Scott A. Herceg With Northern Edge Consulting

Intro: [00:00:00] Public broadcasting live from the Business RadioX Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, it’s time for association leadership radio. Now here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:16] Lee Kantor here, another episode of Association Leadership Radio, and this is going to be a good one today on the show, we have Scott A. Herceg with Northern Edge Consulting. Welcome.

Scott A. Herceg: [00:00:28] Thanks, Lee. Thanks for having me.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:30] Well, I am excited to learn what you’re up to. You have a lot of history in working with associations and nonprofits, and now you’ve got this consulting firm. So tell us a little bit about Northern Edge. How are you serving, folks?

Scott A. Herceg: [00:00:44] Well, Northern Edge Consulting started out as kind of a dream of mine. I had been running a nonprofit and associations and membership organizations for almost 20 years. And I just kind of wanted to go out on my own and and try and help people, which sounds like a real, cheesy way to get started, perhaps, but it’s very genuine. I found over my career that a lot of boards and a lot of professionals have the same issues over and over, and as I was talking to different colleagues, it was the same story over and over. They had issues on their board or they didn’t know how to do something as staff or whatever. And I had a lot of those answers and I was giving a lot of advice on the side and somebody told me one day they said, You know, you should really do this and you should start consulting and you know, we we’d pay you to come talk to us. And so that kind of got the got the ball rolling for me.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:50] Now your background is is kind of vast. You’ve worked in a lot of different organizations of different sizes and different kinds of niches. Can you? Were you finding the same problems that didn’t matter where you know you would be in your work? You would say, Oh, here we go again. This is just.

Scott A. Herceg: [00:02:10] That’s exactly right. I started out my career in nonprofit organization working for the Boy Scouts of America. Actually, I was one of, I think at the time, like 7000 professional staff that the Boy Scouts had across the country. And I had a I had a little footprint of the country that I was responsible for, but it was the same as any other nonprofit. I had a board of directors. We had money to raise. We had membership to recruit. We had a program to deliver. And so that really gave me a real good base to start from. And and then I left there and I went to work for. I went back to my home area in northern Michigan and worked for the Harbor Springs Chamber of Commerce. And it was the same thing, you know, board directors, we were raising money. We’re we’re producing programing. But it was it was an organization at the time that needed a lot of a lot of help they had. They had had some individuals come in that had the greatest of intentions, but didn’t have a whole lot of background as to how an association or a nonprofit or membership organization was supposed to run. And so they were going in some wrong directions. And so I was hired to kind of put them back on track. I did that and then I got a little bit burned out as as happens to a lot of us, and I took a year off and did some other things and then realized, No, you know, my heart is really in this line of work, you know, helping boards and budgets and bylaws and members and all that kind of stuff.

Scott A. Herceg: [00:03:58] And so I worked for a local chapter of the Homebuilders Association and and that was the same thing there. There was there was some great people involved, but they had gotten some incorrect advice somewhere down the road and they were having struggles. And so the same thing kind of rebuilt that one got them back on the ground running. And then I I ended up working at an absolutely fantastic position after leaving the homebuilders, the Sheboygan Area Chamber of Commerce in Sheboygan, Michigan, called and invited me to come over. And that was the best job that I had had. Yet in my career, they they were a good chamber of Commerce that just needed a little bit of tweaks and we did that. And man, we took off running and we were awarded Chamber of the Year for the State of Michigan in in twenty eighteen. And it was a it was a real huge sense of pride for us and it let us know we were doing the right thing and we were doing some really great stuff for the community of Sheboygan.

Lee Kantor: [00:05:15] Now when did you kind of start writing down all these, I guess, the framework that you built these five m’s of association management and nonprofit administration, when did that kind of start solidifying where you’re like, OK, I am seeing similar things. Let me codify some of this stuff. Let me get it down in the document that I can share, and then I can maybe use for marketing for myself and implement these things. Not only can I share the wisdom, I can actually help them execute in some of these areas.

Scott A. Herceg: [00:05:48] Sure. Well, and and like you said, kind of in your introduction of me, I’ve been around to a lot of different places and had a lot of different experiences and the same things kept happening over and over. And also the same focuses were necessary every place that I was at. You know, every place. Needed to raise money or understand their budget or have have a healthy financial situation, every place needed to have members, they need to have people as part of their organization. Every place had to tell a story so they, you know, they were doing their own marketing and they had they had great stories to tell in some places knew how to tell those better than others. They all had volunteers that were either running the organization or an integral part of the organization or volunteers that they needed to get in to further the organization. And then every single one of them had a mission, a reason for being. And so as I was going through my career, it probably started a little bit in the Boy Scouts. But as I was going, there were really five words that kind of kept coming up. So I started to kind of compile these together, and I was talking with friends and colleagues and mentors and things and kind of polishing these things over the years. So I eventually came up with this framework for management success of of nonprofit organizations and associations, and I’ve called it the five MS.

