ESAE, ASAE Bridge the cultural divide. (Alliances).

Before Colin Grimes, CEO of the European Society of Association Executives (ESAE), Thurmaston, Leicester, England, arrived for his weeklong visit to ASAE headquarters last December, he anticipated an intellectually stimulating experience from which he might distill a measure of professional and personal growth to take back with him for the benefit of his membership. What awaited him, though, was vastly different from what he had expected. "I feel like a guy who just wanted a shower but found himself under Niagara Falls," he says. "I came expecting to be gently stretched and challenged, to build relationships, and to gain a better insight into the operation of the Global Alliance, but I've just been deluged from all sides--overwhelmed by the scale and scope of the ASAE operation."

Scale and scope, in fact, are what lie at the center of the ESAE-ASAE Global Alliance. Founded in 1980 and incorporated in Switzerland in 1986, ESAE entered into the alliance with ASAE in August 2000, enabling it to offer a dual membership for European association executives. With 125 registered members prior to the Global Alliance, ESAE found itself lacking the necessary critical mass to use as a platform to develop a sustainable service program.

ASAE obviously has much in the way of resources to offer its European counterpart, from books to professional interest groups. But when massive amounts of information suddenly become available across the Atlantic, it brings with it a whole new set of challenges. "It is as though ASAE is our Internet and we're having to take all that information and filter away that which is not important and relevant, [the rest of] which is then presented in a way that is readily and culturally acceptable," he says.

And that is precisely what ESAE and European associations can offer to their American counterparts, says Grimes. ESAE, and European associations in general, he says, are needed to bridge cultural gaps. "We are equipped to filter the wealth of information that is available, being very much aware of the cultural differences and the cultural difficulties, because the American style doesn't suit everybody," he says. Grimes also points out the possibility of information being misunderstood or misinterpreted--and not just because of language barriers.

"There remains a clear cultural divide between the American approach and the European approach," he says.

Initially founded as an invitation-only society, ESAE finds itself in a period of transition, rising to more than 250 members in the first year of the Global Alliance. In fact, part of Grimes' reason for coming to ASAE was to develop a first-ever joint membership marketing campaign for 2002. Now armed with ASAE's resources to offer prospective members, Grimes hopes to grow ESAE rapidly to the point of reaching its own critical mass. Clearly, there is a vast market to tap in Europe. Germany alone, according to Grimes, is reported to have more than 100,000 associations.

After being thrown under Niagara Falls, what does Grimes take with him from his visit? "I'm taking away a sense of personal inadequacy allied to a clearer understanding of the challenge that lies before the association world in Europe to get itself mobilized and strengthened," he says in a moment of reflection. "Professionalized, too, I think is a good word to use. I think we're beginning to develop the right tools. I think we've got a tremendous amount to learn. I'm taking back a deep sense of commitment to and confidence in the Global Alliance."