Topping Off - ForumSpace

Topping off is one of the benefits of our broader KA Forum community and one that requires care and coordination. This post explains how it works and how we can navigate it together so that Forums stay strong and the process runs smoothly.

Before we begin, and so we are all in alignment, topping-off is a process whereby a nearly-full forum absorbs a new member, rounding out or ‘topping off’ its numbers. Let’s take a look at the details.

Topping off is one of the benefits of our broader KA Forum community and one that requires care and coordination. This post explains how it works and how we can navigate it together so that Forums stay strong and the process runs smoothly.

Before we begin, and so we are all in alignment, topping-off is a process whereby a nearly-full forum absorbs a new member, rounding out or ‘topping off’ its numbers. Let’s take a look at the details.

Topping off is one of the benefits of our broader KA Forum community and one that requires care and coordination. This post explains how it works and how we can navigate it together so that Forums stay strong and the process runs smoothly.

Before we begin, and so we are all in alignment, topping-off is a process whereby a nearly-full forum absorbs a new member, rounding out or ‘topping off’ its numbers. Let’s take a look at the details.

Why?

Forum is a multi-year journey. In fact, satisfaction scores, as measured by net promoter scores in the Forum health survey, increase in years two and three. Forums build higher levels of trust, enabling them to give more and more help. By year three, some Forums are even able to allow members to take turns moderating, giving KAs a turn to practice another set of leadership skills that CEOs rave about in their YPO Forums.

However, we lose about 9% of committed Key Associates each year, and renewal rates are about 80% across our recent cohorts. Much of that turnover is due to changes in role or company. This is unavoidable, especially when it comes to Key Associates.

Why?

Forum is a multi-year journey. In fact, satisfaction scores, as measured by net promoter scores in the Forum health survey, increase in years two and three. Forums build higher levels of trust, enabling them to give more and more help. By year three, some Forums are even able to allow members to take turns moderating, giving KAs a turn to practice another set of leadership skills that CEOs rave about in their YPO Forums.

However, we lose about 9% of committed Key Associates each year, and renewal rates are about 80% across our recent cohorts. Much of that turnover is due to changes in role or company. This is unavoidable, especially when it comes to Key Associates.

Why?

Forum is a multi-year journey. In fact, satisfaction scores, as measured by net promoter scores in the Forum health survey, increase in years two and three. Forums build higher levels of trust, enabling them to give more and more help. By year three, some Forums are even able to allow members to take turns moderating, giving KAs a turn to practice another set of leadership skills that CEOs rave about in their YPO Forums.

However, we lose about 9% of committed Key Associates each year, and renewal rates are about 80% across our recent cohorts. Much of that turnover is due to changes in role or company. This is unavoidable, especially when it comes to Key Associates.

While turnover is rarer amongst YPO CEO Forums, when it happens, it is extremely difficult to find new members to replace the old. With nominations opening three times a year, there is a broad pool of candidates to keep Forums at 6–9 members, with the current average at 7.3 members. Because things change, we start to take action when a Forum drops to 5 members. Meetings may still be awesome, but there’s a risk of dropping too low and feeling that there are not enough people at the party. The risk of imbalance is high, too. But how do we prevent this?

While turnover is rarer amongst YPO CEO Forums, when it happens, it is extremely difficult to find new members to replace the old. With nominations opening three times a year, there is a broad pool of candidates to keep Forums at 6–9 members, with the current average at 7.3 members. Because things change, we start to take action when a Forum drops to 5 members. Meetings may still be awesome, but there’s a risk of dropping too low and feeling that there are not enough people at the party. The risk of imbalance is high, too. But how do we prevent this?

While turnover is rarer amongst YPO CEO Forums, when it happens, it is extremely difficult to find new members to replace the old. With nominations opening three times a year, there is a broad pool of candidates to keep Forums at 6–9 members, with the current average at 7.3 members. Because things change, we start to take action when a Forum drops to 5 members. Meetings may still be awesome, but there’s a risk of dropping too low and feeling that there are not enough people at the party. The risk of imbalance is high, too. But how do we prevent this?

