Learning labs_4 - Verto Solutions

LEARNING LABS
SMART SMALL-STAFF SOLUTIONS
A standing-room-only crowd of association
executives from small-staff organizations
exchanged real-world problems and solutions in
yesterday’s Learning Lab “The Small-Staff Executive
Dilemma: Critical Finance and HR Issues.” At the top
of the list: how to fill short-term staffing gaps (such
as medical leaves) and how to manage vocal board
members who seek to push through unplanned and
unbudgeted pet projects.
Led by Tanya Tolpegin, CAE, CEO, the Society of
Cardiovascular Computed Tomography; Wendy
Luke, president, The HR Sage; and A. Michael
Gellman, CPA, of Rubino & McGeehin, participants
focused on the need to balance limited staff
and financial resources, navigate a changing
environment, and stay on mission.
Gellman cautioned CEOs to guard against
“mission drift” in evaluating new, board-memberproposed initiatives. And Luke warned that an
executive’s impulse to take over absent employees’
responsibilities, even for the short term, can lead
to burnout. Speaking from experience, Tolpegin
said, “You can’t please everyone, so keep yourself
sane and happy.” She added that the best approach
to dealing with board-related challenges is to “put
a member between yourself and the problem. It’s
their problem, and they have to solve it.”
CHECK YOUR BIASES AT THE DOOR
Here’s a thought exercise: You interview a job
candidate over the phone and come away thinking
that you may have found the perfect candidate.
When you meet the candidate for an in-person
interview, you learn she is blind. How does your
impression change?
“Studies have shown people make their first
impressions in a tenth of a second,” said Kevin
Lynch, president and CEO of the National Industries
for the Blind, a panelist in Sunday’s Learning Lab
“We are the 1%: A Frank Conversation on Diversity.”
Lynch shared the scenario and asked the audience
to examine their own biases. He and his fellow
panelists acknowledged that an association CEO has
the difficult position of not only checking his or her
own biases but also tackling bias throughout the
organization.
Pat Blake, CEO of the American Society for
Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, said it’s never easy to
approach a staff member about biased behavior,
intentional or not. “It is so important as CEO to
recognize that we have these biases and, when
we see that in our staff, to try to figure out how to
handle that,” she said.
VIDEO WON’T KILL THE ASSOCIATION STAR
With the growing push toward video
communication, association executives were keen
to learn about some of the latest trends and tips in
video production at the “Video as an Educational
and Communication Tool” Learning Lab yesterday.
“Video is everywhere,” said John Cox, executive
director of the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers
www.asae12.org
Association. “And if we’re going to continue to reach
our members in the clutter of modern life, we have
to produce compelling visual images.”
Cox went on to explain what he thinks are the
two main factors impacting the fast evolution of
video communication—technology and consumer
expectation. “Our members live in an increasingly
visual world,” he said. So it is important that
associations keep up with the demand, which, for
the most part, they have.
Video use in the association community is pretty
widespread, Cox added, with a challenge to the
audience: “If your association is using video [already],
we want to see you take it to the next level in quality
and creativity, and if you’re not using video yet, we
hope that will change after today.”
THE STATE OF ASIAN ASSOCIATIONS
For Evelyn Salire, secretary general of the
Philippine Retailers Association, “COO” doesn’t
mean quite the same thing it does in the United
States. As she joked during yesterday’s “Global
Perspectives” Learning Lab on the Asia-Pacific
region, the abbreviation can also stand for “children
of owners”: Most of the 300 retailers her association
represents are family-owned businesses that are
passed on through generations.
That’s just one distinction of the region that was
discussed among Salire and three other panelists:
Hong Kong Association of the Pharmaceutical
Industry Executive Director Sabrina Chan; Korea
MICE Association Secretary General Jae-kil Choi;
and Australia-based Associations Forum General
Manager John Peacock. Among the other issues
discussed were working with boards without
term limits, official definitions of nonprofits, and
relationships with government.
Peacock said that in recent years many Asia-
Pacific associations have markedly improved their
web presences, but other technology issues remain.
“A lot of associations there don’t spend money on
what they should be spending money on,” he said.
“They don’t spend money on databases, they don’t
spend money on accounting software.”
KEEP YOUR MARKETS IN MIND
In yesterday’s session “Going Global—Do’s,
Don’ts, and Do-Overs,” presenters began by
asking attendees to discuss the problems and
issues they are dealing with when it comes to
their international initiatives. The first question
asked was if using the word “American” in your
association’s name helps or hinders your efforts.
“In my opinion, the word ‘American’ is either an
asset or a curse,” said Robert Chalker, executive
director and COO of NACE International. “You need
to look at that particular market and what it allows
you to do, and then determine how the word is
viewed in that market. Then you use it to your
advantage where it’s favorable and downplay it
where it’s unfavorable.”
For Mark Rubin, executive director at the
Society of Petroleum Engineers, avoiding the word
“American” in a name helps extensively. “I’ve heard
of a number of associations who have received a lot
of flak for using ‘American,’” he said. “In fact, when
we put ‘international’ in our name years ago, that
really mattered to our members.”
Dick Blatt, president of Planar World Consulting
and author of the new ASAE book The Practical
Guide to Globalization for Associations, added:
“Bottom line is that you have to think of the
industries you serve and whether Americans are
leaders there. Look at the marketplace and make a
smart decision.”
continued on page 4
Daily Now
August 13, 2012
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