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Follow the AMC Road
Posted on July 22, 2010 by Nina Casella
At Association Headquarters, Eric Mason is the resident Transition Coordinator, the team member who facilitates a client partner’s operational shift into our headquarters. Ironically, Eric’s initial weeks at AH were less of a smooth transition and more of a “baptism by fire.” For his first assignment, he was tasked with transitioning one of our largest client partners. Needless to say, he was a tad nervous. Since then, he has acquired more than 5 years of experience at AH, successfully transitioning more than 15 client partners into our professional community.
Prior to my talk with Eric, I knew only one thing: AH’s Transition Checklist, a hefty 61-step document, scared me. Fortunately, Eric himself isn’t too scary, and I now have a better handle on the process. According to Eric, the first step of transition is the finalization of the checklist and its distribution to all volunteer leaders and AH staff members involved in the process. The client partner’s selected core executive team of AH staff then meets internally to discuss the road ahead. Following this initial meeting, the core team typically meets bi-weekly to review the status of transition or to suggest necessary changes. The client partner’s Board of Directors is also included in the meetings to ensure everyone is on the same page.
Two items on the lengthy checklist, accounting and data, are addressed immediately, since they are the most time-intensive. While the transition of accounting and data requires time, it also requires trust. For associations, relinquishing details of finances and data – the bulk of the operations – can be an intimidating task. Client partners may struggle to pull data together and sometimes deliver materials piecemeal, which can delay the overall schedule.
Akin to trust, flexibility is an important component of transition. The defined timeline and conclusion of each transition are dependent on the preferences and choices of the volunteer leadership and the AH core team. They also depend on the background of a client partner; if they are moving to AH as a standalone organization or from another AMC. Both volunteer leadership and AH staff are successful if they can make revisions in the process to have a customized transition experience.
Although transition can raise a few question marks, it is exciting. It opens the door to a new partnership and a new map for the future. Fortunately, after my talk with Eric, my own map of association management is more clearly laid out. I no longer have to fear the Transition Checklist – well, at least, not as much.
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