Digital Teams in 2018: The New Landscape of Digital Engagement – Jason Mogus
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The state of digital teams inside our nonprofits often reflects deeper issues of culture and structure and how well adapted our institutions are to today's communications landscape. So what's going on with digital teams today? What team structures, roles, and behaviours are producing the best outcomes? Are we getting better at cross-silo and cross-channel communications? Are we set up to really deliver on the promise of digital engagement? Jason Mogus - Digital Teams in 2018: The new landscape of digital engagement Principal Strategist at NetChange Consulting Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmogus/ Bio advocacy campaign and organizational change consultant been doing digital transformation for 22 years, his firm celebrates 25 years this summer helped shape some of today's most successful campaigns including tar sands / pipeline work, australia's biggest campaign, $10 a day childcare in BC What's interesting: lives on an island, is an obsessive walker; if you call him you'll likely hear the leaves crunching under feet Secret skill: weird sound effects and made up songs for his 8 year old
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Digital Teams in 2018: The New Landscape of Digital Engagement – Jason Mogus
- 1. Jason Mogus June 11, 2018 Digital Teams in 2018: The new landscape of digital engagement
- 4. ENGAGEMENT
- 5. INTEGRATION
- 6. LEADERSHIP
- 7. what should a digital team actually do?
- 8. it depends on your goals engagementinfo or service delivery advocacy fundraising
- 11. section 1: digital teams what do our teams look like today?
- 12. Digital teams still mostly live in communications, though a lot less than before Insight: The dramatic drop of teams situated in the comms silo reflects a shifting understanding of digital’s unique value, though we still don’t know where to put it. Organizing? Program? Engagement? Standalone? It depends.
- 13. The most common digital roles have stayed remarkably the same
- 14. Today’s most desired digital roles are all about social and data Insight: Social media is one of the biggest ways for digital departments to flex their muscles inside orgs today. We are excited to see more online campaigners soon as this strategic role tends to add more punch to teams.
- 15. Digital teams continue to grow, more evenly this time
- 16. The vast majority of digital staff are still straight and white Insight: Our orgs are increasingly prioritizing diversity and inclusion but unsurprisingly this is not yet showing up in most digital teams. We all need to do a substantially better job here.
- 17. section 2: supporter engagement is engagement just a word?
- 18. Supporter engagement lacks a home Insight: It’s tough to improve engagement practices if it’s not clear who owns them. This lack of leadership and structural confusion around engagement leadership limits adoption of many best practices.
- 19. The vast majority are missing opportunities to understand and activate their best supporters Insight: This is so disappointing. Orgs that don’t know what their supporters are doing or who their leaders are will miss opportunities to build grassroots leadership and amplify the force of their campaigns.
- 20. Broadcast campaigns continue to dominate Insight: While many orgs report using new approaches sporadically, staff- driven campaigns are sadly still king. Engaging supporters in campaign design and execution is an approach that hasn’t yet been widely adopted.
- 21. Bright spot! Most are now asking supporters to take offline actions, regularly Insight: Online actions are most successful when coupled with real world actions and face to face relationship building. This is amazing and huge progress from the largely faux grassroots campaigns of the recent past.
- 22. Beyond the rhetoric, engagement still isn’t a priority Insight: If we pursue what we value, these numbers show we don’t value engagement by putting sufficient people or financial resources on it. Orgs are leaving significant opportunities on the table by not taking advantage of this help.
- 23. section 3: digital structure why is managing digital so hard to get right?
- 24. Hybrid and Centralized teams still dominate Insight: Centralized teams, which tend to suffer from overload, have remained surprisingly resilient, though the hybrid model is now fully proven. Intentionally separate teams that share power well are a welcome new trend.
- 25. Centralized teams report lower digital program impact Insight: We have long advocated that Hybrid teams that distribute leadership are better suited to the pace and opportunities of digital innovation. The data now proves non-centralized teams run considerably more effective digital programs.
- 26. We restructure our teams, a lot. And it’s only sort of working Insight: Restructurings are stressful on people and orgs, and it’s painful to see so many struggle to find optimum digital structures. With all the opportunities digital offers, we should be loudly dissatisfied with ongoing dysfunctions.
- 27. Digital’s influence continues to grow, and it’s leading to better performance Insight: The data now proves that digital teams who lead or shape decisions around innovation perform substantially better than those who are left out. This should be a wake up call to all Campaigns and Executive Directors.
- 28. Yet digital isn’t at the top of most orgs, and senior leadership suffers as a result Insight: Leaders will continue to miss (or over-estimate) big opportunities from digital to transform campaigns and orgs until they add more digital leads to senior management. The data proves digital deserves a seat.
- 29. And we don’t invest in leadership development to help us get to the top Insight: With the never-ending pace of change in digital, unless an org supports training it may continue to be left behind. We won’t see more digital leaders rise to the top of orgs without more investment in leadership.
