How to Lead Cultural Change

Several years ago, at a Washington Society for Association Excellence convention, I attended a deep dive session with Bob Prosen, author of Kiss Theory Good Bye. The book has stayed on my shelf ever since, a resource I’ve returned to more than once.

The book focuses on for-profit companies and guides the reader through five attributes of highly profitable companies:

• Superior Leadership

• Sales Effectiveness

• Operational Excellence

• Financial Management

• Customer Loyalty

Each of these attributes has its counterpart in nonprofit management.

The first, Superior Leadership, is obvious. All organizations and companies deserve to have superior leaders. But what does that mean? According to this book (and others I have read), superior leadership comes from embodying a vision and ensuring results. An executive has and communicates a clear vision for the organization, and works hard to advance the vision, achieving results daily.

For a nonprofit, the first step in sales is knowing what the organization is “selling.” Does the entire team serving the organization (staff and volunteers) clearly understand what the organization is selling to its members? What is the value proposition, and how well is that communicated? In membership organizations, that understanding can be easily lost or muddled. This has been especially true in the last 30 years. Before that, associations held monopolies on professional and trade information. With advances in technology, from personal computers to artificial intelligence, that is no longer the case. So, what makes your association unique and why should anyone join? Just as important, is that message communicated?

As nonprofit organizations, associations usually don’t have to struggle too much with operational excellence. We cannot afford to be anything less than efficient and effective in what we do. However, accountability and clear vision become very important in this area. Is the team doing only what it should be doing to fulfill the needs of the organization and its members? Do they operate with current best practices and continue to meet the changing needs of the members?

In managing an organization, finance comes first. Nothing slows an organization faster than when financial matters fall behind. The strength of finance is that the rules and procedures are clear, simple, and straightforward. The keys are to being timely, transparent, and accountable.

The last attribute of a highly effective organization is customer (client or member) loyalty. Do you know what your members think of the organization? Do you ask them, or is member retention your only measure? If you do ask them, what do you do with the information? Now that associations don’t hold a monopoly on the information and services that a member needs, it is essential to understand why they stay. Keeping a member is so much more valuable than replacing one. And knowing why members stay, and why they leave, helps to recruit new ones.

What the heck does this have to do with organizational culture? Everything. Organizational culture is the culmination of its values, beliefs, behaviors, styles, and communication patterns. A healthy organizational culture is aligned with its purpose, mission, and values. It acts from a clearly defined vision and holds itself accountable for achieving it. It acts with excellence, integrity and purpose, fulfilling its service obligations. Everyone understands why the organization exists, and they are happy to be a part of it. Financial planning and accountability are integrated into all of the association’s activities. Member satisfaction and loyalty are always known, measured, and considered.

In Kiss Theory Good Bye, Bob Prosen provides a clear and detailed framework for leading an organization through change. This framework reminds us that culture underlies every attribute of a strong association. Next week, I’ll dig deeper into those underpinnings—behavior and relationships—and explore when and how culture itself must change.