Association leaders love talking about the Big Cs. We invest heavily in communications training, spend countless hours discussing culture initiatives, and design elaborate frameworks for collaboration. And these are absolutely essential in today’s operational environment. But after years of working with associations and nonprofits, I’ve noticed we’re missing foundational Cs that actually make the other three work: curiosity and coachability.
The Cs We Celebrate
Communications, Culture, and Collaboration dominate our strategic conversations, and for good reason. Clear communications keep everyone aligned. Strong culture attracts and retains talent. Effective collaboration leverages our collective expertise. These are the superstars of organizational development; they’re visible, measurable, and easy to champion in board meetings.
Here’s what I’ve observed: associations can have excellent communications protocols, well-articulated cultural values, and detailed collaboration frameworks, yet still struggle with siloed thinking, defensive responses to feedback, and surface-level teamwork. The infrastructure is there, but something’s missing.
The Cs We Overlook
Curiosity is the superpower that unlocks everything else. It’s what drives someone to ask “How can we help each other?” instead of staying in their departmental lane. People who are curious seek out professional development and training, they ask “how” instead of saying “not my job,” and they are often the folks who flag the problem and offer the solution. Curiosity is what prompted me to review our advocacy team’s calendar and immediately see how it could be integrated with our content strategy. Without genuine curiosity about how other parts of the organization function, collaboration remains transactional rather than transformational.
Curiosity shows up in personality before it ever shows up in performance metrics. In hiring, you can spot it in the kinds of questions a candidate asks: do they stick to logistics, such as benefits and job descriptions, or do they probe into how the role connects to the bigger mission? On the team, it often looks like the person who is genuinely interested in how other departments operate, who reads the background material others skim, or who notices the unintended consequences of a process everyone else accepts. That kind of mindset doesn’t just create better individual contributors—it lifts the whole system, because curious people share what they learn and spark others to think differently.
Coachability, too, is easier to feel than to measure. Some people talk about it as “being open to feedback,” but it’s more than nodding politely when your supervisor gives advice. True coachability is the ability to metabolize feedback, to absorb it without defensiveness and then act on it. It’s visible when someone says, “I hadn’t thought about it that way” and then you see their approach shift in the next project. The opposite is just as visible: employees who cling to their way of doing things, regardless of how it lands. Over time, coachable employees grow into new challenges with far less friction, which means leaders can stretch them into bigger roles without fear of brittle resistance.
What’s powerful is how these two traits amplify each other. Curiosity without coachability risks becoming endless questioning without action. Coachability without curiosity can slide into passive compliance—taking direction but never stretching boundaries. Together, they create a virtuous loop: curiosity uncovers possibilities, and coachability turns those possibilities into practice.
These two Cs are foundational because they create the conditions where the celebrated Cs can actually flourish. Curiosity generates the questions that lead to meaningful communications. Coachability enables the vulnerability required for authentic culture change.
The C That Connects Them All
There’s a sixth C that serves as the bridge between foundational and celebrated: collegiality. Real collegiality extends beyond professional politeness to encompass genuine respect and a willingness to engage, transforming culture from aspirational statements into a lived experience.
When curiosity and coachability create authentic collegiality, something powerful happens. Culture becomes a lived, shared value, rather than a lip-service coating over problems, with gossip and spurious intent. Communications shift from information transfer to genuine dialogue. Collaboration moves beyond coordination to true co-creation.
The System in Action
These six Cs work as an interconnected system. Curiosity opens doors to new possibilities. Coachability keeps those doors open by helping us navigate the human dynamics of change. Together, they foster collegiality that makes cultural values feel real and accessible. That authentic culture then enables collaboration that goes beyond mere cooperation, improving communications in the process.
As you lean into operational excellence and team building, try cultivating curiosity, coachability, and collegiality.
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