Found this quote today, after locating an exec on the links yesterday.
"No sane CEO would dare brag about his or her golf game during these difficult economic times. CEO reputations are extremely vulnerable, and CEOs are hypersensitive about bad PR. Why throw oil on the fire?" --Leslie Gaines-Ross, reputation strategist.
Not sure I agree 100% with the quote, but timing is everything in life, particularly now.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Strategies for Association Managers
We work with boards that retain our executive search services to replace out-going CEOs (whether he or she is retiring, leaving voluntarily, or being nudged out). There have been a few instances where we've been surprised by the volunteer leaders who think the CEO’s job is easy and that they could do it themselves. But managing an association can be a very fine “art” and is usually not as cut and dry as it may seem to those not involved in the day-to-day goings on of such an organization.
However, today's challenging economic times call for changes to the way associations are managed. As a result associations’ communications, presentations, and overall business strategies have to change, too. Members who may have been flourishing in 2004 are now floundering in 2009. That creates substantial tension in their lives and that tension, particularly if the member is on your board, is going to spill on to you and your staff.
To keep your association strong, to calm anxiety, and to keep your job secure, members must feel they are getting tangible value from the association, particularly in these times, and that you are in it with them.
So how do you do that?
1. Communicate
Your mantra must be communicate, communicate, communicate. Nine times out of ten, when the Search Committee wants a new CEO, they always want one with better communication skills that the last CEO. Yet, it's a delicate balance between pompous horn blowing and selfless, graceful informing.
2. Become Transparent
To make sure that your board and members respect you, they must appreciate the complexity and hard work that your job entails. If you do your job well, all that members ever see are smooth running meetings, fancy hotels, and nice meals at restaurants. Today you need to your board and members see some of the inner workings of your association. Let them know you were running around like a crazed gerbil trying to fix a meeting, update a teaching session, or handle a tax problem that jumped up in the legislature. Make sure they are aware that you, too, are working hard every day on their behalf. It also doesn’t hurt for you to be in the office answering phones personally now and then before 8 a.m. or after 5:00 p.m. Members will comment on that to each other when they get you instead of a voice message recording.
3. Establish New Channels
Don’t overwhelm your board or the members with newsletters and e-mails detailing challenges and accomplishments. Take a more personal approach. Try establishing a ‘kitchen cabinet’ of close advisors beyond just your regular Board committees. Pick prominent, trustworthy, up-and-coming members with whom you have established a solid rapport. Get their buy in and let them be your disciples. Entrust them with the facts of the issues the association faces and seek their advice on how best to tell the rest of the board and the membership. They will have much more credibility than any newsletter you mail.
4. Market Your Value
Next, reassess the breadth of all you are doing for the members and imagine what could be misperceived or not appreciated. [Remember Murphy’s Axiom --- if it can be seen in a wrong light, it will.] Then develop materials (print, online, video, etc.) that detail your offerings and communicate these regularly on all levels with the membership so they come to appreciate what you and the staff are doing for them every day.
Craft a new sensitivity about how anything you say or do, or how you present yourself or the association, can be misread or perceived as insensitive to members that may be in financial stress. For example, one successful CEO was riding around in a limousine at the association's last convention while members were in a jitney bus. The hotel gave the CEO the limo to use for free since he had directed this meeting to the hotel. The limo cost nothing, but the Board and the members did not know that. They thought it was an overdone extravagance. Now is a good time to scale back the spending on food, hotels, travel, and anything members could perceive as perks to you or your staff.
5. Be in it Together
One CEO we know looked down the road six months ago and, before the Board said anything, announced he was taking a temporary 10 percent pay cut. A month later, his senior staff followed suit, and a month after that all the staff took a similar temporary cut. They did it to preserve their jobs, to cut costs, and to demonstrate to the members, who were obviously hurting, that “they were in this battle with them” and willing to give up some of their income, too.
6. Only Today Matters
You may remember was an old ad from Eastern Airlines. The tag line was: we are only as good as our last flight. It used to seem a bit arcane to me, but now I get it. Your association is not in financial trouble because you spent years building reserves and managing it carefully, but that's quickly forgotten when members are facing tough times today. Remember you are only as good as your last success; you are only as good as the last time you helped the members.
It is not your association; you work for your members. Remind yourself of that every day.
However, today's challenging economic times call for changes to the way associations are managed. As a result associations’ communications, presentations, and overall business strategies have to change, too. Members who may have been flourishing in 2004 are now floundering in 2009. That creates substantial tension in their lives and that tension, particularly if the member is on your board, is going to spill on to you and your staff.
