The nimble advantage
Small Staff Week continues on Acronym... this post is from Joseph Normandy, executive director of the Vermont Insurance Agents Association.
Small associations, thy name is nimble...
How many times have you heard that? What? Never? I get it, but it's very true.
I have run both large and small groups, and the advantage small groups have for a quality exec is that you get to touch each operation point and trust each employee that shoulders the various efforts.
That is where the long-range plan comes into play. Created by current leadership, past chairpersons, and staff, this critical give-and-take session will separate the pie-in-the sky dreams from the realistic goals a small staff and small budget can accomplish (and they should be able to accomplish a lot, or you have the wrong team). Small organizations do have resource constraints but being nimble in those long-range plans is a huge advantage. You're not dragging around all the momentum that a large organization carries with it. Often, a large organization will lose focus because an elected leader will see it as "their" year and they are going to adjust the ship in a different direction and thus any long-range planning document is useful only as a doorstop. Small staff organizations can build flexibility into their planning; they can analyze their environments and change appropriately with staff and elected leadership working together to chart the best course. The key is planning smartly.
You want to have a good year, your staff wants to have a sense of success, and surely your leadership team, especially your chairman/president, wants a good year, and that can only be achieved through a working long-range plan. Such a working plan is one that everyone follows and is flexible enough to enable the organization to capitalize on circumstances, but provides enough guidance and support to thwart outcries from singular individuals that want the group to address their pet issues.
Being nimble is fun, and used wisely, it is one of the greatest advantages of working for a small association.
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Comments
Smaller association boards and committees seem to be much more accessible and accountable to members. Our members and hence board members tend to stay in the profession and cross paths often, with long memories of what programs and services were initiated by the board.
Posted by: Marianne Shank | May 24, 2011 11:47 AM
That's what I like most about small associations. The organization can be more accessible to everyone and the CEO can be connected to everything without having to be a "hands-on" manager.
If you want to talk to someone else in the office, you just pop your head in the doorway and talk. You don't have to send an email or reserve a meeting time or room.
There don't have to be any rigid rules, either. You can make, break, or change rules as necessary. There's NO bureaucracy.
Posted by: David M. Patt, CAE | May 24, 2011 2:50 PM