Later this week, weather permitting, I’ll be downtown for ASAE & The Center’s 2010 Technology Conference at the Washington Convention Center. I’m excited to see many P.I. Blog readers and my favorite association community peeps. The Technology Conference is always a good time, and this year should be no exception!
My session,The iPhone Volunteer: Why Mobile is the Next Great Platform for Member Engagement!, is on Thursday, February 11 at 4:15 pm. If you’re going to be at the conference, I hope you’ll join me because this may be the only session during which you’ll be encouraged to have your beloved mobile device out in front of you, instead of hiding it while doing the Blackberry prayer under the table! Seriously though, in addition to a fun learning experience, all of my session attendees will receive a special bonus resource, as well as the opportunity to win a terrific prize:
The bonus: During the session, I will provide a link where you will be able to download my list of Twelve Great Questions to Ask Your Members About Mobile. Only my session attendees will receive this password-protected URL and login information.
The prize: At the end of my session, one lucky association professional attendee will receive a complimentary registration for my upcomingThe Future of Associating is Mobile webinar series, which begins on March 5. This prize is a $299 value, so you will want to take advantage of this opportunity to win! (Must be present though…)
In preparation for this session, I wrote an article for TechnoScope, the official newsletter of ASAE & The Center’s Technology Section Council. The article is now available online, along with a special podcast on mobile strategy. I hope you’ll enjoy reading/listening to these resources. (If you do, please take a few moments to rate and review the article.)
Of course, I’ll be doing some social content creation during the conference as well, so I hope you’ll follow along here and on the #tech10 online hub. (FYI, the hub tag for my session is ld9.) So if you see me around #tech10, please come up and say hello!
As we settle into 2010, I’ve been thinking about the five words on which I’ll be focused this year. I am sharing them here with the hope they may inspire association leaders throughout our community to think differently about what is possible in the year ahead. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and if you have your own words in mind, I hope you will consider sharing them.
Intention–It has never been more important for associations to have leaders, especially in voluntary roles, who are intentional about building the inventive business models, resilient cultures of shared responsibility and dynamic social systems for collaboration that will enable their organizations to thrive in the 21st century. This is the new work of governing, which needs to be an intentional and conscious process of value creation and stewardship. Unfortunately, in too many associations, governing has become a reflexive process of risk avoidance, a misguided intention that paradoxically places the organization’s future at greater risk.
“Intention is the active partner of attention; it is the way we convert our automatic processes into conscious ones.” (Deepak Chopra)
Inquiry–Complex challenges raise complicated questions, and difficult questions require thoughtful answers. Leaders acting with intention will ask these more challenging questions without fear, even when they are politically unpopular or even dangerous. The deeper value of inquiry is not found in the answers, however, but in the questions themselves, as well as the new understanding discovered between the asking and the answering. In the context of strategy development, the greatest difficulty is finding the patience to stay with and within the questions for as long as possible to build individual and systemic capacity for inquiry that is truly generative.
“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” (Albert Einstein)
Insight–A meaningful process of inquiry should help association leaders develop original insights into the rapidly shifting dynamics of strategic success for their organizations. For the last ten years, all association stakeholders have been confronting a set of increasingly difficult 21st century problems, a reality that will only intensify going forward. Any serious attempt to solve these problems will require fresh thinking and approaches, and the full dimension of insight needed to develop and implement those approaches will not be realized by constantly replaying conversations from the last century. Association leaders must end the self-reinforcing doom loop of past perspectives, and embrace a continuous cycle of future-focused learning.
“A moment’s insight is sometimes worth a life’s experience.” (Oliver Wendell Holmes)
Innovation–While some have recently suggested otherwise, the pursuit of innovation is a hugely critical business decision with real-world financial implications. In 2010, association leaders should pay close attention to the global focus on innovation, as organizations of all types and in all sectors recognize that enduring value creation never occurs through adaptation. Innovation is all about the fundamental relationship between needs and solutions, and the ability of the innovator to develop deeper insights into both. As stakeholder needs become more specific and harder to articulate or quantify in traditional terms, tried-and-true solutions will fade away and even more opportunities for genuine disruption of the status quo will emerge. Associations can either defend their current turf (and sadly many will), or they can start learning the rules of the next game and figure out how to play it successfully.
