Offering a certification that governs professionals the world over may sound attractive—a great way to preserve (or establish) your organization’s reputation as the recognized voice of your industry or profession, and as the preferred resource for education.

However, you may just have to go to the ends of the earth to do so. Creating global certification requires a lot more than just offering your test outside of the United States.

Take the experience of the International Association for Lighting Designers. When it wanted to develop a certification for architectural lighting designers that would be recognized globally, IALD began what would amount to a massive outreach effort.

First, IALD created a task force that was chaired by a designer from Australia, with members from the United Kingdom, Mexico, and the United States. Over a three-year period, it conducted town halls in Sydney, São Paulo, Tokyo, Toronto, and Barcelona, Spain. It held webinars for practitioners in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. It surveyed practitioners, academics, and manufacturing representatives to get feedback on the proposed standards and got responses from 36 countries. It also established a governing body whose representatives are from Australia, Europe, and Mexico.

Finally, after six years of planning and getting universal agreement on the standards, IALD’s certification went live.

Whether your association wants to make a mark in global markets or already has a globalization strategy and is rethinking it, it’s essential to analyze the motives for and feasibility of expanding internationally. Here are the main questions to examine.

Do you qualify? It may sound obvious, but an association aiming for global certification must itself be a global organization. ASAE defines a global association as one where 50 percent of its members reside outside of the United States, no one country claims more than 50 percent of the total membership, and membership has a presence in each major region of the world.

For certification to be recognized as global, its standards—the body of knowledge required of a profession or field of work—must be universally accepted by a governance group consisting of subject-matter experts representing every major geographic region. In addition, certificate applicants must live and work throughout the world.

What’s driving you? For some associations, a major driver is the demand by businesses and governments for universal marks that enable employers to identify competent workers who can work anywhere in the world. Another driver is the desire to promote economic development, thus increasing the production and consumption of goods and services.

For certification to be recognized as global, its standards—the body of knowledge required of a profession or field of work—must be universally accepted by a governance group consisting of subject-matter experts representing every major geographic region.

Is it needed? Is the work of your members relevant to the rest of the world? For example, healthcare benefit coaching is a new field of work created by the complexity of the U.S. healthcare system; international certification for coaches is not warranted. Roofing is universal, but building codes are not. That said, the rest of the world admires U.S. building codes, and the National Roofing Contractors Association is routinely asked to advise countries in emerging markets on standards and educational offerings. In time, NRCA’s certifications may be global. 

Is your field mature? In other words, how well-established or recognized is the work of your members? Relevance and maturity of a field of work will influence the time it takes to gain agreement on what will be acceptable practice or universal standards. 

Where will you focus? Deciding what countries or regions to offer certification in will depend in part on where potential members live and work, and whether they have expressed interest in being certified. A market analysis may be needed to determine this.

Is the target market mature? Certifications require developed infrastructure with banking, interconnectivity, and established educational systems.

Is the target market educated? Going global requires you to have a literate target audience, a distribution and marketing channel to reach that target audience, and a country that supports people being certified. If your target market lacks access to education or training, you must be prepared to offer it in a way that is accessible.

At a minimum, the decision to make your certification a global credential depends on the relevance of the work to the rest of the world, and the degree to which the world supports promoting the professionalization of the people who do the work. If these and the rest of the concerns above are satisfied, it may be time to start the global certification journey.