Transform Culture

Lean startup is an innovation system developed by Eric Ries that came out of his experiences with lean process improvement, which is all about reducing waste and defects and working more efficiently and effectively. Ries had an insight: It doesn’t matter how quickly you’re moving if you’re headed in the wrong direction. Lean startup methodology […]

Education comes in a wide variety of forms. As associations, we recognize the value of certifications as a means of proving education and often offer such programs to help members climb the expertise ladder of their industry and prove their worth to employers. This proof of skills and knowledge through certifications does not come cheap […]

Do you know why cliques and silos form in your team or organization? It has nearly become cliché to hear from organizations that “our sales staff cannot stand to work with those service guys,” or “we have people inside our department who just won’t communicate!” Many teams struggle with situations where different departments, or even […]

We live in an era of disruption. The workplaces and career trajectories we took for granted in the past no longer exist. Due to changes in technology, the economy and changing needs of generations from Baby Boomers to Millenials, the shape of the labor force must be reimagined in order to survive. This applies to […]

What does member engagement mean to you? Sure, it’s the hot topic that much of our work as association professionals revolves around, but the goal can be obscured by indirect efforts and lack of focus. As a culture consultant, my area of expertise is the internal and external cultures of employees, customers and members. When […]

Online events, specifically hybrid conferences, are enormously powerful. Held synchronously with face-to-face meetings, they can help you broaden your reach by offering content to a new group of people. They also involve technology tools being introduced and refined at wildly fast speeds. There is little consistency across organizations when it comes to structure, pricing and […]

If you are reading this article, you are already committed to enquiry, to learning and to keeping yourself aware of the conversations taking place across the association space. If you are reading this article, you already positioned yourself within the association community and share in some of its concerns, its interests and its experiences. And […]

“If we were studying for a spelling bee,” Erik Qualman said, “we wouldn’t review easy words. We’d test ourselves with more difficult spellings.” Not to challenge ourselves before the competition would be considered a reckless and inefficient way to prepare to step onto the stage. In fact, a training process that isn’t full of mistakes […]

“I was both surprised and pleased to learn that the ratio of women leaders in the nonprofit sector is much less out-of-balance than expected. We are fortunate that the percent of nonprofits run by women is much higher than the percentage of businesses run by women in for-profit sector. Because the Academy is a health […]

Nothing ever seems to get done. You tick one thing off your list, and immediately start to worry about something else. The number of things you have to do appears to be never-ending. This is so often the case, for so many of us. And the stress of an infinite to-do list can render us, ironically, […]