Founder of Achurch Consulting and 2023 Salute to Association Excellence honoree helps groups with technology and workplace transitions

Rebecca Achurch doesn't have a typical IT background. She earned her bachelor's degree in communications. She began her association career at the former National Spa and Pool Institute, where she learned the meetings and trade show industry.

Achurch said the skills she acquired in events helped her become a translator, or a bridge between the language of technology and the business needs of associations.

"When you consider event managers, what are they? Really good project managers," Achurch said. She implemented her first association management software at NSPI.

After going to work at the American Chemical Society, she was charged with moving the group's existing member management system—which was complicated and increasingly expensive to maintain—to a commercial off-the-shelf product.  

"Over the course of four years, I took a homegrown system and actually deployed two different platforms—one for institutional subscribers, and one for their membership," Achurch said. 

Achurch launched her consulting business in 2015 because she recognized that organizations didn't always have the right people, or the budget to hire such people full time, to upgrade and replace older technology. She saw the need to help organizations through tech transitions,  as someone who "would get in the weeds with them and serve as a champion and partner," and provide that "steady, guiding hand throughout" the process.

As her team has grown so has the focus of her business. Achurch, who lives in Charlotte, N.C., was an early adopter of hybrid and remote work as a way to recruit and retain outstanding talent. Her team of 21 people is entirely remote.  

This spurred Achurch to offer consulting aimed at helping organizations succeed in a virtual environment. This may require new tools and technology. But it also means new policies and processes, new ways of communicating, and even a new workplace culture.

"We need to be really intentional about the way we're working … in order to achieve our results," Achurch said.

Achurch is being honored by Association TRENDS and CEO Update as the 2023 Association Partner of the Year. The Salute to Association Excellence awards event will be held March 17.

Following are excerpts from the interview, edited for length and clarity:

CEO Update: You were at the American Chemical Society and then you started your own consulting business. How did that transition happen?

Rebecca Achurch: I'm actually three generations deep in entrepreneurs in my family, so it kind of runs in the blood. The greatest gift that ACS gave me was the ability to implement enterprise software—to know the rigor and discipline that it takes and the structure that it takes. A lot of organizations couldn't afford that on their staff on a regular basis.

I saw the need to provide that (ability) in a targeted fashion that would help organizations through the transition, that stayed with them long term, and that would get in the weeds with them and serve as a champion and a partner.

CU: What mistakes do you see associations making when considering new  technology?

RA: I wouldn't call it a mistake. I would call it more of a trap or a Trojan horse. The change that's happened in software is that we've had to move from what I refer to as "set it and forget it" to continuously and constantly evolving and changing.

When they're replacing older technology … (they) think about what we do versus what outcome are we looking for and what's going to serve us well in the future. We help enlighten them to think about the future five years, not just the past five years.

CU: What strategy should associations be pursuing as far as figuring out what it is that they need to do and how to do it?

RA: When considering a technology roadmap, you need to look at your entire ecosystem and see how the parts fit together. What are going to be your core—your primary— platforms, and then which platforms are going to be constantly changing?

So, for example, look at event technology. It's always changing, right? So, you want to think about your event technology as something that you're going to want to be constantly upgrading—potentially experimenting—and changing.

CU: Do some associations hesitate to make the technology investments that they really should be doing?

RA: Associations, in my point of view, have traditionally underinvested in technology.  IT used to "own" a lot of things. This has been changing. Every department has to get in the game.

It (used to be) "Oh, I'm going to make this one big capital spend and then I'm done." When, actually, it's "I'm going to make a spend—a significant investment—to get onto this new platform. Then, I need to recognize that I'm going to be continually making that investment. Maybe not that same size, but there is going to be a measure of that investment every single year in order to keep the technology up to date, in order to keep the skills of my staff up to date, in order to make sure that I'm getting the value out of the new features/functions that have been added to the system."

That is the challenge—and, frankly, the opportunity—that I see for associations: We're going into a new cycle of continuous improvement and building new muscle memory around that.

CU: The other side of your business is workplace culture and remote work. How did you end up making that part of your practice?

RA: Well, we've got to go back to the American Chemical Society. When I worked on that implementation, I had already moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. I was a very early adopter in working with a hybrid team—long before Zoom.

