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And what to do about it. My story: What I’ve learned in 20 years of doing this work for all kinds of institutions. We’ve always been at the forefront of change, but the wave is just cresting now.
Let’s start by explore the cultural, political, and technological drivers behind the changes we see.
Cultural. Over-marketed to. feel manipulated. Too many options, everyone sounds the same. Interrupting and Shouting, as Seth Godin says.
People don’t believe large institutions are there to help them any more. Washington-itis. Liberal elites. Harper’s regime. No matter what kind of institution we are, they don’t easily believe in our claims. Youth aren’t joining non-profits anymore!!! I see it across the board.
Not interested in single issues anymore. Don’t believe single orgs can solve big problems. They see interconnections. They also seek meaning, many, esp youth and baby boomers, want to be more engaged, feel more of a connection. Bowling alone no more.
More responsiveness, faster. Working on their timescale, in real time, 24/7. Customer service orientation. Authentic voice from institutions. Institutions, esp policy oriented NGO’s, also don’t have the world of change locked up anymore. Engaged volunteerism.
Organizational: Rapid growth of a new kind of organization with people-power at the core of their business model. Big ones, MoveOn and Avaaz, now in almost every country, starting in India. New global development models like Kiva and Charity.water. Climate networks like 350.org. How nimble small groups of mujlti-skilled young professionals with few titles, programs, or hierarchy accomplished in many ways more effective things than NGO’s 100X their size. Organized in very different ways. These are member-DRIVEN organizations, where members tell them where to focus.
Not just NGO’s making change. People disengaged from traditional structures, random passionate actors who use the power of the web and networks to organize things. Uprising in Middle East not from NGO’s or institutions. Change.org, Causes.com and old guard Care2 business models to support free agents. Shit Harper Did had 4M views 2011 election. Bradley Manning and Edward Snowdon massive impact on world, no infrastructureMost trad NGO’s can’t integrate the efforts of these guys. They go around you.
The 15 years since the start of online advocacy with NGO’s. Internet has been the vanguard of change and new models many times. From fundraising to constituency building, meme-spreading to supporting actual grassroots organizing, the web offers opportunities that orgs doing advocacy, fundraising, social service, volunteer engagement, education, etc have rarely seen in one place. But most is just “clicktivism”The core problem: the web is not a technology. It’s not ever just a communications or fundraisingchannel, it’s your whole organization.
Doesn’t mean you throw out the left hand side of the list. You should have mastered everything on the left first.
This is my life’s work.
You guys are already really good at this. The issue is, how can you tell the story when neither you nor your network partenrs are the heros, but the individual and family is.
You are setting the agenda for society. Business gets all the press (and money) but this is cultural power. You have access to meaning and mission, and in our increasingly chaotic world, this is a powerful drug.
You are helping an earnest, do-gooder org that by nature spends as little as possible of its income on storytelling, marketing, and promotion. So you have to be creative. And the digital medium demands it of you! If you don’t’ have skills in messaging, writing, design, video, photos, you’ll hire freelancers who do. It’s rewarding to tell the stories. Even more so when you see what works!
You’re often the closest (often) to the front lines, you represent the people. You have a rubric to view the world “is our constituency interested in this? Is this something that will catch fire?” and you have the power of metrics, and of feedback, to give to the rest of the org. If you use this power well, you are the key to real engagement and mobilization of people in your causes, events, and activities.
While your employer is transforming society, you are transforming your institution. This field has been at the leading edge of technology, cultural change, and political change for 20 years. Technology and what it means is a wedge that is changing the whole culture: business, government, and NGO’stowards more democratic, connected, responsive, and open systems. Engagement is transformative as it forces institutions to be in internal dialogue with all departments on what it means to connect with peers and other orgs, and how to involve people in their work in meaningful ways, and how to resource and support that involvement. You’re at the centre of that. Wear your badge with pride.
Our sector has little market feedback on if what they are doing is having impact. Measuring outputs not outcomes. Funding model is broken: scraping crumbs off capitalism’s always plentiful table to deal with all the externalities or things no one wants to look at. Culturally, NGO’s are risk averse and slow to change. Leaders are often passionate technicians, not managers. You can easily hide here and BS your way through. Don’t do it.
Senior leadership are of a diffferent generation, still many of whom don’t value or respect or really use the web to connect. See only the dark side of it: distracted culture, what their kids spend their time on, and are missing fundamental ways it’s impacting our culture. Little Pro/Dev investment or people growth, consultants. Structures and funding models make it difficult to invest in and integrate transformative innovation.
4 limits of digital teams, published in Stanford Social Innovation Review. Silos: stuck in wrong place to do integrated comms. Personality fit that is wrong for doing collaborative, creative experimentation. Overloaded with unrealistic expectations. Lack of focus or strategy, chasing after shiny baubles. Doing everything digital is NOT a strategy.
Ultimate problem: many NGO’s haven’t transformed themselves for a drastically changed world. I mean everything: programs, fundraising, communications, campaigns. To do your job right, to really maximize the power of networks, you need a new vision, institution alignment, transformative leaddership at multiple levels towards new models. It’s extremely rare, but is happening more often.
Be in this for the long haul, don’t get too caught up in the day to day.
Don’t be half assed, or coast, it’s too easy. Go to conferences. Network yourself with peers. Ask for and receive feedback. Track competitors. Be constantly challenging yourself, your team, your program and your peers to do better. This is the best way to support your org + your career.
If you can’t change your organization, at least change your team, and your strategy. Focus on things that will have the most impact on your mission and your org’s core work. Develop this focus with other departments and other change-makers. Create buy-in and communicate out what your focus is so others know. Then stick to it, push back on distractions.
Metrics are your ally, they are how you’ll win arguments, push back on poor ideas, and grow your program towards success. Be wary of “vanity metrics” like how big your list is, that other’s don’t understand and have no impact. Fools gold. Might even catalyze a metrics driven culture across the org, the holy grail of networked impact orgs.
This shit’s hard, it takes a network to figure it out. That’s why I helped create WOC. Global project, TckTckTck $10M campaign, networked the whole thing. Be humble and open. No one expects you to be the expert of everything. The smartest people are the ones with the smartest advisors, and the smarts to ask.
Need to reposition your shop and your self from the tactical “Kinkos” to a strategic leadership group. Be able to push back and shape ideas, drive strategy, shape your plans. Become a respected thought leader, not just in “digital” or “the web” (I correct people) but in communications, engagement, and new models for what works in your world.
Hollyhock develops holistic leaders. To be a leader doesn’t just mean telling people what to do, or that they’re stupid. Don’t be the cliché arrogant young punk digital guy (trust me I know that one). Become a great listener. Develop empathy. Understand how your bosses’ and others’ world works. Learn to get out of your own way for true “creative response” to really come through. Then don’t get too attached to your wins or your losses.
The classic Mellineim has moved 8 places in 6 years, and doesn’t have a lot of self reflection on why. Its always about “advancing my career”. Institutions are challenging, but so is everything. Stay at a challenging place for longer than you want. Get out only when it’s clear you’ve tried everything possible, and then tried some more. You become a strategist because of your battle scars, it’s a title that’s earned. Stay longer than you plan.
We live in uncertain times, and you are accelerating the uncertaintity. Learn to embrace change while staying grounded. It’s the best way you can constantly learn and support your org’s highest purpose possible.
