Guest post by Dan Stark, Director of Product Strategy, NimbleUser
When I look back on my 25 years in association management, I can’t help but marvel at the evolution of technology during that time. When I started my first job in membership, computers played a very minor role in our day-to-day activities. In fact, email would not become a vital tool for another five years. By the time I transitioned from being an executive director to technology development, it would have been impossible to imagine work life without multiple devices to help complete my daily tasks. The obvious productivity increases we have seen over that span are immeasurable.
And yet, if we step back and look at the association industry as a whole, the impact of technology compared with other industries has been relatively minimal. While we have seen entire industries disrupted, and age old companies fall to more nimble competitors, associations have continued along a slow and steady path of gradual growth. For those of us who are not digital natives, that pace of growth and technology adoption may be comfortable.
Unfortunately, it appears the wolf may be at the door. Our research shows that the expectations of current and future generations will make it impossible for associations to lag behind other industries in technology adoption. The new reality will likely be, innovate or perish.
The problem is, associations face a number of barriers to adopt an innovative culture. Those barriers come in the form of day-to-day hurdles that make it difficult for staff at all levels to work efficiently. They also come in the form of deeply rooted structural obstacles that prevent organizations from adapting to the expectations of the marketplace.
At an operational level, it seems we may have reached an inflection point where an increased number of solutions actually reduces productivity. Systems are splintered making it nearly impossible to gather disparate data points to paint a comprehensive picture of the organization. Team members seem to be drowning in a sea of processes that prevent them from focusing on the things that matter.
At a strategic level, it seems we may have outgrown the traditional governance model where important decisions can take months and must be vetted through multiple levels of committees. At a time when understanding the expectations of constituents can be as simple as closely monitoring social media, it may be time to rethink the role of Boards in association governance.
So how then, can associations adopt innovation and build a more flexible structure that allows them to anticipate the expectations of members? First, it will require you to embrace the heightened expectations of current and future generations. They may seem hard for you to imagine, but if you can’t meet those expectations, someone else will.
Second, it will require you to look differently at the tools you currently use to run your organization. Future facing associations will embrace emerging technologies like artificial intelligence to leapfrog their competitors. It is those that don’t just meet the needs of members, but instead give them things they didn’t even know they needed, who will win the day.
Change is never easy, and change of this magnitude can be daunting. Understanding how you approach this systematically can help make it more manageable.
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About Dan: Dan Stark is the Director of Product Strategy for NimbleUser. His role is to ensure Nimble AMS anticipates the needs of associations. He has 25 years of nonprofit management experience including more than 10 years as an executive director of two different organizations. He has a wealth of experience in governance, strategic planning and change management. With the rare combination of experience as both an association and technology company executive, Dan inherently understands how to leverage technology to drive innovation. He lives and works in West Chester, Pennsylvania.
LEARN MORE AT THE UPCOMING WEBINAR!
Tuesday, June 20th @ 12:00 PM Eastern. Register now!
Driving An Innovation Strategy
Disruption is inevitable. Associations must innovate or become obsolete. Why is it then that associations seem to be stuck doing things “the way we have always done it”? Explore how an orchestrated strategy, concentrating on how informed leadership, streamlined processes, future facing technology, and concierge service can accelerate your movement along the Innovation spectrum. You can’t predict the future but you can make your association future-ready.
Hosted by: Teri Carden, Founder, ReviewMyAMS
Presented by:
- Dan Stark, Director of Product Strategy, NimbleUser and former Executive Director
- JP Guilbault, President of Community Brands