we must remember that we are all in this for the long-term success of our asssociations, so we must be willing to try things that might take us to the next level.  And as we want to walk the talk of our advice, nothing ventured, nothing gained.  So let the venturing begin!

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