Executive Master in International Association Management

LEADERSHIP & CHANGE

Dates: 18, 19, 20 January 2024

Module Duration: 3 days

Lecturer:  Susan J. WEST

Guest Speaker: Silke SCHLINNERTZ, Head of Growth at Euroheat and Power.

OBJECTIVES

The most powerful form of leadership is one in which a person takes the privilege in finding the best in others and puts it to good use. The realization that leadership is a causal relationship and not solely based on a job title is very relevant in associations where you are often expected to exercise leadership up, down, across and outside the organization without always having formal authority. This can be especially true during times of change.  Most associations these days are experiencing a change in leadership, a new strategy, a change in organization design or some combination. This module aims to help participants gain self-insight, new perspectives and practical tools to help them manage themselves and their organizations during times of change.

To support participants through this journey, they will be invited during the 3-day module to:

• increase their self-awareness to better understand how they impact other people
• practice new interpersonal/ influencing skills through practical and energizing role plays
• learn and apply assessment techniques to understand and better manage change impacting them and their professional environment. 

Most topics will be taught by means of lectures/ discussion, interactive role plays, application of practical tools and work on examples related to the professional context of the participants.

INSTRUCTOR

SUSAN J. WEST holds a Bachelors degree in Romance Languages from Princeton University (USA) and a Masters in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University (USA). Her passion for the human side of business led her to an international career in human resources where, during the past 20 years, she worked with some of the Fortune 500’s top global executives. In 2006 she established a consulting practice in Brussels, Belgium dedicated to helping leaders in associations, SMEs and start-ups develop the leadership capabilities needed to meet today’s business challenges. She was recognized in 2020 as one of the Top 20 Women Advancing Associations. She is a member of the Lifelong Learning adjunct faculty at Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management.

CONTENT

DAY 1: LEADING YOURSELF

• Individual Differences
• Motivation of self and others
•  Fit to Lead: Personal Resilience & Change

DAY 2: LEADING OTHERS I

• Teams & group dynamics
• Interpersonal awareness
• Leading without authority

DAY 3: LEADING OTHERS II

• Diagnosing the change
• Assessing your organization’s culture
• Assessing your association’s change risks
• Taking your leadership stand

STRATEGY & CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Dates: 22, 23, 24 February 2024

Module Duration: 3 days

Lecturer:  Alessandro CORTESE

Guest Professor: Paul VERDIN, Professor and Chair in Strategy and Organisation and Director of the Baillet-Latour Chair in Error Management at SBS-EM (ULB) and Professor of Strategy and International Management at KULeuven (Belgium).

Guest Speakers (to be confirmed): Mohamed MEZGHANI, Secretary General, International union of Public Transport – UITP and Oliver WYKES, COO Wind Europe.

OBJECTIVES

International associations have specific challenges to plan strategic objectives and govern change: differently than corporations, the “shareholders” of the association, the members, are also the primary group of “customers”. This implies specific consequences on both the strategy and the ability to drive change. 

Designed as a strategy retreat of an association, the module aims at designing a complete organisational and strategic model for an international association, looking at its mission and vision, its strategic value creation and capture (covering the main business model alternatives), and its business model.

The participants of the module will understand the strategic scenarios that an international association can face and review the possible managerial options, analysed through case studies.  The participants will learn, through both theoretical concepts, case studies and practical exercises, to analyse the key change processes that their organisation could apply to best meet its mission and strategic objectives.

CONTENT

DAY 1

CHALLENGES

• Understanding change and its drivers
• Introducing organisational models

MISSION AND VISION

• Defining the environmental forces
• Defining relevance, outcomes, and long-term objectives

DAY 2

STRATEGY

• Value in International Associations
  • Value capture
  • Value creation
  • Business model review

DAY 3

IMPLEMENTING CHANGE

• Aligning business plans to strategy
• Analysing strategic scenarios and reviewing business models

LECTURER

ALESSANDRO JACQUES CORTESE is since 2009 the Chief Executive Officer of ESTRO, the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology and the Chairman of the ESTRO Cancer Foundation, and was, until June 2015, President of ESAE, the European Society of Association Executives, of which he is today Honorary President.

Alessandro has gained significant experience as Director of the Association Management practice at the MCI Group, working with international associations, such as the Project Management Institute (PMI), IAEE (International Association of Exhibitions and Events), DMAI (Destination Marketing Association International), CIC (Convention Industry Council) and APICS (The Association for Operations Management).

Alessandro, MBA, is a PhD candidate in Management Sciences at the University of Antwerp, and, in 2014, co-founded the Executive Master in International Association Management at the Solvay Business School in Brussels, where he also serves as Lecturer in Strategy and as Co-Academic Director.

Alessandro is a member of several Advisory Boards and is regularly invited to give talks to industry events and congresses, focusing on strategy for International Associations.

