Jean Roberts

This article, written by Jean Roberts, first appeared in the August 2005 issue of Association Management (Not For Profit Network’s monthly magazine) 

“The ideal CEO would be a poet, an historian and a student of weather maps” (Bill Reddin) 

Association Executives operate in an environment that is constantly changing and active. Added to this, they are expected to be full of energy and new ideas, offer stability and support to their people, and ensure a positive and powerful public image for the association and its services. In short, Association Executives are expected to be Super-CEOs. 

Surely it is fair and reasonable to take a sympathetic glance into this work-a-day world. A typical day may begin with a prepared ‘task list’ for the day, with anticipated time limits allocated to individual tasks. And of course the tasks will be categorised as to whether they are (a) urgent and important, (b) urgent or (c) important. (Yes, Association Executives have read up on time management!).

Category (a) tasks for today:

• 1 hour Management meeting
• approving the final draft of an Expression of Interest
• meeting with a newly promoted Membership Officer on her third day in the job
• Corporate Luncheon
• National Peak Body working group meeting

Category (b) tasks for today:

• reading 3 report summaries
• regular fortnightly meeting with the Board Chairperson

Category (c) tasks for today:

• dot points for end of the month full-Staff meeting
• check arrangements for the Board Retreat in 4 weeks’ time
• catch up on reading of recent management journals
• re-schedule deferred Project Management meeting for the office extension

It’s not unusual for Association Executives to be the first to arrive at the office in the hope that those ‘urgent and important’ tasks carried over from yesterday might be dealt before staff (who can be a mixture of paid and unpaid) arrive to commence service and administrative activities for the day.

There are some common components in the Association Executive’s responsibilities, regardless of the size of the Association or staff numbers, for example:

• the governing body – in accordance with incorporation or registration legislation
• the membership base
• the Constitution reflecting incorporation legislation with compliance requirements
• copious other legislative, statutory and contractual compliance requirements
• the Annual General Meeting to be held
• the Annual Report, complete with audited financial statements, to be prepared
• regular Board meetings, and possibly meetings of Committees of the Board
• a data-base of members, service-users, donors, contributors (one or all of these)
• regular preparation of submissions, proposals or tenders (perhaps all of these)
• stakeholder surveys, meetings and negotiations
• external relationships, including funding sources and suppliers
• employment issues, terms and conditions with full-time, part-time or casual staff
• publicity and promotion activities

And, most important of all, there will be a range of people with whom the Association Executive will need to work or collaborate in achieving the purpose for which the Association exists – which may be to recruit and retain members and provide member services (as in a member-based association) or to provide services to people with a common need, interest or aspiration (as in a needs-based association).

Let’s pause here to check the context of the Association Executive’s position.

The Chief Executive Officer of an Association is usually appointed by the Board through normal employment procedures, and is a professional or career position. There are two major components to this position – however large or small the association:

• to act as executive officer to the Board, which includes advising and informing the Board as it fulfils its governance role and function, and
• to manage the day-to-day affairs and activities of the association within the Board-endorsed strategic, financial and policy frameworks

The Pareto Rule is a fair measure here – approximately 20% of the CEO’s time on Board-related matters, and approximately 80% of the CEO’s time on managing the day-to-day affairs and activities of the association.

The Association Executive is the critical link between the Board (the conceptual, strategic and legally accountable level of activity within the Association) and day-to-day operations (the practical implementation and delivery of services and administration to achieve the purpose for which the Association exists).

 Examples of Key Result Areas for an Association Executive’s position provide a handy checklist to monitor likely events through a typical day that will surely upset the carefully prepared ‘task list’:

1. Board advice, information and development:

• an unexpected request arrives by email from the Board Chairperson for facts and figures to support a Committee recommendation to the next Board meeting
• this item can be added to this morning’s one-hour Management meeting and the provision of facts and figures will be provided by appropriate staff to satisfy the request

2. Monitoring legislative, statutory and contractual requirements, including incorporation and general regulatory requirements, membership base and service or quality standards:

• information arrives in the morning’s ‘snail mail’ about likely legislative amendments to the incorporation or registration legislation
• this item needs to be explored for inclusion in the Board meeting papers due for distribution tomorrow afternoon

3. Program or service planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation:

• two pilot programs have been designed, run and evaluated, and the evaluators’ recommendations for ‘next actions’ will be discussed at the one-hour Management meeting this morning
• these pilots are the first step toward introducing new member benefits, and could well be a major factor in achieving targets for increased membership recruitment and retention

4. Communication – including delegation, negotiation and reporting:

• news arrives of a misinterpretation of an article in the internal bulletin which has contributed to unwarranted concern about the viability of a planned strategic alliance
• all is well, but the misinterpretation needs to be sorted quickly with the authority of the Association Executive – both internally and externally – together with finding and fixing the cause of the misinterpretation

5. Research, needs analysis and information management:

• needs-based planning has recently been introduced, and is going according to plan
• linking needs-based planning with evidence-based reporting is an agenda item for this morning’s Management meeting, and it promises to be a stimulating discussion
• however, instinct is now telling the Association Executive to spend some time preparing for expressions of concern about the time required to implement these changes

6. Funding and financial base, including income generation:

• financial KPIs include a target of 10% increase in membership revenue this year
• Corporate membership is the agreed strategy to achieve this target, and a Corporate Luncheon has been scheduled for 1pm today with carefully selected invitees
• 3 apologies have been received by phone this morning, leaving only 2 guests
• need to decide whether to proceed or defer

7. Sector effectiveness, including contribution to government and sector policy development, implementation and evaluation:

• the Association Executive has agreed to join a working group of the National Peak Body to discuss the results of their membership survey with a view to preparing a response to a government policy ‘request for information’
• although this meeting is on the task list for 3pm today, news has just been received that the response to the survey has been very poor: some phoning around even at this late stage seems imperative

8. Human resource management:

• the procedure for performance appraisals has just been completed, and 2 of the 3 Managers have now requested a one-on-one meeting later this afternoon

The Association Executive’s relationship with the Board 

The Board, as the employing body, is responsible for directing, monitoring and protecting the CEO: