Principled Innovation LLC

Why Innovation?

August 15th, 2006

This is #2 on my list of favorite items from We Have Always Done It That Way: 101 Things About Associations We Must Change, the new book by Five Independent Thinkers. (FYI–this item is adapted from an article I have previously posted to the PI Blog.)

I am sometimes asked why associations need to bother with innovation. The answer should be apparent to anyone paying attention to what is happening in the world right now: Innovation is the most critical capability for associations to develop today to maximize their opportunities for success tomorrow. The powerful forces of demographic, economic, scientific, social, political and technological shift are converging and forging an entirely new society. The acute challenges this paradigm shift is already creating for associations demands that leaders in our community get serious about thinking, acting and learning like true innovators right away.

So here are five key points you will want to consider as you go about the work of building a genuine commitment to innovation in your association:

• Creating a culture of innovation is all about unleashing the passion of staff and volunteers. Growth depends on innovation, and innovation depends entirely on the deep engagement of those who are going to make it happen. Passionate people innovate freely because they know that what they bring to the table is valued. They understand that their leaders view risk as a part of doing business in a time of paradigm shift. When passion takes root in an organization, it makes the possible real, the difficult achievable, and the impossible possible. It is precisely this depth of individual and collective commitment that our organizations will need in the years ahead.
• Creating an effective innovation culture is a shared responsibility. Association CEOs play the central role in creating an effective innovation culture, but they cannot do it alone. Association staff and volunteers must work together to create a sustainable culture of experimentation, collaboration and learning. Innovation is an inherently social, highly-networked, and democratic process; everyone has a role to play in making it happen. And anyone can infect the innovation effort with cynicism and skepticism through his or her naysaying behaviors. It is essential, therefore, for innovation leaders to prevent that infection from spreading throughout the organization.
• An effective innovation culture is all about finding the right balance of freedom and discipline. For innovation to flourish, there must be both freedom and discipline. On the one hand, innovators must have the freedom to imagine what is possible, develop their ideas collaboratively, and experiment with them in the marketplace. At the same time, the organization must have the requisite discipline to choose only the best ideas, to invest consistently in them and to quickly fail ideas that do not demonstrate potential, while acting on those with the greatest promise. Freedom and discipline are a duality. Discipline in some areas creates the opportunity for freedom in others, and genuine freedom recognizes the constant need for discipline to prevent creativity from descending into chaos. Association leaders must strive at all times to find the right balance of freedom and discipline to provide support for both.
• Creating an effective innovation culture is not enough to make innovation happen. Creating an innovation culture is an important step in any association’s journey toward the full embrace of innovation as a strategic priority. Unfortunately, culture by itself is not enough. Every association needs a highly transparent and accessible innovation process that is easily understood by all stakeholders. Every association needs to channel a consistent flow of investment resources to the innovation effort and fully engage its whole organization in the challenging work of taking ideas from concept to cash. Traditional notions of innovation being exclusively about products must give way to a broader recognition of innovation as a holistic approach that touches every aspect of the organization’s work. While the culture of innovation definitely will facilitate your association’s innovation efforts, a set of deeper organizational capabilities is necessary to bring them to fruition.
• It is the CEO’s responsibility to make the case for innovation to the board. Association CEOs must accept the fundamental responsibility of making the case for innovation to volunteer boards of directors. There is no one else who can do it. The role of any chief executive officer is to ensure the long-term sustainability of the association as an enterprise that creates value for members and customers in a manner consistent with its mission. CEOs, therefore, must directly challenge their boards to accept the core belief that growth depends on innovation. Without growth, there can be no success.

For tradition-bound boards, paralyzed by nostalgia, myopia and intransigence, this will be an unpopular message that may well fall on deaf ears. For boards willing to hear difficult truths, this will be a clarion call to action. Either way, a choice for the future must be made. What kind of future will your association choose for itself?

Entry Filed under: Principled Innovation Blog, What's New?, Social Media, Innovation, Associations, Extreme Makeover, The Association Innovator, We Have Always Done It That Way