When was the last time you got together with colleagues for an in-person association meeting or event? For me, it was last month. We had a three-day meeting with a board of directors - a group which hasn’t gotten together in the flesh since before the pandemic. Some association [...]
I don’t fish as I have never had the patience to sit that long but I recently took part in an online training program that made me think of the following phrase: “Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man To Fish, and [...]
In addition to a hard-working staff, associations are most often run by a board and committees made up of volunteers. These volunteer leaders are association members, and are no different from the rest of the membership. I am a volunteer radio DJ at a campus radio station, which is [...]
Milestone anniversaries are a time to reflect on the past and to think about the future. I’ve recently reached the milestone of 20 years serving as the Chief Executive Officer (originally Executive Director) of my first association management client, the Pedorthic Association of Canada. I am proud to say [...]
If you are an athlete, a sports fan, or played in a rec league as a child, you know that each sport requires a different number of players, different types of positions, and use different equipment. You cannot expect to excel at one sport and jump into another without [...]
As a young professional working in today’s economic climate, I have experienced the struggle to find my way on the career path I have chosen. This is a challenge that most people experience at some point in their career, and for many, it can be a disheartening hurdle to [...]
Associations operate on trust between the CEO, Chair, and board members. In our new virtual world, we are losing that in-person connection opportunity. How can boards build trust the trust in each other that allows them to make decisions based on the expertise that each board member brings to [...]
Between your “day job”, and your volunteer commitments to your association’s board and/or committees, you are pulled in many different directions throughout your day. While it may seem like you have no time, making the time to listen to members can further develop your leadership role significantly. Moreover, you [...]
In the association world, executive directors/Chief Staff Officers come and go. Sometimes it does not make sense to continue a relationship with an Executive Director for a variety of reasons and other times an association realizes the potential for excellence by making a change. In this article I’ll be [...]
What does it take to be a good board chair? What skill set do you need and who do you partner with to fulfill the Vision & Mission of your association? The American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and the Canadian Society of Association Executives (CSAE) provide training sessions [...]