Scott A. Herceg: [00:07:38] The five MS of nonprofit administration and association management. And these are pretty much universal as far as least my experience in any organization. So mission, you know, what is the organization’s mission? What’s its reason for existence? Money, obviously. Are they being good stewards of the money that they’re given? That’s a key point. All of our organizations, whether it’s a pure nonprofit or whether it’s an association or whatever it is, we are all given money by other people to do something good with. So are we being good stewards with that money membership? Obviously, we’ve got to have we’ve got to have members, especially in the association side of nonprofits, and we’ve got to have members believing in what we’re doing or being a part of what we’re doing to move forward. And then you have manpower now. Manpower can be kind of a tricky word. It’s an M.. So it follows the pattern. But certainly, manpower does not just mean men. Manpower means having the right people in the right positions, doing the right jobs for the right reasons, for the right mission of the organization. And then you have marketing at the end telling the story. So mission, money, membership, manpower, marketing, you put those all together. And as long as you are an organization that is focusing on those five things. You are going to accomplish what you need to accomplish for for your membership

Lee Kantor: [00:09:17] Now in your experience, what are some symptoms of an association or a nonprofit that maybe are signals that things aren’t running optimally, that there’s maybe a hole in there swinging one of those areas?

Scott A. Herceg: [00:09:32] Yeah. Well, and really the the two real easy indicators are the money and membership. If you have declining membership, essentially if you’re not growing, you’re dying, if you have declining membership, then there is something wrong that that should tell. You should trigger that, Hey, we need to do something different. We need to survey our people. Are we are we doing what they want us to do? I don’t know. You better go find out money. If you’re if you’re bleeding money or, you know, not monitoring it. If you’re bored, can’t read your financials. If your staff, if your executive director, doesn’t exactly know where all the monies are, that’s a problem. Those are the two quick and easy ones that anybody can notice. But really, anywhere in those five, you can have problems on the manpower side of things. If you if you don’t work your nominating committee process correctly, you could end up with some leadership in your organization that takes you in a direction that you should not be going. That’s the problem and mission. You know, there’s mission creep, especially in the Chamber of Commerce, World Chambers of Commerce. Get asked to do all kinds of stuff that may or may not be what they’re supposed to be doing. And so you have mission creep. Well, we just we we did this. And so now we’re being asked to do this, and now we’re being asked to do this. And every step gets you farther away from what you’re really supposed to be doing. That’s a problem for organizations as well.

Lee Kantor: [00:11:24] Now the work that you’re doing when a group calls you and maybe ask for help, are you doing kind of consulting where you’re going in there, rolling up your sleeves and helping them solve that given problem? Are you just training people or are you just giving them information for them to execute? Like what’s typically your role when you’re engaging with one of these groups?

Scott A. Herceg: [00:11:47] It’s actually been a mix. I have an appointment this evening to talk with an organization that potentially is interested in bringing me on as an interim executive director. I could do that. Just yesterday, I was doing a strategic planning session with an organization here in the area, and we spent all day setting goals and targets and things based on the 5ms on on this coming Thursday and actually for several last several Thursdays and a couple of Thursdays yet to come. I’m teaching a class at North Central Michigan College and it’s all about its association management and nonprofit one on one. And so we’re we’re teaching and is in that class. There’s there’s board members, there’s staff people involved with different organizations around the area. So it’s it’s really a mix. There’s another organization that I just help them rewrite their bylaws. Associations and nonprofits need all kinds of different help and. And so if I can, if I can help them with one of those things or a couple of those things, hopefully that’ll that’ll get them on a good path.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:08] Now, part of the mission of this show is to educate and inspire those emerging leaders, those aspiring leaders. What advice would you give a young person who maybe hasn’t leaned into leadership at an association? A lot of folks, especially young people, know the importance of being part of an association, but they may not understand, you know, the how to get involved or or why they should take on leadership roles within the association. Can you talk to that a little bit and maybe based on your career share how that’s impacted your life and career by being involved with associations and leadership?

Scott A. Herceg: [00:13:54] Absolutely, and when you say leadership, I mean, you could be talking about volunteer leadership, getting on a board or on a committee or something, you could be talking about having a staff position, being hired on and getting getting paid to do all this. And it’s. It’s the same baseline in both places being involved in a nonprofit organization or an association. You have an opportunity to positively affect the world around you. You have an opportunity to make a difference. And what young person, no matter what generation they grew up in? It does not want to make a difference, every young person wants to make a difference, and non-profits associations are a great way to do that on the volunteer side of things. We are smack dab in the middle of a huge generational shift. The Baby Boomers generation are aging out, let’s say Gen X, what I’m I’m part of. We’re trying to come into some of those old baby boomer roles. You know, you’ve got the the millennials that are now coming up through and entering into leadership roles and then Gen Y I lose track after that, whatever the next generation is called after that. But there is. There’s a real shift in that. Associations have been dominated by the baby boomer generation for four decades, and as they age out, there are gaps and there are places for new people to to come in whatever generation you’re in and.

