Elisa Pratt Discusses the Board Leadership Crisis with Charlotte Kemp

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Welcome to another edition of the Associations Edition, our conversation with association leaders and and gurus and experts around the world where we try and dive into some of the issues that our associations are experiencing at the moment during these turbulent times, but also how we're going to look at strategy into the future. Talking about strategy, our guest today is Elisa Pratt, and Elisa and I are going to talk about how strategic planning needs to change, the urgency of retention, and the board leadership crisis. So these are all topics that I really want to talk about. Elisa is an associations guru. So definitely the right kind of guest for us. She is passionate about the member and board leader experience. And we met recently on another webinar that we were both guests on. And we connected on LinkedIn, and I invited Elisa to speak to us. So Elisa, welcome to the conversation.

Yes, Charlotte, thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to find someone else who is as excited as I am about this and maybe even as big of an association nerd as I am.

Yes, yeah, we have a niche market here. We're looking at our policies and procedures and in our association, and we found just, just a tiny, tiny fraction of the membership who are very, very excited to get together on a Saturday and spend 4 hours looking at policies and procedures. It's definitely not for everyone, but it really is good to speak to people with a like mind. So Lisa, tell us first a little bit about how you got into this. If you are passionate about the association world, what led you into this experience?

Absolutely. Well, I actually spent many years, almost, almost 20 years on the staff side. So before becoming a consultant and getting to, to work with organizations around the world, I spent most of my time in the trade association space working with organizations where member companies were their members. So not only were they trying to serve an industry and a company, but all of those employees and all of those points of contact within the company itself. So that is really where I started to identify the need and the challenge and the urgency of engagement, the urgency of connectivity, and giving, finding a path, you know, defining the journey for a member to get more involved.

Because there are only going to be that small percentage of people who are willing to give more than just the dues payment.

Yes.

Their time, their passion, their interest, and their voice. to some of these both internal and external initiatives that associations are mission-driven to deliver.

Yeah.

And now as a consultant, I get to dive in, you know, and really be in the trenches with my clients, especially these last 9 months. You know, the world has turned upside down, and it's— I think it's put a mirror up to a lot of people. And there are— this is more than just a health crisis. This is a crisis of participation, a crisis of engagement, a crisis of leadership. And associations have an opportunity now to kind of face that truth and really take that hard look in the mirror, or continue to be reactionary and distracted.

Yeah, no, absolutely. A lot of the people that I deal with are very new to this. We kind of come into the association world by accident through our own professional bodies or trade associations. And a lot of people, it's kind of really opening up this new world they didn't— you know, people thought that they could just raise their hand, volunteer for a year or two, and then as they get involved in this level of leadership, realizing the huge implications of what is going on. And for some of my colleagues who stepped up at this time of our world history, it's been really quite a shocker. But now, Elisa, with all of your experience over the years, What is association leadership feeling like to you in this year that is so different from the past?

Well, you mentioned people who just have kind of raised their hand and out of their— the good of their heart or their commitment to the greater cause have been voluntold that they're going to be in some role of service or leadership. And I think it's become quite clear that leadership has to be more dedicated, more intentional. than that. And even if your, your instinct is to volunteer and give, you then need to spend— the organization needs to spend some time and some investment in helping you serve in that role to the best of your capacity, to the best of your ability. Leadership cannot be accidental. You are not going to get to success. You are not going to fulfill your path of organizational evolution with with accidental, inconsistent, and uncommitted leaders. And, you know, I've recently launched a board leadership program. It's called Impact. And I started to realize how much time and money and energy organizations and associations spend on training their staff, but they don't do the same for their boards.

Yeah.

They don't spend any time training or honing the skills or even educating their board as to their roles and to the opportunity available to them. So our 12-week program is really an opportunity for associations to send their board leaders to, to a virtual boot camp, if you will, that helps them prepare themselves to be the leaders that these organizations really need them to be right now. Now is such an important time of pivot and opportunity and recalibration that, that this is a chance for organizations to, to take a risk in some cases In other cases, to, to roll back and to reinforce their strengths and maybe let some things go. And that's where I look to strategic planning as well. I'm a strategic planning nerd. I love it. I, I have knocked on many a door singing its importance, but strategic planning's got a bad rap. People consider it boring. They consider it you know, a day and a half, you know, lecture in a boardroom where they're trapped and don't want to be there. That's not what strategic planning needs to be.

