Association professionals – a critical species in the corona crisis

Association professionals – a critical species in the corona crisis

Only 3 months ago, prior to Christmas, I reflected on the election of ‘Boomer’ as ‘Word of the Year’ in The Netherlands, with two other novel words related to climate change which I forgot (but who remembers silver and bronze anyway)? I used this election as a metaphor of our times, in which boomers were considered a thing of the past and today’s anonymous social media activism was becoming the new reality. Polarization versus ‘Polderisation’ (if you allow me to paraphrase this Dutch cultural heritage). Arguments for arguments’ sake rather than as a means for reaching an agreement on common goals.

As a boomer myself, I considered the election of ‘Boomer’ as a tribute to our generation’s innate ability to connect opposites and nominated ‘TOGETHER’ as the word for 2020.

Togetherness

And look where we are now. An unknown virus from China has turned the world not just upside down like the bats from which it originates, it has created a virtual lockdown. And if there was ever a time for ‘TOGETHER’ to make a comeback, this is the time! Ironically, ‘social distancing’ has brought societies closer together, at least in the short run, and is resulting in the revaluation of collective rather than individual values and solutions. The unprecedented global downturn, at a time when leading economies were operating at almost full capacity, serves as frequently quoted reminder that ‘we’re all in this together’.

Association Community: the Force of Connections

The outbreak of Covid-19 is impacting the association community in different ways. As a backbone for many international associations, the conferences and events department has taken a big hit. Not only are many non-profit organisations deprived from an important source of non-membership fee income, they are also facing contractual cancellation terms which are not covered in most insurance policies’ ‘force majeure’ clauses. At this point, from our own experience I would like to express our gratitude to our conference hotels and venue partners that have been very cooperative and flexible in canceling or postponing events. Hopefully, associations will soon be in the position again to return the favour.

Enters: the Virtual Association

Association meetings are also a powerful vehicle to make and nurture personal connections between members, to interact with them by sharing information, to exchange experiences, transfer knowledge and decide on joint programmes and initiatives. Now that physical meetings are on hold for a prolonged period and travel is restricted to the bare minimum, the ‘virtual association’ has accelerated its entry. What 9/11 meant for digital communications and teleconferencing, Covid-19 is now doing for video conferencing. Where after 9/11 in 2001, association professionals and volunteer leaders were stuck in their office workplaces, the 2020 near ‘déjà vu’ centers around the home office where meeting  spaces (at home and online) have to be shared with other parties (private and business wise). In today’s world of hacked and distorted information this brings with it challenges for data privacy and confidentiality. 

Learning by doing

The association world is part of a steep learning curve in managing these challenges and keeping members’ attention and commitment. While ‘online’ cannot replicate the importance of verbal and non-verbal communications in a ‘live’ setting, it is however hard to imagine that things will entirely get back to normal once the Covid-19 restrictions are lifted. On the contrary! The past decade, associations have already been exploring and discovering the additional potential of bringing their organisations on-line. Not as a replacement of existing services and programmes, but as a complementary asset that enables them to reach individuals inside the membership who are restricted in their travel possibilities behind their front door, 24/7. It is therefore mandatory that association professionals add this new dimension to their portfolio of competences, not just technology wise. What works live may not work in an online setting, but online settings do offer the opportunity to add a new dimension to the association experience. We can only find out by doing.

Navigating the critical infrastructure

What started as health crisis, then declared a pandemic, has now spilled over into the real economy. While globalization has enabled the Covid-19 virus to invade all corners of the world, the current approach of the pandemic is mostly decided at national government level (albeit with international co-ordination attempts by WHO and EU). The installation of public health measures by different degrees of lockdowns and border closures in many countries across the globe, has resulted in an exponential increase of national and international association advocacy and joint initiatives to withstand the crisis.

Members have found their way to their professional society, trade association or other stakeholder organization to claim their ‘essentiality’ in the context of the critical infrastructure as declared by their national government to ensure the continued flow of foodstuff, pharmaceuticals and medication. Through them, they are also appealing to the EU and national governments to minimise obstructions for cross border transportation and ensure the continued availability of critical raw materials and chemicals. Reversely, in reaching out to professions, industries and sectors, governments and authorities find a convenient partner in associations to address the challenges together.

Associations are also helping their members in offering tools and filtered information to support them in bridging the crisis.

What this crisis has revealed is that today’s supply chains are so connected, both in terms of specialization and complexity and in terms of geography, that only a collective and internationally concerted effort can help them ‘standing out from the crowd’ in their attempt to be heard. Association professionals therefore need to be alert and aware about what drives their members joint interest and where their organisations provide critical value.

The way forward: different scenarios

It is foreseen that until the northern summer, all efforts in public, private and collective organisations will be directed at bridging the lockdown crisis by managing the health risk of citizens, workers and elderly, the installation of virtual offices and meeting facilities, damage control by missed income, cancelled meetings and inactive workers, emphasizing the role of members in the critical infrastructure, helping members to pull together and facilitating the flow information and exchange of experiences and best practices. Should the Covid-19 crisis last longer than the summer, the focus might shift from bridging the gap to survival.

As scenario planning expert Paul de Ruijter and his team suggest however, we should already start thinking about the period beyond ‘corona’: about adjustment (doing the same things but in a different way as in case of online meetings), or a complete transformation of systems (including the associated revaluation of the collective). 

I recommend that members of the association professionals community pull TOGETHER to assess the impact of the different scenarios and prepare for a future that will never be the same.

Jules Lejeune