Winning the Future
A Capabilities Approach to Positioning Your Association for What's Coming
Summary
Associations are different from nearly any other industry. We are member-driven, volunteer-led communities. We host events, deliver learning, and offer networking. We bring diverse people together to create value in order to achieve our mission.
At the same time, we struggle to attract young professionals, diversify or grow revenue, and move the needle on hard-to-solve problems. If we have a value proposition, it’s often hard to articulate and live by.
This article is about building capabilities that prepare us for a constantly evolving world. In doing so, we make focused choices to help us achieve our mission while differentiating us from the competition. Investing in the right capabilities help us achieve our highest ambitions.
I lead the product community, a product development learning community designed specifically for associations. Let’s compare ideas and build something great.
The Importance of Capabilities
"The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind—creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers."
Daniel H. Pink
According to Paul Leinwand and Cesare Mainardi, a capability is “the combination of people, processes, technologies, and organization that allows you to deliver your intended outcome.”
Our success is limited by our capabilities (those we have in house or can reasonably build or acquire). Most associations have similar capabilities which align to our most prominent revenue streams: event planning, publications and content distribution, membership, volunteer management, and professional development or learning. Only when we understand our capabilities can we understand how we can expect to succeed. Let’s distinguish between core and differentiating capabilities.
Core capabilities are the fundamental skills and processes that allow us to operate effectively within our market. Core capabilities are:
Basic skills and knowledge needed to run our organizations.
May include things like strong superior performance or seamless customer service.
Necessary to compete in its market.
On the other hand, differentiated capabilities are the ability to create value for members that distinguishes us from the competition. They are the unique strengths that set us apart and, in the process, create a distinct value proposition for members. Most importantly, it involves connecting these unique capabilities to the problems of our member community.
According to McKinsey, distinctive capabilities are our superpower: “an integrated set of people, processes, and technology that creates value by helping the company do something better than its competitors.” They are:
Unique strengths that give us a competitive advantage.
Often involve innovative technologies, proprietary processes, or exceptional brand reputation.
Directly contribute to member perception and value proposition.
As we explore this in a larger context, I ask: what does your association do uniquely well?
Building a Capabilities System
"In your career, the most valuable currency is not how much you know. It's how well you learn".
Adam Grant
A capabilities system is a set of interconnected, distinctive competencies that an organization possesses and leverages to create value and achieve its strategic goals. For an association, a capabilities system can be a powerful tool for differentiation and driving success. Let's break this down further by looking at the components:
Capabilities – These are the core (baseline skills) and differentiated capabilities (fundamental strengths that set us apart). It’s not just the things we do well, but the areas where we excel compared to others.
Interconnectedness – The capabilities work together synergistically, reinforcing and enhancing each other to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
Alignment with Strategy – The capabilities system directly supports and enables our overall strategy and mission.
The central questions we need to ask related to a capabilities system are: can we state it? And do we live it?
Here is some guidance on how to build and use a capabilities system:
Articulate 3-6 key capabilities – This involves reinforcing the core capabilities and identifying differentiated strengths that set your association apart from others. These should be distinctive competencies that you excel at and that provide value to your members or stakeholders. Consider what your association does exceptionally well and what makes it unique in its field.
Defining how capabilities work together as a system – Once you've identified your key capabilities, it's important to understand how they interact and support each other. A truly effective capabilities system is more than just a list of strengths - it's an interconnected network where each capability enhances the others. Think about how your capabilities complement each other and create synergies.
Reflecting capabilities in the strategy statement – Your strategy statement should clearly communicate how your capabilities system creates value and achieves your association's goals. It should articulate how you leverage your unique strengths to serve your members or fulfill your mission.
Here’s how an association might use a capabilities system:
Member Value Creation – An association could develop capabilities around member engagement, professional development, and industry advocacy. These capabilities working together could provide unique value to members that they can't get elsewhere.
Operational Excellence – Capabilities in areas like data analytics, frictionless service, and digital communication could help an association operate more efficiently and effectively than its peers.
Industry Leadership – By cultivating capabilities in research, thought leadership, and stakeholder relationship management, an association could position itself as the go-to authority in its industry.
Innovation – Capabilities in areas like trend forecasting, collaborative problem-solving, and rapid prototyping could enable an association to consistently introduce innovative services or programs for its members.
Let’s take our capabilities system a step further by looking at an example of a marketing association.
An Association Example
“Capabilities are about identifying and developing the skills, systems, and processes that enable an organization to deliver its value proposition.”
Roger Martin
Let's consider a hypothetical association for marketing professionals. Here are four ways of distinguishing the association through a set of core capabilities not typical of an association. The key point here is that the association can deepen its purpose through community and diversify revenue while creating a competitive advantage through differentiation.
Data-Driven Insights – Advanced capability in collecting, analyzing, and interpreting industry data. How this capability differentiates your association: Providing members with unique, data-backed insights to guide their careers and business decisions.
Personalized Learning – Ability to create and deliver highly customized professional development experiences. How this capability differentiates your association: Offering tailored learning paths that precisely match each member's needs and goals.
Network Orchestration – Skill in facilitating valuable connections among members and with industry partners. How this capability differentiates your association: Facilitating high-value networking that leads to tangible business opportunities.
Regulatory Navigation – Expertise in interpreting and advising on complex regulatory changes affecting the marketing industry. How this capability differentiates your association: Helping members stay ahead of regulatory changes with expert guidance.
By focusing on developing and integrating these capabilities, an association creates a unique value proposition that sets it apart from other professional organizations. To implement this:
The association would need to clearly define each capability and how it contributes to the overall system.
Invest in developing these capabilities through hiring, training, and resource allocation.
Regularly assess and refine the capabilities to ensure they remain relevant and distinctive.
Communicate the value of this capabilities system to members and potential members to drive engagement and growth.
This approach allows the association to differentiate itself not just through individual services or programs, but through a holistic system of capabilities that creates sustained, unique value for its members.
Capabilities Are Our Superpower
It's never enough to just tell people about some new insight. Rather, you have to get them to experience it in a way that evokes its power and possibility. Instead of pouring knowledge into people's heads, you need to help them grind anew set of eyeglasses so they can see the world in a new way.
John Seely Brown
Having a well-run association and being prepared for the future are two separate things.
Most associations have strong core capabilities, but these capabilities keep us in a cautious space serving to reinforce an outmoded value proposition. Yes, being well-run is a laudable achievement. But, if running events, distributing content, and connecting people are our core, what capabilities will we need to build the future?
Anticipating and designing for an unknown future will require us to think and operate differently. This will entail choosing a compelling and focused vision, saying no to distractions, building engaging communities, and developing (or acquiring) the right capabilities to ensure we can execute meaningfully and successfully on our strategies.
The outcome is a strategically-focused, member-centric, and indispensable association.
Capabilities become our superpower when they are human centric-approaches to creating a learning organization. It’s when we’re in-tune with our stakeholders and we can anticipate what’s coming in a way that serves our communities needs while achieving our mission and vision.
I lead the product community; we are a learning community because we believe great relationships help us create the value our members want. Remember, product-led growth fuels connection. Join the product community and flip your destiny.
About the Author
James Young is founder and chief learning officer of the product community®. Jim is an engaging trainer and leading thinker in the worlds of associations, learning communities, and product development. Prior to starting the product community®, Jim served as Chief Learning Officer at both the American College of Chest Physicians and the Society of College and University Planning. Please contact me for a conversation: james@productcommunity.us