Creating the future while managing the present: so what are you waiting for? Get to it.

WHAT IF I TOLD YOU THAT YOU ALREADY know how to successfully create the future while managing the present? Would you be surprised?

Talking in superhero terms about association leaders who effectively manage the attention paid to present activities and future issues allows the rest of us mere mortals to remain works-in-progress. Yet, the insights of a variety of association executives reveal that in most cases we already know what needs to be done, we just aren't doing it with enough discipline and rigor.

As Jack Advent, CAE, executive director, Ohio Veterinary Medical Association, Columbus, notes: "Today's brushfires can tend to be consuming because you can feel their heat. The average member tends to focus on the here and now, wanting to know what their association is doing to advocate for them on a pressing legislative issue or providing informational resources on a new development.... It can be tough in this environment to remind yourself of how important those conversations [about the future] are to an organization."

But they are important, and at face value almost every association leader will acknowledge it. Simply knowing that thinking about the future is important is not enough, however. "One of the main barriers to turning knowledge into action is the tendency to treat talking about something as the equivalent to actually doing something about it," assert Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton in The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge Into Action (2000, Harvard Business School Press).

The four fundamentals

Following are four fundamentals for creating the future while managing the present--well-talked about in association circles, less frequently evidenced in action, but actually being followed by some forward-thinking organizations.

1. Clarify your mission and vision. If your mission statement is so long that it takes a poster on the wall to capture all the text, this may be the place for you to begin. David Styers, director, technical assistance and capacity building, Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network, Washington, D.C., attributes the network's ability to balance present and future efforts to a focused purpose and set of core competencies that are easily communicated. This focus resulted from the 1991 merger of the Points of Light Foundation with the pre-existing National Volunteer Center.

The Volunteer Center National Network's vision--"volunteer centers mobilize people and resources to deliver creative solutions to community problems"--changed the role of local volunteer centers. "Volunteer centers have grown in scope from the traditional role of broker between volunteers and agencies to the proactive leadership role of a convener and community problem solver," notes Styers. This is further reflected in the network's four core competencies or goals: 1) connect people with opportunities to serve; 2) build the capacity for effective local volunteering; 3) promote volunteering; and 4) participate in strategic initiatives to mobilize volunteers to address community needs.

A focused mission has also allowed the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, Rosslyn, Virginia, to identify "core competencies--government affairs, standards, business information services, e-commerce, market development--where we can add value for members; and we stick to them," says NEMA President Malcolm O'Hagan. "It is easy, but often disastrous, to branch out into new areas where the association does not have what it takes to be effective." Education programs, for example, are not one of NEMA's priorities because the association knows that this area is already a core business for other organizations. "It is not an area where NEMA can add value," O'Hagan points out.

As NEMA illustrates, when mission, vision, and strategic goats truly are alive and operating in the association, they guide daily actions; inform allocation of resources; serve as a yardstick for which programs and services need to be eliminated from the association's menu of activity; and establish the benchmarks used to evaluate individual and team performance. Clarity of mission, vision, and strategic goals focus current activity in such a manner to allow a greater likelihood of more time being available to think about the future.

Aligning activities with goals

Cheryl L. Kasunich, vice president and chief operating officer for the American Academy of Physician Assistants (AAPA), Alexandria, Virginia, reinforces this point. "It is imperative that once goals or strategic direction are established that the operational activities of the organization are aligned accordingly. Hard work that does not support the core organizational goals is wasted energy that can be put to better use."

Kasunich attributes AAPA's alignment success to a continual examination of what they do. Specific mechanisms AAPA uses to foster alignment include evaluating employees' performance as their efforts relate to the association's strategic direction; regularly convening an operational team of department representatives to review existing efforts for alignment with the plan; and helping all employees repurpose their efforts so as to complete them in a manner that more intentionally supports the association's strategic direction. "We tell them, if what you're doing doesn't support one or more elements of our strategic direction, don't do it.

Encouraging chapter support

Like many associations, the National Kitchen and Bath Association, Hackettstown, New Jersey, has recognized that achieving the association's vision and strategic agenda cannot be done at the national level alone. NKBA has invested in an ongoing, regional series of leadership workshops in which chapter officers develop their own strategic plans using the NKBA plan as a guiding framework and learn other skills to help them advance NKBA's overall vision. This year, for example, chapter officers learned about government relations skills--skills that support one of NKBA's primary goals: advocacy.

