Clear and open communication is key.

What you don't ask - or don't tell - during initial conversations with a potential association management company partner can be as, if not more, important than what does get asked and said. Good communication between an association and the AMC it selects hinges on making sure that the board asks all the Important questions as well as provides critical information about the association - even the difficult stuff - up front. Four AMC executives share from their experience the nature of the information that can sometimes get overlooked or bypassed and what can result when it does.

Don't discount the basics

Even basic questions are at times missed when an association's board is interviewing a potential AMC. Do you have insurance? What types? What kinds of checks and balances and financial protection measures do you have in place? Because boards don't automatically think to ask these questions, Debbie Hart, CAE, president of Association Associates, Inc., Trenton, New Jersey, includes such information in her proposals. Hart's presentations to association boards also include information about process. "We tell them what they can reasonably expect in turning around a newsletter or a mailing and for the deposit of checks, dues renewals, and so forth," says Hart. Beyond the basics, however, are some pretty critical matters that can make or break your partnership, depending on your commitment to telling an AMC what it most needs to know.

Be clear about expectations

"The biggest challenge most management companies have is not in what work is done on behalf of the association, but in knowing exactly what the board expects," says Philip Lesser, CAE, vice president, Bostrom Corporation, Chicago. Ideally, the board needs to enter a relationship with its AMC with some level of strategic understanding about what the association wants to achieve and how it expects the AMC to help make this happen. "Do you want the AMC to provide leadership or to maintain the office and take direction from association leaders? Either one is fine," says Lesser, "and most management companies are comfortable with both roles, but the board must be very clear about what it wants.

"Likewise," Lesser continues, "when a board says it expects the AMC to handle all routine inquiries, does that mean 1, 10, or 100 a day? And will those inquires be a simple yes or no, or will each take from 30 minutes to one hour each of research to answer? Again," posits Lesser, "rarely does a problem arise from the work being done - in this case, handling inquiries - but from the scope of the work expected and what is entailed in that work."

Richard Butchko, president of Association Management Solutions, Columbus, Ohio, recounts an uncomfortable meeting he once had with a board concerning differences in expectations about the AMC's role. "This was a situation in which I had come to feel taken advantage of by numerous and persistent requests by various board members for services outside the contractual relationship. Few of these tasks were significant in and of themselves, and they would certainly have sounded petty if raised, but the totality of them accounted for many uncompensated hours," says Butchko.

Because an AMC is typically far more involved in the life of the association than most other professional service providers the association might hire, it's not uncommon for a board to assume that the AMC will handle "other duties as assigned," explains Butchko. "It's important to recognize that the process of negotiating a contract with an AMC is different from hiring an employee," says Butchko. He notes that it's important to recognize that requesting new activities of the AMC will always require reassessment of the relationship.

For instance, an association might assume that because the AMC handles the association's printed newsletter, that when the association wants to reformat it for the Web, that's included, says Butchko. "That activity requires significant additional time. It's not at all the case that there would be a problem for the AMC to handle this. We simply need to talk to each other about what's fair for both parties when new activities emerge."

Make honesty your policy

According to Laury Adsit, president, Management Plus, Ltd., Tucson, Arizona, an association board needs to discuss with its potential AMC not only the activities of the association but also the current status of those activities. For instance, communicating that the association holds an exhibit at its annual conference is important background information. However, if the exhibit has been experiencing a dramatic decline in recent years and it has become next to impossible to get exhibitors to return from one year to the next, it's imperative that an AMC know this up front, says Adsit. "Not communicating the status of an activity - especially if a problem exists - can lead to huge miscalculations in the amount of time or the approach needed when an AMC is asked to take over the program," she explains.

Adsit believes that some boards hesitate to talk candidly about particular challenges with a potential AMC because the board may fear being turned down as a client. "One of our clients took until the fourth conversation before mentioning that the association had recently been through a lawsuit brought by some of its board members," she says. "Every association has its conflicts and its challenges. It's better to hear about those problem areas from the beginning, when the association and the AMC are both better positioned to work together to move beyond whatever troubles exist."

Butchko concurs. "In time, if we enter into a relationship, we will learn all there is to know about each other," he says, "so we may as well find out from the start." He tries to allay any communication fears of potential clients by explaining to association boards during the initial interview that it's common for an association to seek the services of an AMC when in some form of distress whether that be from rapid growth or financial difficulties or a personality clash with the leadership style of the previous executive director. "I've seen groups visibly relax after I've said this," says Butchko.

Beyond board relaxation, open and honest communication with the AMC promotes an environment that fosters maximum effectiveness with all work performed by your AMC partner.