STRATEGIC MARKETING & COMMUNICATION

Dates: 15, 16, 22, 23 March 2024

Module Duration: 4 days

Lecturer:  Hugues REY

Guest speaker: Tanguy VAN DE WERVE, Director General at the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA)

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the marketing module is to make participants aware of the importance of marketing in today’s economy and to understand the contemporary approach and culture of “value-focused” marketing. Participants will learn key marketing concepts and basic tools. In addition, the module will address sector-specific stakeholder needs and advocacy. Through interactive teaching and class participants will be able to:

• Understand major concepts underlying the notion of ‘value-focused’ marketing.
• Be aware of the content and methods of marketing strategies.
• Grasp complexities of customers’ behaviours.
• Make the link between customers’ behaviours and segmentation analyses.
• Know the main targeting, positioning and differentiation approaches.
• Structure a marketing information system.
• Boost advocacy on the basis of stakeholders’ management.

CONTENT

Day 1 -  Marketing Fundmentals (Hugues Rey)

During this first day, you will (re)discover the fundamentals of marketing and
reinforce your skills to maximize value.
Building on simple methods and concepts, you will boost your strategic and creative
talent, to stand out and delight both your clients and your association.
Leveraging segmentation, targeting and positioning, you will explore how to develop
innovative value propositions.

Topics covered:

- Mission & Vision are part of the Marketing process
- Marketing & Board of Director: from cost to invesments
- Meaningful and Purpose Marketing – multi-stakeholders model
- STP: Segmentation / Targeting / Positioning
- New “customer” Journey
- From the traditional 4P Marketing Mix Model to the SAVEEE Model

Day 2 – Marketing Mix for Association (Hugues Rey)

This 2nd day covers how to construct and promote the right offer (product or service)
through the right channels, at the right time and price.

Topics covered:

- How to move from Product to Service
- From Place to Access
- How to generate Value and define the right price
- 3 options for promotional communication adapted to associations: Education /
Engagement / Entertainment
- Experience sharing: Luc Suykens (United Brands Belgium) – How the 3 “E” and an
organisation “member centric” leads to great value generation and a profitable
association.

Day 3 – Communication Tool Kit (Hugues Rey + Guest)

Exploitation of all opportunities for associations to communicate their values and offers has
substantially changed the formats and content made available to their members and
customers. The distinction between online and offline communication channels definitely
belongs to a bygone era. So, let’s value the convergence and the active role of your team,
your members and yout customer.

During this last day, you will better understand how to provide information relevant to
customers’ specific needs at each point in the purchase cycle. Should marketing
communication strategies still rely on PR, advertising, and personal sales to cover the field?
This module shows you how to set up a communication strategy. We cover planning the
Paid, Shared, Owned and Earned concept.

Topics Covered:
- SOSTAC Methodology
- Focus on Social Media

Day 4 – Advocacy in the EU - the role of trade associations

- Structure and components of dialogue between EU institutions and outside stakeholders
- Forms of corporate interest representation
- Use made by EU institutions of interest organisations
- How EU decision making shapes interest intermediation
- Trade association advocacy

• Best practices
• Tools
• Strategy
• How to measure effectiveness

LECTURER

HUGUES REY is a Commercial Engineer from the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (ULB). He currently holds the position of CEO at Havas Media Group Belux. Previously, he held positions as Managing Director of FastBridge (IPG) and Digital Director Initiative Europe Middle-East Africa. He is a Marketing and Communication Teacher at Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management. Hugues is Chairman of the board of the Belgian Management and Marketing Association. He is a member of the Board of CIM (Centre d’Information sur les Media) and UMA (United Media Agencies); President of CIM Pluri-media Study Committee. In the past, he was President of the CIM TV and Internet Commission as well as President and Founder of Interactive Advertising Bureau. He was awarded a Life-Time Achievement Award at the IAB Mixx Awards 2010. He has 25 years’ experience in media agency development through digital & data infusion.

TANGUY VAN DE WERVE is the Director General of the Brussels-based European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) since December 2018. In that capacity, he leads in the formulation of industry positions on the main policy developments and engages with relevant EU and international authorities. Before joining EFAMA, he was Head of the Brussels office of AFME (European investment banking industry - 2015-2018), Director General of Leaseurope and Eurofinas (European leasing and consumer credit industries – 2006-2015), and Head of Banking Supervision and Capital Markets at the European Banking Federation (2001-2006). Other relevant roles include positions at Euroclear and Dexia as well as non-Executive Director of Belgium-domiciled UCITS (2006-2018).

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Dates: 26, 27 April 2024

Module Duration: 2 days

Lecturer:  Frédéric HOFFMANN

Guest Speakers (to be confirmed): Sven BOSSU, CEO of International Association of Convention Centres (AIPC) and Philippe HENSMANS, Directeur général Amnesty International.

OBJECTIVES

Organisations start to realise that to execute their strategy, they need to be successful in the implementation and adoption of their project, whether it is about transforming and digitalising their organisation, launching new services or setting up major events.

