Principled Innovation LLC

TDOB #7: Some new thoughts on EMSAL

May 19th, 2006

When I announced the Ten Days of Blog, I ask for suggestions on topics to cover. Association Uber-Blogger Ben Martin asked me to share more thoughts on my idea for an executive master of science in association leadership or EMSAL, that I’ve written about both online and off in the last couple of years. Ben, thanks for the ping on this important
subject.

Even though I have not posted on it for quite some time, I have been thinking about the EMSAL for many months, and I continue to believe very strongly that our community needs a credible graduate-level professional degree that offers association professionals an educational pathway other than the CAE. An even more important reason to create such a degree program is the dearth of executive-level learning and development that actually helps association leaders operate effectively in a time of profound, accelerating and intensifying disruption and discontinuity. Let me put it another way: there is good reason to question whether today’s association leaders are adequately prepared to deal with the realities of the genuine paradigm shift that is already taking place in our society. Can we really afford to do nothing to address this issue?

So, in the spirit of opening a new dialogue on this topic, let me offer the following specific thoughts about how I would design an EMSAL program:

• EMSAL would be a 20-month, cohort-based program organized into five four-month learning modules with intensive course sessions conducted once per month on Friday and Saturday.
• Each cohort would include no more than 25 participants, but multiple cohorts could be in the program at once, with groups entering in September, January and May if necessary.
• During each module, cohort members would be organized into five different project teams, so that each participant would have the opportunity to collaborate with everyone else in the cohort. Each module would conclude with a team project.
• The five module topics would be (1) The Historical Evolution of Associations, (2) The Role of Associations in a Global Society, (3) The Role of Associations in Industry and the Professions (4) The Role of the Individual in Associations and (5) Leadership of Associations in the 21st Century.
• The global society module would include a study mission of some length (perhaps 10-14 days) outside of North America.
• The course curriculum would be multidisciplinary, drawing on a variety of fields including anthropology, business and management, economics, education, future studies, history, leadership, natural and physical sciences, political science, psychology and sociology.
• Both individual and team assessment would be a part of determining whether a participant successfully completes the program, including individual learning portfolios, peer evaluations and team projects.
• Learning facilitation would be conducted by both faculty from the university partner and senior leaders in the association community.

I know this is an ambitious program design, and that is entirely intentional. In contrast to some in our community, I’m unwilling to concede that what we do in associations isn’t important enough to merit the most forward-looking and intensive learning and leadership development opportunity possible. We need to give association leaders today and tomorrow every opportunity to build their understanding of the forces of paradigm shift so they can elevate the quality of their leadership going forward. We have a deep responsibility to these leaders, their organizations and members, the professions, industries and fields their associations serve and to society as whole to make this kind of innovation a priority. I hope we will soon be prepared to act on making it real.

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