It was over 15 years ago that I first learned about an organization’s lifecycle and the bell curve it can follow. Thus, when this topic recently surfaced on a listserv as if it was a new idea, I was very surprised. Thanks to the wisdom of another consultant doing board training for my association many years ago, I had been talking about the organization’s lifecyle with several associations for the past many years. It makes me think that association management topics may be a bit like those of women’s magazines. The headlines rarely change from year to year. There is one on fast weight loss, better sex, fabulous recipes, beautiful rooms, the latest fashions, and more. The topics may remain the same, but the information provided may have a new twist.

For those of us who have been working with associations for several years, even a few decades, maybe we need to dust off some topics that we consider old news. It may be old news to some of us but it is news to others. Just as we advise CEO’s to keep repeating the same messages time after time as their audience keeps changing, I think the same must be true for those of us speaking and consulting in the association leadership and management world.

For now, where do you think your association is in its lifecyle? Is it a newborn, adolescent, adult, mature? The key is to be on the cusp of adult/mature and once you are in adulthood, it is time to start refreshing to keep the passion and excitement alive before hitting the downside of maturity.

As individuals, we also have to keep rreinventing ourselves to remain healthy and vibrant as we age. Maturity calls for new kinds of interests and activities, maybe even new locales for where we choose to live. More on this in a later post.