Leading Through Change: Adapting in Uncertain Times

In this episode of Membership IQ, host Sarah Sladek interviews Heather Whyte, MBA, CDMP, APR founder and CEO of Why Communicate, a communications consultancy specializing in helping associations refine their value propositions. Heather discusses the challenges associations face in navigating a rapidly changing landscape, from economic uncertainty to shifting member expectations. She emphasizes the importance of understanding why associations exist, how they can adapt to member needs, and the crucial role of embracing innovation and member-centric strategies. Tune in for practical insights on overcoming the "poly-crisis" and leading associations into a resilient future.

Transcript

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Membership IQ. This is where you go to get smart about membership. I'm Sarah Sladek, your host, and today I have a guest. I am super excited to be interviewing Heather Whyte. Heather is calling in today from Canada, so we're going international here, fantastic. Heather, why don't you give a little intro of yourself to our audience? Thank you so much, Sarah. It's really great to be here with you today and with your folks on the podcast. I am, as you said, I'm coming to you from Canada. I live in Toronto. I am the founder and CEO of Y Communicate. It is a communications and strategy consultancy for associations that helps executive directors refresh their value propositions and their purpose so that they can connect with their members in ways that are relevant and that can sustain them financially. Fantastic. You are a great person for me to be talking to today. It's funny, when Heather and I are recording this, I was in Toronto and in Belleville, Canada, just yesterday. I swung by your neighborhood and I waved on my way to the airport. When I was in Canada, as with the United States, everybody's talking about, oh my gosh, the uncertainty, change. It's happening. It's as a result of the election. People are worried about the presidential election in the United States. People are worried about the economy. People are worried about real estate and what's going to happen to prices. People are just worried about all kinds of things. And I'm hearing from associations, we're dipping into reserves. We're seeing membership decline. La la la la la. Oh my gosh. Heather, are you hearing the same stuff? Absolutely. Absolutely. We were watching very closely what happened in the U.S. with the election and trying to figure out what that's going to mean for business here, as well as looking at our own upcoming election within the next year. And what that's going to mean in terms of changing the landscape, both politically and economically. So I hear this all the time from the clients I'm talking to about what's next. What do I do? How do I remain relevant? And how do I make decisions when there's so much change in front of me? So it's I think it's a universal challenge for associations worldwide right now. I heard a great term just the other day and I really liked it. I mean, it's it's terrible, but it's also just so accurate. And it's the word poly crisis that we are living through this era of multiple, you know, large scale, big, earth shattering events. And and it's not an era of just dealing with one crisis at a time, but many. And, yes, that obviously challenges associations. So when people ask you, what are we supposed to do now? Oh, my gosh, Heather, this is really challenging. What are some of your responses to your association clients? Well, this is a bit of a catch 22 for a lot of associations because they're trying to deal with what they're seeing now. As you say, the poly crisis, there's so much change going on and there's always been change. That's not the difference. The difference is the pace of change. And I think that associations are very much still in the past decade. They they were already coming up and trying to deal with the change that was coming as a result of the digital environment. And now with Covid, which expedited that comfort level with digital by 10 years, according to most experts. Now they're either further behind trying to figure out how to use those channels of digital to engage members. And they don't have the infrastructure. They don't have the processes. They are looking at what should they be doing to communicate their value. But what I think a lot of them haven't recognized is they don't know what their value should be anymore. They haven't identified that the world has shifted. So drastically that they have not kept up with that change and they're not using the right tools like research and engaging members and talking to members and listening to members to be able to get the right data points to make informed decisions. And so when they say, well, what do we do? It's like, well, I think you have to go back and look at that whole question of value proposition. Why do you exist? Is there a reason? What is your purpose? What do you do that no one else could do for your members as well as you can? Those are the kind of questions that I start to ask them. And I find, unfortunately, that they haven't really thought about that. They are looking at the bigger picture. And what I see happening is that they're freezing. There's too much change. It's overwhelming. They don't know how to deal with managing change because that has not been the bailiwick of associations. They are not innovators in general. Historically, they have not been. But today they have to be. And they have to be ahead of the curve for what's coming at their members and anticipate that for the members to be able to provide value. But that's not happening. And I know that, you know, when I look at the research from associations worldwide, not just Canada, but I can quote some Canadian numbers. You noted in your book membership that membership organizations are not necessarily focusing on the right things. They're not focusing on things that members value. They're focusing on making revenues and doing advocacy and maybe things that are not actually truly valued today by the members. Or certainly not valued by the members that are coming up that are younger, that are different generations and have different values. And