Is your membership model designed for the future environment and realities of your profession or industry? This hands-on workshop leads participants through a discussion on better understanding the different components, key considerations, as well as emerging and...
"Make Your Data Work For You" a Trillium Chapter PDX Workshop will take place on November 14th, led by Jack Shand, CAE & Geoff Thacker, Partners with The Portage Group. Did you ever think you would live in a time when data was “sexy”? Welcome to 2017 where data...
Sean Kelly, CSAE Ottawa-Gatineau President and Geoff Thacker, Executive Partner - Research and Strategy with The Portage Group TPG Executive Partner - Research and Strategy, Geoff Thacker was honoured this week by his colleagues at the Canadian Society of Association...
Leading Your Association Over Uncharted Territory Association executives and directors have been hearing for years now that change is coming. Membership apathy and decline. Decreasing revenues. Industry consolidation. Competition for education, other programs and...
Do you ever wonder how your association stacks up when it comes to your finances? Could your expenses and liabilities be lower? Your operations leaner? Your education, programs and events more revenue-positive? The CSAE 2017 Canadian Association Financial Operations...
Join our team for one or both of these innovative and interactive sessions in the coming weeks. Whether you are in Ontario or BC, these are not-to-miss opportunities to gain practical knowledge and tools about organizational transformation based on real-world examples...
Well, it's June and we all know what that means...golf season is upon us! TPG was pleased to attend the CSAE Ottawa-Gatineau annual golf tournament at the Kanata Golf and Country Club on June 6th and was honoured to be able to host players from the designated event...
The Associations 2025 Summit is coming up next week! http://bit.ly/1MnbCmG It is a collaboration between The Portage Group, CSAE and a group of inspiring leaders from associations and businesses across Canada. Together in a fun and interactive format, we will explore...
While attending a board meeting recently, I heard the President of an association Board of Directors comment, ”remember, I won’t be here after June.” It struck me that there must be so much time spent not only training and integrating new board members, but also a...
We would love your feedback as we lead into the #associations2025 summit. More information found here. Five Things A Baby Boomer can Appreciate about a Millennial Employee in Forward Thinking Associations: 1. To Be Quick: Change is happening. Millennials are...
Reading this article on technology trends for 2016 got me thinking: It's hard to believe that just a decade ago, most of us had never heard of the term 'smartphone.' Personally, I am always a little panicked when my phone is not within arm's reach. Also, I will admit...
The Portage Group and CSAE will be coming together to collaborate on Associations 2025, a look at what will be the future of associations, trends that are happening now and predicting new ones and showcasing which associations have been able to stay ahead of the...
Understanding What Non-Profits Do by Jack Shand; Executive Partner of The Portage Group; introduced by associate Casey White What does a non-profit do? I can't easily answer that question. At first glance I thought, why should I be able to ? I'm new to the non-profit...
by Jack Shand; Executive Partner of The Portgage Group In April, the Canadian Society of Association Executives (www.csae.com) will present a Summit on "Associations 2025". What must not-for-profit organizations be doing to ensure they thrive over the next decade and...
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:
Keep it Simple! By Alan Ward The thought of conducting an organizational review shouldn’t give anyone reason for sweaty palms. Unfortunately, it has that potential. A quick survey of the topic can lead us to near despair: infrastructure planning, internal...
So many associations don’t do enough to toot their own horn. In my mind those that are successful at keeping their members in the loop so that they are crystal clear about the results the association is getting on their behalf is one of the most critical factors that...
"Everyone has great ideas. The problem for most people is realizing that even the most silly or outrageous idea they come up with could in fact work. Generating ideas—-useful ideas-—is a skill, and, like any other skill, it can be learned. The more you practice, the...
Shhh!! Listen closely! Do you hear that? Meh. Could that be the sound your members are making with they think about their association? Over the past decade, we have compiled data on member needs and satisfaction hundreds of associations.* On the...
The Portage Group Presents: Up Stream Blog Series On Channeling Member Needs Wouldn’t it be great to know what your members are thinking? What they’re really thinking? Your members are the owners of your association. In order to develop a strategy driven by their...
Jane Garthson (Garthson Leadership) http://garthsonleadership.ca/ sat down with TPG's Jack Shand a couple of weeks ago to discuss the process of a smooth and successful Executive Transition. Read the blog here
Watch Sandy and Bob as the navigate through the often choppy waters towards #organizational #success.
