The Society Partnership Effectiveness Survey helps us gauge the quality of the partnership between societies and CFA Institute, align on what’s important to society success, and determine gaps between what we offer and what societies need.
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This year, we put a special focus on the Society Service Standards—the activities, services, and value that reflect the CFA Institute strategy and what societies should deliver in your markets.
Fielding the survey is one way we “ensure excellence in society governance and operations,” so participation is a shared requirement across all regions and segments. We received a response from 80% of societies in the network.
We found that although societies show strong alignment with the Society Service Standards, feel well equipped to deliver on them, and feel generally well informed, feelings of partnership remain lower than we’d hope.
I’ve summarized the key findings and our action plan below, and we have captured many more nuances in the full results report available on Society Center (Society Comms & Engagement tile > Engagement & Feedback).
Results Overview
Quality of Partnership
To the central question “How would you rate the current quality of the partnership between your society and CFA Institute?” on a 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) scale, responses declined since the last survey, showing room for improvement in the partnership.
We recognize our differentiated approach to resourcing and support, a key change within the Society Operating Model, has been especially disruptive for Local and Member Societies. By and large, the Society Operating Model didn’t present much of a change from business-as-usual for APAC and for the Professional Association segment.
This bears out in the results, as ratings appear to correlate with the level of change certain groups experienced over the past year—ratings were markedly lower in AMER (where all Local and most Member Societies are located), but are approaching or surpassing best-practice levels among Professional Associations and in APAC.
When looking at the results by role, we saw executive directors/CEOs and other paid staff provided generally higher ratings across key categories than presidents/chairs and other board members. This may be because, by virtue of their role, paid staff have more time and resources to dedicate to the partnership, engage with us more frequently over time, and therefore have more opportunities to see the benefits of the relationship. Volunteers likely have had less capacity to work through the implications of the changes the network has experienced and generally less direct interaction with CFA Institute. Presidents Council Representatives (PCRs), who as a group work closely with CFA Institute staff, overall expressed positive feelings in their partnership with CFA Institute.
When we looked at partnership ratings by tenure, we found that the longer a leader or staff member has been involved with the network, the less likely they are to view the partnership favorably. Contrasted with the higher ratings of partnership effectiveness coming from newer society leaders, the newer cohort may not have experienced the peaks and valleys of the last decade and don’t have the same frame of reference.
Alignment with Society Service Standards
It was valuable, but not surprising, to see that societies feel their activities are generally well aligned with the Society Service Standards—over 70% of you responded with positive ratings to the question “To what extent do the Society Service Standards align with the impact your society wants to make in your market?” The standards were developed through your input at the 2022 Society Leadership Conferences, an open comment period, and engagements with PCRs, and we are happy to see that they align not only on paper but also in practice.
Additionally, societies feel generally well-equipped to deliver on the Service Standards for your segments—you said you have the information and resources you need to deliver on 85% of the activities listed. We see opportunities to provide direct support for a handful of specific areas where you are feeling less equipped, particularly in engaging members, regulators, and the industry on standards, delivering PL-credit eligible content, providing ethics education, and delivering events. We will create resources and address gaps in these areas as noted in our action plan.
Although there is strong alignment with the Service Standards, we saw relatively low results when we asked about a few related elements, including “our partnership with CFA Institute is producing the right results,” (50% positive ratings) and “we understand each other’s objectives and work together to achieve them” (55% positive ratings). We would expect to see higher scores on those elements, as the Service Standards are essentially our shared objectives (developed in partnership with one another), and you feel equipped to achieve them. Understanding this discrepancy, and what societies define as the “right results” will help us close those gaps. We’d value your interpretations.
Communications, Collaboration, and Support
Overall, we’ve reached best practice levels when it comes to the frequency of key communications. However, although the network feels well-informed, you indicated that you do not feel engaged. With positive ratings hovering around 55% in other aspects of our communications, there is work to be done to improve how effectively we’re communicating with you. Open comments reveal the desire for more authenticity and transparency, streamlined communication, opportunities for interaction, proactive outreach around important issues, and clarity over the funding and resource models. We hear you and will be working to communicate with you better.
With our support model shifting away from providing direct relationship management for Local and Member Society segments, we recognize the emerging needs for more training, guidance, and attention to help fill that gap in support.
