In periods of exponential growth, leaders must make important decisions quickly. That describes the situation my organization, the National Association for Healthcare Quality, was in last year. NAHQ quickly transitioned from being managed by an association management company to taking over independent management in only six months.

The challenges were many, from selecting a new office headquarters to ramping up staff and deciding how to handle accounting, IT, and human resources. We also deployed a new association management system—which required addressing every detail, no matter how big or small—to ensure a smooth transition. In essence, we were about to become a 40-year-old startup.

Several key steps helped us make this transition and could guide other organizations planning a similar change.

Build on In-House Capacity

My team and I lived by a guiding principle when making decisions: No disruption to service or revenue.

To ensure this, I knew it would be important to retain as many NAHQ-experienced staff as possible. And in fact, almost all staff stayed. At the same time, I needed to expand our capabilities as quickly as possible. Our solution was to maximize the staff's existing expertise, add new staff, and bring in partners who could extend our capabilities as an organization.

After identifying the team’s strengths and determining what core competencies we had in-house, we decided to outsource customer service, accounting, and IT infrastructure support.

The challenges were many, from selecting a new office headquarters to ramping up staff and deciding how to handle accounting, IT, and human resources. In essence, we were about to become a 40-year-old startup.

Find the Right Partners

Our accelerated timeline meant we did not have the luxury of developing detailed requirements documents or sending RFPs to multiple vendors. Looking back, I think we were perhaps more successful because we didn’t have time to engage in a lengthy proposal process. We had a goal to stand up the organization quickly, and every day we used our guiding principle to stay focused as we dealt with system configuration decisions and bugs.

We also enlisted the help of a digital communications and technology consulting firm that had a good understanding of our organization and significant experience with a wide variety of supplier partners. We reset the table with various providers of the services and solutions we needed and made partner processes as productive as possible.

Move to the Cloud

One of the most important decisions we made was related to our technology platform. We opted to be cloud-based, which provided us with more flexibility in sourcing, staffing, locating, and financing our technology systems.

We considered only cloud-based systems for our association management, phone, and finance systems. As a cloud-based organization, we could outsource functions such as customer service and accounting without diminishing our level of service. In this model, NAHQ pays for services annually, instead of capitalizing expenses. That helped us to fund transitional expenses from our growing operating budget.

Establish a “Cut-Over” Day

We began our transition planning in September 2017, moved into our new office two months later, and transferred all business operations by February 1, 2018. Configuring, integrating, testing, training, and reaching “cut-over” day—a transition from one phase of business to another—occurred over the winter holidays, making this an even more intense experience. But our NAHQ team and partners were committed to meeting the February deadline. While it was a busy period, we all prioritized time at home with our families as a way to recharge and prepare for the final phase of the cut-over process.

Both staff and partners met weekly to provide status updates, discuss any concerns, and brainstorm solutions. As our deadlines drew closer, meetings occurred daily. This open and constant communication, assisted by messaging and project management tools (we used BaseCamp and Wrike), was vital to the success of NAHQ’s transition.

Cut-over day was smooth. We divided into two teams—one to support the transition to our customer service provider and one to support our offices in Chicago. We assigned staff supporting these teams into shifts, with the first starting work at 5 a.m. They were primarily focused on ensuring the website and new database were working optimally. Overall, the transition was a tremendous success and NAHQ continues its growth journey.

From my perspective, what made the transition a success was the people involved. Partner selection was the single biggest contributing factor to our success. I was looking for committed, bright, professional staff and vendors. That’s exactly what I got. Now, we have a bond and trust that only a shared experience can create.