To a great extent, we’ve all been winging it, making it up as we go along and doing the best we can in both our personal lives and with our associations, The following ten strategies will help us survive and thrive as we move ahead.

1. Use Teamwork to Develop Solutions - Everything with the pandemic is unprecedented and no one has the experience to know what to do. We are all, to a great extent, just doing the best we can. This is a perfect time to use the benefits of teamwork. Whenever possible, associations should use workgroups, task forces and other forms of teams to work out solutions to the challenges before us. Teams will provide a well-thought-out solution that has a greater chance of success, and the team members will emotionally benefit from the interaction with others.

2. Make Information Relevant to Your Members – There is an overwhelming amount of information out there about the pandemic, but much of it is unrelated or irrelevant to your members. Most associations are discovering that their members are drowning in a sea of restrictions, regulations, and ever-changing rules. This is the perfect time for an association to step up and clarify the issues relevant to members, without all the clutter that is unrelated to the members’ businesses. Dedicating resources to becoming the prime source of information to your members will serve your members well. In turn, the association will create a positive, long-term impression on your members that will bind them to you for years.

3. Get Rid of the Sacred Cows – We all have them…those programs that have been around for years and have outlived their usefulness but are still fondly embraced by members. Pre-pandemic, any mention of eliminating these sacred cows would be resisted by members on an emotional level. However, the pandemic has caused all of us to re-think our priorities and question how we spend our time. This is a perfect time for associations to question every program and eliminate the ones that are not the most beneficial.

4. Push Change Forward – For years, associations experts have been pushing for us to use newer technologies to serve and interact with members. Pre-pandemic, many associations resisted moving to new tools such as video conferences. Now, of course, almost all associations have embraced video conferences and we are not going to stop using them once the pandemic has subsided. Now is also the perfect time to implement other technologies that help communications with members or aid members (or staff) in interacting with each other. We have thought about making these changes before, but now is the time to push them forward.
 
5. Find Your Fauci – Dr. Anthony Fauci has become the face of the pandemic in the United States. He may be the MVP of 2020 as he has become the voice of reason and sanity for many. Who are the Dr. Fauci’s in your member’s industry? Maybe it is a businessperson who can be the voice of reason to your members. Maybe it is your lobbyist who can cut through all the political jargon to help your members deal with the ever-changing rules, regulations, and restrictions. Each association would be well-served to identify their own versions of a Dr. Fauci to be the calming, rational, and informative experts’ members need.

6. Know How Your Members Feel - During this pandemic, members will not remember what we did for them as much as they will remember how we made them feel. This is a time where stress, anxiety and emotions are hitting members hard. It is important, now more than ever before, to make sure the members know you care about them. They need to know they are not in this alone and that their association and their fellow members feel their pain, share their burden, and have their back. Associations that find ways to show members they care about their safety, well-being and business will build a last bond of loyalty with members.

7. Trust Your Staff – Many associations have all or most of their staff working from home during the pandemic. Before the pandemic, only a few association staff could work from home. The cultural norm in the American workforce was that most employees could not be trusted to work from home. That part of our culture has changed, probably forever, as associations and businesses have discovered that productivity has risen dramatically with employees working from home. The most successful associations have also demonstrated a higher level of employee trust by giving them more authority to make decisions. Decisions that used to need supervisor approval, are now being made by the staff member directly working on a project. This has further led to a more productive workforce.

8. Invest in the Home Office – Even after the pandemic, many employees are going to expect to work from home, at least for a few days each week. One of the downsides to employees working at home is that their work areas are not always ideal. Slow internet connections, old computers, lack of virus protection, and poor ergonomics have led to frustration and long-term health issues. Investing in better internet, a standup desk and a better chair can all help employees be more happy, healthy, and productive.

9. Encourage More and Smaller Groups – Many associations have moved their annual conference to a virtual format. This has been a good alternative way for members to get the education credits they need/want, but it has been less affective at giving members a way to network and socialize. To fill that gap, many associations are creating smaller online groups that allow a more intimate environment for members to interact. Special interest groups, virtual coffee breaks or cocktail hours, and online book clubs are just some ways associations have created more small group opportunities for members.

10. Seek Opportunities – While we have all been doing our best to survive during the pandemic, associations are well suited to identify and seize opportunities caused by this crisis. Maybe there is an opportunity to create a new service or product that helps members, develop a new way to connect members, or create an information source that members need. The associations that look past the immediacy of the crisis and find the opportunities will be the ones that thrive as we emerge into whatever normal eventually looks like.