Right.

You know, if you— if we need to rephrase it, maybe it just needs a new sexier title.

I don't know.

But strategic planning has definitely gotten a bad rap. And the planning that I developed for my clients and with my clients and what I've seen organizations respond the best to is mission-focused, member-focused, and it's really about strategic visioning. It's an exciting opportunity. It's, you know, it's really a rare and unique conversation that you get to have with the people who love your organization the most. And I find staff are often scared of it because they don't want to come out of it with a to-do list.

Mm-hmm.

But it's really such an important opportunity, and it can be a great adventure. to engage in, in the right way with your board and your staff and the right facilitator to help define that future for your organization. And when your board members are invested in and trained and understand their role and they're ready to be the leaders you need, and the staff are involved in a proactive way, strategic planning can be a beautiful thing. And I know that sounds so dramatic, but, you know, I really, I hate to see it get such a bad rap.

Yeah, no, I agree with you 100%. So as a futurist, we spend a lot of time obviously looking at versions of strategic planning, but we talk a lot about scenarios and envisioning and how we've managed change and how we describe the future. So, you know, there are lots of other ways of kind of approaching it, but I find when I try and have these conversations with associations, the strategic plan that they're looking at is just based entirely on history. Like, oh, we can't do that because our members in the past, we can't do that because we've never had those kinds of leaders, as opposed to really envisioning what their association could be like and recognizing that changes have happened. So a lot of it is kind of just changing their mindset from the past to the future.

And that's why now, because we all admit, I think, as a society, as a world population, that the past is the past. The world will never be the same. As, as it was, you know, in good old 2019. And, and I think that gives organizations— it forces them a bit to step out of that the past is our, is our legacy, the past is our comfort zone, because that past is no longer.

Yeah.

And that's why I know a lot of clients and even previous clients and new clients are coming out of the woodwork saying, hey, we we know we can't go back. We know that we don't know what the new normal looks like, but we know it won't be like it was. And we need a new plan. We need a new approach. We need a new perspective even. And, you know, I often gather a lot of organizational data and analysis and do those kind of association 360s. And now, you know, information that's even 24, 36 months old is is fairly useless.

Yes.

So we have nothing but to look to the future. And in some ways, we can't be as data-driven as we'd like to be, because we don't have analysis and numbers from this new, new world. But we can create a hypothesis, we can set expectations, we can, we can design, we can define a future that we'd like to achieve. And, and that's where I think organizations need to take advantage of this window of time instead of being afraid of it or being stuck in a paralysis. I think this is a really exciting time. And these last— everyone's had to get through the survival mode. And I think there was a period of hibernation. People were just kind of waiting and seeing what was going to happen. And, you know, as the winter comes, I think that hibernation, in a bit of irony, thaws a bit. And people are now looking to 2021 with, with an optimism or with at least an understanding that they're going to have to make some decisions.

decisions.

They're going to have to take some action for their organizations to remain relevant and to survive. They can't just wait and see the whole time that the pandemic is settling itself out.

Yeah, absolutely. I think, you know, so much is broken. You know, those expectations and those assumptions of what we had and the assumptions of how other companies and other industries are doing and how we relate to them, all of those kind of assumptions are broken. So I keep saying to people, if things are broken, let's break it a little bit more and find new ways of doing things. And if the data doesn't work because the data is outdated, then we look to the narrative and we start telling the stories about what could be or what has been experienced or what people are going through right now. And those stories are quite powerful drivers of change and allowing people to express their anxiety about what they don't have control over at the moment. But then telling a story of how they wish things were. And that is what we're using to kind of move people forward, I think.

Yes.

So I've worked with a gentleman named David Hutchins, and he created the Storytelling Leader Program. And I'm a big fan of the narrative. I think especially in the board leadership context, that to have the most effective board possible, they need to not only know how to tell their own stories, their own personal and professional stories, But they need to be champions and messengers of the organization's story. But you're right, the data can't— without data, we can't do nothing. We have to leverage those stories and define new metrics. It's not always about how we've measured before or even what we've counted before. I think the measure of value and the measure of relevance and an organization's impact is even changing. You know, it's not just, it's not just headcount. I tell organizations all the time, you know, do you want more members or do you want the right members?

