Page 9 - NYS_ESS_07-2021

Inclusion Builds Buy-In Strategic discussions did have to change during the process. To
offset Zoom fatigue, sessions were shorter, with many of the
Confronting such challenges on a strategic level may require exercises conducted offline or asynchronously. But that taught
input from stakeholders beyond the board and staff. In that NAIFA how to handle the discussions more efficiently, setting
regard, the National Association of Insurance and Financial a model for the future.
Advisors landed on a pandemic-ready strategic approach years
before it was necessary. “We did a lot of that in advance, so that our time together
eyeball-to-eyeball on the screen was much more productive,”
In 2015, the association undertook an ambitious reorganization Mayeux says.
to streamline what had become a crazy-quilt chapter and dues
structure. To do so, says CEO Kevin Mayeux, CAE, NAIFA A Speedy Prompt for a Strategic Conversation
created a 30-plus-member strategic planning committee to
provide input on key issues and offer a seat at the table to a Boards can understandably have a hard time getting into a strategic
variety of constituencies. The inclusive process helped create mindset when faced with immediate crises. Tracy Betts of Boldr
buy-in for the restructuring. Strategic Consulting suggests one way to refocus a board’s attention
is to conduct a “kill the company” exercise: Ask participants to
It worked so well that NAIFA leadership revived the committee call out the organization’s weak points and identify the forces that
last summer when buy-in for a five-year plan during a could exploit them. It forces them to be forward-thinking without
pandemic was urgent. “We talked about how the world has obsessing exclusively about the moment.
changed a lot because we’re now in the middle of a pandemic
and the world was different in June and July than what it was “They have to be fierce about it, but it’s quite fun,” she says. “If
just six months prior,” Mayeux says. you start talking about an immediate situation, people tend to dive
right in and get really tactical. But if you talk about it in a different
Digital issues came to the surface during the planning process, way, they start thinking about it a little more expansively.”
and NAIFA worked to weave them into its long-term goals.
About the Author: Mark Athitakis
“We learned we can do virtual programming and members Mark Athitakis, a contributing editor for Associations Now, has written on nonprofits,
will be receptive toward it,” he says. “And we can do hybrid the arts, and leadership for a variety of publications. He is a coauthor of The Dumbest
events, which may be the way we look at program delivery Moments in Business History and hopes you never qualify for the sequel.
moving forward. And that was taken into account relative to This article originally appeared on AssociationsNow.com. Reprinted with
how we might execute on the plan. But the parameters of the permission. Copyright ASAE: The Center for Association Leadership (January
plan, regardless of delivery modality, are the same.” 2021) Washington, DC.

EMPIRE STATE SURVEYOR / VOL. 57 • NO 4/ 2021 • JULY/AUGUST 7