I'm seeing that as well. I'm also seeing, and it came up at the Canadian Society of Association Executives Conference at the end of last month, where in talking to people, it was becoming increasingly apparent that a lot of associations do not have really strong business plans. What they've done because of this uncertainty and fear of making a mistake is shortened their strategies into short-term operational plans where they think that by being safe, they won't make a mistake and everything will be okay. But in short, what they're doing is they're handcuffing themselves and they're not moving ahead. And that's creating a real dilemma. So I think that what they need to do is recognize that it's time to go back to the start and say, why do you exist? Yes. Okay, so this is where if you have, you know, a tea or a coffee or a strong beverage, take a sip. Take a breath. Because Heather just laid out like all kinds of things like the little, in a condensed version of association history and why they're struggling right now. And it's heavy. It's heavy. But yes, you're absolutely right. It comes down to the fact that really kind of the why of associations has changed and we're still catching up to understanding and embracing that reality. You know, which is easier said than done because our models and associations are built for the past. And now we're living in this super fast paced ever changing marketplace and our associations are being asked to do radically new things and solve big, big problems. And our models are still built for predictability and structure and it's not they're not built for this crazy, crazy change. So there is a lot. There's a lot to unpack with what you just said. And I want to talk for a moment. Let's talk about that. Why? So obviously, and obviously, I want to talk to you about that, especially because this is like your brand, your company name. This is your thing, right? It is. How do you find your why? How do you find it? Well, there is a process that I lead people through in terms of understanding why they exist. And the purpose is really at the heart of all of that. I think that the best way to do that is to bring together a collective of the association, a couple board members, senior leaders, employees at different levels, suppliers, the members from external, looking at other people that have influence, other stakeholders that have influence on that area. The sector, for instance, that the association is involved in. And by doing that, you can get a conversation going that can look very strategically and objectively at why this organization should exist. And to try to get down and drill down, not into the what, because there is the what. Everybody can say what they do. But the why is if somebody else can do what you do, better, cheaper, what have you, then you're not going to have the opportunity to really excel in that area. You need to have a unique niche. And that niche is your purpose. So by having collective discussions and challenging the norms, challenging what the internal board and the people that have already, you know, drank the Kool-Aid, those are the ways to get at the emotional core of what is really important. And by having young members, more senior members, all groups, so that you're having a really robust discussion, you can start to drill down on something that people haven't necessarily even thought about, but is really critical to long-term sustainability. Right. And Heather, you and I are so aligned with that. I talk about that in the book, and I talk about it in my workshops, that practice of cognitive diversity, of like bringing people together of different backgrounds, skill sets, experiences, viewpoints, you know, really, truly bringing a group together that's representative of your entire membership community, not just one little piece of it and getting all their viewpoints. You know, the other thing that you mentioned in terms of why is we have to be so, so careful also to talk about our who. And I find that so many membership organizations kind of forget about the member. In fact, at this event I was just at in Canada that I was talking about, I posed a question to the audience and I had some people share, well, why do you exist? What's your reason for being? And someone shouted out, to create economic prosperity for our community. And I said, oh, so like for everyone in your community? And he said, yep. And I said, nope. Because, I mean, yes, maybe that is the big vision, but you have people who've paid admission. So let's put those members first. Let's not try to solve, you know, world peace. You're not a nonprofit per se. You are a membership organization. People paid to be there. How are you putting those members first? Thoughts on that, Heather? You know, it's interesting you say that because at the Canadian Society of Association Executive Conference, I was presenting and I was actually talking about knowing your members as the means for future sustainability and a way to evolve your value proposition so it's always in alignment with what the members need. And to me, that's the tactical approach to implementing what you're talking about, which is the new model. And I shared that with the group that was at my presentation as well. And I talked about being member-centric and focusing first and foremost on what the members want. And it is amazing to me, you know, as I did a few polls as part of the presentation, I asked people, so how many of you are doing research? You know, everybody put up their hand. Great. How many of you are doing research more than annually as part of your annual member survey? No. Several did. Several said they were. And I said, okay, how many of you are doing segmented research so that you know which individual segments of your membership need certain things that are different from others? I think two people acknowledged that. And you know, the rest of the presentation went on to talk about, you know, I get why associations don't want to do a lot of member research. They'll say, A, it's too expensive. B, it takes too much time. We don't have those internal resources. And what they don't say is, what if the information comes back negatively? How will our board react to that? We don't want that. So