Mm-hmm.

And it's, it's, it's not about volume. It's about quality. It's about impact. It's about relevance. And, you know, this isn't just about having more and having more and having more and being bigger. If anything, I think we've all used this opportunity to evaluate what's really important to us. And whether that's time with our family or the relationships or the missions of our organization, it's not just about being massive and consuming and having the headcounts and the roles and the dollars. It's about really being of significance, being of value, being something that means something.

Yeah. No, you're absolutely right. Tell me what you think about what the board leaders are going through, their own kind of personal stress and anxieties at the moment. So, you know, we have this responsibility in terms of the association, the organization, but a lot of people are really going through some personal anxieties. How, you know, what kind of advice do we have for coping with that and helping them through this time?

I so feel for board leaders right now. Imagine if you are the board chair You've waited all of these years working your way through the chain of command, and now your, your year has been wholly hijacked by, by COVID. They've canceled the big conference at which you were going to be the speaker or receive your gavel or whatever it was, and, and your whole year has been, you know, potentially derailed by something completely out of your and your organization's control. So I empathize with that, and I know that no— there are a few things that no board leader ever wants to have happen on their tenure, and I think we can now safely say that a global pandemic is one of those things. Yeah.

You know, board leaders always also tend to—

they don't want to have a senior turnover during their time, and I think we're seeing what COVID has done to to the staff executive. Yes.

And how many have decided to maybe move up their retirements, or how many weren't necessarily ready to be that change agent and, and so have moved on. So boards are dealing with, you know, dwindling reserves, canceled meetings, change in leadership, and it's, it's a struggle. They have never been under such pressure and been facing such challenge. So it's— that's when, you know, when I looked around and I saw there really is a crisis of leadership, not because they're not good leaders, but because they've never been in these circumstances before. And many at the same time. You know, this is a perfect storm of multiple pressure points, multiple stressors.

Yeah.

And I did a program for for Association Trends about engaging, you know, making sure your board leaders are engaged. Give them the tools to, to be the leaders that you need them to be. And a lot of that starts with, with transparency. I've seen so many staff keep their leaders kind of at a safe distance and give them just what they need to approve and vote and rubber stamp the operations of the organization. We now need to pull back the curtain and make sure those board leaders are fully aware of the organization's reality.

Yes.

Good, bad, or ugly. They can't help us. They can't be our stewards. They can't be the, the representatives of the membership if they don't truly know what's going on. And they, they deserve that. They deserve to have all the information at hand and As, as we ask them to make decisions.

Yeah.

Yeah, no, you're right. There's no good reason to hide that information because you have this anxiety of, you know, things are wrong. You're not quite sure what you're dealing with. And I say this from experience, having lost a couple of businesses in my own life. You know, when you sit down and you face the facts of what you're looking at, it's a horrible experience, but then you're empowered. You've got the information you need to actually move forward on that. I'm on a collaboration at the moment with a number of different association leaders who are in the events industry here in South Africa, and these are all people who are senior leaders or association leaders in their own associations, but they have their own businesses. They're all volunteer buddies, and now they're also volunteering on this collaboration. And just to see the anxiety that they're going through having to face this and the transparency that is in that group is amazing. People sitting there talking about their personal anxiety and their business responsibilities and their association responsibilities, and then still digging deep down to find something to bring to a new collaboration so that we can find ways to face this together in this part of the world. And I'm just amazed at the courage and the resilience of so many of these leaders who, you know, who could very well just you know, be throwing their hands up and hiding their heads, because I think from time to time we've all needed to do that this last year.

No, these last 6 months have shown— I think it's allowed those leaders that have that special spirit and that resilience and that energy, they've risen to the surface and they've become— it's been easier as a staff leader and as a consultant to see who they are. And, and yet at the same time, I don't want to, I don't want to, to demonize those who have shrunk back. This is, these are such unprecedented times, and these board leaders weren't given training beforehand, let alone now. So I can only hope that they're, as their voice has quieted or they've stuck their head in the sand or whatever cliché we want to use, that it's not because they aren't passionate about the mission or the organization or the membership. It's simply because they haven't been given the tools. They haven't been given the, the context or the information or the directive. And, you know, I believe that every board leader has the potential and has the capacity, or else they wouldn't have volunteered.

