33 Association Management 2. Losing Focus on Member Wants and Needs Don’t do that! Sometimes, association leadership loses its way. This happens when leadership creates an association whose commitment to membership becomes secondary to leaders’ focus on pursuing profit (and, possibly, their own consequently generous salaries). As associations grow, it becomes easier for leadership to forget that organizations and associations are, at their core, a set of agreements in people’s minds about supporting a community that is important to them. “…organizations exist only in the mind; they are no more than the conceptual embodiments of the ancient idea of community.” —Dee Hock, the first CEO of VISA, Birth of The Chaordic Age Here’s how one critic describes what happens when association leadership loses its way [see this link for their detailed critique of a specific association]: “…instead of being an organization that exists to promote [X] and help their members, the members are rather regarded as nothing but a source of income, which is then stashed away in investments.” Unfortunately, there’s no pass/fail test to determine whether association leadership has lost its way. So, I’ve seen associations slowly demote supporting their members to a secondary goal over time, though sometimes this happens abruptly with a change in leadership. Members drift away and the association may go out of business as it becomes increasingly irresponsive to members’ wants and needs. There’s no simple prophylactic for this problem. But here are three things that every association should do: 1. Hold regular leadership reviews, informed by member input, of the association’s mission. Assess whether the current mission is still 100% relevant, and change it when necessary. Then review, revise, and internalize your association’s strategic goals. 2. Follow up with an honest assessment of how well the association’s current actions align with fulfilling its mission. 3. Make the necessary structural and program changes to reduce or eliminate any lack of congruence uncovered in the previous step. This is hard, and the work is never over. But remember, the core work of an association is to serve its members. Tempted to stray? Don’t do that! 3. Trusting Consultants Who Never Say ‘I Don’t Know’ Don’t do that! Just about every association hires consultants. By “consultant” I mean independent professionals and companies that provide organization services, e.g., accountants, attorneys, event planners, etc.
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