If 2020 was a year for experimenting out of necessity, 2021 could be a year for experimenting by design. After months of responding to pandemic-driven needs and making difficult choices, many association leaders are ready to think about how to recover—but not many are confident about what recovery will look like.

Association leaders have an opportunity to define a “new normal” that builds on 2020’s lessons while embracing new ideas to strengthen their organizations. A set of resources from the ASAE Research Foundation describes how associations can position themselves for success.

Advancing Business-Venture Innovation explores the key factors that lead to organizational capacity for innovation. The resources provide insights into association performance in eight domains that are critical for business-venture success. The research into two of the domains—catalytic leadership and diverse talent—highlights how leaders can foster a culture that encourages new thinking and dynamic teams in 2021.

Hallmarks of Catalytic Leadership

Recovery will require big thinking across organizations. Catalytic leaders focus on priorities that allow staff to pursue impactful and finan­cially successful ventures in creative ways. This kind of leader envisions how to deliver on their organization’s mission to both serve members and contribute to the greater good of society. Associations that participated in the study were relatively strong in this facet of catalytic leadership, especially in their leaders’ commitment to developing innovation across all levels of the organization.

Encouragement is one thing, but ensuring staff have the tools to pursue innovation is another. Catalytic leaders ensure that staff can act on their ideas. These leaders provide full access to necessary resources, including fund­ing and innovation tools and techniques. Participating associations were much weaker in these areas, especially in training staff in innovation and securing funding to support innovation from external sources.

The weakness in actual support for innovation resulted in an average participant score consistent with the “laggard” level in the catalytic leadership domain, the lowest level of the readiness model and the weakest area for participants overall.

Recovery will require big thinking across organizations. Catalytic leaders focus on priorities that allow staff to pursue impactful and finan­cially successful ventures in creative ways.

Foundations for Engaging Diverse Talent

Organizations that successfully engage diverse talent make deliberate and mindful efforts. These associations not only hire but also support staff from diverse backgrounds. Staff at these organizations engage their colleagues and try to understand different perspectives.

Study participants commonly reported that their associations were open to ideas and that staff felt comfortable expressing their perspectives. But participants reported actually having staff with a wide range of ideas, experiences, perspectives, and skills at a lower rate.

Hiring for diverse talent is just the first step. At associations that effectively leverage staff experience and talent, leaders openly value employ­ee contributions and visibly support diversity. These organizations also enforce fair employment and salary practices and maintain an active anti-discrimination policy. Participants largely reported success in these areas, with nearly all indicating that their organizations enforce a strong anti-discrimination policy.

The participants’ strengths across the diverse talent domain led to an average “mature”-level score, the highest level in the readiness model and the highest average score for participants across all domains.

Explore the Full Findings

Advancing Business-Venture Innovation is a five-part resource. It includes an overview of the research results, reports covering each of the eight capacity areas, and considerations and resources for charting change pathways. At the heart of the resources is a readiness assessment based on a maturity model validated by the research and originated by principal researcher Association Ventures. Applying the tool, association leaders can self-assess readiness against eight relevant business-venture-innovation capacities, or domains—including catalytic leadership and diverse talent—and compare themselves to peers represented in the study and best-practice references.

The other six maturity-model domains are

• empowerment culture
• ·operational agility
• digital practices
• foresight governance
• collective purpose
• engaged ecosystem

The study focused on healthcare associations. However, the results and the self-assessment tool should appeal to the wider universe of association leadership.