Two powerful lessons stand out in the article I co-authored with the AADE CEO and two Board officers in the April issue of Forum, "Taking a Good Board to the Next Level: the AADE Story:"
- Complex, high-stakes change initiatives aimed at dealing with strategic issues facing your association are far more likely to be implemented if they're strongly backed by a cadre of board members who are enthusiastic, highly visible "change champions."
- And board change champions are far more likely to succeed in selling strategic change initiatives to the full board if their board colleagues feel a high level of ownership for the initiatives, which means they've been involved in shaping the initiatives early-on and haven't just been an audience for finished staff work at the tail-end of the planning process.
AADE employed two tried and true vehicles for turning Board members into owners of - and champions for - the strategic change initiatives described in the article, which have to do with clarifying the AADE Board's governing role, structure, and processes. First, the whole Board spent a day together at the very beginning of the change process in a work session that I facilitated, focusing on identifying governing issues and brainstorming possible initiatives to address them. Second, following up on this intensive work session, a task force consisting of the Board officers and the CEO worked closely with me, as consultant to the process, in fashioning concrete initiatives to strengthen the Board. By the time this task force of "change champions" presented the fleshed-out initiatives to the full Board, the Board member ownership that already existed ensured that they would be adopted by the Board and implemented.
I would like to hear from readers about practical techniques they've employed to turn board members into owners and champions for change in their associations.
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