Faster.

If there’s one word that summarizes what association governance requires now, it’s that. Associations have been pressed to respond to a pandemic, inflation, workforce shortages, and a quick-acting White House that’s undone a lot of business-as-usual processes.

“CEOs and board chairs/presidents have to be much more agile,” says Jay Younger, FASAE, President & CEO at McKinley Advisors. “They have to be much more willing to introduce risk into their operating environments. They can’t simply send things out to committee and have committees study them for a year or 18 months and come back with recommendations. When something happens that is front-page news or incendiary within their industry or their profession, you don’t have the luxury to noodle on things.”

The idea that the board sets the direction and the staff executes—I think that has run its course.

Jay Younger, FASAE, McKinley Advisors

That environment of urgency is one reason why ASAE recently established the Association Governance Institute, which is supporting educational programs like the Governance + Strategy Forum, which is designed to get into governance complexity beyond nuts-and-bolts duties and responsibilities. (Younger is among the content leaders for the forum.)

One goal of the forum, Younger says, is to test the agility of association boards. “Do we have a common understanding of how we are going to track and measure and monitor and and discuss our progress on issues? Are they currently embedded in our strategic plan, or do we have to take a look at our strategy to figure out how to carve in some time for important new things?” he says.

As part of that sense of urgency, Younger says, associations should consider whether their process for identifying, nominating, and seating board members serves the organization is the most effective one. 

“I think that the historical representational, constituency-based models that many associations still operate under are not fit for purpose, and the reason is because the organization has, in some cases, virtually no control over the people who wind up governing the organization,” he says. “We do not, in any sense, mean to imply that members should not be represented in governance. But there are far more successful ways to ensure that representation while giving the people who actually understand what the organization needs.”

Among the questions a board and CEO might ask itself is whether its current approach to risk is too conservative. Many organizations are sitting on reserves that might be better deployed to pursue innovation projects, Younger says, especially at a time when associations are feeling pressed to identify new revenue streams. 

Association CEOs, he adds, should play a stronger role in helping to facilitate conversations around strategy. Figuring out how to best play that role will depend on the association, but being a bystander to the board’s strategy discussions isn’t enough.

“The idea that the board sets the direction and the staff executes—I think that has run its course,” he says. “It absolutely makes sense that the board is the lead on defining the strategic direction and the mission of the organization. But to hire a CEO with a strong set of capabilities in insight and strategy and operations and not include that person in strategy design—it’s almost as irresponsible as leaving the people who are on your board up to chance.”

[istock/Petar Chernaev]