To keep your association strong, to calm anxiety, and to keep your job secure, members must feel they are getting tangible value from the association, particularly in these times, and that you are in it with them.
So how do you do that?
1. Communicate
Your mantra must be communicate, communicate, communicate. Nine times out of ten, when the Search Committee wants a new CEO, they always want one with better communication skills that the last CEO. Yet, it's a delicate balance between pompous horn blowing and selfless, graceful informing.
2. Become Transparent
To make sure that your board and members respect you, they must appreciate the complexity and hard work that your job entails. If you do your job well, all that members ever see are smooth running meetings, fancy hotels, and nice meals at restaurants. Today you need to your board and members see some of the inner workings of your association. Let them know you were running around like a crazed gerbil trying to fix a meeting, update a teaching session, or handle a tax problem that jumped up in the legislature. Make sure they are aware that you, too, are working hard every day on their behalf. It also doesn’t hurt for you to be in the office answering phones personally now and then before 8 a.m. or after 5:00 p.m. Members will comment on that to each other when they get you instead of a voice message recording.
3. Establish New Channels
Don’t overwhelm your board or the members with newsletters and e-mails detailing challenges and accomplishments. Take a more personal approach. Try establishing a ‘kitchen cabinet’ of close advisors beyond just your regular Board committees. Pick prominent, trustworthy, up-and-coming members with whom you have established a solid rapport. Get their buy in and let them be your disciples. Entrust them with the facts of the issues the association faces and seek their advice on how best to tell the rest of the board and the membership. They will have much more credibility than any newsletter you mail.
4. Market Your Value
Next, reassess the breadth of all you are doing for the members and imagine what could be misperceived or not appreciated. [Remember Murphy’s Axiom --- if it can be seen in a wrong light, it will.] Then develop materials (print, online, video, etc.) that detail your offerings and communicate these regularly on all levels with the membership so they come to appreciate what you and the staff are doing for them every day.
Craft a new sensitivity about how anything you say or do, or how you present yourself or the association, can be misread or perceived as insensitive to members that may be in financial stress. For example, one successful CEO was riding around in a limousine at the association's last convention while members were in a jitney bus. The hotel gave the CEO the limo to use for free since he had directed this meeting to the hotel. The limo cost nothing, but the Board and the members did not know that. They thought it was an overdone extravagance. Now is a good time to scale back the spending on food, hotels, travel, and anything members could perceive as perks to you or your staff.
5. Be in it Together
One CEO we know looked down the road six months ago and, before the Board said anything, announced he was taking a temporary 10 percent pay cut. A month later, his senior staff followed suit, and a month after that all the staff took a similar temporary cut. They did it to preserve their jobs, to cut costs, and to demonstrate to the members, who were obviously hurting, that “they were in this battle with them” and willing to give up some of their income, too.
6. Only Today Matters
You may remember was an old ad from Eastern Airlines. The tag line was: we are only as good as our last flight. It used to seem a bit arcane to me, but now I get it. Your association is not in financial trouble because you spent years building reserves and managing it carefully, but that's quickly forgotten when members are facing tough times today. Remember you are only as good as your last success; you are only as good as the last time you helped the members.
It is not your association; you work for your members. Remind yourself of that every day.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
WSJ Article: How to Ace a Phone Interview
The Wall Street Journal ran an article today on the increasing use of in-depth phone interviews by recruiters during the interview process. We have been using in-depth, potentially hour long phone interviews as a candidate screening mechanism in our search assignments for quite a while, not just recently given the economy, etc. The phone call serves as a very good screening of candidates and if they pass, we then meet with them face-to-face for a second round of conversations.
The WSJ gives a few tips on how to prepare for these phone conversations. I would add to that list 1)
taking the call from a land line, 2) do not to use the speaker phone feature and 3) further emphasizing for candidates to ask questions, including a snapshot of time line of the search (if the recruiter doesn't volunteer it). Don't be afraid to ask questions. If we don't know the answer, we'll find out and get back to you. Also, be mindful of your tone and rambling on and on and on and, well, you get the idea.
Hopefully this is some helpful advise if you find yourself preparing for a phone interview. Look forward to speaking with you!
The WSJ gives a few tips on how to prepare for these phone conversations. I would add to that list 1)
taking the call from a land line, 2) do not to use the speaker phone feature and 3) further emphasizing for candidates to ask questions, including a snapshot of time line of the search (if the recruiter doesn't volunteer it). Don't be afraid to ask questions. If we don't know the answer, we'll find out and get back to you. Also, be mindful of your tone and rambling on and on and on and, well, you get the idea.
Hopefully this is some helpful advise if you find yourself preparing for a phone interview. Look forward to speaking with you!
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