Building Capacity—Summer 2008

• From the Editors
  
  From the Editors of the Summer 2008 Journal of Association Leadership
  
• The Baldrige Model: An Integrated and Aligned Systems Approach to Performance Excellence
  By: Paul Borawski, CAE and Maryann Brennan
  Making a good association great requires a performance management system that focuses on sustainability and innovation.
  
• Shedding Old Governance Structures
  By: Barbara Byrd Keenan, CAE and Amanda Perl
  A behind-the-scenes look at how the Institute of Food Technologists used knowledge-based decision making to transform the way it governs itself.
  
• The Development of Consensus Guidelines for Strategic Planning in Associations
  By: Michael E. Gallery, PhD, CAE and Susan Waters, EDM, CAE
  When data are scarce, best practices have to be ascertained through consensus. But are best practices drawn from consensus and inference as reliable as those derived from empirical evidence? Or is there really a difference?
  
• Confrontation Is Not a Dirty Word
  By: Rhea Blanken
  It's time to take the negative connotation off the word "confrontation," and claim constructive conflict as a sign of organizational health.
  
• Small-Staff Association Executive Assimilation: Integration Determines Tenure
  By: Jimelle F. Rumberg, Ph.D., CAE
  A new executive, particularly at associations with few staff, must understand and integrate into the culture of the organization, a process that has a reasonably well-defined roadmap but can be quite lengthy.
  
• You Go First
  Learning from Corporate Lessons in Social Responsibility
  By: Kristin Clarke, CAE
  While a number of for-profit companies have already started to see the payoffs of a strategic social responsibility effort, including greater engagement and innovation, the journey is just beginning for associations and nonprofits. If your organization is contemplating such a strategy, here’s a closer look at how three companies—Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Motorola, and UPS—have already provided tangible ROI to both themselves and the world.
  
• A Closer Look at Board Governance
  By: Jennifer Blenkle
  When there’s change on the horizon—especially when that change is something as significant as new competition—organizations need the combined wisdom of their volunteer leaders and staff executives the most. But what if you inherit a board that is used to serving more as a rubber stamp than a rudder?