Scott A. Herceg: [00:15:55] Look, to be able to have to be able to be a part of that will come in the work of these organizations must go on because, like I said, they’re doing good stuff. If there’s no way to fill those roles, that work’s going to get dropped on the side of the road. So, you know, a volunteer position on a board or or in a committee. And one of the things that I teach my my clients is, you know, don’t have these committee positions for life that is not attractive to the current generations. If you’re on a committee or if you’re planning an event or whatever it is, make it a quick strike task force. Having come in, have them do their thing, have them plan the event or the project or the program or whatever, and then move on and get on with the rest of their lives. That’s going to be a lot more attractive to the upcoming generations than to put them on the Finance Committee for the next 20 years or whatever it is, but so important for upcoming generations to get involved because if they don’t. A lot of the good work of these organizations is not going to be able to get done.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:10] Now in your work, is there a story that you can share that has been the most rewarding where you saw you came in with a challenge? Maybe share whatever that challenge was and we’re able to really make an impact and make it different. Obviously, don’t name the name of the association, but maybe just talk generally in terms of they came in with this. This was an issue. This was a challenge. And then, you know, we were able to kind of get in there and help them get to a new level.

Scott A. Herceg: [00:17:41] Sure. Well, and actually, I’m thinking that the organization that I was just with yesterday doing their strategic planning. They’re not done yet, and my work with them is not done yet, but I’m thinking that is looking like it could be a really good transition and could get them on some really good footing. They they’re a local organization that has been around for 40 years and they’ve had your board of directors and they have a specific program that they offer and they had fallen into the trap of every year at their at their annual meeting, they put out a call, OK, who wants to be on the board? And that has caused them some stress because over the years you had some board members that came on for the best of intentions, but maybe didn’t understand what their what their role was or the board wasn’t properly trained or or are on board it or orientated when they when they came on. And so you’ve got some personal agendas and things that kind of rose to the top. And so they were they were in, they were in trouble. They had board members that were resigning. They had programing that was starting to to suffer. And so I had met their executive director through another means, and she asked me to come in and I went in and did a training session with them a few months ago. And the AHA moments that were happening are in that boardroom of, Oh my gosh, we’re supposed to be doing that. Oh, we never knew we were supposed to do that. Oh, we’re not supposed to be doing that. Oh no. It was those kind of things.

Scott A. Herceg: [00:19:39] And so. All of a sudden you saw this this shift in them going. Holy smokes, we need to really buckle down and learn this stuff and figure this out. So then yesterday, when I was with them doing the strategic planning, it was as we were walking through, you know, breaking down their gear before and then and then visioning what what the what they wanted to see in the future of their organization and then actually setting the goals that were going to get them there. It was fascinating. It was fun. It was exciting to watch them start to coalesce properly as a board. You know, the president was starting to really function in his role in the executive director was was was starting to function in her role in the board. Members were all saying, Well, if we do this and we do that, we can accomplish this. And I said, I said, OK. I said, Now you guys have got to do this as a team. This can’t just be great ideas and then dump it on the executive director. And every single board member goes, Yes, absolutely, absolutely. We’ve got to do. We’re a team. We’re ready to go. That was not an attitude that I saw in that organization three or four months ago when I when I did the training. So they’ve got some work to do yet, but I am excited. I think they’re on a really good path and I think they set some really good goals yesterday. And I’m interested to see how they how they how they do going forward. And I’m thinking that might be a really good success story in the making.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:13] Yeah, once they see something, it’s hard to unsee it. And, you know, the light bulb goes off and now the work begins. So congratulations. That’s a really important story that you shared that that’s so critical for folks out there to understand that a lot of times these people are just doing what was done and they’re not doing anything malicious or on purpose. They were just didn’t know there’s other ways. And then once they learn, then the sky’s the limit.

Scott A. Herceg: [00:21:44] Yep, absolutely.

Lee Kantor: [00:21:46] Now, if somebody wants to learn more about your practice and maybe get on your calendar to help them through a challenge, what’s the website?

Scott A. Herceg: [00:21:55] Sure. Yeah, well, it’s real easy. It’s Northern Edge Consulting and you get on there and there’s a couple of testimonials from some organizations that I’ve helped in the past. You know, there’s some information on the five M’s phone numbers, obviously on their emails on there. Give me a shout. Let’s chat. Let’s see if we can help you get on track.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:21] Well, Scott, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing important work and we appreciate you.

Scott A. Herceg: [00:22:26] Thanks, Leigh. I appreciate the time and the program.

Lee Kantor: [00:22:29] All right, this is Lee Kantor. We’ll tell next time on association leadership radio.