Keeping Your Core Competencies Covered.

Knowing when to hire an AMC will help keep your association's mission on track.

As an association grows, its organizational structure ideally evolves to meet the challenges of delivering more and different products and services to its steadily increasing membership. At some point, however, the association leadership may discover that it no longer can effectively and efficiently meet these needs and looks to an association management company (AMC) for support.

Ask yourself if your association is growing beyond the available time and capacity of its all-volunteer leadership or if you have a small staff that no longer can handle the new and growing responsibilities of the association. If you have a paid staff, is it capable of performing all of the functions required by your members in a timely and cost-efficient manner? Are your association's resources being used wisely? Do you need a company to manage all of the association's functions--or only some of them? If not all, which functions do you relinquish to an AMC?

Based on the answers to these questions, you can choose to retain your current management structure, turn over the complete operation of the association to an AMC, or outsource only those functions that do not directly support your mission--specifically, those that are not related to your association's core competencies.

Choosing the most effective course

To decide what management strategy is best, the association must take a critical look at itself from its vision to its mission to its organizational structure. What is the association's purpose? What is its main focus? What are its priorities? What are the services that it provides to its members that cannot be provided elsewhere? What is its market niche? In other words, whom does it represent, and where do you see growth potential? How does it best meet the needs of its members? In short, you need to assess where your association is now, where the association leadership wants it to be in the future, and how it will get there.

One way to take a critical look at your association is to ask and answer some basic-yet relevant-questions regarding who your association is, what it does, and how it carries out its mission. Try these as a starting point:

1. Start by assessing the association's main purpose(s): training and education, standards of practice, codes of conduct, certification, trade shows, government affairs, and financial services.

2. Determine current member needs.

3. Determine future member needs.

4.Determine which functions support the association's mission and which the association does best (core competencies).

5. Finally, determine which functions do not support the association's mission and can best be outsourced.

Determining your associations s core competencies

Core competencies are the bodies of expertise and skills that are unique to the association and are its main reason for being. To assess your association's purpose and scope, it is imperative that you write a comprehensive business plan. This will force the board of directors and management to think about the association in terms of operating objectives and financial need and how to chart its future course.

Start your analysis by developing a strategic plan.

1. Define the association's long-range goals and objectives. Consult association archives, board minutes, bylaws, and other documents to determine where the association has been and where it is positioned to go.

2. Conduct an environmental scan to determine current industry trends (economic, social, and political). Surveys and focus groups can assist you in gathering this information.

3. Assess the association's strengths and weaknesses. Again, use surveys and focus groups to gather this information.

4. Develop long-range goals and objectives. This exercise would best be based on information gathered in item number one.

After analyzing all data and identifying your organization's core competencies, you will be able to determine the type of management structure that best fits your association's needs. It might be one of the following:

1. all volunteer,

2. paid staff,

3. combination of volunteer and paid staff, or

4. an AMC.

Selecting a management structure

To determine which structure is right for your association, a search committee consisting of a combination of elected leadership, board of directors, and/or membership should evaluate the current association leadership, staff, and potential AMC in terms of the following:

1. organization and strategic planning abilities,

2. communication and public relations skills,

3. leadership and management style and ability,

4. related association experience and education,

5. financial abilities,

6. ability and success in promoting the mission and value of the association,

7. ability and success in encouraging membership participation in the association,

8. creation of new programs and elimination of out-of-date or unsuccessful programs, and

9. anticipation of future member needs.

If it is determined that the AMC would provide better management of the association, it is time to explore what services and distinctive benefits an AMC can offer your association.

Understanding the role and benefits of an AMC

AMCs work with associations in all phases of development: those on the way up, those on the way down, and those in the middle. In many instances, AMCs are the first professional management of an association as it emerges from volunteer status.

The AMC's purpose is to help the association grow and prosper while meeting the needs of its membership. AMCs can manage the day-to-day operations of the association (full service) or they can provide specialized services (on an outsourcing basis) tailored to the needs of each association. Working with an AMC allows the association to maintain or increase association functions while either downsizing staff or freeing up staff to work on other important functions. It allows the board of directors and association leaders to focus on what they were elected to do-directly focus on the association's mission.

Here are some of the primary benefits of working with an AMC.

1. AMCs handle multiple clients, which provides a cost benefit to each client. Each association does not need to hire staff for a limited number of functions, purchase state-of-the-art equipment, lease office space, pay benefits, and so on. Rather, associations can take advantage of shared staff and overhead expenses.

2. The negotiating and purchasing power of an AMC is greater than that of an individual association, for example, with hotels, printers, and other vendors.

3. The association can take advantage of the broad range of experience, expertise, creativity, and innovation of seasoned association executives and staff who would be prohibitively expensive to employ in specialized areas such as finance, technology, communication, and government affairs.

4. AMCs have the staff to deal rapidly with changes within the profession, new technology, and government regulations.

5. AMCs provide continuity for the association's members when elected boards change; services to members remain consistent and stable.

6. There is no need to reinvent the wheel with each client--AMCs share relevant ideas, programs, and so forth with all clients.

7. AMCs have a wide variety of industry contacts.

Choosing a specific AMC

To determine which AMC is the best match for your association, analyze the number of years the AMC has been in the business and its range and depth of services. Consider elements such as

1. quantity and quality of its resources (e.g., staff expertise, facilities, and state-of-the-art equipment);

2. variety of services (e.g., financial, publications, lobbying, meeting planning);

3. location (e.g., Is a Washington, D.C., location important for your lobbying efforts?);

4. the AMC's other clients (e.g., Does the AMC have familiarity with the work of your association, or is there a conflict in representing different groups?);

5. staffing assignments (e.g., What are the AMC staff allocations to your association?); and

6. cost of services.

Choosing which functions to outsource

A newer trend is for the association to concentrate on a select number of core functions and outsource several functions to an AMC. After analyzing your association's core competencies, you may determine that it would be best to outsource some functions and maintain control of others in house. Increasingly, associations large and small are looking to AMCs for the following services:

1. Financial management and accounting. Services in this area can include membership dues and accounts receivable billing, collection and recording, payment of bills, financial statement preparation, cash flow analysis, and financial condition analysis and planning.

2. Data collection analysis. AMCs can perform services ranging from data input to providing membership lists to conducting demographic analysis of the membership.

3. Meeting and convention planning including exhibit management. AMCs can create the initial concept and handle contracts for food and beverage, on-site management, marketing and promotion, billing and fee collection, and bill payment. AMCs can tailor services to your needs.

4. Communication services (public relations, printing, and production). AMC services can range from full publication production services to full public relations services and anything in between.

5. Public affairs and lobbying. AMCs can provide regulatory and legislative analysis as well as lobbying and media relations at the state and federal levels.

6. Marketing services. Analysis of marketing opportunities and development of membership campaigns are two of the services that AMCs can provide in this area.

7. Education and professional development. Several AMCs have fully staffed education departments to plan, design, and manage educational programs for your association.

8. Certification programs. AMCs can assist in everything from program design to certification criteria to program management.

Assessing potential benefits

Working with an AMC allows association leaders to concentrate on policy issues rather than on administrative tasks. AMCs provide affordable management expertise and technology and a high degree of professionalism through the concept of shared resources while customizing staff activities to meet association needs. They provide cost-effective solutions to personnel, equipment, facilities, and budget considerations. Most importantly, AMCs maintain the continuity of the association's business operation during changes in leadership and staff--providing seamless customer service to the membership.

William M. Drohan, CAE, is president of Drohan Management Group, Reston, Virginia.