cross-functional teams
Are Marketing and Membership at Opposite Poles? Take the Journey to Collaboration
Is your marketing team hanging out at the North Pole while the membership group chills in Antarctica? If these two drivers of engagement are a world apart, it will be challenging to deliver the seamless experience customers expect from their favorite brands. There was a time when associations didn’t think of their members as customers.…
Read MoreCommit to Your Team’s Success—They’ll Return the Favor
When you are the leader, you drive the team dynamics. Others take their cues from your behavior. This is an unavoidable consequence of being the boss. We feel at ease with people who are like us. So, it’s easy to promote this self-centered perspective without realizing it. But CEOs who head exceptional teams reject an…
Read MoreFocusing on Excellence Puts the National Association for Healthcare Quality Ahead of Change
People think of me as a fixer—the person you call to repair broken systems. And yes, I do my share of cleanups in the strategy, technology, and marketing aisles. But I’m also fortunate to have clients who look to me for advice on how to prevent accidents, keep innovation in stock, and attract new customers.…
Read MoreA Thanksgiving Valentine to My Work Family and Yours
If you’re lucky, you have colleagues who feel like family. Work families are special. The people at your job don’t have to love you, or even like you. But, if they are a bright spot in your day, it means you’re doing your part. Work families have the magic to make success a team sport.…
Read MoreAssociation 4.0—A Playbook for Success
Every great team needs a playbook—a blueprint that outlines the rules you live by and your strategies for peak performance. At .orgSource we call that collection of wisdom our Association 4.0 framework. It is the product of ongoing research to prepare our clients for success in digital markets. Many of the characteristics we identified are…
Read MoreUse Technology to Put People First—How the Country Music Association’s Members Took Center Stage
Until AIs can think for themselves, digital systems are tools that do their best work with human ingenuity as the driver. And one of the puzzles technology excels at helping us solve is how to understand each other. The presentation Tiffany Kerns gave at .orgCommunity’s recent Solutions Day event, centered on that idea. Tiffany explained that although the Country…
Read MoreA Technology Assessment Connects Intention and Ability
Do you have a friend whose house looks like it belongs to neat freak Felix Unger, but the closets and drawers are clearly owned by lovable slob Oscar Madison? This Odd Couple disconnect happens to even savvy digital organizations. My writing about digital leadership often focuses on values and attitudes. But attention to the infrastructure’s nuts and…
Read MoreSolutions Day Delivers! A Meeting of Minds, a Journey to Discovery
Once upon a time, technology was an isolated country ruled by a few savants who spoke a strange language. They were powerful but others didn’t always understand, or even care to know, what magic they were up to. Today, the castle is breached. Technology’s strength lies in the opposite of its reclusive beginnings. Collaboration and…
Read MoreWhen the Talent Does the Shopping—Recruiting in a Crowded Market
Are you Gucci or Goodwill? Both brands have an audience. But when employees are shopping for a new look, it’s best to be the high-end option. Customer centricity doesn’t apply just to members anymore. Today, it’s equally important to give your employees that white glove treatment. And, if you’re looking for new talent, it’s time…
Read MoreGet Them to Build Castles—Strategies for Successful Cross-Functional Teams
Great leaders rely on both sides of the brain. The right brain meticulously lays out the goals and follows the tasks, timeline, and budget. The left brain uses emotional intelligence, empathy, creativity, and artful facilitation to keep all the players working productively together. The more diverse the group, the harder the left brain must work.…
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