Winter 2026 - Establish Direction
In this course, you explore diverse topics identified by leaders and colleagues within the Canadian association space on what knowledge, skills and abilities a Canadian association executive needs to support an association successfully.
Through the Establish Direction course, you will explore how you begin to operationalize your strategic plan. This is where you’ll interpret your current financial situation, set long term financial and business goals, set your annual plans and budgets, build your brand and reputation, and explore the partnerships that will help you get where you need to go. This course is where you’ll explore how you set realistic objectives every year to make sure you are headed where your strategy needs you to go.
Association Executives are responsible for implementing the board’s vision and goals into concrete, actionable, timely objectives. Translating a strategic plan into measurable outcomes is a critical task of leadership as is setting in place the plans, targets, and partnerships to ensure success. The Establish Direction competency area explores everything from financial planning, budgeting, annual planning, maintaining brand and reputation and partnering for success.