Forum - September 2011

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Devolving Ownership for Long-
Term Success
It is tempting to believe that there is
infinite value to the long-term engage-
ment of U.S. association staff and air-
borne U.S. association executives in the
minutiae of daily international opera-
tions. However, to truly move toward the
destination of sustainable and localized
operations, the goal should be fully
empowered international staff driving
programs and services that address
local needs. Although, success is not
just about fine-tuning offerings to local
needs. There is a very good chance that
operational conflicts will arise. After all,
international operations are, in many
cases, the nonprofit equivalent of a
“start-up company” housed within a
much larger, more mature entity. It will
become clear that this start-up company
needs agility and rapid change. This will
conflict with the established process
and precedence in the parent entity.
International operations, provided they
serve a variety of different countries in a
region, will have to alter plans, partner-
ships and products to address the needs
of each different country. This is a very
foreign concept, as the U.S. associa-
tion’s operations are accustomed to
dealing with a single, national market,
which operates in one dominant lan-
guage. This variation amongst regions
also may drive dramatically increased
cost in daily association operations,
which will reinforce the need for agility
and a differently structured organization
in contrast to the mature parent. Addi-
tionally, these challenges associated in
a start-up association should give strong
consideration to staff compensation
plans that consider the variability of
international operations and offer pow-
erful motivators to the overall financial
performance of the start-up association.

The Final Frontier Is You Opportunities for associations internationally are bound only by their own ability to see them. The first step toward global growth is rewriting their winning formulas. Unlike empires of the past whose common currency was trade of physical goods, innovative associations must remake their offerings of interpersonal connections and professional development for local markets.