The Association Innovation Blog by Jeff De Cagna

T5/05: The (impending) death of best practices (#5)

For me, #5 of the Top Five Issues of 2005 in the association community is the impending death of best practices.  If I sit in one more meeting and hear someone say, "Oh, and maybe people can share some 'best practices'," I think I am going to SCREAM!  Best practices are a concoction of some consultant, somewhere who wanted to try to sell some more consulting.  I suppose on that basis I should love them.  BUT I DON'T!  I do admit, however, that the "impending death of best practices" may be more wishful thinking on my part than anything else.  Still, let me start making my case and give others the chance to join the chorus or excoriate me for being wrong!  ;>)

On community I

Merry Christmas one and all.  The TAIB doesn't stop for the holiday!  Recently, I've noticed increased interest in the subject of community in the association world, so I'm going to post "on community" more regularly.  Here is my first brief post.

A couple of weeks ago, Association Trends published a short item on a recent survey that revealed 61% of associations believe "online" communities are important to their business strategies.  My question is this:  what "strategies" are associations trying to advance by pursuing communities?  Are they trying to support learning?  Is it about knowledge?  Are they trying to catalyze innovation?  Whatever the specific strategy, it is absolutely essential that our organizations be crystal clear about it before pursuing the challenging work of building and sustaining community.  Technology can provide a powerful collaboration and communications structure for community, but it can't ever be a substitute for a well-articulated strategy that provides the substantive approach and operational focus communities need to succeed. 

Happy Holidays!

Quoted wisdom

For those of you who have not seen it yet (or perhaps don't receive the magazine), I am quoted quite a bit in an article in this month's issue of Executive Update.  The article, "Turning Member Smarts into Organizational Knowledge," discusses what steps associations can take to leverage their members' knowledge to help better educate staff so they can serve member needs more effectively.  The writer, Jennifer Salopek, included several quotes from me about the importance of harnessing knowledge and incorporating it into organization-wide conversations, rather than simply focusing on capturing, storing and packaging it. 

This article is rather timely because I think that many associations are just now trying to unravel the mystery of how to leverage knowledge as a true intangible.  The production mentality is not working at all well and a fresh approach is needed.  Fortunately, we have years of mixed to dismal corporate sector performance (with some success rolled in there as well) from which we can learn and avoid making the same mistakes!  The good news is that there is a better way of thinking about these questions, some which comes through in this article.  I encourage everyone to read it, and not just for my pithy insights!  Great job Jennifer!

Update on technology project plans

Just a quick note to say that in my recent Association Foresight interview with author Nicholas Carr (link to the audio archive of the show), I mentioned that I am going to launch an informal project to inquire into the strategic advantage created by technology for associations, and I asked people to check out the blog today for more information.

The short story:  we will pursue this project through The Center for Association Leadership Technology Community.  There will be more to say about the project soon, but I at least wanted to get the word out there.  If you're interested in this project, send me an e-mail or post a comment to this blog.  If you're interested in joining one of the Center's learning communities (in addition to technology, there are learning communities for professional development, large associations, small associations, senior staff and emerging leaders), please send an e-mail to Anne Blouin at The Center for Association Leadership.

Stay tuned...

A blogger's wish

When I heard the news a couple of days ago that Merriam-Webster had named "blog" the number one new word of 2004, I vowed that I would be the only blogger on the planet not to post about it.  But, everywhere I turn, I see my fellow bloggers spreading the word as they reflect with a measure of pride around their own contributions to the exploding blog phenomenon.  So, I guess this immovable object was overwhelmed by an irresistible force.

Why didn't I want to post about it?  Well, the Merriam-Webster recognition (is that the right word to use?) marks an irrevocable shift of blogs into the mainstream.  Although I have only been blogging seriously for a little more than a year, I kind of liked the idea that I was doing something just a little bit out there.  Sure, I know that there are literally millions of blogs on the Web already and that the blogosphere is growing larger with each passing day.  But it's one thing to know that others are doing what you're doing (not to mention much more of it and much better), and it is something else to let others who aren't a part of the group in on "the secret."  (It's pretty early in the morning, so I don't know if I am making any sense at all.)