How?

The process is anchored during month 10, when we ask KAs to confirm their intentions for the next year. It is super important that KAs answer this question promptly; we understand that minds might change later. The sooner we know, the sooner we can take action and get everyone where they need to be. This limits the downtime in amalgamating later on.

If a Forum has six or more members indicating that they are staying for another year, they may opt to skip the top-off process. Six is risky … Eight is enough, and will not need top-offs. So we aim for eight and settle for fewer where we know they will be fine.

How?

The process is anchored during month 10, when we ask KAs to confirm their intentions for the next year. It is super important that KAs answer this question promptly; we understand that minds might change later. The sooner we know, the sooner we can take action and get everyone where they need to be. This limits the downtime in amalgamating later on.

If a Forum has six or more members indicating that they are staying for another year, they may opt to skip the top-off process. Six is risky … Eight is enough, and will not need top-offs. So we aim for eight and settle for fewer where we know they will be fine.

How?

The process is anchored during month 10, when we ask KAs to confirm their intentions for the next year. It is super important that KAs answer this question promptly; we understand that minds might change later. The sooner we know, the sooner we can take action and get everyone where they need to be. This limits the downtime in amalgamating later on.

If a Forum has six or more members indicating that they are staying for another year, they may opt to skip the top-off process. Six is risky … Eight is enough, and will not need top-offs. So we aim for eight and settle for fewer where we know they will be fine.

The Forum facilitator runs the show on this because, with hundreds of people vying for Forums, we need quick answers. The Forum can express some preferences around characteristics that they’d ideally like to add to the forum, such as role, company characteristics, gender, or experience. The KA Forum team will prioritize nominees who have Forum experience for joining a year two or later Forum. We identify a few candidates to send to the facilitator. The facilitator makes sure that Forum members review the candidates for potential conflicts and then ranks the candidates for fit into the group. Quick replies are key. Timely responses help us place candidates thoughtfully and avoid missed opportunities. In order of the facilitator's ranking, we invite the KAs to join the Forum. If the Forum facilitator approves, we then have to get the nominee and sponsor to confirm placement.

The final stage of the process is welcoming new members. When done well, this feels like hot water added to a cooling bath or like a great new hire joining a tired team. It invigorates and energizes Forums. It does, however, take a short step back in order to do it well. We recommend that all new Forums hold a three-hour meeting to welcome new members, and use a process like Lifelines. Some Forums even decide to hold 1:1 calls. The Forum team does 1-hour orientation calls to familiarize new KAs joining existing Forums with Forum fundamentals, but the facilitator and Forum do need to take a beat to make sure new members “get it” during the first few meetings. Some Facilitators recommend 1:1 calls to accelerate what we call the “jelling” process. It’s normal to feel protective of a Forum that’s working well. Topping-off isn’t about changing what works; it’s about protecting it for the long term.

The Forum facilitator runs the show on this because, with hundreds of people vying for Forums, we need quick answers. The Forum can express some preferences around characteristics that they’d ideally like to add to the forum, such as role, company characteristics, gender, or experience. The KA Forum team will prioritize nominees who have Forum experience for joining a year two or later Forum. We identify a few candidates to send to the facilitator. The facilitator makes sure that Forum members review the candidates for potential conflicts and then ranks the candidates for fit into the group. Quick replies are key. Timely responses help us place candidates thoughtfully and avoid missed opportunities. In order of the facilitator's ranking, we invite the KAs to join the Forum. If the Forum facilitator approves, we then have to get the nominee and sponsor to confirm placement.

The final stage of the process is welcoming new members. When done well, this feels like hot water added to a cooling bath or like a great new hire joining a tired team. It invigorates and energizes Forums. It does, however, take a short step back in order to do it well. We recommend that all new Forums hold a three-hour meeting to welcome new members, and use a process like Lifelines. Some Forums even decide to hold 1:1 calls. The Forum team does 1-hour orientation calls to familiarize new KAs joining existing Forums with Forum fundamentals, but the facilitator and Forum do need to take a beat to make sure new members “get it” during the first few meetings. Some Facilitators recommend 1:1 calls to accelerate what we call the “jelling” process. It’s normal to feel protective of a Forum that’s working well. Topping-off isn’t about changing what works; it’s about protecting it for the long term.

