We Have Always Done It That Way

There was a quote in the winter 2006 Journal of Association Leadership that reflects a fundamental stumbling block in the association community. In the commentary to an article about strategy making, Adrienne Bien expressed concern about the resistance the author encountered when bringing a new approach to strategy to his association:

“For most associations, this resistance would be a red flag, as we tend to avoid conflict and steer away from disruptions to the volunteer structures that are the backbones of our organizations.”

Forget just the volunteer structures: associations steer away from disruption. We want things to go smoothly. We want things to go as we planned them. We want the activities of the association to unfold predictably, resulting in universal acclaim and positive feedback.

And then there is real life. In real life there are disruptions. Yes, we can plan, and we can certainly strive to do things that people find valuable (maybe we’ll get all “fives” on our evaluation sheets!). As life unfolds, however, we are bound to find disruptions. People don’t show up. The program is not making participants happy. The staff does not like the new initiative we just announced.

At that moment, you need to embrace the disruption, rather than avoiding it. Disruptions are infinitely more valuable than your stack of “happy sheets” with all fives on them. Disruptions open your eyes to new possibilities. Disruptions support you in confronting the truth. Without disruptions, you would continue to do what you’ve always done””even if it isn’t working.

Avoiding or ignoring the disruptions is certainly tempting. At the first sign of disruption, you can look the other way. You can silence the disruptive voices. You can stop asking questions, in order to avoid disruptive answers. That feels more comfortable. By focusing on the positive messages, you feel good about the way things are going. If you need to, you can explain away the disruption””they don’t know what they are talking about, they are not a representative sample.

Don’t do that. Resist the temptation. Ask yourself which is more important: comfort or success? Your chances for success increase proportionally with the amount of information you let in, and by avoiding disruptions you close off a critical channel of information, resulting in missed opportunities for growth and change. The next time you have a disruption””even one in your volunteer structure””move towards it instead of away from it. Learn more about it. Ask questions. Dig deeper. The decisions that emerge will be smarter.

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