Future of Association Boards | Issue 6 | 10-15-24

The Future of Association Boards (FAB) Newsletter is the official newsletter of the Future of Association Boards (FAB) Community Dialogue. Please join the FAB Community Dialogue LinkedIn Group and please also consider following our new FAB Community Dialogue LinkedIn Showcase Page!

In Issue 6

1. From the Editor: FAB Community Dialogue Continues Exploring Board Purpose
2. On the FAB Agenda: Current State of Poll No. 5
3. Call to Action: Vote on Polls No. 5/No. 6 and Join Upcoming FAB Conversations
4. About the FAB Community Dialogue

?URGENT ACTION REQUEST! We need your votes AND comments on Poll No. 5. The poll closes this Thursday 10/17 at 8:30 am EDT, and we need to know what you think before that deadline. Please take a moment right now to click on the poll link, cast your vote, and post a comment to add context to your choice. Thank you!

1. From the Editor: FAB Community Dialogue Continues Exploring Board Purpose

This is Issue 6 of the Future of Association Boards (FAB) Newsletter, the official newsletter of the FAB Community Dialogue. We now have more than 940 subscribers and I hope we will reach 1,000 subscribers before U.S. Thanksgiving in November. (?? Belated Thanksgiving best wishes to our Canadian subscribers! ??) Thank you to everyone who has subscribed! (If this newsletter was shared by a colleague, I hope you will subscribe.)

This month, the FAB Community Dialogue is continuing its exploration of the current purpose of association boards, with a focus on stewardship. Poll No. 4, which closed at the beginning of the month, confirmed that it is important for our community to unify around a common understanding of stewardship, with 88% of respondents saying it is either essential or important.

To deepen our inquiry, Poll No. 5 examines the question "which orthodox belief is most detrimental to establishing stewardship as the purpose of association boards?" As of this newsletter's publication date (10/15), a plurality of votes identifies "stewardship is financial" as the most detrimental orthodoxy, defined as "boards discuss stewardship primarily in the context of managing financial resources rather than as a holistic approach to guiding the association’s work." There is an excellent conversation happening in the poll's comments (see several comments below), and I urge you to join in by voting AND commenting on the poll before it closes on Thursday 10/17 at 8:30 am EDT.

?? WE NEED YOUR HELP! In September, the FAB Community Dialogue earned the LinkedIn Active Group Badge, and now we need your help to renew it for October! The good news is that we already have achieved one of our two targets, which is ten or more unique group members posting or commenting on group posts. The less-good news is that we are only halfway to reaching our second target: ten group posts with at least one comment.

You can help us renew our badge by 1) commenting on these two group posts: VOTE! and WE NEED YOUR GREAT THINKING!, 2) commenting on every new group post made over the next two weeks, and/or 3) creating your own post from the group page on which others can comment. (If you haven't yet, I invite you to join the FAB Community Dialogue LinkedIn Group today!)

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2. On the FAB Agenda: Current State of Poll No. 5

[The On the FAB Agenda section will direct your attention toward the FAB Community Dialogue's current poll and conversations. As our dialogue continues, this section will include more commentary and sharing of key ideas, insights, and takeaways.]

FAB Community Dialogue Poll No. 5 is open now and will be through this Thursday 10/17 at 8:30 am EDT, which means there is still time for all FAB group members and newsletter subscribers to participate. If you have not yet voted, I urge you to do so and please also share your thoughts in a comment on the poll. Your comments situate your vote in context and provide richness to our discussion.

As I mentioned above, there is a great conversation happening on Poll No. 5. Here is a selection of comments:

"I went with financial due to its frequent deductive outcome of dollars over people. As a planner I totally get the need to be outcome focused, and finances matter of course. But to get the outcomes a strategic plan calls for, the successful alignment of people, passion, and plan is when the outcomes are met, which of course then include financial viability." <Mike Moss>

"I chose protective. The goal is to look to the future, IMO, rather than defending the status quo. There is no growth in being defensive or stuck in the past. Priorities and people change faster than what may be comfortable for some. There is growth in being uncomfortable." <Damita Snow>

"Put simply, I think we think people want to be leaders and not stewards, so we frame engagement this way." <Robert Hay>

"I said protective because I’ve seen organizations promoting their own money-maker over what TRULY benefits the future of the profession they serve." <Jennifer Briggs>

"I voted for leadership being seen as greater than stewardship. If Board members fail to put the sustainability of the entity above chasing a shiny object - or being too far 'out front' in the name of leadership it can lead to the association not existing in ten years." <Jeremy Johannesen>

"Finances are not the only responsibility— they are a tool for achieving the organization’s mission." <Cecilia Sepp>

Jeff's Thoughts

?? IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have not yet participated in Poll No. 5, I urge you to review Curator's Commentary #2, which I posted on 10/6, for more background on the poll before voting and commenting.

