Your Association Is Sitting on a ‘Relationship Recession’

Ask any association professional what holds their organization together and the answer is almost always the same: relationships. And yet, when budgets tighten, when staff turnover happens or when the calendar fills up, relationships are often the first thing that slips.

This is a symptom of something bigger — what I call the "Relationship Recession." It may sound like a business buzzword, but it's a measurable erosion of trust and human connection in professional environments. And for associations whose entire value proposition is community, it's an existential threat hiding in plain sight.

Over the past two decades working in relationship-driven industries, I have seen this pattern repeat: We talk about community, we sell community, but we don't always build the infrastructure for community to thrive. Here's what I've learned about turning that around — and why associations are uniquely positioned to lead the way.

Please select this link to read the complete article from ASAE's Center for Association Leadership.