Road to Relevance: 5 Strategies for Competitive Associations

Help move your organization to greater discipline, focus, and value

Association leaders must be disciplined strategists, focusing the organizations they serve on value they can deliver and structuring accordingly to compete in the "new normal." Road to Relevance is the follow-up and complementary companion to the bestselling Race for Relevance: 5 Radical Changes for Associations, which identified six challenges that forever changed the association environment and five needed changes. Authors Harrison Coerver and Mary Byers, CAE, provide real insight into how to adapt the strategies of Road to Relevance to your organization's circumstances. Clearly explaining the five key strategies, the authors show you how to:

• Identify strengths that deserve a concentration of resources
• Achieve a coordinated product and service portfolio
• Root out marginal or underperforming activities that are negatively impacting your organization

Case studies, adaptable examples, and provocative questions help you use the insights from Road to Relevance to lead your organization to an ever-more-valued, sustainable, and relevant future.

Harrison Coerver is president of Harrison Coerver & Associates, a management consulting firm that specializes in strategy and planning for trade associations, professional societies, and other tax-exempt membership organizations. In the last 25 years, Harrison has consulted with more than 1,200 associations in strategy, planning, marketing, and management.

Mary Byers, CAE, formerly a senior-level association executive, is a consultant and professional speaker. She helps groups gain clarity and focus through leadership conference training, facilitating strategic planning retreats, assisting boards, committees and work groups, and helping association staff and volunteers talk through tough issues.