Yes.

But, but again, when we invest in our staff and we invest in, you the professional development of those on our salaried paid staff team, we need to look at how we're investing in our board leaders and what we're doing to prepare them for the roles to which they are rising. We can't expect them to be the leaders that we need and have that visionary and innovative and courageous thought if we haven't laid the foundation and given them the infrastructure of confidence, and governance education and really the ability to take on grand challenges.

Yeah.

So yes, I'm amazed and in awe of those board leaders that have shown themselves to be true rock stars in these times. But it only makes me gravitate more towards the board leaders that seem to stand back and be more quiet because it just shows me that they don't have the tools. They haven't been given those tools.

Yeah. Elisa, let's talk a little bit about the membership experience. I know that, you know, some associations have struggled to the point where their existence is under threat. Others have certainly lost a number of members. How— what kind of advice or insight do you have about how we actually take care of our members during this time? I know in the beginning that the first conversations were, you know, communicate, communicate with your members and a lot of people did a lot of communication and the members were saying, okay, too much communication. But, you know, there's kind of this fine line of, you know, what value can we actually offer them when there are so many variables and so many unknowns?

Right.

You know, I think there's a difference between communicate and conversation. Communicate to me means pushing out noise, pushing out message that Justifies what you're doing or pushes out solicitations. Communicate, communicate, communicate to me is, is, you know, you're trying to be proactive, but at the same time it's about you, the organization.

Yes.

I think that this window of time and our opportunity to express to our members the value they have for us and the importance they serve and our, our, our commitment to serve them. Comes more through listening.

Yeah.

Comes more through conversation and, and asking questions. And I don't mean sending surveys. I mean asking them how they're doing. I mean having a concierge-type culture that whatever I can do to help that member, it may not be on the benefits list, it may not be on the member services list, but you know what, if I can help you find that one government document that you've been looking for, or if I can put you in contact with another member I know in a different region who struggled with this. None of that is on the member services brochure. But that's the human piece of this that is so much more important. And I think we've all seen that these last, these last 9 months, you know, pushing out more newsletters and more email alerts and keeping our members advised of the current circumstances of which are important to their businesses and their industries and their professions is great, but flipping that switch and, and asking them how they're doing, asking what they— what you could do to, to help them to make the remainder of their year better. You know, a lot of people are having to cancel their holiday parties and cancel their year-end engagements, whatever it might look like. That doesn't mean you can't send your members, you know, a token of your appreciation or a letter that says thank you, or start a phone campaign where, you know, you're simply calling them and leaving a message that says we're thinking about you.

Yeah.

We hope you and your team and your families are safe, and if Association XYZ can be of any service or of any help to you, never hesitate to call. Or contact us because you are our member, you are why we exist, and we are here to help you in any way possible.

Yeah, music to my ears. I mean, I could just agree with everything you're saying. Absolutely.

You know, people try to make engagement and retention and all of this so scientific.

Yeah, this is just about—

this is just about people. This is about humanity. This is about the humanity within us. And the psychology of our needs and our need to feel like a part of a community, our need to be reassured, our, you know, all of those things I think are just such core human instincts. And people try to package them and sell them in these ways that I think are overly— they're just turned into gobbledygook and overly structured and made overly complicated.

Yeah.

You know, if we just put ourselves in our members' shoes half the time, I think we could save a lot of problems.

Yeah.

I found this, I mean, so simple. This year I started phoning members, not even phoning them, just sending them a voice WhatsApp note on their birthdays. So we got very, very active WhatsApp groups around our chapters and, you know, the birthday message comes up and everybody sends a little text message. And I just sent a voice message and You know, it's probably even more efficient than typing the message, but the impact has been so incredible on the members. I mean, they're phoning me back to thank me for a voice note.

Yeah.

But it's just that, you know, a different way of communicating and taking the time to say, you know, we really have, you know, thought of you today. And we can't solve all your problems, but we just recognize what you're going through. And so, those small human touches are making such a difference to the association that I'm a deputy president of. And we really, I mean, the whole body is really thriving from a new kind of experience of how we relate to each other, which I think we've really discovered during this time, which has been a benefit of this crazy year that we've had.

