The Will to Govern Well: Knowledge, Trust, and Nimbleness

Any look inside an association reveals challenges that require change in governance systems. These challenges include shifts in the balance of power, in policy making, and in measures of success. Associations must understand increasingly complex member segments and need to be able to respond to specialized needs. Increased demands for tangible benefits and bottom-line measures mean that associations need to think differently about how they create value for their members and how they measure success. The Will to Govern Well presents research into associations that have shifted from more traditional governance structures created with the intent to predict performance and replicate past successes to knowledge-based governance systems, which can more reliably function in a world characterized by rapid change. This book is about developing strategies for change in governance. It rejects the idea of wholesale revolution in favor of rapid evolution, which has the added benefit of decreasing resistance among members and stakeholders, who similarly reject such terms.

The book presents three critical themes that have emerged as key to developing the will to govern well knowledge, trust, and nimbleness providing definitions and strategies for incorporating them into governance. This second edition updates the original edition with information and insights that have been gleaned in the 10 years since its first publication. Furthermore, it includes a whole new chapter on the intelligent association, providing an evolved process for associations that have been using knowledge-based governance so routinely it has become part of the fabric of their operation. Another new feature of this edition is an emerging theory about the value proposition of associations in the 21st century.