Chain saws are buzzing all around. Storm season is coming and it’s time to get the dead limbs off the trees before snow and ice pull them down or wind blows them onto roofs.
A chain saw is a bit harsh but there’s probably dead wood in your organization that should go away. If the recession wasn’t enough of a “storm season” to prompt some pruning, take an idea from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and adopt a strategy of “purposeful abandonment.” Each year, SHRM evaluates everything it does, every program, every publication, every research study and cuts the under-performers. The society is not looking to lay people off necessarily but to free up resources for better, more successful uses.
Under performance is your members and potential members telling you what they don’t want. Purposeful abandonment tells them that you’re listening.
Dead Doesn’t Always Mean Dead
Dead wood can present other sorts of opportunities. There are undoubtedly too many associations. I did a down and dirty count once and found 66 associations in the pulp and paper industry—the corrugated people, the coated people, the non-coated people—and this does not include the sections of the National Association of Manufacturers, for instance, that cover pulp and paper. Between digital media, e-readers and email, the pulp and paper industry is in trouble. Does it still need that many associations?
Who can you buy? Who can you merge with? How can you turn dead wood trying to survive on its own into a profitable part of your larger whole? Or how can you continue to fulfill your mission while becoming part of something more sustainable?
None of this is easy, quick or painless, of course. Unlike trees, organizations are made up of humans whose feelings will be hurt or jobs will be eliminated. Every association thinks of itself as completely special and unique, almost inscrutable to any other group. That is mostly hubris and, in any case, the things that make one set of members unique don’t have to go away when one association merges with another. Effective member segmentation and targeting serve the unique needs of each group without over-homogenizing the whole.
Fall is a good time to prune, near the year’s end, after the annual convention, in response to the board meeting. You can’t see every storm coming but preventive measures can keep you whole.