“Innovation is change that creates a new dimension of performance.” (Peter Drucker)
Integration–Associations must be able to integrate what they are learning everyday into existing practice, while actively discarding ways of doing business that no longer work. This kind of capacity-building may not seem particularly exciting, but it is precisely what associations need to do to break free of the supremely lame “we have always done it that way” mindset that still prevails in so many tradition-bound organizations. Identifying next practices will be more valuable in the long run than rehabilitating so-called “best practices” now in decline. To be intentional about capacity-building, associations need leaders who will consistently choose learning by doing over knowing.
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” (Albert Einstein)
What are your words for 2010? Please share them below!
You’ll want to check out my new post on mobile on SmartBlog Insights, for which I serve as editor-at-large. It is the first in a series of five posts I’ll be sharing on the Insights Blog in the coming weeks to expand on my Top Ten 2010 Trends for Associations. Here is how I close the post:
Without question, mobile will be a major topic of, hopefully, generative conversation across the association community throughout 2010. How will you make sure that conversation occurs inside your organization?
As always, your comments on the mobile post are welcome either with the post or below. When you have a moment, please vote for the mobile post on Association Jam, and look for my next SmartBlog Insights post on the “content conflict” and “curate to innovate” trends.
If you’re an association executive in the Washington, DC region, I hope you’ll join me for a special free breakfast session on Thursday, March 4 in Alexandria, Virginia. The topic of my talk is “Solving 21st Century Problems: How Associations Can Innovate to Thrive,” and I am presenting this session in partnership with my friends from Higher Logic, Powered by DUB and Vidzu. Here is the session description:
While association stakeholders attempt to solve the 21st century problems they face personally and professionally, many associations are still offering solutions better suited to the 20th century. When leaders and organizations are able to reorient their thinking, however, huge and compelling innovation opportunities become clear.
This session, led by the association community’s leading voice for innovation, will explore some of the most pressing problems confronting your association customers, members and other stakeholders and suggest potential solutions that you can integrate into your efforts to create new value through innovation.
I know everyone is quite busy these days, but I really want to encourage you to take the time to participate in this session. It will be an opportunity to think creatively about your association’s business model, something you probably find hard to do in the middle of the daily grind, and walk away with some different ideas about how you can better serve your members today and going forward. Plus, there will be free food and prize giveaways!
Register today and I’ll look forward to seeing you on March 4!
Just in case you have not seen it yet, I have a guest post up on ASAE & The Center’s Acronym blog. This post, “The new work of governing,” is my contribution to the Governance Month conversation that Scott Briscoe launched a few weeks ago. Here is an early paragraph from my post:
As we begin the second decade of the 21st century, the time has come to change our view of governing from a wanting yet necessary evil with which associations must cope, to a driver of value creation and a source of genuine strategic advantage. We can accomplish this critical shift by challenging “governing groups” (an umbrella term that includes all stakeholders who contribute to the governing process, not just boards of directors) to commit to undertake “the new work of governing.”
I hope you’ll visit Acronym to read the whole post and share your comments. Of course, you’re welcome to post your feedback as a comment below. Many thanks to Scott for his openness to my suggested topic.
Here is a message I received recently from a longtime association professional colleague and friend. She gave me permission to share the message here if I promised not to reveal her identity or the name of her organization.
Subject Line: Dying a slow painful death
Hi Jeff,
There’s nothing to be done about it, but I wanted to share that I am dying a painful, slow death due to our association’s strategic planning process.
It would be comical, if it weren’t so tragic.
Just smile and nod and know you have someone out there who has seen the light.
A Friend
What kind of collateral damage is your association’s strategic planning process inflicting on the very people you need to be passionate while putting it into action?
Many thanks to Lisa Junker and Joe Rominiecki for inviting me to contribute a “vignette” to the brand new Associations Now Volunteer Leadership Issue, in response to the following question(s):
If the recession ends in 2010, will associations emerge stronger and better? Or will they fall back into the same old habits?
You will find my vignette below. To read the other vignettes and all of the terrific content packed into this publication, I encourage you to purchase the entire Volunteer Leadership Issue. It is a truly valuable resource for all association leaders. So don’t delay…operators are standing by! (Okay, not really, but you get the idea. ;>)
As always, I look forward to your feedback on this post. Please let me know what you think!
2010: The Year of the “Reset” Economy
There is simply no question about it: 2009 was a terrible year for the vast majority of U.S. associations. In associations of all shapes and sizes, sharply lower revenues led to deep budget reductions, drastic product and service cutbacks, and painful staff layoffs. But even as the economic data suggest we’re near the end of this awful recession, the emerging challenges of the so-called “reset economy” are upon us. If we’re going to make 2010 a year in which our organizations have an opportunity to thrive—and not merely survive—volunteer leaders will need to work in genuine partnership with their staff colleagues to learn the lessons of the year just ended.
