Presentation given at NC AVA 2016 conference on technology tools available that may be helpful. I cover strategy first then examples of "freemium" resources available.
3. .NGO
The center serves as an information center on effective
practices in nonprofit organizations, a statewide network
for nonprofit board and staff members, and an advocate
for the nonprofit sector as a whole.
10. DEVELOP A TECHNOLOGY POLICY
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Maybeyou work for a largeorganization that has it’s own
Technology Department. Ifso, more than likely,there’s a
policy that already exists.
Does it end there?
Absolutely not! Develop a departmentalpolicy that
contextualizes that org policy to fit the processes of your
department. And if you don’t havean existing policy to
contextualize,let’s developone.
11. S.M.A.R.T.
Is it really?
Specific, Measureable, Assignable, Realistic, Time-Related
• One person’s specific is another’s useless detail
• What are you really Measuring?
• What criteria do you use to define “realistic”?
• What criteria are we using to determine deadlines?
When you step back,
doesn’t it seem rather arbitrary
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12. Consider an alternative
Looking at the entire process as a whole
• Define clearly what is your Org mission
• Define what your department's mandate
• Describe the processes within your department
Questions:
1) Does the processes you have help you achieve your mandate?
2) Can we simplifyor remove steps?
3) Do we really need any “tech tool”to improveyour processes?
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13. Once youanswer the previousquestionsthen
youcan start to think abouttechnology solutions.
All the technology in the world won’t help if the system
is broken. Improve processes first then consider what
technology (if any) is worth acquiring. Then you can
look toward meeting your departmental mandate and
in turn help your organization fulfill its mission.
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16. .6
Trending vs. Opportunity
Don’t get lulled intothe Ohs and Ahs of a new technology.
What’s trending may not be an actionable opportunity.
How can you tell the difference?
You just learned the basicidea of SystemsThinking.
Apply that to figure out your Technology Policy
which then guides you in your decision-making.
Poll the audience on level of tech use (5 minutes)
Google Docs, Office 365, Basic Email, Office Suite
Salesforce, HubSpot, other CRM
iContact, Constant Contact, Mail Chimp
SurveyMonkey, Survey Gizmo, Doodle or other
Social Media: Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest, Hootsuite, Buffer
On-site File Server, Cloud-based document sharing, hybrid
Windows, Mac OSX, Android, iOS, Linux
The Total Cost of Ownership includes additional Peripherals, ongoing Maintenance, Training, Upgrades, Fixing, Consultants, etc.
Regular maintenance with updates and upgrades within reason
Make sure your software vendors have your current email and it should be info@ email account
Review your OS updates (best practice is to sandbox updates til it’s vetted but….)
Run Virus protection
Windows BitDefender
Avast
Symantec Endpoint Protection
IObits Advanced System Care and Drive Booster
The problem with SMART is that it arbitrarily chooses numbers to meet. And when you start focusing on numbers, you lose sight of why you’re doing what you’re doing. All you care about is meeting your numbers regardless if the process is effective.
For instance, the state of American public education has oft been described as memorizing to test great. To meet the arbitrary test score goals, students aren’t really learning to learn and therefore not building knowledge which can grow into wisdom. Instead, most students learn to memorize just enough to do well on a test never really understanding what they’re memorizing. And teachers are forced to pile on ever more material to “challenge” students to be better—at what, memorizing!
Systems Thinking considers the entire system and the desired outcomes. Process improvement is iterative and critiqued against desired outcome. Instead of focusing on arbitrary numbers, it focuses on the process to reach the outcome. If the outcome isn’t being reached then change the process. This is the feedback loop.
I’ll pick one of the shared processes to try the backcasting exercise as a group activity that I lead. I could then interject some tech tools that might be useful.
Backcasting contrasts against Forecasting in that you’re not guessing at what the outcome might be but rather saying, this is the outcome you will achieve.
If possible, either go to the website to introduce the features or show a YouTube video
Share my idea about the Center’s Economic Indicators Report as an example of doing something that’s trending but not actionable because we don’t have the capacity to do it. Choose to do a few things great instead of many things wrong.