ASSOCIATE ARTICLE - Carol Humphries
Look Out! Environmental Scanning for Associations
If you saw all
kinds of trains moving around at a rail switch, some of
them racing right toward you as you stood on the track
what would you do? Yes, the right answer is to jump away
– and quickly! What is amazing is that many associations
act as if there are no trains coming toward them,
ignoring them so they have to jump away at last minute,
or sometimes not at all. Do you look around to take in
all the trends, events and conditions that might affect
your association, analyze them, and then use them? If
so, you are using an effective strategic planning
process called Environmental Scanning. If you are not,
better look out before it’s too late!
Major Faith
Movements Driving Change was the title of a recent
article in religion news in a local newspaper. The article
described a “fast train coming down the tracks – and it’s
carrying some explosive freight” in the rise of Islam, the
resurgence of the Religious Right, the bitter struggle
over homosexuality, the spiritualization of popular
culture and the election of a successor to Pope John Paul
II. For many associations who are not directly involved in
religion, the information in this article might not be
included in a look out to see what might have an impact on
what they do.
Environmental scanning
(ES) is the gathering, analysis and use of information
about events, trends and relationships in an
organization’s surroundings – the knowledge of which is
used in planning the organization’s future. Simply,
environmental scanning is the process of using information
about the world in association decision making.
ES is similar to
looking out and around with our eyes and taking in
information that is then processed by our brain and used.
Organizations look around and take in information which is
then analyzed and used to make decisions. Just like human
eyes there is way more information about an association
than can ever be used which means that all information
must be interpreted accurately through a process called
scanning. If you are standing on a train track wondering
how fast the train is coming and whether you should do
anything about it, you would take in a great deal of
information in quite a purposeful way, and quickly, in
order to make what could be a survival decision.
Associations have similar questions about the information
they take in and the necessity to decide which way to jump
and how fast.
ES involves three main
activities. The first is the gathering of information
that concerns the organization’s environments. The second
is the analysis and interpretation of this
information and the third is the application of
this analyzed information in decision making.
Gathering
Information
For an association to
ensure that the information they take in is pertinent and
that it covers all the tracks consider information that
is:
-
internal and external
to the association,
-
part of the
association’s larger context as well as its more narrow
content,
-
informal and formal
The external
environments are any of the ‘outside of the
association’ conditions that happen like cultural,
political, technological changes, demographic trends and
patterns. One part of the external environment of an
association is the competitors of the association.
The internal
environments are those ‘inside the association’
conditions that affect how the association operates such
as changes in membership or member needs; differences in
the clients. It is also important to review what resources
the association has and employs as part of an internal
scan.
Content scanning
happens when an association concentrates on watching only
those trends, conditions and events that directly affect
its goals or the content area of the association.
Context scanning happens when an association watches
all the trends, conditions and events that may or may not
directly affect its goals. An association with an
education content will certainly gather information
directly related to education. This broader ES looks for
information from a larger context such as health,
economics and technology that may have influence on the
association.
The differences between
informal and formal information are as much about
the type of information as where the information is
gathered. Information has a six step life cycle. Ideas,
issues and new information often emerge first in artistic
works, in science fiction and in doctoral dissertations.
Some of these ideas take on an elite awareness scientific,
technical and trade journals and intellectual magazines
like Forbes. If an idea gains popular awareness it will
be seen next in popular interest magazines, in opinion
polls and on the Oprah show. A fourth step might be for an
idea to reach a government awareness through public
discussion, forums, hearings or in government-sponsored
reports and studies. When information is made part of
procedures and routines it will be incorporated into
government filings, professional practise and education
curriculum. At the last step information is made a part of
historical records of government filings or may be part of
historical analysis studies.
ES that is purposeful
and ongoing can gather information in both informal and
formal ways. There are many listserves, literature
reviews, media monitoring and news feed services available
through keyword searches that provide a formal way to
gather information. Needs assessment surveys, scanning
surveys with key informants or stakeholders of clients or
members and competitors are another way to solicit formal
information. Often national associations will offer ES as
a service to their local or provincial members. The
Ontario Physical and Health Education Association does a
competitive analysis on existing products as well as using
a keyword search through a Leisure Information Network.
