Operations

One of my favorite features in my car is the simplest one—it has a little message that comes up when I’m due for an oil change.   It’s simple, but it sure beats the little sticker that the Jiffy Lube guy puts in the window that always falls off.

That someone took the time to develop that feature tells me something—a periodic “tune up” is important to keep the engine running right.

That’s a great message for car owners.  Its also a great message for associations to heed in a different way.

The mid-year mark is a great point to reassess your annual goals, the effectiveness of your board, and other critical measures for the organization.  Here’s my “tune up check list”

1. Are the annual goals still the right ones?   Sometimes the initiative that started with the best of intentions in January needs to change.  I’ve seen too many organizations on a “march to completion” of annual goals that are no longer relevant to the organization.
2. Is the budget on track?   June is still a time that you can make adjustments and throttle back expenses to maintain budget targets—by the time year end hits in December, it’s too late.
3. Do we have the best people?   This goes for the Board, volunteers and staff.   There’s no substitute for the right talent—mid year is a good time to assess whether you have the right people, and if not, start putting in place transition plans to execute by year end.

Oh, and don’t forget to check the wiper blades.  Mine are always worn down, and there’s no little light for that…

You have just formed a new consortium and you’re anxious to begin work – real work – on meeting your goals and objectives. Your chances for success will be much higher if you first have a solid foundation in place.  Here is a handy checklist you should have before starting your first technical committee or working group.

For the Organization as a Whole:

✓  RoP or Rules of Procedure. This document describes how groups are formed, how they conduct business, and how they are closed. Continue reading »

With the calendar down to just one page, now’s a good time to think of all the “year end” activities for your association.   Here’s my list, I’ll leave it to the guy with the beard to check it twice. Continue reading »

It’s meeting season.  Over the past three weeks, our clients have held nearly a dozen meetings and conferences of all types—with over 2500 total attendees.

We’ve had some great success with our meetings and events in recent weeks.  As I think about why, it struck me that there are a few general rules that associations should keep in mind when holding events of any size Continue reading »

Declining membership.   Unrealized goals.  Meeting attendance down.

These are just a few of the symptoms of an association that is failing.     As with any disease, you don’t treat the symptoms, you need to treat the root cause.   In the case of a failed association, here are some of the things to watch for:

Lack of mission focus: A mission statement is more than some frilly words on a piece of paper on your conference room wall.  Continue reading »