Effective Management of Your Association's Chief Executive and Staff

by Brian Reuwee

Volunteer board leaders are a busy group. Besides acting as good stewards for an association, they usually have full-time careers, spouses, families, community engagements and other interests outside of work.

In other words, performance management of the association's chief executive is probably not first on their to-do list. Associations hire CEOs or Executive Directors (or contract with an association management company) to make the difficult task of managing day-to-day association operations a bit easier. Still, it can be difficult for a volunteer to stay on top of the pulse of an organization. And harder still to recognize whether your organization has the right staff leader in place to move the association forward. The last thing volunteers want is to be hijacked by an upset member at the annual conference or surprised during a board meeting.

Here are a few ways your board can stay informed and on top of staff performance issues without getting mired in the day-to-day details of the association or risking an epic collapse of an important program.

• Schedule calls weekly or every other week with the executive director. Set up an ongoing agenda and discuss progress on key projects.
• Call other junior staff members periodically to discuss their projects and get their insights.
• Require staff to submit monthly progress and/or activity reports to the board (and read them). These should detail progress on key programs, membership, conference attendance, certification, etc.  Respond accordingly. Ask questions. 
• Require monthly financial summaries and reports. This should include at least an income statement, balance sheet, current year budget and general ledger report. If you don't understand what you're seeing, ask questions first before approving any financial statements.
• Align the executive's job description with your organizations strategy and ensure he or she is working towards those goals. Review the job description annually and revise it to reflect his or her duties.
• Evaluate your chief executive annually. Compare progress towards the organization's strategic objectives, mission and vision against program outcomes, metrics and financial results.
• Create and follow an annual work plan that details the programs and projects assigned to staff and board members. This will keep board members informed of obligations and ensure staff stay on track.

Even with a chief executive (or AMC) in place, insuring the correct individual with appropriate knowledge, skills and abilities is the right staff leader for the long-term requires an ongoing investment of time and resources on behalf of the board.

Maintaining an open feedback loop will help keep board leaders aware of staff activities without getting in the way of operations. It will also give volunteers the ability to encourage a chief executive's positive efforts. Conversely, board members can act before a negative issues threaten the health of the association.

Time Management: The Most Critical Skill for Association Leaders

by DeLaine Bender, CAE

What’s the most critical skill for leaders of associations and nonprofit organizations? It might just be the ability to prioritize and manage time.

For associations and nonprofit organizations, excellent management of key resources – including time – is crucial. 

Associations tend to be the recipients of many varied demands and great ideas for serving constituents, but have limited resources to act upon them. And, unlike in a for-profit business, the likelihood of profitability is rarely the most important reason to take on yet another program or cut a program that’s already in place.

It’s not just a matter of do we have the money – it’s also do we have the time. Leaders must look at each element of the organization’s service portfolio (and especially every new idea) objectively, measuring its potential against the organization’s strategic goals and objectives. So, from a big picture perspective, the strategic plan -- or whatever guidance document is the structure for your association’s work -- is truly the greatest prioritization tool.

This is easy to say, but hard to do. It’s difficult for those engaged in an activity to evaluate whether or not it is moving the organization forward in a key strategy area. It’s even more difficult to say no to an enthusiastically presented new initiative.

These are truly leadership moments, where elected leaders have to factor into their decision-making the organization’s limitations, as well as the potential benefit to members.

There are many books and online tools specifically designed to help association leaders with such leadership moments. One of my favorites is Seven Measures of Success: What Remarkable Associations Do That Others Don’t, by Jim Collins, who also wrote Good to Great and Built to Last. In it, Collins provides great examples of success achieved through the alignment of products and services with organizational mission – not wasting time on things that detract from the mission. It’s a quick read, and a great resource for association leaders.

Among Collins’ points is that, although associations do need to be successful in generating revenues to sustain the organization, they should measure success based on whether they are serving members and moving forward on strategies. To do that requires editing of the services portfolio, and editing requires (you guessed it) a laser-like focus on top priorities. Spend your time providing what’s important to your members.

Why are competency-based association boards an anomaly

Often associations and nonprofits reward status, tenure or relationships with a seat on the board of directors. However, some voices within the sector are starting to advocate for a change in thinking, suggesting boards should recruit members based on needs and competencies.

The charge is being lead by Harrison Coerver and Mary Byers, CAE, and their book Race for Relevance.

Here are a couple of recent blog postings from some other association minds:

• Why are competency-based association boards an anomaly 
• The Challenged Association — Remaining Relevant Requires More Than Cosmetic Change