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Some food for thought from Jeff De Cagna’s Learning Lab on ungovernance (where he’s offering his thoughts on creating an entirely new approach to association governance):

- The value we create as association is based on relationships and access to information, Jeff says. But technology is creating new and often more direct ways to build relationships and access information—so, he asks, why do people need to “pay bucks to a centralized bureaucracy?”
- How many of your members go to Google to search for information before they come to you?
- In Wikipedia, if there’s an error, someone can go in and fix it immediately. If there’s an error in information your association provides, how many committees have to weigh in before you can fix it?
- Do you spend more time worrying about the details of governance and hierarchy (will the nominating committee report be turned in by June 22?) than about the value your association’s governance model is supposed to be creating?
- Using the resources and capabilities we have now, how can we build business models for associations that will be sustainable and inclusive of all stakeholders?

(For more of Jeff’s thoughts on ungovernance, check out his article in the August 2007 issue of Associations Now.)