Principled Innovation LLC

Innovation for Associations: Part One

January 12th, 2011

This is the first in a series of three posts in which I react to the “Innovation for Associations” white paper from the Wisconsin Society of Association Executives.  Please read this post from Eric Lanke on the Hourglass Blog for more information on our plans for this point-counterpoint series.

As we begin this series, I would like to thank Eric Lanke, chair of the WSAE Innovation Task Force, and all of the Task Force members for their excellent work in creating this white paper for the benefit of the entire association community.  It is a terrific conversation starter that leaves plenty of room to explore divergent perspectives on the critical issues of association innovation, and I’m really pleased to be able to make a contribution to the dialogue.  Please make your contribution by sharing your thoughts in the comments below.

In this initial post, we will consider the following question:

Why is innovation critical to the future of associations?

It comes as something of a surprise that the white paper is silent on this specific question, given the lack of consensus in the association community about the need for innovation.  The white paper states as its goal the desire “to define an evidence-based model of innovation for association community,” but does not make clear why such a model is necessary.  It also offers a fairly generic definition of innovation–a process that effectively generates and applies creative ideas to the achievement of defined objectives–that does not explain why associations need to make innovation central to their work over the next ten years and beyond.  Perhaps the Task Force did not want to advocate too strongly on behalf of innovation, or perhaps it felt the rationale for the pursuit of innovation is self-evident.  Either way, I believe it is a missed opportunity to help “make the case” for innovation with associations that still do not fully grasp the strategic and operational significance of this conversation to their future success.

According to the late Peter Drucker, innovation is “change that creates a new dimension of performance.”  It is an amazingly simple and insightful definition, yet it is incomplete because it does not recognize the core argument for innovation in any context:  new value creation for stakeholders.  The association blogosphere’s vibrant discussion on the value of membership has revealed the steep price associations are paying today for the failure to innovate over the last ten years.  And in the turbulent decade ahead, associations face unprecedented and serious challenges that will not be solved through conventional approaches.  What will we do when “what we’ve always done” not only doesn’t work, but makes things worse?

As the white paper suggests, the sustainable pursuit of innovation is as much a matter of organizational culture as it is of capabilities and resources.  But associations cannot wait for the hard work of changing stubbornly traditional cultures to take hold before embracing the pursuit of innovation.  The idea of building an “evidence-based model of innovation” for our community is intuitively appealing and a worthy long-term goal.  What associations need right now, however, is a genuine commitment to an accelerated and intensive process of continuous experimentation, shaped by empathic understanding, driven by meaningful co-creation with stakeholders and constantly attentive to the power of serendipity.  In Part Two of this series, I will explore some of the reasons why making this kind of deep commitment is so difficult for associations.

The next post: What factors prevent associations from making innovation an on-going priority?  

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