The Forum facilitator runs the show on this because, with hundreds of people vying for Forums, we need quick answers. The Forum can express some preferences around characteristics that they’d ideally like to add to the forum, such as role, company characteristics, gender, or experience. The KA Forum team will prioritize nominees who have Forum experience for joining a year two or later Forum. We identify a few candidates to send to the facilitator. The facilitator makes sure that Forum members review the candidates for potential conflicts and then ranks the candidates for fit into the group. Quick replies are key. Timely responses help us place candidates thoughtfully and avoid missed opportunities. In order of the facilitator's ranking, we invite the KAs to join the Forum. If the Forum facilitator approves, we then have to get the nominee and sponsor to confirm placement.

The final stage of the process is welcoming new members. When done well, this feels like hot water added to a cooling bath or like a great new hire joining a tired team. It invigorates and energizes Forums. It does, however, take a short step back in order to do it well. We recommend that all new Forums hold a three-hour meeting to welcome new members, and use a process like Lifelines. Some Forums even decide to hold 1:1 calls. The Forum team does 1-hour orientation calls to familiarize new KAs joining existing Forums with Forum fundamentals, but the facilitator and Forum do need to take a beat to make sure new members “get it” during the first few meetings. Some Facilitators recommend 1:1 calls to accelerate what we call the “jelling” process. It’s normal to feel protective of a Forum that’s working well. Topping-off isn’t about changing what works; it’s about protecting it for the long term.

The most natural time for topping-off is at the start of a new Forum year. For this, we need to know whether people are likely to stay in their Forum about two months before the last meeting.

However, from time to time, we can add members at one-third and two-thirds points in the year, when a new applicant pool comes in. If a Forum has asked for new members, or dropped below six, or if we find a perfect fit for a hard-to-match profile, we’ll add members “in-flight.” Some Forums have had luck integrating new members at retreat itself, although we prefer that people are acquainted virtually first.

The most natural time for topping-off is at the start of a new Forum year. For this, we need to know whether people are likely to stay in their Forum about two months before the last meeting.

However, from time to time, we can add members at one-third and two-thirds points in the year, when a new applicant pool comes in. If a Forum has asked for new members, or dropped below six, or if we find a perfect fit for a hard-to-match profile, we’ll add members “in-flight.” Some Forums have had luck integrating new members at retreat itself, although we prefer that people are acquainted virtually first.

The most natural time for topping-off is at the start of a new Forum year. For this, we need to know whether people are likely to stay in their Forum about two months before the last meeting.

However, from time to time, we can add members at one-third and two-thirds points in the year, when a new applicant pool comes in. If a Forum has asked for new members, or dropped below six, or if we find a perfect fit for a hard-to-match profile, we’ll add members “in-flight.” Some Forums have had luck integrating new members at retreat itself, although we prefer that people are acquainted virtually first.

What We Need From You Now:

If you remember only one thing, let it be that timely replies to the survey help to keep Forums healthy. When the process works well, topping-off brings a steady flow of thoughtfully matched YPO talent that keeps Forums strong and energized.

Cheers to a new year, and to healthy, happy Forums!

What We Need From You Now:

If you remember only one thing, let it be that timely replies to the survey help to keep Forums healthy. When the process works well, topping-off brings a steady flow of thoughtfully matched YPO talent that keeps Forums strong and energized.

Cheers to a new year, and to healthy, happy Forums!

What We Need From You Now:

If you remember only one thing, let it be that timely replies to the survey help to keep Forums healthy. When the process works well, topping-off brings a steady flow of thoughtfully matched YPO talent that keeps Forums strong and energized.

Cheers to a new year, and to healthy, happy Forums!