NKBA also employs another strategy to keep the focus on the future. "All chapter representatives are invited to attend a national meeting each February where they have at least half a day to meet (as regions) to discuss trends, address concerns and key issues, and verbalize the needs of their members that are not being met or not being met adequately by the national association," explains Jill Berman Levy, NKBA's director of chapters, regions, and membership activities. "This serves, along with input from industry segments, to provide the basic input for development of new objectives in our strategic planning for the upcoming year (i.e., the input from the February 2003 meeting is feeding the strategic plan for 2004)."

Something that may prevent association leaders from ensuring this type of alignment may, in fact, be the result of how they view such efforts. In their book, Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, (2002, Crown Publishing), authors Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan suggest that "people think of execution as the tactical side of business, something leaders should delegate while they focus on the perceived 'bigger' issues. This idea is completely wrong. Execution is not just tactics--it is a discipline and a system. It has to be built into a company's strategy, its goals, and its culture. And the leader of the organization must be deeply engaged in it."

2. Become market-driven by knowing your markets. Steve Crane, executive vice president of the American Academy of Physician Assistants, Alexandria, Virginia, is deeply engaged in such execution and stresses it is critical that associations know the substantive territory in which they are working. "AAPA has put a very heavy emphasis on the development of a data analysis and research program that is second to none among health professional organizations. We know more, accurately, about our profession than anyone else, and this allows us to play in anyone's policy game with authority and effectiveness."

The absence of relevant information in a useable form can often lead to misguided decisions that result in potentially unnecessary setbacks to both present and future activities. Ask yourself, "What information, if readily available could we use to better inform our current and future efforts?" Then commit yourself to creating an ongoing mechanism for gathering such data.

Knowing your playing field is a critical step to becoming more relevant in (and to) your markets. When two local Realtors associations in Florida merged to become a countywide association, becoming market-driven was declared a priority. Ann Guiberson, CAE, president and CEO of the Pinellas Realtor Organization (the combined association), St. Petersburg, Florida, notes that moving from being volunteer-driven to market-driven has been both an exciting and frustrating challenge. "We've accomplished a lot in 16 months, including a dynamic communication program, a liaison program to our 30 largest members, a strategic relations unit that seeks to build relationships in the broader community, a broker support unit that looks for services to help the brokerage community (a previously neglected segment), and much more."

For O'Hagan and his NEMA colleagues, being market-driven is their very foundation. "NEMA operates like a business, and we provide our business unit heads with incentives to grow our business," he explains, adding that the association does not have a set dues schedule. "All of our activities are sold to members at an hourly rate of $130, which means that members are free to buy only those services they deem valuable [e.g., lobbying an issue at the federal level, managing a national or international standards project]. Therefore, unless we continue to offer value-added services, we have no future."

To promote the identification of future services of value, NEMA has established a business development fund that business units compete for by submitting business plans that demonstrate that their ideas can generate revenues and be viable.

3. Engage in environmental scanning and scenario planning. Association leaders interviewed for this article consistently mentioned environmental scanning and scenario planning as helpful for creating the future while managing the present. Ohio Veterinary Medical Association's Jack Advent notes that "staff and leadership need to be scanning and each bringing different insights into what may be important. Many times those conversations bring us back to here and now issues, but that is okay. It's a bridging of importance in the framework of both, today and tomorrow."

Associations can easily combine use of the various environmental scans the ASAE Foundation produces (see companion article, "Translating Foresight Into Strategy," beginning on page 58, for details on the foundation's latest work) with their own in-house scanning efforts for industry- or profession-specific issues. For associations with limited resources, larger-scale scanning efforts can be realized through partnerships with other organizations having similar missions and scope.

Scanning activities can range from a review of various publications by staff, volunteers, and members to identify relevant trends and their possible implications for the association to large-scale, comprehensive membership surveys that identify critical issues looming on the short-term and longterm horizon. Combining periodic major scanning efforts every few years with less costly ongoing scanning efforts is probably the best strategy for most associations to consider.

Scenario planning complements scanning efforts by allowing organizations to create and prepare for possible future situations based on trends, uncertainties, and other statistics. When thoughtfully explored, scanning efforts combined with scenario planning can result in breakthrough initiatives.

The American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA), Washington, D.C., for example, recently launched the Center for Aging Services Technologies (www.agingtech.org) after environmental scanning and scenario planning led its leadership to conclude that while a lot of big players in their field were engaged in research, they weren't talking to one another. CAST's mission is to "bring together researchers from universities, technology companies, facility administrators, and government representatives to focus on the application of technologies that will help identify potential solutions to the aging-services challenge faced by the global community."

