The AQ Revolution: Why Adaptability Quotient Matters More Than IQ or EQ for Association Leaders

Gina had been CEO of her trade association for eight years. By any traditional measure, she was succeeding. MBA from a prestigious university. Two decades of experience. A natural ability to build consensus and inspire loyalty. She navigated difficult conversations with grace and had steered the association through more than one crisis.

Yet here she sat, staring at another declining membership report.

"We need to enhance our value proposition," she told her senior team, reaching for the playbook that had served them well for years. They'd add conference sessions. Redesign the newsletter. Launch new webinars. The same incremental improvements that had always worked.

But something fundamental had shifted. Her members now got instant answers from ChatGPT instead of waiting for quarterly journals. They expected frictionless experiences like their favorite brands delivered. When disruption hit their industry, they needed guidance immediately, not at next year's conference.

Gina excelled at understanding her industry (high IQ) and building relationships (high EQ). But she was struggling with something crucial: AQ—Adaptability Quotient. And this third quotient was becoming increasingly essential for association success.

The Third Quotient

Most leaders know IQ and EQ. But in an era of constant change, there's a third quotient that matters even more.

IQ represents your technical competence—your grasp of industry knowledge, analytical skills, and decision-making ability. You build it through continuous learning: studying your field, attending conferences, earning certifications. It's your professional foundation.

EQ operates differently. It starts with self-awareness—accurately identifying your emotions. Then comes self-regulation: managing your responses effectively. EQ also includes reading others' emotions, demonstrating empathy, and navigating interpersonal dynamics. As you rise through leadership ranks, EQ becomes increasingly vital for orchestrating teams and building coalitions.

These quotients assumed a relatively stable environment. You could build competence over years and refine interpersonal skills through experience. But what happens when industry rules shift rapidly? When member expectations transform dramatically? When traditional approaches stop producing results?

Enter AQ—your Adaptability Quotient. This concept, introduced to me by business thought leader John Spence in Episode 88 of the Sidecar Sync Podcast, measures your capacity to navigate change successfully through three critical abilities that work together: learning, unlearning, and relearning.

Learn, Unlearn, Relearn

The concept of learning, unlearning, and relearning becomes essential when the pace of change outstrips our ability to rely on past experience. For associations, this is happening right now across every aspect of how you deliver value.

The first component, continuous learning, might feel more comfortable. You read publications, attend conferences, join peer groups (and maybe you listen to podcasts like the Sidecar Sync). Believe it or not, learning is the easy part.

The real challenge comes with unlearning—recognizing when your knowledge has become outdated. This proves difficult because it requires questioning approaches that brought past success.

Take technology adoption as an example. For years, the conventional wisdom said to avoid building custom applications in-house. The cost, complexity, and maintenance made it impractical. That wisdom made perfect sense—until AI-assisted code generation changed everything. Now, non-technical staff can create functional prototypes with a few well-crafted prompts. What once required months of development and significant budgets can be tested in days. The associations still operating under the old assumption miss opportunities to rapidly innovate.

Our fictional CEO Gina faced similar challenges. She'd built successful member engagement through traditional channels—newsletters, regional meetings, conferences. Like most dedicated leaders, she was constantly learning new tools and tactics to enhance these approaches.

What she struggled with was unlearning—examining which fundamental assumptions about member engagement might no longer serve them. She kept optimizing and improving what they'd always done, not recognizing that the entire framework might need rethinking. Member behavior and expectations had shifted so dramatically that they needed more than enhancements to traditional programs—they needed to reimagine engagement from the ground up.

The third component, relearning, completes the cycle. Once you've identified outdated assumptions, you must build new frameworks while preserving what still works. This integration of new approaches with enduring principles forms the core of adaptability.

