Digital and strategic partnership are hardly novel concepts in associations, but exploiting nontraditional business-innovation avenues will take a more sophisticated approach to both, according to an ASAE Research Foundation study reported in Advancing Business-Venture Innovation, published in September.

The research, designed to inform associations working to build capacity for innovation, defined the two areas as “digital practices” and “engaged ecosystems,” and associations show room for growth in both:

• On digital practices, participating association executives gave their organizations a mean performance score of 61 percent, considered to be “lagging”—lower than the overall mean score of 66 percent—primarily because participants indicated that digital platforms were not sufficiently viewed as embedded, core resources.
• On engaged ecosystems, participating executives gave themselves a mean score of 67 percent, considered to be at an “early” stage of development, primarily because co-creation of value with external partners was seen as lacking.

Integrate Digital, Engage to Co-Create

Innovative associations do not only digitize their content. Innovative organizations digitize their core, taking an end-to-end approach to integrating digital strategy with business-innovation goals. As the foundation’s research report says, “Digital exchanges and data platforms should be fully embedded across the production chain of member value by the board, staff, and volunteers. Ideation, tracking, and reporting are all enabled through digital platforms organized around cross-functional project teams to implement digital venture priorities. Ongoing measurement of digital practice key performance indicators keeps the board, staff, and stakeholders all in alignment with a common goal of expanding digitally enabled business innovation.”

Similarly, innovative organizations go well beyond traditional strategic partnerships, such as for events or on the advocacy front. They live in a broader ecosystem, engaging strategically to co-create value. Hallmarks, according to the foundation research, are:

• The association is adept at setting up constructive strategic external partnerships, continually creating new joint opportunities, extracting value in a way that differentiates it from other organizations.
• Program priorities and strategic planning are developed together with external networks, creating accountability for achieving game-changing innovations, which is central to the organization’s branding, member value, and social impact.

What’s in the Research

The research foundation study centered on readiness assessment, validating a first-generation maturity model originated by principal researcher Association Ventures. Applying the tool, association leaders can self-assess readiness against eight relevant business-venture-innovation capacities, or domains—of which digital practices and engaged ecosystems are two—and compare themselves to peers represented in the study and best-practice references.

The other six maturity-model domains are

• empowerment culture
• ·operational agility
• catalytic leadership
• foresight governance
• collective purpose
• diverse talent

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