That was, gosh, more than 17 years ago. And I saw it as the future of work because there were some specific skills and talent that I needed that weren't necessarily in a specific metropolitan area. … I saw technology as enabling our ability to be successful.

CU: How do you help associations with that?

RA: It's engagement. How do we begin to reframe how we are working as a team in order to be successful in these new environments? We help people understand new policies they need to put in place or experimentation with new policies and how those align. We help organizations redefine how they're communicating synchronously and asynchronously because we need to do that with intentionality, and then, operationally.

When you're surrounded, typically, by four walls, we know exactly what that environment looks like and exactly how we're going to be working in that environment, because we've done that for the last 50 years. And so, just like technology changes, we understand that it's a spectrum and it takes time.

We firmly believe that managers are the culture keepers within an organization. So, we try to help upskill our managers so that they can have better accountability, better communication—again, better processes—so that they feel that connection towards their colleagues. And then they can be not just the carriers of the culture, but also great managers and people who are contributing to the organization.

CU: Do many groups—when they were forced to go remote during the pandemic or because they've chosen hybrid or remote work—kind of flounder at this?

RA: I wouldn't necessarily say that they're floundering. I would say that they're maybe not soaring as they could. What they need to do is go back, and with some intentionality do some upskilling. You need to increase your use of technology.

And then, we need to really be intentional about the way we're working—the way we're using the platforms, the way we're communicating—in order to achieve our results.

We need to be flexible and say, "We're going to maybe try some things and see if it works, and if it doesn't work, then we're going to shift again."  I think that organizations would soar more if they took that step back.

CU: Can you give examples of what you mean by "intentionality?"

RA: Let's look at communication as an example. When is it appropriate to text your colleague? When is it appropriate to just call them via Teams or via your VOIP?

Not intentionally talking about … the use of a chat versus e-mail versus a phone versus text can cause undue stress on staff because they don't necessarily know the rules of engagement. They're inferred and not explicitly, intentionally stated.

So, if I text somebody, is the expectation that they text me back immediately? We just kind of muddled through, but we haven't taken that step back to say, "If this is going to be the way we work, then what are our new agreed-upon norms?"

CU: What else would be helpful to say to associations?

RA: I genuinely believe this is a fantastic time and opportunity for us to really revisit what we're doing, how we're serving our members, how our organizations are structured so that we can be set up for the future.

I think about how nimble people were in that first year (of the pandemic). They should continue to embrace it. I am genuinely scared that we're just going to all go back to the old way we've done things because it's comfortable.

UP CLOSE WITH REBECCA ACHURCH

First job: I was 16 when the owner of a photo-processing shop trusted me enough to mind the shop by myself. I come from three generations of entrepreneurs, and I knew about the numerous sacrifices, large and small, that business owners have to make to keep things going. Knowing his trust in me meant he could go home and have dinner with his family made me really happy.

Pivotal career moment: Early in my career, senior leaders of the American Chemical Society called me to a meeting. To my surprise, they asked if I was willing to be the project manager for the association's move to a new AMS (association management software). Saying "yes" to that offer was really scary—probably the biggest risk I've taken in my career. So glad I made that leap because it set me on the path I'm on to this day.

Proudest achievement: I'm genuinely proud of the people who work here and how we've built the company. From the start, I've focused on creating an organization of people who share my values, are experts in the field, and genuinely care about our clients' success. We've built an environment of high trust, accountability, low ego, and high curiosity and the flexibility so the team can schedule around family or personal needs. When you put your people first, they bring their best!

Something most people don't know or would find surprising: I have dyslexia. But I didn't find out until my junior year in high school. I can completely relate when an association leader feels confused or stymied because they can't figure out how to "fix" their organization's technology or business processes. My purpose is to make sure every client understands exactly what decisions they are making and is comfortable asking as many questions as it takes to get there.

Words of wisdom: There's a quote from Charles Darwin I keep on my desk—"It's not the strongest or most intelligent of the species that survives but the one that's most adaptable to change."

If I had to sum up my career in three words, it would be "adaptable to change." The only constant is change, so as leaders, we must keep our eyes wide open and adapt.