- 30. takeaway insights when digital leads we win engagement is still mostly just a word distributed digital skills lead to better programs we continue to struggle with structure
- 31. recommendations for better digital teams 01make engagement real and build your people- power consciously choose an optimum team structure 02 get support to be a network leader03 04 fix your org’s story and theory of change
- 32. evaluations engagement + storytelling training org + team change jason mogus www.netchange.co @mogusmoves jason@netchange.co netchange consulting
Editor's Notes
- Story -
- Action worthy problems and solutions, theory of change. Cultural storytelling. Heroes and villains. Hashtag not brand. Common brand and messages building up into something bigger. A bigger idea, a bigger story. Repeating the same big frame so that it sticks. Solutions.
- Most groups still doing digital within a print and broadcast paradigm. Distribute agency. Allow for customization and adaptation. Gather ideas and content from crowd. Show your people power. Spend as much time convening and supporting others to do that work, than you doing the work. That’s how you amplify power now. Engagement = innovation. All groups doing interesting things in the last 10 years have embraced engagement.
- Optimization story. Silos. Coordination. Run with focus and discipline. Be agile, testing often, failiing fast, pivit. Be resourced for what you’re trying to do. Too much of our energy is diffused, reactive, responding to others’ needs or vision. Inefficiencies with having digital spread amongst so many different departments; but more than that, opportunity lost from not being able to drive a proactive cross-channel message out.
- Digital as reflective of the whole of our orgs and inability to get things done with excellence. Listen to new voices. Push the envelope on trying new things. Being OK with failure. Cross over movement boundaries. Empower others to lead. Network Leadership Mindset (Jan Wei-Skillern Stanford) From growth Mission. From control Trust. From yourself Others. From garnering resources Sharing resources. From the particular Whole.
- Advocacy: Focus on content sharing, report and policy idea promotion, media support, online petitions and other actions. Storytelling about winning campaigns. Fundraising: Focus on online marketing. Emails. Supporter relations. Storytelling about donors and overall impact. Info or Service Delivery: Focus on content sharing, technology or apps, targeting audiences. Engagement: Focus on organizing, volunteer management, creative engagement options, project management of shared work.
- 80 respondents . Data gathered late last year, compared to three years. 4 countries, 56% US, 24% CDN 40% were medium or large, 40% were small under 20 staff, 16% were very large
- Communications still most commonly owns digital, with 38% of teams residing here. Program/campaign was the next most common at 15%, and 13% run a standalone digital department. An additional question asked what senior manager digital leaders report to, and 45% report directly to an ED or CEO, though this is most common in small (58%) and large orgs (58%). Data from our 2014 report shows a 60% decrease in the number of teams now situated in comms. 44% more teams report directly to the ED today than what we found in 2014.
- Digital directors and data/CRM managers are the most common full time staff roles. Social media, writer, online campaigner, designer, and project manager fill out most teams’ core roles. Today’s teams most commonly outsource designers, videographers, and tech developers. Numbers from our 2014 report were remarkably similar, with the notable changes being a doubling of full time Data/CRM managers, 11% more digital strategy directors and 6% fewer tech developers on today’s teams.
- Q: If you could hire one more full time role for your digital team, what would it be? Social media manager continues to top our hiring wish lists. Online campaigners and data/CRM managers are just behind. Designers are also high on the list, as are a new entrant this year, dedicated videographers. In 2014 writers were the most desired new full time role, followed by tech developers and UX professionals. These roles have all dropped from the top 5 this year.
- Is the number of FTE’s with responsibility for digital work growing? 70% of respondents’ digital teams have grown in the past three years with the most significant increases seen at medium, large, and very large orgs. 15% of teams grew “substantially”. Most small org teams (68%) have 1-2 digital staff. Most medium org teams (50%) and large org teams (42%) have 3-5 staff. Most very large orgs teams (27%) have 11-20 full time digital staff. Our 2014 report showed similar levels of team growth (63%) but most of that was concentrated in very large orgs. Organizations across all sizes are now growing more consistently.
- Q: What percentage of your digital staff are people of color or LGBTQ? 59% of teams have fewer than 25% POC or LGBTQ staff on their digital teams. 34% of teams have less than 10%. Teams at large and very large orgs tend to be the most diverse. We did not ask a staff gender make-up question. Sorry! An additional question asked how high a priority diversity and inclusion are in hiring and campaigning, and found a majority, 51%, “have prioritized it as extremely important.” Only 8% said they ”talk about it but nothing changes.”
- Q: Does your org have a department dedicated to managing supporter engagement? Only 10% of respondents have a department solely focused on engagement. 14% run engagement from within communications and 12% within fundraising. About a quarter, 23%, share the responsibility for engagement among multiple departments. A plurality of 29% of respondents have no department whatsoever responsible for engagement.
- Q: Does your org track supporters along a ladder of engagement (or other similar framework)? Three quarters of organizations do not track supporters’ progress using a sophisticated framework such as a ladder or pyramid of engagement. Only 26% regularly track engaged supporters. Almost a third do not measure supporter engagement at all. An additional question showed only 22% of organizations consistently track engagement across departments, a key element of effective multi-channel communication.