Value creation cannot be the same–In the reset economy, the traditional value proposition of association membership will no longer suffice. Your stakeholders are busier than ever before, and they will allocate their limited discretionary time and attention based on what is most meaningful to them. In this new context, your association must nurture a deeper connection to an inspiring organizational purpose and support your stakeholders’ efforts to make meaning and co-create value around issues and concerns of personal and professional significance.
Strategy development cannot be the same–In the reset economy, strategy will be enormously important, but not in the declining form of strategic planning, which failed to help associations find new success during the recent economic crisis. Over the next 10 years, associations can expect increased volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity in the operating environment. This “VUCA world,” as futurists describe it, will require clear and simple strategic intent focused on discovery and learning, rather than command and control.
Governing cannot be the same–In the reset economy, the intelligent, long-term stewardship of associations must supplant shortsighted decision-making grounded in the self-interest of the core group that holds power. Every association is a commons, and it is a primary duty of boards to ensure that all stakeholders have a meaningful voice in the effective management of the association’s cocreated and commonly held assets. Effective governing is about nurturing a mindset of interdependence and building a robust culture of shared responsibility.
This year can be different from last year, but only if association leaders are willing to think differently about what comes next. This challenge must be confronted with an openness to questioning old assumptions, a commitment to original thinking, and the passionate embrace of genuine innovation.
This leaves only one final question: Are you ready to answer the call to 21st century leadership?
Recently, I was asked to share my top innovation lesson from 2009. For some reason, the lessons have not yet been posted online, so I thought I would move forward and publish my contribution here. Let me know your reactions.
We are at the end of one of the hardest years most of us have ever lived through, and it comes at the close of one of the most difficult decades in U.S. history. During these last ten years, our society has experienced the kind of profound and enduring upheaval that challenges long-standing assumptions and tried-and-true ways of doing business. And yet most leaders and organizations still operate on belief systems that value what they know more than what they don’t.
The lesson for leaders going forward is that the serious pursuit of innovation isn’t merely about nurturing creativity, evaluating risk and managing failure with the goal of creating new value. It is about overcoming individual and organizational fear of the unexpected and dangerous learning that forces us to question deeply and, ultimately, discard what we think we know about the new world that is still unfolding before our eyes.
As a leader, how will you let go of your fear and embrace the unfamiliar, the untested and the previously unimaginable?
It is my great pleasure to announce that I am partnering with my good friends at Peach New Media again this spring to present another high impact webinar series for association leaders. The focus of this series is mobile, and you can find complete information below. As I reported in my recent post on 2010 trends, mobile is going to be a huge opportunity for associations in 2010, and this webinar series will help your organization capitalize on it. I hope you will join me!
The rapid rise of the mobile platform that began in the last year will continue to accelerate in 2010, and associations must ramp up their preparations to capitalize on it. In this compelling three-part learning experience, your organization will gain unique insights into the growth of mobile, the emerging opportunities in this dynamic space and the strategic importance of “the third screen” to your association’s future success!
March 5, 2010 at 2 pm-3:30 pm ET
Embracing the Mobile Opportunity: Reinventing Your Association’s Value for The Third Screen
In the decade ahead, the continued global growth of the mobile platform will disrupt traditional ways of doing business, and challenge associations to reinvent both the forms of value they create and the manner in which that value reaches stakeholders wherever and whenever they need it. This webinar will explore the full dimensions of the mobile opportunity, and provide association leaders with a strategic framework they can use to act on it.
March 12, 2010 at 2 pm-3:30 pm ET
Creating a Mobile Presence: Keeping Your Association’s Brand Within Arm’s Reach
Apple didn’t invent mobile apps, but with the iPhone and the App Store, it certainly has taken them to a whole new level of market impact. Of course, Google, RIM and other major companies in the mobile space are also betting big on apps. This webinar will explore the emerging “apps economy,” and explain the unique role apps can play in building the association’s mobile presence and strengthening its brand relationship with current and future stakeholders.
March 19, 2010 at 2 pm-3:30 pm ET
Engaging the Mobile Member: Building Your Association’s New Social Business Model
The mobile platform offers much more than a one-way communications channel through which associations can push out information. Through mobile devices, associations can make collaboration with stakeholders more convenient, simplify engagement and accelerate shared learning. This webinar will help leaders integrate the mobile opportunity, the increasingly social nature of association work and the business model innovation required to make associations thrive in the years ahead.
