By Jill Jackson, CMP
Whether we are working together professionally to achieve a common goal, to complete a project or just trying to succeed personally, is it always teamwork that brings success? As much as we all believe we can do anything and everything on our own, we must realize that reaching a goal or accomplishing a project usually has a positive outcome and great benefit through working with others.
“Teamwork” is defined as a cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause. “Success” is the favorable outcome of something attempted. At Partners In Association Management, we serve and manage many clients, all who have different aspects, challenges, memberships and teams. Through our various management teams, contracted vendors, and internal policies and procedures, we successfully manage every aspect of our associations.
Five Keys to Success and Making it Happen:
1. Determine the Best Possible Outcome to Achieve Success. Whether it is a mailing, a membership drive, making meetings and 
conventions bigger and better or simply striving to make the association a better investment overall for the members, we all must come together as a team with a plan to make it all happen. Meetings, membership and marketing client teams all working together to ensure one common goal… Success!
2. Set Realistic Goals. Setting realistic goals is key to success in any aspect. Knowing your team’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as 
financial or physical limitations is key. Believing we can all move mountains and win the lottery to have unlimited funds would of course be awesome, but is unrealistic. Knowing we can set realistic goals of moving small rocks or pebbles one at a time and actually raising money through guaranteed methods would achieve true success.
3. Communication is the Key! Determining a plan of action and communicating all aspects of the plan effectively to every team 
member is the true element to achieving success through teamwork. All minds do not think the same and abilities are definitely not always equal. Everyone on a team is a valuable member and realizing it takes everyone working together to achieve the common goal is sometimes a difficult task. When accepted and understood, the sky is the limit!
4. Choose the Right Team! Whether it is choosing the right team 
internally or the best outsourced contractors.… the right team can bring success or failure. Having all pieces to the puzzle is key to achieving successful completion of the puzzle. The same goes for any goal or project. The wrong pieces in any aspect will challenge success and often cause failure, but when everything is a good fit, the plan comes together.
5. Always be Flexible and Positive! In meetings management, there are constant changes and challenges with each and every event. No 
matter how many times the same meeting has taken place, it will be different the next time around with different teams, different challenges and different successes. Learning to be flexible and always strive for positive solutions is the key to success in any situation.
Achieving success is best achieved by having clear cut goals, building the right team; and fostering open communication.
