Acronym

The following is a guest post from Robert Barnes, general manager, operations, at Fitness Australia, in Alexandria, New South Wales, Australia. Twitter: @robertmbarnes

The 21st-century association works very differently from the way we know them operating even today. The transition to new and successful business models requires an investigation far deeper than simply asking about "membership versus nonmembership."

In my 20-year career as an association manager, I have always felt there was some other way for associations to be valued in the community and provide value to the industry or profession they have served. Until I read Jeff De Cagna's articles on association business-model innovation (see here and here), I was unable to put my finger on exactly what I was thinking. Now, it not only has some tangible presence; it also is a model for managing on a day-to-day basis.

I recently experienced Jeff's business-model innovation work over the course of one week where I was able to practice the design thinking, building blocks, and game dynamics that give Jeff's platform its solid foundation. Having given the modeling some significant thought since then, and in the lead up to ASAE11, it has me asking, What is the true cost of business model innovation for 21st-century associations?

I enjoy the big-picture thinking as much as the next COO; however, my performance is measured in the doing, so when it comes down to it I am responsible for the costs of innovation as much as I am accountable for maximizing the opportunity it brings. The more I practice using the business-model innovation canvas, I find myself counting the human capital costs where people's roles and responsibilities—even their jobs—are in question if we are truly to capture the 21st-century platforms of "associating."

I think the true value in considering the cost of business model innovation is in comparing and contrasting it to the costs that rise from traditional change-management planning. When a person's role, their perspective on their work, and their future is questioned in the course of "normal" change management, it is easily perceived as change for change's sake. Or worse, change because management is taking action to save itself in the face of serious challenges to the association's status quo.

Business-model innovation born from scenario development with a healthy dose of game dynamics is so transparent that an association's leaders and team members cannot hide from all the factors that give rise to new opportunities and expose the true costs associated with achieving a new future. The collaboration between key stakeholders is a far cry from the consultation usually associated with change management. Change management normally applied by associations allows the leadership to gloss over or flat-out ignore key components without which the objectives cannot be achieved, or at least not achieved with the requisite measure of success.

Business-model innovation generates visions of a plausible future of the association with all the building blocks having to be in place for the picture to be complete. Miss one and anyone, stakeholder or not, will see the gaping hole in your future and ask why? The incomplete picture exposes either a lack of courage or the laziness we would normally be able to get away with when we "plan" the next five years of our association's work.

I, for one, want to engage the people I lead and whose livelihoods are invested in our association. I need them invested in the full process of making my association the best industry association in Australia. Not only will they see opportunity I could never see, but they will also be directly linked to the true costs of that future and therefore prepared to do whatever it takes to get there.