In FAB Community Newsletter Issue 5, I suggested that we need to better understand the orthodox beliefs that interfere with our community's ability to unify around stewardship as the current purpose of association boards. The purpose of Poll No. 5 is to gain deeper insight into this question, and the responses so far are definitely compelling. My sincere thanks to everyone who has voted and commented.

It does not come as a surprise that "stewardship is financial" has received the most votes to this point. This orthodoxy is frequently expressed in board conversations, often in tandem with the related orthodox belief, "it's the members' money." The implied admonition is for boards to be extra careful in their deployment of financial resources because those resources don't actually belong to their associations. Not only is this line of thinking both untrue and harmful, it inappropriately limits our thinking about how much more is possible through the board's commitment to a broader view of stewardship.

Running a close second in the poll (as of 10/15), is "stewardship is less than leadership." From my perspective, this is the thickest and most challenging orthodoxy to overcome if the association community is going to unify around stewardship as the purpose of our organizations' boards. Our community is deeply invested in a leadership-centered paradigm and shifting it toward stewardship will require a strong and sustained commitment over time.

One more request: after reading my commentary on this poll, I'm curious whether any of our subscribers see other orthodox beliefs that get in the way of a focus on stewardship. I propose one in the commentary that is not included on the poll, and I invite you to share your thoughts on other orthodox beliefs in a comment to that post.

?? What do you think? You can post a comment directly to this newsletter or join the FAB Community Dialogue LinkedIn group and publish your own post on association boards and stewardship! (Please review the group's posting guidelines by clicking on the square "i" icon located at the top of the group page before your publish.)

3. Call to Action: Vote on Polls No. 5/No. 6 and Join Upcoming FAB Conversations

[The Call to Action section will keep you current on what’s happening in the FAB Community Dialogue during the two weeks between issues and share upcoming key dates you should have on your calendar.]

?? FAB Community Dialogue Polls No. 5 and No. 6—Poll No. 5 will close this Thursday 10/17 at 8:30 am EDT and Poll No. 6 will open at the same time. Please join the group to be notified when polls are posted! (See more information on post notifications below.)

IMPORTANT REQUEST: At the time you vote in these polls, please also add a comment below each one so we can better understand the context behind your choices. Thank you!

?? FAB Community Dialogue October Zoom Meeting (Thursday 10/31 at 2 pm EDT)—Register to participate in an open, real-time conversation about our October learning and bring your questions for your colleagues. (Please also bring candy; costumes are optional.)

?? FAB Community Dialogue November Kickoff Event (Thursday 11/7 at 4 pm EST)— Register for our thirty-minute kickoff event on Zoom during which we will preview our November conversations and discuss Poll No. 7, which will be posted that morning.

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Keeping you informed on what's happening with the FAB Community Dialogue is among my top priorities. To facilitate our communications, I would sincerely appreciate it if you would click on the bell icon and select the double bells to enable all group notifications. (If you need any help, please message me.) Thank you!

4. About the FAB Community Dialogue

The FAB Community Dialogue officially launched in August 2024, and will continue for the remaining months of this year and into 2025. This initiative, presented by Impexium: Association Management Solutions and Foresight First LLC, is an intentional learning process that invites contributors from across the association community to collaborate in an exploration of the most challenging questions facing association boards for the rest of this decade and beyond. We hope you will join us!

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is Issue 6, and your feedback on how to strengthen future issues of the FAB Newsletter is welcome. Please message Jeff privately on LinkedIn with your thoughts. Thank you!

Look for Issue 7 of the Future of Association Boards (FAB) Newsletter on Monday 10/28. Thank you for reading!