How a Winning Playbook Led to Success Amid Adversity

On November 1, 2019, I stepped into the role of president of the National Ocean Industries Association with a playbook to elevate the stature of the organization and the entire offshore energy industry, which NOIA represents.

Not only did November mark the beginning of an exciting transition for me personally, but our industry was showing signs of a resurgence. Many people are surprised to hear that the oil and gas industry experienced a historic downturn from 2014 to 2016. The recovery was slow and sometimes painful, but by 2019 a recovering oil and gas industry, coupled with the emergence of U.S. offshore wind energy, showed signs of promise.

Optimism quickly shifted to anxiety as our industry was confronted with dual setbacks: fallout from the Russia-Saudi Arabia oil price war and the collapse of energy demand because of COVID-19. Our industry has a long history of surviving bust cycles and coming out stronger, but this was an extraordinary downturn.

One year later, despite the dire economic circumstances, NOIA is well-positioned for success. We owe that to sticking to our playbook – our combined mission, vision, objectives, bylaws, priorities, content development and delivery, advocacy strategy, and rigorous member recruitment plan. While the details are specific to my association’s industry, the key elements of the playbook apply to successful leadership of any organization.

Too often, trade associations find themselves on defense. My goal was to put NOIA on the offense by highlighting the tremendous story we have as an industry and reinforcing that framework in our organization’s foundational statements and documents.

Align Mission With Reputation

My first priority was to modernize the organization and to drive membership alignment behind a common purpose. As early as the interview process, I began the work of finding the path to reinvigorate the organization through modernization of NOIA’s mission, vision, and objectives and by connecting them with the pride our members have for the industry.

Our members are continually innovating and enhancing society, so our mission, vision, and objectives needed to reflect that. Too often, trade associations find themselves on defense. My goal was to put NOIA on the offense by highlighting the tremendous story we have as an industry and reinforcing that framework in our organization’s foundational statements and documents:

• We revised the mission to reflect the importance of our industry: “NOIA represents and advances a growing offshore energy industry, providing solutions that support communities and protect our workers, the public, and our environment.”
• We developed a vision statement that similarly reflects these positive attributes: “NOIA is the sought-after and credible voice, advocate, and forum for uniting and advancing the interests of the offshore energy industry, recognized for promoting solutions that provide the energy for lifting society in an environmentally sustainable way.”
• We revised our organizational objectives to emphasize the roles our organization plays as an educator, collaborator, advocate, and influencer. We also established a new Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Network to build on NOIA’s role as a learning and collaboration organization.

Make Staff a Priority

The challenging financial conditions in the industry required NOIA to become more adaptable and flexible. While we made changes to become a leaner organization through downsizing, we also shaped our team to build strong synergy across policy, government relations, communications, operations, and meetings and events.

We also bolstered employee benefits during these uncertain times. From upgrading insurance, to expanding the holiday schedule to include Juneteenth, to increasing parental leave, to establishing mental health days, our main priority has been to sustain the morale and welfare of our staff.

Study the Playbook

Armed with a revamped playbook and reorganized staff, we were able to shore up membership and establish financial stability. Critical to this effort was articulating the value proposition for membership. We worked directly with member company executives to begin outreach to a network of companies for recruitment. We rebuilt our member database and incorporated new association management software to ensure that we have the best data available for communications and outreach.

One year after I arrived at NOIA, and more than eight months since the start of the pandemic, the playbook is succeeding. NOIA membership has grown by 20 percent, our members are engaged, we have strong working relationships with policymakers and the media at every level, and we have somehow found time to launch the NOIA ESG Network.

The playbook has created renewed energy among our staff and membership and has become integral as a manual for running the organization. Elements of the playbook are ingrained in everything we do, from lobbying to media engagement to the valuable programs we provide to our members.

While an uncertain 2021 awaits so many organizations, we are confident in our rebuilt position. A great team, a positive and compelling mission and vision, and a firm foundation for providing measurable value for members can help any association weather almost any storm.