Informal information is
information that comes as a result of a non-directed
search for instance, you might be searching for one item
and happen upon others. Futurists are the excellent at
this. Jim Carroll, a futurist, spends time “observing and
thinking about what’s going on in the world around me –
and enhancing those observations with real data”. Another
futurist, Dr. Frank Ogden, admits that he gets his
information about what’s coming next by inviting as many
people as will to send him news about anything they find
interesting. The trends and patterns become apparent.
Having members watch for and send in interesting
information to a central association would certainly
provide good information. Watching how the futurist
practise ES might lead to some ideas for your
association’s ES.
One way to put
practical boundaries on information is to examine large
sectors of influence such as technology, demographic,
social, cultural, political areas. An association might
vet each piece of information within the sectors against
the six steps of the information cycle. Discussion at the
Board level would follow about what parts of these sectors
would have the most negative or positive effect on the
organization, followed by whatever strategies there would
be to deal with these patterns.
Analysis and
Interpretation of Information
Analyzing the
information that is received is the step that can be the
most difficult for an association. If there is not a
concerted effort to come to a decision on which pieces of
information are most important and which pieces of
information are not the association can end up with just a
lot of unusable information.
What is needed is a
dynamic filter to screen out unwanted material.
Richard Slaughter calls this a ‘scanning frame - a device
for paring away 99.99% of reality in order to focus on the
signals and processes that have a direct bearing on the
present and future functioning of the organization”. Good
Governance™ advocates a process in which all of the
information is prioritized and the resulting scanning
frame is then used to guide decision making. An
association which does not bring in a helper with this
process of analyzing the information might consider
developing their own filter or scanning frame.
ES is commonly done in
associations by one or a combination of:
The Basic Trauma Life
Support International accomplishes this at the Board level
on their own as a part of their annual strategic and
project planning. Donna Hastings, a past Chair, reports
that a SWOT analysis is the primary tool used to identify
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Some
associations such as the Alberta Safety Council use an
outside consultant to both gather the information and lead
the discussion at the Board table about the use of the
information.
The Ontario Physical
and Health Education Association (OPHEA) accomplishes all
their Environmental Scanning by staff in the areas of
program development, communications, research. There is
good reason to use the functional specialization of
managers to ES because they can use their in depth
knowledge to interpret information.
According to CEO David
Dusome, Executive Director at Museums Alberta this is a
regular activity of the Board at their annual strategic
planning session. Information from members, staff and the
Board is gathered then analyzed and applied to their
planning. At the Canadian Dermatology Association,
communication with stakeholders and other communication
vehicles is done on an ongoing basis by the Board and the
senior staff.
These associations
support the strong evidence that the CEO, or any single
person, should not be doing ES on their own. The informal,
CEO-led ES of the past which depended solely on a
personal, idiosyncratic reading of the external
environment is now as useful as if only one person watched
one train at the switch line. ES should be done in concert
with as many others as possible based on the fact that it
is impossible to be objective with the information without
a group of people involved. Karen Bruce, Executive
Director of the Alberta Safety Council notes that her
Board ensures that the method of ES they use “covers all
the angles”.
Application of
Information
The third and last step
is the use of the information that you have gained.
Knowing what is an important piece of information and
acting upon this are sometimes far apart. How many
associations have known for many years now that there is
an aging population, including their membership, yet
continue to publish a newsletter with a 10-point font? If
an association does not analyze and act upon the
information that it gathers it may as well not bother with
the gathering.
Environmental Scanning
was a very popular part of strategic planning for Boards
of Directors to do twenty years ago but seems to either
have fallen out of regular use or has never been used.
Michelle Albagli, the Executive Director of the Canadian
Dermatology Association suggests that the phrase
‘Environmental Scanning is “out of fashion” though the
common sense of environmental scanning is still being done
by many associations. Strategic planning emphasizes the
outcomes of the planning rather than the process of
planning. Environmental scanning is a process that takes
some time and effort to develop and to use well. In this
information era, when the there seems to be way too much
information for too busy people in too busy associations
to handle, associations manage what information they can.