"[CAST] gives us the potential to drive breakthrough technology in the direction it should be going by using our members as natural laboratories for testing those technologies," explains Virginia Nuessle, AAHSA vice president for strategic planning.

Meaningful change and application will more likely be realized if information gleaned from environmental scanning and scenario planning is disseminated widely and often. Nuessle notes that AAHSA has promulgated "how to" kits for its state associations and is in the process of creating a similar resource to be distributed to individual members. Similarly, the Credit Union National Association, Madison, Wisconsin, and its affiliates produce an annual environmental scan that its planning consultants use when facilitating strategic planning sessions and that individual credit unions turn to in guiding their decision making.

Environmental scanning and scenario planning may be particularly useful for managing the present and short-term realities when operating in an uncertain business climate. Bob Shively, CAE, CEO, National Auctioneers Association, Overland Park, Kansas, says, "Probably the toughest challenge to effectively creating the future is the ability to forecast growth (membership and programmatic) in a tough economic climate. The continued pressure on normal revenue sources (dues, fees, advertising, and so forth) and limited nondues opportunities sometimes makes future risk-taking difficult." Generating a variety of economic scenarios and then identifying the menu of activities or services to be offered in each can be a valuable decision-making resource.

4. Cultivate future thought leaders. Since managing the present involves working with volunteers who may or may not have the capacity to envision and create bold futures, many associations have committed themselves to identifying, cultivating, and developing their own future thought leaders. Jack Advent notes: "OVMA's Leading Ladders program for up-and-coming leaders allows us to plant seeds for the future successful governance of the organization, and at the same time, a means to interject some of their new ideas and energy into the existing structure.

To complement volunteers' leadership development, OVMA cultivates staff thought leaders with its Stay Smart initiative. This program encourages every employee to attend at least 10 hours of continuing education a year related to association management, general business principles, or personal development. OVMA provides approximately $1,000 per employee to support this effort and employees' continuing education efforts are considered in their annual reviews.

Programming for the Pinellas Realtor Organization's Leadership Academy includes a variety of topics designed to help participants both manage the present and create the future, including understanding leadership competencies and expertise required; teambuilding and communication; business aspects of leadership; and problem analysis and decision making.

Both of these programs are only a couple of years old, so their long-term benefits have yet to be realized. Already though, OVMA leadership is turning to Leading Ladders graduates to fill vacant leadership positions at a variety of levels in the association.

The practice of the National Kitchen and Bath Association to teach strategic planning skills to chapter and regional officers also serves to develop 'a cadre of involved and trained volunteers who can rise to the national volunteer level with a significantly lowered learning curve," notes Jill Berman Levy.

Resolve to walk the talk

In Execution, Bossidy and Charan assert, 'In its most fundamental sense, execution is a systematic way of exposing reality and acting on it." The reality of at least some of what it takes to create the future while managing the present has been exposed:

* gaining a tremendous clarity around mission, vision, and strategy and then ruthlessly aligning all aspects of the association's efforts around them;

* identifying data and information needs about the market for your association and the content arena in which your association operates and then using that information to become a value-added player both for internal and external stakeholders;

* implementing mechanisms to engage in ongoing environmental scanning and scenarios planning efforts to better inform present-day efforts, as well as strategically prepare for future challenges and opportunities; and

* tapping into the talents and creativity of your association's future leaders.

Points of Light's David Styers correctly observes that "living in the chaos while planning for the future takes extreme determination, dedication, and discipline." So do you have the discipline to act? Will you just nod your head knowingly at these fairly well-known fundamentals and then go back to the way you've been doing things? Or will you engage your staff and volunteer leadership in an honest and critical self-assessment of your association's performance in these core areas and how you can more fully realize their potential?

As you contemplate your choice, heed one of the lessons noted in The Knowing-Doing Gap: "One of the most frequent mistakes made in organizations was mistaking that...once a decision had been made to do something, no additional work was needed to make sure it happened." Whatever you decide, your real work has just begun.

Resources

The following resources can help you learn how to create the future while managing the present.

BOOKS

* Embracing the Future: An Action Guide for Association Leaders, by Rhea L. Blanken and Allen Liff (1999, ASAE Foundation). This book (product AMR218084) is available at $75 for ASAE members and $93.75 for nonmembers, plus shipping, through the ASAE Member Service Center. Phone: [phone] or 888-950-ASAE; fax: [phone]; e-mail: [e-mail].

* Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan 12002, Crown Publishing).

* Exploring the Future: Seven Strategic Conversations That Could Trans form Your Association, (2001, ASAE Foundation). This book (product AMR218089) is available at $48.95 for ASAE members and $65.95 for nonmembers, plus shipping, through the ASAE Member Service Center. Phone: [phone] or 888-950-ASAE; fax: [phone]; e-mail: [e-mail].

* Facing the Future: A Report on the Major Trends Affecting Associations, (1999, ASAE Foundation). This book (product AMR218082) is available at $35 for ASAE members and $43.75 for nonmembers, plus shipping, through the ASAE Member Service Center. Phone: [phone] or 888-950-ASAE; fax: [phone]; e-mail: [e-mail].

* The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge Into Action, by Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton (2000, Harvard Business School Press).

* Managing for the Short Term: The New Rules for Running a Business in a Day-ToDay World, by Chuck Martin (2002, Doubleday).

WEB SITES

* www.wilder.org: Amherst Wilder Foundation offers a variety of strategic planning resource publications containing useful tools and worksheets.

* www.pfdf.org/leadersbooks/sat/index.html: The Drucker Foundation, recently renamed the Leader to Leader Institute, offers a self-assessment tool.

ARTICLES

* Harvard Business Review, February 2003, "Who's Bringing You Hot Ideas and How Are You Responding."

* Fast Company, May 2003, Seth Godin's "Change" column.

RELATED ARTICLE: Practice Makes Perfect

Since human beings are creatures of habit, here are a few efforts you might want to add to your regular routine that will help you more intentionally create the future while managing the present.

DAILY ROUTINES

* Review planned activities and meetings and identify ways to use them to advance the association's strategic direction. Try to eliminate those that don't or won't.

* Reference the association's strategic direction in conversations with staff and volunteers whenever appropriate.

* End the day examining your efforts to identify how they advanced the association's mission and vision.

* Read one short article or scan one Web site for trends and insights related to the association's strategic plan.

WEEKLY REVIEW

* Discuss with senior staff leadership at least one compelling question related to the association's strategic plan. For small staffs, consider engaging an association colleague or core volunteer leader in such a discussion.

* Review the past week's activities and identify meetings and efforts in which your participation was nonessential or did not produce significant results. Minimize participation in any similar future efforts.

* Have conversations with a few front-line staff members or volunteers about their current efforts and how they can contribute to the association's strategic plan.

* Call a few members at random and ask them what issues they are having the greatest difficulty with, what trends they see on the horizon, and what successes they are experiencing. Compile and disseminate the information.

MONTHLY TASKS

* Identify an article or Web site of note and disseminate it to staff and core volunteer leaders.

* Survey a small sample of membership on a few focused questions of strategic value to the association.

QUARTERLY ASSIGNMENTS

* Engage staff and volunteer leadership in a discussion of a future-oriented strategic question. Communicate via conference call or online discussion boards. Identify relevant implications generated in conversation and disseminate to appropriate parties.

* Examine at least one major meeting (e.g., board meeting) or decision-making process and identify ways to enhance its strategic value for the association.

* Have all senior staff and volunteer leaders evaluate the relationship of current activity to the strategic agenda. Revise efforts as appropriate.

* Create opportunities for staff members who have been attending workshops and conferences to share relevant learning in-person with all staff.

* Read one book related to the future but not tied to your association's specific industry or discipline in an effort to broaden your thinking.

* Convene a focus group either in person or via conference call and discuss a question about an emerging trend or forecast issue.

ANNUAL COMMITMENTS

* Ask staff and volunteers to identify association practices or policies that should be eliminated or revised to enhance their strategic value.

* As part of employee performance reviews, discuss how individuals can focus more on the future in their daily work efforts.

* Review mission, vision, and major goals. Revise as needed.

* Orient new volunteer leadership to the association's strategic agenda.

* Engage staff in identifying professional development opportunities for the coming year that will enhance their ability to create the future while managing the present.

* Conduct an environmental scanning effort and disseminate findings with relevant implications to members, volunteers, and staff.

* Survey members about their key needs and aspirations, as well as the perceived value they attach to association services and their satisfaction with them.

Jeffrey Cufaude is principal, Idea Architects, Indianapolis, an organizational development consulting firm. E-mail: [e-mail].