Association exercise: what if we have a shutdown?

A big sigh of relief was heard in Washington DC and beyond Friday night when Congress finally took action to avoid a government shutdown. But the whole debacle got me thinking, “what if?”

What if your association shut down at the end of the week?
What if it shut down not only inessential services, but everything?
And taking this scenario one step further, what if it shut down not just temporarily, but forever?

When these questions first entered my mind, the practical side of my brain thought of business continuity plans, but the curious side saw the seeds of an interesting exercise. Not just an exercise about crisis management, but an exercise about mission, meaning and value.

Many of us recall the scramble after 9/11 to dust off old business continuity binders and get them updated as quickly as possible. If on the morning of 9/11 you were in an office a few blocks from the White House, like I was, you understand both intellectually and emotionally why these business continuity plans are so critical. Back then it was hard to imagine business as usual if we couldn’t get back into the office, but now working remotely is neither unusual nor challenging.

If your association doesn’t have an up-to-date business continuity plan, please put that on your to-do list. Hopefully you’ll never have to use it. Here are resources from ASAE and NTEN to help you develop one.

• Weathering Unexpected Work Interruptions
• Business Disaster Planning Checklist
• Small Staff Business Continuity Plan
• NTEN’s Disaster Preparedness Today

That’s the practical and logistical approach to the “what if.” The more difficult question remains — what if your association shut completely down?

• What would your members miss most?
• What would they easily live without?
• How would your demise impact your members, their businesses and careers? Think about specific member niches too.
• What about the impact on other stakeholders – attendees, customers of members, policymakers, students, press, thought leaders or the general public?
• Who would take on your advocacy work? Do those entities exist now? What prevents them from replacing you now?
• What about your education and knowledge resources, credentialing and standards programs, research and publications?
• How would your members find and build relationships with each other on a local, state and national level? How and where would they find a community of peers? Can they do that now?
• How would your members replace your services? Can they do that now?

The answers to these questions can be very illuminating in a good or bad way depending on your association.

Would this make a good member focus group or leadership discussion?  A frank conversation about these scenarios can provide valuable insight on how you’re really indispensable, or dispensable.