It would be natural that associations caught in ‘too much’
would limit the amount and type of information they
purposefully gather and use. Match this with the fact
that a growing number of specific associations in which
members are asking for more specific service than general
attention and the constraints on environmental scanning
would reflect this. The unfortunate thing is that
associations need to be broader in their gathering of
information than specific. If we look for just the content
of our association and exclude a wider context, we might
miss vital information just as if we watch only certain
trains barrelling toward us rather than more.
Associations which
purposefully use ES will see that they have an ongoing
status of being ‘in synch’ with the outer world and the
assurance of being ‘on track’ with it members. ES is a
form of protection from anticipated dangers and provides
ways to see new areas of opportunity as well as the
threats. Associations which use ES have an information
consciousness and an intelligence that will keep them
thriving. A look at a few book titles about ES leave no
doubt about the value of ES to an association: Information
Management for the Intelligent Organization, Managing
information for the Competitive Edge, The Knowing
Organization, The Art and Science of Business Intelligence
Analysis.
Environmental Scanning
when done consistently; analyzed through the right
filters; and purposefully used toward the work of the
association is an invaluable way to ‘look out!’ for the
association. There is no single way to do ES; the right
way is the best way for each association. It may be that
after some reflection, that the major faith movement will
not be the train that has an immediate or survival impact
on your association. The important thing is that you have
avoided standing on the track when the train hit and you
just didn’t see it.
References:
Churn Wei Choo,
Information Management for the Intelligent Organization:
the Art of Scanning the Environment, ASIS/Information
Today, Toronto, 1995.
GEORGIA Merit System,
Workforce Planning, 2000-2001, The State of Georgia & The
Georgia Merit System.
Correia, Z., and T.D.
Wilson, Factors influencing Environmental Scanning in the
Organizational Context, Information Research, Vol 7 No 1,
October 2001.
Friedman, G., Friedman,
M., Chapman, C., and Baker, J. 1997. The Intelligence
Edge. New York: Crown.
Fuld, L.M. 1995. The
New Competitor Intelligence: The Complete Resource for
Finding, Analyzing, and Using Information About Your
Competitors. John Wiley & Sons: New York.
Gilad, B.; Herring,
J.P., eds. 1996. Competitive Intelligence: From Black Ops
to Boardrooms – How Businesses Gather, Analyze, and Use
Information to Succeed in the Global Marketplace; Simon &
Schuster: New York, NY.
Richard A. Slaughter,
The Foresight Principle, Adamantine Press, London, 1995.
Establish Your Own
Trends-Radar, Jim Carroll, in The Association Agenda,
published by the Canadian Society of Association
Executives, January 26, 2004
Information Life Cycle
of Emerging Issues. Adapted from Wygant and Markey, 1988
as found in a paper published at the University of
Toronto.
Major Faith Movements
Driving Change, Douglas Todd, Vancouver Sun, Vancouver, as
reported Saturday, January 24, 2004 in the Edmonton
Journal.
To overcome the
intelligent by folly is contrary to the natural order of
things; to overcome the foolish by intelligence is in
accord with the natural order. To overcome the
intelligent by intelligence, however, is a matter of
opportunity. There are three avenues of opportunity:
events, trends and conditions. When opportunities occur
through events but you are unable to respond, you are not
smart. When opportunities become active through a trend
and yet you cannot make plans, you are not wise. When
opportunities emerge through conditions but you cannot act
on them, you are not bold. Those skilled in generalship
always achieve their victories by taking advantage of
opportunities.
Zhuge
Liang, ca.200 AD, The Way of the General.
 Carol
Humphries is
passionate about helping organizations
learn how to use good governance. She
created Good Governance™ which includes a
best practise of regular Environmental
Scanning. As a consultant, Carol has
worked with international, national,
provincial and local organizations.
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