The course provides a structured setting in which the participants can familiarise themselves with the most important concepts in transformation programmes, projects and change management. They will learn how to set up a project management office (PMO) to steer their organisation strategy execution, to break down their strategic initiatives into programmes and projects, to define their objectives, to prioritise them, to follow up their implementation and to measure their key results (OKR).

Participants will also learn to master project management techniques such as project scoping, estimating, scheduling and controlling and to ensure business or digital transformation success through appropriate change management process support.

The teaching will focus on:

• Developing participants' programme, project and change management skills through greater theoretical understanding and practical application of principles, tools & techniques to manage portfolios of complex projects in a traditional, adaptive or agile way.
• Implementing risk management strategies to navigate uncertainty and change.
• Evaluating their project performance to achieve business objectives (OKR).
• Explaining the essential skills required to be an excellent project and/or change manager.
• Leveraging their leadership skills to build an efficient PMO to drive innovation in complex projects.

The methods in this course will include a balanced mix of interactive lectures, group work, simulations and case studies on project and change concepts, including transformation challenges.

CONTENT

DAY 1

> From strategy execution to portfolio management

• Defining, prioritising, planning and measuring portfolios
• Setting up a PMO to steer your portfolios

> From portfolio to project management

• Project management frameworks (traditional, adaptive, agile)
• Initiating, planning, executing and monitoring projects
• Risk management strategies in projects

DAY 2

> Transformation programmes

• Managing transformation programmes in your portfolio
• Change vs project management
• Harvard simulation on project execution
• Case studies (association business transformation)

LECTURER

FREDERIC HOFFMANN has gained extensive expertise in Project & Portfolio Management (PPM) and in business & digital transformations through 25 years of experience, including 12 years of consulting. He has implemented PPM best practices, methods and tools for international private and public organisations and took part in several major transformation programmes. 

He is now the product owner of the agile collaborative tooling within the Agile Center of Excellence of BNP Paribas Fortis.

He is also professor and executive coach at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management for the Masters, Executive Programs and for the MBA in Brussels and in Vietnam.

He holds a master degree in Economics and a postgraduate master degree in Management of Information Technology.

FINANCE

Dates: 24, 25 May 2024

Module Duration: 2 days

Lecturer:  Hugues PIROTTE

OBJECTIVES

LECTURER

HUGUES PIROTTE

GOVERNANCE & SUSTAINABILITY

Dates: 21, 22 June 2024

Module Duration: 2 days

Lecturer:  Alessandro CORTESE

Guest Professor: Jamal SHAHIN is the Programme Director of the Advanced Master European Integration and Chair in Digital  Sovereignty at the Brussels School of Governance. He is also a Senior Lecturer at the University of Amsterdam and Professorial Fellow at the United Nations University-CRIS in Bruges.

Guest Speakers (to be confirmed): a debate on sustainability and legacy

OBJECTIVES:

The module consists of two parts, the first about governance and the second about sustainability in International Associations.

1. GOVERNANCE

Efficient governance enables organisations to best meet their mission and strategic objectives. The participants will learn, through both theoretical concepts and practical, to analyse the key governance processes and needs of their organisation and how they impact on the ability to govern change and strategic implementation.

Also, in a role play, the participants will understand how the board of an international association functions, to develop tools to identify inefficiencies and the appropriate corrections.

2. SUSTAINABILITY

Associations plan for strategic growth to best meet their mission and vision and reinvest the profit into services and benefits for the members. But what about outcomes beyond the primary beneficiaries of an association? And what about impact?

The participants will learn how to blend organisational strategic objectives with impact perspectives and will determine how to plan for outcomes. Using the case of congresses and events, particular attention will be given to the opportunities to engage with  countries, regions and cities to plan for outcomes and socio-economic change.

CONTENT: 

DAY 1 : GOVERNANCE

• Government or Governance?
• Linking Governance and Strategy
• Examples in Board management

DAY 2: SUSTAINABILITY

• Planning for sustainability strategically
• From vision to outcomes
• Comparing cases on events/congresses legacy

LECTURER

ALESSANDRO JACQUES CORTESE is since 2009 the Chief Executive Officer of ESTRO, the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology and the Chairman of the ESTRO Cancer Foundation, and was, until June 2015, President of ESAE, the European Society of Association Executives, where he is today Honorary President.

He has gained significant experience as Director of the Association Management practice at the MCI Group, working with  international associations, such as the Project Management Institute (PMI), IAEE (International Association of Exhibitions and Events), DMAI (Destination Marketing Association International), CIC (Convention Industry Council) and APICS (The Association for Operations Management).

Alessandro, with an MBA, is also a PhD candidate in Management Sciences at the University of Antwerp, and, in 2014, co-founded the Executive Master in International Association Management at the Solvay Business School in Brussels, where he also serves as a Co-Academic Director. He is a member of several Advisory Boards and is regularly invited to give talks to industry events and
congresses, focusing on strategy for International Associations.