I really enjoy being a blogger, and I am glad that blogs are receiving more recognition and are having a greater impact on our world.  Still, there is a part of me that wishes we could go back a few years when blogs were fresh and new and definitely not in the dictionary.  But we can't, and so I'll just get over it and continue to offer my contributions to the conversation.

Seeing where the jobs are...

audio post powered by audblog

I am providing you with a link to the article in the New York Times, and to the chart itself. Please note that these items will not be up there indefinitely and it you may need to register with The New York Times site in order to access all of its content.

What leaders THINK they know...

Okay, I know. It's been awhile since I've posted and many of you probably thought I fell off the face of the Earth. Well, in a sense, I did. I've spent the last couple of weeks working quite hard on a variety of projects and, in all candor, I could not overcome my own sense of guilt about spending time posting to the blog (which I love to do) rather than doing work for my paying clients. But while I'm still busy today, I thought enough time had passed and I should really get back to the blog. So, I'm back!

Today, I'd like to offer a few thoughts on what leaders think they know. I'm always impressed with the self-assurance and self-confidence found in so many senior executives in today's associations. In the midst of great turbulence and complexity in the operating environment, I still encounter association CEOs and senior leaders who are quite convinced of the essential correctness of their point of view. Steadfastness is an admirable quality, and I'm glad that it works for them. My concern is for their organizations.

What leaders don't realize is that they have blind spots, things they don't or can't see because of the position they occupy in the organization. The experience of the association CEO in requesting and receiving information, for example, is quite different from the typical employee. In the associations in which I've worked, when the CEO wanted to know something, everything else was dropped until that information had been provided and any follow-up handled. But when anybody else on staff needed something, the response from colleagues was something like, "Yeah, okay, can I back to you next week?" The leader expects and receives an immediate response, while the rest of the hierarchy struggles along as best it can. These are two very different experiences, and the discrepancy between them is one that the leader often doesn't observe or perceive.

It's the same thing when I interact with leaders who still believe that top-down pronouncements about what the organization is or should become will sustain long-term change. The notion that the leaders can send out an e-mail to everyone reading, "Hey, guess what everybody, we're about innovation!" is fundamentally flawed and, quite frankly, absurd. Unfortunately, many leaders simply have a blind spot to the need for the hard work of meaningful organizational change and capacity building. All too often they do not, cannot or will not see the need for more fundamental and less glamorous change at the level of practice and process, especially when window dressing and igniting the burning platform will suffice. The toll of this myopia is taken on the long-term success of the organization and the depth of commitment among its people.

I recently had dinner with one of my favorite association community leaders and we debated the changing relationship between staff and members. I advanced the notion that in today's environment we need a new construct for thinking about that relationship that transcends the ubiquitous and often misapplied idea of "partnership." My colleague could not get beyond the partnership idea because that is the reality in which this person lives, an organizational reality this person has sought to cultivate. After a quick back-and-forth, I believe that my colleague concluded I was wrong because I've never been an association CEO. This person's comment to me: go out and get a CEO job and you'll understand this issue better. Well, possibly, but I don't think so.

I'm not saying that I'm right and my colleague is wrong. Nor am I trying to pick on my colleague, a wonderful person who is a friend. What I am saying is that my colleague had difficulty locating a blind spot that could have an effect on the organization, perhaps not in this instance but in others. In the case, the blind spot is a misplaced certainty about what is true and what is open for reconsideration. No matter how intuitively appealing it might be to operate otherwise, I caution association leaders today to approach what they think they know today with far less certainty, more humility and a genuine spirit of inquiry and learning. It's what your members, your staff and your organization as a whole really needs from you.

Thinking aloud about intangibles

audio post powered by audblog

A KEY QUESTION: How can we educate association leaders about the growing importance of intangible drivers of organizational success, especially in a time when a full embrace of the tangible seems so much more safe and appealing?

7DoB Days 6 and 7: Apologies from Austin!

audio post powered by audblog

7DoB Day 0: Contributing to a new conversation

audio post powered by audblog

A bonus EARLY posting! The key question YOU must ask yourself as an association leader: will you contribute something original to an authentically fresh conversation or will you just keep swinging the old hammer to try to solve your problems, while you imagine that each of today's new challenges is just another nail?