With COVID-19 disrupting every function of every association, organizations are relying on the skills, experience, and ideas of their staffs more than ever to endure and even thrive during the pandemic. But with budgets tight, boards and CEOs are reexamining staff structures for new ways to optimize efficiency.

Enter the estimated 600-plus association management companies offering full and select outsourced services. Association management companies are enjoying heightened attention because their business model reflects what many associations desire most right now—flexibility, expertise, convenience, and nimbleness.

The challenge is staffing. How do you get the most work done well with the least amount of wasted time and resources?

AMCs are used to this balancing act. Working closely with the board, an AMC develops a staffing plan customized to support strategic plan priorities, including options to scale as needed during busy meeting cycles or economic downturns. Heavy investment in cross-functional training ensures backup staff can step in anytime to maintain a well-rounded team.

“It’s like a radio dial you can turn up and down,” says Amy Lotz, HMCC, CAE, executive vice president and chief of staff of MCI USA. “When you need more or different staffing, you ramp up, and if you need to dial down, you have the ability to do that.”

Refining the Staff Structure

According to Lotz, MCI USA assigns a client portfolio manager—a staffer who serves as a go-between with the client partner—to spot potential staffing efficiencies while working closely with the chief staff officer and board on progress toward the mission.

David Murillo, CAE, president of The Core Management Company, starts with “why” conversations with his client associations: Why do you hold an annual conference? Why is X part of your value proposition? Drilling into priorities and sunsetting outdated programs keeps staffing and operations streamlined, he explains.

Crisis management is another AMC core competency. “You may not have to let staff go” in a budget crunch, according to MCI’s Lotz, because AMCs often reassign employees to other clients for short- or long-term assignments. Clients also can tap expertise and ideas across an entire company, not just on their own staff.

A Talent for Growth

Association Headquarters Human Resources Director Eric Mason, CAE, serves a two-office staff of 178. AH optimizes staff efficiency for 38 associations in part through cross-client collaboration via six “segments” of staff organized in specialties such as credentialing and medical services. Segments share office space to encourage easy networking and idea-pitching on universal issues like controlling costs and streamlining systems.

“We’re always looking for innovative ways to increase efficiencies for clients,” Mason says, especially “since there’s a huge amount of new growth initiatives that may not require a [traditional] full- or half-time staffer” to be tested safely.

Murillo uses another tactic to ensure efficiency- and growth-focused innovation at AH: “client service summits” where staff learns skills needed by every client, such as communicating value propositions and equipping boards to make forward-thinking decisions.

According to MCI USA’s Lotz, another staff efficiency advantage may not be as apparent: access to best practices. “We have 20-plus clients looking today at moving to virtual events or doing hybrid [events], so … we’re all sharing ideas” and learning fast from peers at different planning points with their clients.

The staffing model at AMCs can offer the advantage of scale in a different area too: early trendspotting.

Avoiding Pandemonium During a Pandemic

Some associations transition to AMCs with all or some of their standalone staff, bringing extra assurance of continuity. AMCs may assign “legacy employees” to their original association or re-allocate all or part of their hours to other clients while retaining their historical knowledge.

When unemployment was low at 3.5 percent in early 2020, finding great talent was challenging, but that picture has changed, thanks to furloughs, layoffs, and retirements. AMCs are well-positioned to deepen their back benches since many now seek standout employees year-round. Nearly all leaders interviewed expect clients to expand online offerings and operations, having gained experience and received positive member feedback during the pandemic.

If so, AMCs could tap talent who want to work efficiently at home anywhere, not just locally. In anticipation, AMCs are already hiring online member engagement specialists and managers of virtual communities, member engagement, and meetings.

Such high performers don’t come cheap, but AMCs can spread salaries across multiple clients, enabling associations to afford higher-end talent on demand and at a cost likely cheaper than independent contracting.

Anticipating Futures

The staffing model at AMCs can offer the advantage of scale in a different area too: early trendspotting. MCI USA urgently prepared for COVID-19 early because its global staff could see the virus spreading. The heads-up prompted technology adjustments and upskilling that enabled the company to move 350 employees to a 100 percent virtual work environment within 48 hours when needed, says Lotz. HR policies also allowed employees flexible work hours to maximize productivity and avoid client service interruptions.

AH also uses scenario forecasting to prepare clients for alternate futures that could require staff changes. “We have really embraced the ASAE ForesightWorks research and developed a whole toolkit” and internal Foresight Council to better inform clients’ strategic planning, says Mason. In 2019, the AMC hosted a Leadership Forum for client boards to explore the 52 ForesightWorks drivers of change and their implications, including disruption to traditional organizational structures.

“We’re continuing to educate associations about the value of the AMC model,” says Lotz. “I always tell people, it’s not the best fit for every association, but it’s a great fit a lot of them.”