Ideas for Action, LLC – Services to Associations

Ideas for Action provides a broad range of consulting services to associations and other nonprofits:

Strategy

• Strategic Planning – Design and facilitate initiatives that enable associations to clarify identity, set direction, articulate outcome-oriented goals, develop measurable objectives and set actionable strategies. Environmental scanning, scenario planning, operational and fiscal strategy consultation, and annual strategic plan review are additional offerings in this area.
• Strategic Thinking – Facilitate generative conversations among board and staff leaders that lead to proactive identification of issues affecting member industries, professions and interest areas. Help associations leaders anticipate unexpected events, identify emerging opportunities, build flexibility in strategy development, and engage in proactive problem-solving.
• Stakeholder Engagement – Facilitate deep member and stakeholder engagement by convening broad-based conversations around issues critical to association memberships and their industries/professions. Design and conduct member and stakeholder research, using data gathering methods such as web surveys, interviews, focus groups, and town hall meetings.

Leadership

• Individualized Executive Coaching – Build individual self-awareness, improve leadership competency, encourage targeted goal setting and accountability through the use of assessments and feedback mechanisms, including 360-degree evaluation processes.
• Individual Executive Consultation – Confidential “thought partner” consultations with CEOs, Executive Directors, Board Chairs and other elected leaders. Discussions typically focus on providing guidance and counsel on emerging leadership issues and challenges.
• Executive Performance Evaluation Systems – Development of Executive level performance evaluation systems, for association CEOs, with formative as well as summative components. Facilitation of overall process, including data collection, self-evaluation, and pre and post-evaluation conversations with both Board and staff executive.
• Individual and Team Staff Development. Work with CEOs and staff to build capacity in critical competencies, and to evaluate effectiveness and efficiency of staff organizational structures, processes and cultures.

Governance

• Optimizing the Leadership Partnership – Improve collaboration among member and staff leaders. Develop group norms, establish discussion protocols that promote leader participation, improve decision-making, and promote greater ownership and accountability for board decisions and association-wide initiatives.
• Board Development – Orient boards to concepts, models, and best practices in governance that address the unique dynamics of association and nonprofit leadership. Ongoing board development and board coaching; annual board self-assessment and facilitated dialogue sessions. Clear definition of role and responsibilities. Establish effective governance cultures that focus on the strategic rather than tactical, and on policy rather than on operations.

• Governance Design – Design, facilitate and collaborate on evaluating and redesigning governing bodies, committee structures and regional affiliation for maximum member engagement, enfranchisement, and operational efficiency.