Empower Yourself

In Washington D.C., we often define our identity through our jobs as association executives. But what happens, as happened to me last year, when you lose that job and are suddenly looking for a new position? Well you go through the stages of grief (you know the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance). […]

As busy association executives at every level of your organization, you are required to address multiple demands at the same time. You experience change, and that change can cause chaos. I practice and teach applied mindfulness, which has changed my life. It has given me the ability to stay calm in moments of chaos, and it […]

Is the learning you offer future focused? If you start changing your learning programs once you discover a new direction or need in your industry, it’s likely too late. It takes months or years to retool things like learning design, pathways and marketing. We need to find out what’s going to happen in our industry next […]

Editor’s note: Every month, we interview a different author who has valuable insights that are relevant to professionals within the association industry. From widely varying perspectives and specializations, we hope to provide our dedicated audience with quality reading to continue fostering growth and inspiration! THE NON-OBVIOUS GUIDE TO EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT (FOR MILLENNIALS, BOOMERS AND EVERYONE […]

In part one of this series, we celebrated the books that have been propelling and supporting our efforts towards the future for associations. This second part is a compilation of events and programs that represent a shift in the industry (yes, our own event might have made its way in here, but as a truly collaborative exploration […]

To work is to use resources – time, talent, expertise, energy, or a combination thereof – to create a new output. What makes work productive is when our effort has transformed resources into new output of value. If we spend half our waking hours leasing our personal resources to our employer, productivity is worth the pursuit, knowing that our efforts […]

Associations need to be flexible and ready to evolve to meet the needs both of their audiences and the world at large, but there’s no doubt that they are up to the challenge! It’s constantly coming to our attention that we have an industry of forward thinking professionals, and I am confident that we are well […]

The phrase work-life balance has never sat well with me. The two aren’t always as separate as the term suggests.The concept gets even more vague when you make the switch from a brick-and-mortar workplace to working from your desk at home, like I did in 2017. At the association management company where I work, I am currently the only […]

When AssociationSuccess.org gathered feedback from the SURGE community about what organizational problem keeps them up at night, the most common challenge expressed was that people have more work to do than they have time. Many associations work in a context where financial and human resources are limited, or at least perceived to be so. Self-imposed […]

For some people, remote or fully virtual work is a shock to the system.They need the separation of going from home to office and have difficulty adapting to a completely different method of working which relies on self-discipline and self-management. Not everyone is cut out to be alone most of the time, and let’s face […]