I love that. I love that idea. And that's the point is there are so many silver linings here.

Yeah.

Yes.

So many silver linings on the board side, on the membership side, on the organizational side. And unfortunately, many organizations have had to get lean and the financial impact of this has not been pleasant. But that puts us in a position of, I think, creativity.

Yeah.

And it frees us up to make some of the more difficult decisions of letting some legacy programs go or Or getting creative with some lower-cost engagement and focusing on the human side of this. So yes, so many silver linings, and I'm excited to hear that those ideas are penetrating and that they're working for organisations.

Yeah.

As you're talking, I'm just thinking our treasurer deserves an award. It's been, yeah, it's been a really crazy year for the treasurer to deal with. All right, so Lisa, people could come to either you or I and talk about strategy for their associations and their organisations. But what kind of broad advice would you give? A lot of people are looking like, oh, 2020 must end now and 2021 will be better. But the implications of this year are going to be felt for many years. 2021 could be a worse experience for us than the current year. So as we go into that as association executives, how do we kind of prepare ourselves to plan any kind of strategy when there's still so many variables? So kind of like a big, broad inspirational picture that we could look at in terms of strategy.

I think there, you know, the fact that this, this hypothetical executive you're describing wants to have a plan, that's, that's your first success, that you're not going to sit and wait and allow your organization to be a victim of whatever the current circumstances. You can't wait around.

Yes.

You need to plan for your future, your survival now, and plan your recovery now. You can't wait until after this is all over to begin recovery. Recovery began In April.

Yes.

Recovery began in, in May. And so begin that as soon as you can. And just the knowledge of the need for a plan and knowing that you need to have a plan is your first step.

The other piece of this in my mind is commit to doing fewer things better. You don't need to be everything you were because the past is no longer, but understand based on your needs, the needs of your members and the conversations that you've had, your financial ability and understanding of where you are in terms of revenue and reserves. Figure out what you can do and still knock out of the park. You know, what can be your core strengths, your core deliverables? Maybe you don't have 18 programs in 2021. Maybe you focus on the top 6.

Yeah.

Do fewer things better so that you are able to have some control over over your realities. And of course, events are the big unknown here, and I know that they are such a revenue driver for, for so many organizations, and, and those are circumstances and, you know, regulations and, and that are out of our control. But, you know, if you're, if you're really just an events organization disguised as an association, then maybe a bigger conversation needs to be had.

Yeah. No, that's very good advice. Really good big picture story. Elisa, thank you very much. If people wanted to get hold of you, where would they find you online?

Yeah, I'm very active on LinkedIn. But brewerprattsolutions.com is my website. And the impact program, the board training and leadership program that I talked about, is part of my Association Transformation I host a podcast myself, Association Transformation: The Podcast, and the Impact Leadership Program is there. So associationtransformation.org is probably a good one-stop shop for a lot of my initiatives. But I'd love to reach out and connect with you on LinkedIn and look forward to talking to you again, Charlotte, and those within your audience.

Lisa, thank you very much. I'll have all those links in the show notes as well. And the show will be on futurespodcast.com. And I'll share that link with yourself. Thank you very much. It's been really exciting talking to you. Like I said in the beginning, you know, I'm ready to be new to this space as well. And I'm just amazed at how many of my colleagues who have kind of stepped into these roles by accident, how blindly we have been wandering around when there are incredible resources like yourself and the programs you've worked on. So, we definitely do need to kind of tap into the wisdom that's there. There's no reason for us to wander around in the dark wondering how to do something how to cope with a crisis when you have resources like yourselves to share with us. So thank you very much for that.

Absolutely. Thank you so much. And thanks for having me visit all the way from South Africa. I love these international connections that we may not have come upon otherwise. But the world is more connected than ever, and you actually have more opportunity to serve your members than ever. So stick with it. You're not alone. And yes, there are people out here to help association nerds and gurus like myself. Who will be around to interview you. Awesome.

Elisa, thank you very much. Thanks so much, Charlotte. To read more about this podcast interview with Elisa Pratt, please look at futurespodcast.com. And if you'd like to contact me directly about the futures work that I do for associations and other organizations, you can find me on charlottekemp.co.za.