Quick Hits

Evaluating Your Association Offerings

Amy Riccardi, HCM2020

This session started a strategic-level conversation about how Riccardi said associations can create an environment for learning and innovation and how most associations could benefit from creating the role of Chief Learning Officer or Chief Human Capital Office. A CLO would be a person on staff who looks at the association's offering as a whole to identify opportunities for new programs and be responsible for organizational learning and talent development; whereas, a CHCO would be in charge of coordinating all people-related efforts across an organization.

The CLO or CHCO would play an essential part in communicating internally and externally on new projects, educating staff and members on what they needs to know when, and crafting key messages for the industry. They would play a big picture role in creating teams that include diverse thinkers who can look at the data your association gathers from different angles, and they should look at new projects as both an art and a science, or, in other words, they should look at the data on a program’s effectiveness while also approach it with a creative mind.

Richard said the CLO or CHCO would also be charged with identifying trends across the profession so the association can stay relevant to members, compete with other for-profit organizations, and position the organization as a leader in the industry. While some of the role would be creating new programs, it would also be identifying existing programs that are non-revenue generating. There may be a reason to keep long-term, existing programs that do not generate revenue, but a CLO would need to understand the reasoning behind keeping such programs. Remember, it’s about them, not you. There are often costs in terms of staff and volunteer, but there are other sources that contribute to success or failure. Having transparency about these factors is key.

Senior Execs Shifting Lanes Before Exiting

Mary Lynn Fayoumi, President & CEO, Management Association – The HR Source for Employers
Rob Olcott, Managing Director, ORION Investment Advisors
R. Norris Orms, Vice President, Vetted Solutions
Marilyn Jansen, Executive Director, Corporate Marketing and Business Development, Association Management Center
Tara Withington, Principal and Vice President, Executive Director Incorporated

All ages were in attendance for this session on how to make best use of talented folks winding down careers with huge expertise. Withington opened by saying so much attention paid to attracting NextGen leaders, but not much thought is given to capturing the knowledge experience of aging boomers. Organizations run the risk of having boomers leaving en masse, which could result in huge loss of human capital, especially at smaller organizations. As a result of the 2008-2009 financial crisis, many boomers are still working many years past their planned retirement age and this has created a bottleneck from the younger generations waiting to assume their leadership roles. High-performing organization recognize both the challenges and the opportunities, but for other organizations it can cause generational stress and cause talented young people to leave.

Just like millennials, those in the final stages of their careers want meaningful work and work-life balance, said Fayoumi. "There’s no one-size fits all solution," but many organizations are creating a strategic ways for aging boomers to wind down and stay involved, while mentoring the next generation of leaders and sharing their knowledge and experience. They can become independence contractors (with reduced hours) instead of full-time employees. They can take on a less demanding role, but on a full-time basis (often the choice for financial reasons), or they can structure an arrangement in which they focus their time on what they’re really best at and leave the administration to others. 

They key is to have a set timetable for the phase down schedule, not just showing up one day and saying I’m going to retire. 

Jansen said many boomers are afraid to bring up succession plans because they fear being marginalized or having a coup staged against them.

All the panelists agreed that regardless of your financial circumstances, you need to start planning your exit strategy 5-10 years in advance. Olcott noted importantly that it takes a lot more to retire than it did during our parents’ and grandparents generation. We’re living longer. Health care costs and the overall cost of living are hire. Also, the expected return on the stocks and bonds in your portfolio are likely to be lower than they were 10-to-20 years ago, which means you’ll need about 90 percent to 100 percent of your salary in retirement to maintain the same standard of living.

Don’t Let Your Research Stagnate

Michael Hayes, Managing Director, Research, Vault Consulting
Ian Santo-Domingo, Managing Director, Vault Consulting

Hayes and Santo Domingo talked about how to capture valuable data and used real-world examples of how best to share it with your members in this well-attended session. Santo Domingo said to think about research in terms of a continuous ecosystem, not as a linear project that just ends when research is completed. The ecosystem, he said, is made up of five steps: 

1. Collect staff, board and member input on how to structured your approach to the research.

2. Conduct the research.

3. Create an actionable report.

4. Promote it.

5. Evaluate your results.

It’s very important to get your marketing, promotion and membership teams involved from day one. Think about ways you can share results via press releases, conference sessions and research road shows.

Hayes added anything that can be done to make the data more interesting, visually appealing and understand, the better. Infographics showing a summary of the results has become one of the most effective ways to share top-line results. Don't just explain what happened, but how it happened and why.

Finally, according to Santo Domingo, another big trend in data collection is using video capture to capture respondents answers to open ended questions. More your members are taking surveys on a mobile device. It’s much easier to have them tap a button on survey tool that allows them to record themselves on video answering open-ended questions than to type their answers in.