When an organization hires an association management company, they are entering into a contract to have a team of professionals to handle operations.
The AMC team is making a commitment to the association to perform services within the mutually agreed to scope of work, and to provide ongoing guidance in best practices. The AMC is trying their best to make the association successful, and do so while keeping aligned with the scope of their contract.
Here are some of the things that clients can do to ensure a good relationship with the AMC.
- Collaborating to control scope creep.
- Respecting the AMC professional standards.
- Acting in accordance with best practices.
- Treating the AMC team members with respect.
- Adhering to timelines.
- Setting realistic deadlines.
- Budgeting responsibly.
- Avoiding drawing the AMC into personal feuds.
There are a few things that are problems for the AMC.
- A client tries to force an AMC out of scope by threatening them with an RFP.
- A volunteer leader starts playing AMC team members against each other.
- A volunteer makes a mistake and blames a member of the management team.
- When AMC makes a strong recommendation and the president ignores it.
- When the president gives kudos to volunteers, but never recognizes the management team who have also been instrumental in success.
- When the AMC recommends against an action, the board does it anyway, and then blames the AMC when it fails.
- When volunteers communicate erratically.
Sometimes, a president gets the wrong-headed idea that the AMC must work for whatever the client believes they can pay, given their income level. This becomes a problem when the amount the client can afford to pay is not enough to cover the services the client wants to buy. That is a train wreck waiting to happen.
The good news is that most AMC/client relationships are positive. The model works well because it is a cost-effective way for an organization to secure high-level services through shared resources.
