--- title: "The Workforce Won’t Wait—How Associations Can Keep Up" id: "61212" type: "post" slug: "the-workforce-wont-wait" published_at: "2025-03-13T19:59:45+00:00" modified_at: "2026-07-11T19:25:55+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2025/03/13/the-workforce-wont-wait/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2025/03/13/the-workforce-wont-wait.md" excerpt: "Associations can best serve their members by offering future-proofing skills — and do the same for their own leaders." taxonomy_category: - "Career Development" taxonomy_post_tag: - "Associations Now" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Association CEO / Executive Director" - "Executive Team" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » The Workforce Won’t Wait—How Associations Can Keep Up Part of the Deep Dive[Navigating Workforce Development](https://associationsnow.com/deep-dives/navigating-workforce-development/) Instability seems to be an inherent part of the American workforce now: In the past decade, the average job tenure has dropped from 4.6 to 3.9 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That job-hopping can present an acute challenge to associations that are not only looking to support newcomers in a profession where there are shortages, but also to keep them on the job longer. Associations have successfully deployed various strategies to do both, from [outreach to high schools, trade schools, and community colleges (opens in a new tab)](https://signs.org/events/mfgday/) to providing [tools that allow practitioners to develop their own career paths (opens in a new tab)](https://www.raps.org/resources/regulatory-competency-framework) , with guidance around specific training and credentials that path would require. At the Irrigation Association, a trade group supporting irrigation professionals, CEO Natasha Rankin, CAE, looks at workforce skills training on two paths — supporting the education and training of employees of member companies, and advocacy efforts that help ensure that those employees play an ongoing role in publicly funded projects. For instance, the Irrigation Association (IA) has worked to ensure that its certified members qualify as an approved Technical Service Provider for projects administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. “By getting that certification, you are now both leapfrogging a significant amount of administration and significant amount of time,” Rankin says. “The only way that we can create that connection is by our policy efforts — we have to go out and engage with the agency.” ## Nurturing Talent at Every Stage To draw more workers to the profession, IA does many of the conventional workforce-development initiatives: scholarships, mentoring, and school outreach. But to support its mid-career employees, it has retooled its volunteer programming to help it deliver meaningful engagement to members. “Our industry is highly technical, and that means that there are a lot of product managers, developers — not the head of a business unit, but on the ground, the connector between what’s going on in the field and what’s going on in R&D,” she says. “Those are the people who have incredible experience and expertise to help us advance our standard setting and code development.” Providing that kind of practical support, Rankin says, helps employees maintain their knowledge and sustain their position at an employer. “We’re not just sending out a note saying, ‘Thank you so much for your volunteer work,’ but we’re saying, ‘This has value to you,’” she says. “You can share this back with your company and say, ‘This is how it helped us get in the news, or this is something that helped our business.’” ## Bolstering Leaders While association leaders have been working to support the career prospects of their industry’s workforce, they also need to be doing work on themselves. Carol Vernon, founder of Communication Matters, an executive coaching firm that works with associations, says that many mid-career leaders find soft skills a greater challenge. [Mark Athitakis](https://associationsnow.com/author/mark-athitakis/) Mark Athitakis, a contributing editor for Associations Now, has written on nonprofits, the arts, and leadership for a variety of publications. He is a coauthor of The Dumbest Moments in Business History and hopes you never qualify for the sequel. [More articles by this author](https://associationsnow.com/author/mark-athitakis/) Tags: [#Associations Now](https://associationsnow.com/tag/associations-now/) **Stay Informed** [Subscribe to our free newsletter](https://associationsnow.com/newsletter/) , *Associations Now Daily News*, to find out what’s happening in the association world every business day. ## More in this Deep Dive - [Top Career Challenges for Association Professionals and How to Overcome Them](https://associationsnow.com/2025/03/07/top-career-challenges-for-association-professionals-and-how-to-overcome-them/) - [A Wider Net](https://associationsnow.com/2025/03/07/a-wider-net/) - [Bigger and Stronger](https://associationsnow.com/2025/03/07/bigger-and-stronger/) - [The Case for Calm](https://associationsnow.com/2025/03/07/the-case-for-calm/) - [The Role of Emotional Intelligence in Developing Career Resilience](https://associationsnow.com/2025/03/10/the-role-of-emotional-intelligence-in-developing-career-resilience/) [View the full Deep Dive →](https://associationsnow.com/deep-dives/navigating-workforce-development/) ## You Might Like - [Video🚀 The Agile Association Professional: How to Pivot Your Career Path When the Strategic Plan ShiftsJuly 28, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/07/28/the-agile-association-professional-how-to-pivot-your-career-path-when-the-strategic-plan-shifts/) - [TemplateMembers onlyMember Onboarding ToolkitNovember 5, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/11/05/member-onboarding-toolkit/) - [PodcastAssociations Now Presents: Beyond the Tech Stack: How AI Is Changing the Association PlaybookOctober 29, 2026](https://associationsnow.com/2026/10/29/associations-now-presents-beyond-the-tech-stack-how-ai-is-changing-the-association-playbook/) - [Video2025 Summit Award Recipient: American Association for Marriage and Family TherapyOctober 3, 2025](https://associationsnow.com/2025/10/03/2025-summit-award-recipient-american-association-for-marriage-and-family-therapy/) ## Comments **Comments are for ASAE members.** [Learn more about comments on this site.](https://associationsnow.com/comments/) [Log in](https://associationsnow.com/login?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fassociationsnow.com%2F2025%2F03%2F13%2Fthe-workforce-wont-wait%2F%23comments) to your member account or [join ASAE](https://my.asaecenter.org/select-a-membership-type/) !