In our previous post, co-authors Elizabeth Weaver Engel and Jamie Notter shared insights from their latest white paper: Lean at Ten: Culture Eats Methodology for Lunch, unpacking the practical power of Lean Startup as a structured, evidence-based approach to innovation.
Co-authored with Guillermo Ortiz de Zárate, the paper also homes in on one truth that has become increasingly clear: methodology alone isn’t enough. While the tools and frameworks of Lean Startup offer a powerful way to navigate uncertainty and drive innovation, their success hinges on something deeper—organizational culture.
In this follow-up post, we continue the conversation by exploring how deeply embedded mindsets like perfectionism and fear of failure can hold associations back, and how shifting toward a culture of experimentation and learning can unlock real progress. When associations embrace change at the cultural level, innovation becomes not just possible, but sustainable.
Refresh your coffee/tea and read on …
Lean Startup: Culture as the Key to Innovation Success
– Jamie Notter
Q: Many associations value the concept of innovation more than practice perhaps due to a deep-rooted fear of failure that stifles experimentation (we’ve seen this firsthand!). What strategies have you found most effective in helping leadership and staff shift from a culture of perfectionism to one that embraces experimentation and learning from failure?
JAMIE: Create containers or “sandboxes” within which the experimenting will happen. That way they know they’re not going to take the whole organization down if the experiment doesn’t work. You can, over time, expand the area of the sandbox to increase the impact of your experiments, but if there aren’t any containers at first, people fear the worst and end up doing nothing. Another way of saying this (quoting the CEO of W.L. Gore and Associates, inventors of Gore-tex), “If you’re going to punch holes in the boat, be sure to do it above the water line.”
ELIZABETH: One of the other things lean startup encourages in practitioners is to think about “failure” differently. In the American Association of Veterinary State Boards case study in the whitepaper, when they ran their first iteration of lean startup, it was on a product they’d already released into the market that was giving underperforming vibes. After running the idea through a lean canvas (yes, in a slightly backwards process – ideally you do that before you even create a prototype, much less a fully-released product), they were able to turn those “this doesn’t feel right” vibes into articulated assumptions and Metrics That Matter. They realized two things: one, the data showed that the product was in fact failing (no “vibes” or opinions – only facts); and two, that they had a bad assumption. They had identified a real problem for the target audience, but it wasn’t a significant problem. That is, it wasn’t a problem worth solving. So they killed the product.
Was that a “failure”? Under a traditional definition, yes. But in a lean startup context, maybe not. One, it prevented them from throwing good resources (money, staff time and capacity, volunteer attention) after a bad. And two, it helped them refine their own processes for using the methodology. They learned something specific related to the product, and there was also meta-learning, as the team got better working the process itself. According to Eric Ries, as long as you’re learning, you’re not failing.
Q: Certain structural barriers (i.e., silos, outdated systems, rigid hierarchies) can stifle innovation. How can associations begin to dismantle these barriers without triggering organizational resistance? Can Lean Startup be used to solve these challenges, especially those around traditional chapter and volunteer structures?
JAMIE: I think associations should begin dismantling those problems immediately, regardless of the resistance! Those cultural factors work explicitly against the way lean startup works, so waiting to change them will only slow down your lean startup efforts. The best way to address the resistance is to make it crystal clear how the changes you’re implementing will make the people inside those traditional chapter/volunteer structures more successful. Once they see how it will help them achieve their goals, the resistance will go down.
Q: What role do volunteers have in all this, and how do we better prepare them for this role?
ELIZABETH: Leadership support – both staff and volunteer – is critical for success with lean startup. The clients I’ve had who have implemented lean startup most successfully share some characteristics. One, their boards of directors support innovation, both conceptually and financially. Two, they’ve attempted innovation projects without structure and have seen them fail or at least underperform, often to the frustration of their staff and volunteer leaders. Three, they’re positing something genuinely new, not just “we should start a corporate partnership program” or “we should start selling ads in our newsletter,” so roadmaps for success don’t already exist. In short, they see the need, so they’re willing to learn something new themselves that will allow them to try a different approach. Once your volunteers are there, you just need to provide them with some background information, so they understand what you’re doing; set their expectations appropriately about how the methodology works and how the project will proceed; and report back regularly, supported by data, on how things are going.
Q: What advice would you give to a mid-level staffer trying to introduce Lean Startup in a risk-averse culture, especially when trying to get leader buy-in?
ELIZABETH: Start small, with something entirely under your control, so you don’t even need to ask permission. Document what happens, so you can tell a compelling story of how the methodology functions to The Powers That Be in your association. Nothing is as persuasive as evidence that something works. Does “working” mean that your idea became a wild financial and mission success for the association? Not necessarily. Remember, the methodology doesn’t guarantee that your idea is correct. It guarantees that you’ll learn whether your idea is correct or not, and if it’s not, you’ll have gained the insight to know what your next step should be.
JAMIE: Proceed until apprehended (that was Florence Nightingale’s mantra, and she effectively invented the modern hospital in the 1800s, when that was not a role that was generally accessible to women). This is sort of like “ask for forgiveness not permission,” but it’s more nuanced than that. Proceed—find experiments to run and risks to take (again, that won’t sink the ship) and run them as quickly as you can. But understand that you WILL be apprehended. Your organization has an immune system that will sniff out your risks. So be ready with results to share. Don’t just say, “I thought this experiment was a good idea.” Say, “I know we don’t normally take risks like this but look at the cool results I got.” In general, senior leaders like results more than they hate risk.
SUMMARY: Ten years after Lean Startup entered the association space, its success still hinges more on culture than methodology. Associations often struggle with innovation not because the tools are ineffective, but because their cultures resist risk and experimentation. At the same time, Lean Startup remains a powerful, learnable framework that helps organizations test ideas, uncover real needs, and make smarter decisions. By embracing a mindset of learning and leveraging tools like design thinking and AI, associations can unlock meaningful innovation and avoid costly missteps.
*This is a 2-part Q&A with Elizabeth Weaver Engel and Jamie Notter, co-authors along with Guillermo Ortiz de Zárate, on their whitepaper Lean at Ten: Culture Eats Methodology for Lunch, a look at why organizational culture continues to be the defining factor in whether innovation efforts thrive or falter. By embracing a mindset of learning and leveraging tools like design thinking and AI, associations can unlock meaningful innovation and avoid costly missteps.
• Part 1 focuses on how Lean Startup remains a powerful, learnable framework that helps organizations test ideas, uncover real needs, and make smarter decisions.
• Part 2 focuses on how culture plays an important role in determining success, and when associations embrace change at the cultural level, innovation becomes not just possible, but sustainable.