Recognizing Low AQ in Your Association

How can you tell if your association struggles with adaptability? Watch for these patterns:

Language patterns in meetings:

• "Our members aren't ready for that yet"
• "We tried something similar a few years ago"
• "That's not how associations do things"
• "Let's wait and see if this trend has staying power"

Response patterns to new ideas:

• Immediate focus on obstacles rather than possibilities
• Detailed analysis of why something won't work before exploring how it might
• Preference for incremental improvements over fundamental changes
• Long approval processes that outlast the opportunity

Benchmarking habits:

• Primarily comparing to other associations
• Focusing on industry best practices from five years ago
• Measuring success by traditional metrics that may no longer reflect value

Risk and failure patterns:

• Extensive committee review for minor changes
• Post-mortems focused on preventing recurrence rather than capturing learning
• Celebration only for guaranteed wins, not intelligent experiments

Gina's association displayed many of these patterns. They stayed busy with improvements—new committee structures, updated policies, refreshed marketing materials. This activity felt like progress but avoided deeper questions about evolving member needs.

Building Your Association's Adaptability

Developing organizational AQ requires moving beyond traditional change management to build adaptability into your culture and operations.

Lead Through Action and Transparency

Adaptability starts with leadership behavior. When leaders openly adjust their approaches based on new information, it signals that evolution is valued over rigid consistency. Share your thinking process when you change direction. Explain what new information influenced your decision. This transparency helps others understand that adapting represents good judgment, not indecisiveness.

Rather than announcing changes as final decisions, involve your team in the adaptation process. Present the challenge, share what you're learning, and collaborate on new approaches. This involvement builds buy-in and develops adaptability skills throughout the organization.

Foster Constructive Challenge

High-adaptability organizations encourage thoughtful questioning of existing approaches. This doesn't mean constant criticism or change for change's sake. It means creating space for people to ask: Is this still the best way? What assumptions are we making? What would we do if we were starting fresh?

Build this culture by responding positively when someone questions current methods. Focus on exploring possibilities before evaluating feasibility. Ask follow-up questions that deepen thinking rather than shut down discussion. Recognize both successful innovations and well-designed experiments that didn't pan out—both provide valuable learning.

Make Adaptation Part of Your Rhythm

Instead of treating change as episodic disruption, weave adaptability into regular operations. During strategic planning, allocate time specifically for questioning fundamental assumptions. In program reviews, ask not just how to improve but whether the program still serves its intended purpose.

Create cross-functional project teams to bring fresh perspectives to routine challenges. Someone from membership might spot opportunities in education programs that the education team misses through familiarity. These different viewpoints naturally surface assumptions worth questioning.

Track metrics that encourage adaptability: How quickly do you implement member feedback? How many experiments do you run each quarter? How often do you simplify or eliminate outdated processes? What you measure shapes behavior—include adaptability indicators alongside traditional performance metrics.

The Path Forward

Gina's story serves as both warning and opportunity. Her technical knowledge and relationship skills—high IQ and EQ—had enabled past success. But without sufficient AQ, those strengths couldn't address changing member needs effectively.

Start building your association's adaptability with three specific steps:

First, identify one area where you're optimizing an outdated model. Maybe it's your education delivery, membership structure, or communication approach. Ask: If we designed this from scratch today, would it look the same?

Second, run a low-risk experiment that tests a fundamentally different approach. Keep it small and time-bound. The goal isn't immediate transformation but learning what's possible when you question core assumptions.

Third, share your own evolution openly. When you change your mind based on new information, explain your thinking. When an experiment doesn't work, share what you learned. This modeling makes adaptability feel achievable rather than threatening.

Your members already navigate constant change in their professional lives. They adapt to new technologies, shifting markets, and evolving workplace dynamics as a matter of course. They need an association that moves with them—not ahead or behind, but in sync with their reality.

Building your AQ helps you fulfill the same mission you've always had—serving your members and advancing your industry. The methods may evolve, but the purpose remains constant. And that balance between timeless mission and timely methods? That's what adaptability looks like in practice.