What Do You Think Associations of the Future Will Look Like
Recently, Carol-Anne Moutinho of The Portage Group was asked the question… “What do you think the associations of the future will look like?” Carol-Anne brought her extensive experience in the areas of market research, strategic planning, leadership and executive search to deliver a short list of a few ways she sees associations evolving.
I will expand on these ideas in future blog posts. But here they are to consider:
“I think associations of the future will be markedly different from today. A number of changes are coming (or have already started happening), but here are three of the bigger shifts I think we will see over the course of the next several years:”
1. Firstly, I think there will be far fewer associations than there are today. We have just seen the tip of the iceberg where mergers, partnerships and alliances are concerned. Others will fail to evolve in-step with the way ‘members’ join and engage…and they will cease to exist.
2. Many of today’s association structures were built to accommodate the baby boomers. For many, this structure is just too heavy and rigid for today’s environment. Tomorrow’s associations will have a structure that is leaner, ‘flatter’ (without as many layers) and will operate with less infrastructure (more virtual).
3. Associations of the future will offer a truly customized experience to members…think ‘Amazon’ or ‘Netflix.’ The collection and use of big data to offer ‘customized value’ is something more associations will be doing.