See us at the CSAE Conference this week in Calgary! The Portage Group Senior Associate, Alan Ward, has been asked to be a presenter at the upcoming Canadian Society of Association Executives Conference #CSAE2015 in Calgary on October 28th . Alan will be presenting on...
Have you ever wondered what each of your association's members was really thinking? Meet Jane, the association executive who was able to better target member segments at both a strategic and operational level by streamlining and making better use of big data and...
The Portage Group is pleased to kick of 2015 with some exciting news! On January 1 2015, TPG entered a new research partnership with the Canadian Society of Association Executives (CSAE). Under the new partnership agreement, TPG will be the sole and exclusive...
By Jack Shand, Executive Partner. The Portage Group In an earlier article on The Characteristics of Executive Leadership, I outlined what employees in the nonprofit sector do. But what do nonprofit organizations do? First, two observations: Observation one is that...
If you lead an association, you know its important that your members play a role in shaping your strategy and priorities....but being member-driven is just half of the battle. The other important and often overlooked piece has to do with communication. It can be hard...
By Alan Ward We don’t know our limits until we push past them.
Is this true? It sounds like it could be true. If you asked me, though, if I knew my limits my automatic thinking answer would be “Yeah, pretty well.” I more or less know what I can and cannot do. Ergo, I probably know my limits.
My deeper thinking process, however, would question that conclusion. All I really know is what I have done, what I have done well or not so well, and what I stay away from doing. I know my experience, but not my limits.
As the saying goes, “failure to plan is planning to fail.” Just as important as your association or nonprofit’s strategy is an implementation plan to put all of those great ideas into action! Here is a simple implementation plan template to help get the ball rolling in achieving your strategy.
With low-cost survey tools like SurveyMonkey at their fingertips and ever-present budgetary pressures, it is easy to see why some associations are foregoing market research expertise and going the DIY route where their member needs surveys are concerned.
There are a number of tools you can use to succinctly and effectively communicate to your members that they drive the association agenda. The one-page strategic plan is a great way to present your strategic plan in a succinct way to your members – the key is to make it clear that their input is being used to drive the agenda. Below is one example of a one-page member-driven strategic plan. Here is an example.
Ten critical things your association or nonprofit should be doing to recruit, retain and engage your volunteers. By Jack Shand, CAE, CMC.
As leaders and contributors, we want to make things happen. We need to make things happen. On our watch revenues should be ramping, membership should be growing, and our organization’s influence should be expanding. We develop strategy, equip the ship, and set sail. And things go well… until perhaps they don’t. Then, it seems, we have more questions than answers…
Whether your association, charity or not-for-profit staff or board is on autopilot, or whether you are just stuck in a rut when it comes to coming up with an effective and creative way to address an opportunity, challenge or niggling problem, here are a few approaches you could try at your next meeting or board retreat.
Applicants for a job will recognize that common interview question: “Why did you leave your last employer?”
In my consulting work I have discovered a number of valid reasons why one should consider moving on from a job. Years ago I did research on why good employees get fired and heard from executives on reasons why they should have left a job sooner. I’ve continued to talk with individuals who have exited a role because it was no longer the right job for them.
Here is a suggested list of factors that may point to the need to get on with that next chapter in your professional career.
Most associations seek member feedback. Many take this feedback into account in their planning activities….but if this information doesn’t get back to members, all that hard work will have been for nothing. This in mind, there are a number of effective ways to communicate your association’s strategy as an ongoing means to keep members in the loop about what is happening and how their needs and priorities drive the agenda…
Like many folks, you probably do a lot when it comes to gathering stakeholder feedback: You see and make a point of talking to members at association events. Perhaps you make it a habit to pick up the phone or drop in on members periodically to talk to them one-on-one. Maybe you even survey or poll them internally on their satisfaction with events, programs or new issues coming down the pipe.
These are all very important tools to keep your association connected to members on an ongoing basis…but what about when it comes to your planning activities? Typically, member feedback is used as a peripheral driver of the process, if it’s used at all.
The value in planning is not in creating strategy but in implementing it. The purpose of planning includes seeing the positive, tangible results accruing to the organization by instituting and achieving strategic change.
Yet too many organizations see their planning process fail. The strategic plan sits ignored on a bookshelf; the volunteers and staff involved lament the wasted money and lost time in a failed process, understandably reluctant to repeat the same experience again.
Outstanding leaders in the not-for-profit sector have common characteristics. Certainly they must be aligned with their employer’s mission and be a compelling advocate who engages others in that mandate. They must be effective communicators. Leaders engender confidence. What else are not-for-profit boards seeking in staff leaders?
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