sometimes it's better to not know. Now, even though they won't admit that last one. That is true. So they don't. They don't. And in today's world, where you have digital personalization, it has absolutely become table stakes. You know, in the world that we live in, the Amazons and Netflix, okay, members don't expect their association to be Amazon and Netflix. But they do expect it to be professional. And they do expect it to understand who they are, what they need, to be able to give them what they need, without them sort of having to say, you know, okay, you need to do this or you need to do that. They should be, as I mentioned before, ahead of the member, ahead of the curve, anticipating the needs. And there are ways to do that now, through what I call always on member research. And you use digital channels to be able to talk to people, get feedback, do focus groups. It's not expensive anymore. There's lots of ways to do it. But they're not structured for that. They don't think that way. And they're afraid of doing anything different. And to me, that's the Achilles heel of the entire association profession. If I've heard it once, I've heard it a million times. That's the way we always do it. Yeah. You can't do that. That needs to be like X'd out and banned from the culture. Yes. Agreed. To empower the employees to take risks, to try and fail and be agile. It's not a bad thing to fail if you learn and you can course correct. I've done it a million times in my career. My God, I don't always succeed in things that I try. Right, right. In our world today, that's how you have to manage change and build resiliency and recognize nothing stays the same. Absolutely. And that starts with going back to that idea of that cognitive diversity and bringing together a variety of people and kind of not having that hierarchical systems and where you're choosing people to lead just based on seniority or experience alone. But having those channels to allow for a variety of voices at the table, because then you are innovating. Then you're working on things as a team. Then you're learning and teaching. Then great things come out of that. It's not an echo chamber. Then you're building something that's really, really intuitive to what your members need. So, fantastic, fantastic thoughts. Can I share one thing with you that I really love? Yes. This is not mine. I'm stealing this from someone else who presented at that conference, but I love the line. She said, your board is the worst focus group ever. Yes, yes. So, true. It is. Do not listen to what the board says as a focus group. They are not the norm. Exactly. And one of the other little voids that we have is that we're not really educating board members on leading a membership organization and being member centric and what that member component means. And I think that's also critical. But yes, they're the worst focus group. Often. Yes. All right. So, Heather, I am curious to know if you have any tips that we can leave our audience with. I feel like you dropped a lot of little knowledge bombs and words of wisdom. But any best practices that you're seeing right now? Anything that you would like to add in regards to some success strategies? Thank you for that opportunity. I have left a lot in this conversation on the table. I think that one of the most important things that association leaders need to do is recognize they need to do things differently. They need to understand that change requires strong leadership that's clear and has a vision and shares that vision with the employees. They need to empower themselves and their employees and their committees to understand that you can have the courage to take the risks and try things and learn. So the fail fast, monitor the fail and fix it and learn and grow and continuously look for ways to improve the member value as your first priority. That goal should be part of the mantra for every association. So you don't get pulled off into that. Well, let's put all these resources into a conference or let's put it into government relations and advocacy. Those things are important, but they're not priority. So, you know, I think looking for new things. The other thing I think is absolutely critical. And this is because I hear this all the time. I can't attract younger members. So not only do you need to do the research to understand what your younger members want and need, but to understand their psychology, what makes them tick because they're so different. And to recognize that member value is now, you know, an example. We talked about networking. Everybody wants networking. That's why you join an association. Okay, great. But networking to a 40 plus person is very different than networking to a 25 to 30. Yeah. And that peer groups and creating value by connecting people in ways they want to be connected, not necessarily coming together for a monthly meeting in your chapter. That's where real value is. And that is a huge mind shift or member shift. Because we need to think differently. What's been done in the past no longer works. And a fundamental element is getting your structure, your tech stack, if you will, which sounds so confusing, but getting in place kind of simple communication channels that you can use to tap into your members to stay constantly connected with them, to help engage them and communicate with them all the time. And those best practices include you looking to the future and telling them what's coming because they want that information. So you need the platform and the structure and the processes to be able to create that omni-channel communications infrastructure. And once you do that, it does help you with big changes you didn't anticipate. So there is no playbook for a seismic change, but there are the best practices that you can put in place so that when change comes or crisis comes, you are actually better able and prepared to manage severe weather effectively. Exactly. I love that. Today, not yesterday. And I think that's so incredibly valuable. Thanks so much for showing up today and sharing so many strategies on the Membership IQ. Yes. And for our listeners, stay tuned. We'll be coming to you soon with a new episode of the Membership IQ. I'm Sarah Sladek. See you soon. Thank you.