- What philosophy best describes how your org campaigns? 73% of respondents still primarily “send our supporters stuff telling them how to contribute”. 17% report a directed-network or open distributed model where they “provide guidance and tools to supporters on what campaigns they run and support local leaders in running their own”. Only 10% of respondents regularly survey supporters to collect input on what they should campaign on.
- Q: How often do you ask supporters to take an offline action? 85% of respondents ask supporters to take an offline action at least once per year. Over half ask for real-world engagement monthly. Only 15% don’t typically ask supporters to engage in offline actions. An additional question found 2/3 of respondents are now doing grassroots organizing or in-person campaigning, with 25% reporting they “do this well”.
- Q: Is the budget for supporter engagement appropriate to achieve your goals? 64% reported their dedicated engagement budget isn’t sufficient to do what is expected of them, or is actually non-existent. Almost the same amount, 59%, don’t expect a budget increase for 2018. An additional question asked for staff count dedicated to engagement, and found 43% have zero staff managing engagement, and a quarter (24%) have only a skeleton crew of 1-2.
- Q: What model does your digital team operate under? Hybrid teams and centralized teams are running neck and neck in today respondents, at 37% each. A new team structure, “intentional independent” now represents 13% of teams. Hybrid teams are the most popular structure in small (50%), medium (41%), and large (33%) orgs. Centralized teams still dominate very large orgs at 47%, with hybrid trailing at 29%. In 2014 centralized and hybrid were also nearly tied for first, at 40% and 38% respectively. Thankfully “avoidant independent” and informal (ie. no team) have mostly disappeared today.
- When compared to peers and industry best practices, how effective is your digital program? Only 10% reported their digital program is “highly effective” compared to peers and industry best practices. On digital structure, a separate question found only 10% of teams work extremely well. 42% report their structures are broken and do not work. Interestingly, teams using the centralized model tended to report a less effective digital program. Of today’s highest performing teams, 50% are using the hybrid model and 25% are intentional independent.
- Q: Have your digital or communications teams been re-structured in the past 3 years? Three quarters of teams have been restructured recently, with almost a third having gone through a restructuring more than once. Only 22% of teams haven’t changed since 2014. Despite all this re-engineering, an additional question found that only 11% of teams report the way their org manages digital to work very well. 49% find their structures work “somewhat well”, which leaves an unfortunate 41% stuck in structures that create significant problems and don’t work.
- How involved is the digital team in decision-making around new campaigns or initiatives? Digital is being incorporated into the campaign planning process more and more, with 17% of teams leading new campaign development, and 36% being involved throughout campaign or new initiative development processes. Importantly, 50% of teams who report running highly effective digital programs lead new campaign processes, and a further 33% of today’s top performers are involved throughout the decision-making process. No high performing teams are merely “informed” of new ideas.
- Q: Is digital represented at the senior-most management level of your org? 42% of orgs do not have someone with digital experience at the senior-most level of management. The larger the org, the less likely someone with digital experience is on the executive team. Among our high performing group, a full 75% had digital represented directly on the senior management team. An additional question asked how management perceives digital’s strategic value, and 50% report they “miss major opportunities”. 9% have unrealistic expectations on the value of digital.
- Q: Is your professional development budget to support growth of yourself & your team sufficient? 56% of respondents have an insufficient or non-existent budget for professional development. An additional question asked about coaching or other leadership development opportunities for digital directors. Only 37% of respondents have access to this support. Another third report inconsistent opportunities, while the bottom third are left out of professional development entirely.
- Digital Leads Win: This year’s research found that digital teams who influence decisions on new campaigns, are represented on senior management teams, and receive leadership support run higher impact digital programs. Yet half of respondents’ organizations continue to miss major digital opportunities. Engagement: We loved finding that more organizations are doing grassroots organizing and offline actions, but broadcast campaigns still rule. The vast majority of respondents don’t measure engagement and lack dedicated staff + budget to lead it, showing engagement is still more of a concept than a deeply valued reality. Structure: Three quarters of digital teams have been restructured once or more in the past 3 years, yet only 10% find their structure to be highly effective. That’s a lot of painful change leading to uncertain results. Cross-departmental tensions have shifted, showing up today where innovation is happening most often in our advocacy organizations. Distributed: Digital competencies continue to be built across departments, a good thing. While centralized and hybrid teams remain neck and neck as the structure in most respondents, we found that teams with the highest performance digital programs are overwhelmingly using the hybrid model.
- Engagement: Start by helping the top realize they can’t win big change without real people-power. Make it happen by using widely-proven engagement techniques, track and report impact. Your cause, staff, and supporters will thank you for it. Structure: Landing a progressive digital model that works for your whole org isn’t easy. Employ a grounded, multi-month process that starts with listening inside and out, and be bold with making the changes asked for, including breaking apart existing fiefdoms. Story: most important thing. Leadership: Don’t wait for senior execs to find you: get better at management, strategy, coaching, and communications. Lead your org where it needs to go, and get help to become the kind of open leader the world needs now. The path to making our orgs more effective is clear, we just need to take it.