Feedback from the Global Financial Center and Professional Association societies, especially in the AMER and EMEA regions, shows they value stability and society expertise from relationship managers. I recognize that shifts in our resourcing over the past 12–18 months have led to the introduction of new team members supporting many of our GFC and PA markets. We are also pleased to have welcomed back several relationship managers from parental leave. Thank you for your patience as we've established new ways of working together. I'm optimistic that more consistent coverage across GFC and PA societies will in turn improve our partnership.
The last time we administered the survey, the network shared that you wanted more and easier access to each other—your peers in the network. This year, many noted that Connexions Community on Higher Logic has helped fill that need, but still others would like to see more structured opportunities to learn from one another (particularly with those in your segment) and share best practice.
This update only scratches the surface of what we heard.
We have put together a comprehensive analysis of the full results. I encourage you to log in to Society Center so you can take a deeper dive into the findings.
Action Plan and Next Steps
Although your responses unsurprisingly differed across regions, segments, and roles, we saw a few common areas of need:
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Delivering on certain standards (namely, resources for engaging local policymakers, employers, and universities; and delivering, promoting, and/or collaborating to provide PL-eligible content)
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More opportunities for direct collaboration with and support from CFA Institute
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More transparent and open communication
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Fine-tuning the level of service societies receive
In response, we have developed a multi-pronged action plan around the following themes: Society Service Standards, Collaboration & Communication, and Training & Support.
The plan includes conducting stakeholder engagement, refining our communications strategy (including streamlining our platforms, hosting calls by segment, and refining who receives what information), developing a global society training plan, and forging closer partnerships with internal subject matter experts and the business development team in support of the network. We are also enlisting the help of PCRs, who have been provided results for their subregions, to conduct their own outreach and fill in gaps left from our global approach.
Please see an overview of the action plan on Society Center. You can expect to start seeing some outputs of the plan in the coming weeks.
We have distributed the results and action plan internally to our Global Partnerships & Client Solutions division, as well as the CFA Institute leadership team and our business partners across the organization, to help them understand your sentiments and needs and identify ways we can collectively move things forward. We will also present our findings at the May Board of Governors meeting.
What We Need from You
The Principles of Partnership acknowledge that successful partnerships are based on mutual respect and benefits. On our end, this means we will keep inviting you to engage with us when opportunities arise. We will encourage you to drive impact in your local markets. We will keep supporting you to use resources efficiently. We will continue to seek your opinions and contributions through surveys, discussions, and meeting opportunities. We trust that you will offer your candid input and feedback with our teams in the future.
And we expect that you will take us up on these opportunities and show your engagement—something that we do not always see consistently across the network. With 20% of societies not submitting a response to this survey, 5% of total invitees attending recent Inside Track sessions in real time, and society email open rates hovering around 60%, there is also work to be done on societies’ side to make the most of our relationship and engagements with each other.
Implementing a modern, differentiated Society Operating Model has not come without its challenges, but the value we are collectively driving for our shared members and the industry is worth the investment of time and effort from all of us. I am confident we are moving in the right direction.
Thank you for your continued commitment to our partnership and shared goals—today and every day.
Membership
Compensation Survey Live This Week
On 21 March, CFA Institute will invite all members to participate in a member and charterholder compensation survey. The data we collect will form the basis for an interactive portal, to be released in August/September, that will allow users to drill into member and charterholder compensation data for various roles and markets.
It’s vital that members participate so the portal can reflect robust data. A promotional toolkit and FAQs are now available here to help spread the word about the survey. Because members will receive a distinct URL, the call to action will be to check their email for the link sent to their inbox. Thanks in advance for helping us boost participation and for contributing to our most popular member benefit.
Governance
FY23 CFA Institute Annual Report
The FY23 CFA Institute Annual Report is now live! Explore the report to see a message from CFA Institute Board of Governors chair, Mark Lazberger, CFA; a message from president and CEO Marg Franklin, CFA; an overview of key exam registrations and membership; and a review of financial performance.
February 2024 Board of Governors Meeting Notes
Please visit Society Center (Councils & Committees tile > Presidents Council Representatives) to see the Q2 Board of Governors meetings notes from Presidents Council Chair, Jennifer Garbowicz, CFA, CIPM. In addition to a report on the organization’s strategic progress, the notes include a financial update and highlight accomplishments within the society network.