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Ten
Guidelines for Making the Net Work for Organizations
1
Prerequisite: full commitment by decision-makers (director
and board)
- The
Director has to provide clear, unambiguous leadership.
- They,
themselves, have to model good, consistent use of the Net
- Best:
Develop a task-oriented working group consisting of the
Director and some "core" Board members and then
expand out
- Director
needs to be willing to be proactive in changing the culture
- Director
and the Board must be willing to invest — not just
in hardware and software, but in staff time, strategic planning
and workplan revisions.
2
Be prepared to look at your organization through fresh eyes.
Rethink, Re-envision. Stretch.
- who
is your audience: Now you have the opportunity to look "beyond
the choir" to a wider network: other sectors, media,
funders, general public
- Who
are your issue collaborators? Local, county, regional, national,
EC, international?
- Who
are your resource collaborators? Tech resources, volunteers,
consultants?
- What
are your information and communication patterns?
- What
are your communications styles?
- How
efficient are your administrative procedures?
3
Be clear on the Whys — before you tackle the Hows.
- What
are the compelling reasons?
- One
organization (even an umbrella group) or one person on staff
who assumes the role of techno-Evangelist is easily dismissed.
- Need
multiple reasons: May need to first experience "opportunities
lost"
- Hard
to predict just what will be the hook?
4
You will need protocols. Establish roles and responsibilities
- Goal:
a computer and Internet connection on the desk of every
staffperson
-
Need to handle the info flow
- Who
will handle e-mail, how to manage it, how to archive it
so it is available to others?
- Which
web sites will be reviewed on a regular basis, which mailing
lists will be monitored?
- Who
will contribute -- provide a high, visible profile for your
organization?
- How
will online activities be integrated into an overall communication
strategy
- When
does it make sense to launch a web site?
- Who
will manage and maintain it?
- How
can you integrate your web and print media design strategies
5
Requires a change in organizational culture
- Most
important: director buy-in.
- Use
it for internal communication. No options.
- Need
a Nudge … and a back-up Nudge.
- Make
it a permanent agenda item at staff meetings
- Create
incentives. Make it part of each staff person’s workplan
- Stay
positive. Celebrate successes. Make it fun.
6
Be aware of the tools. Use them in an integrated way.
- The
real benefit comes from the synergies of making these things
come together.
- Reinforcing
them. Broadcast lists integrated into dynamic web sites.
- Balance.
Be selective about info. Make it succinct, substantive,
and annotate to make it relevant to local needs
- Goal:
integrated web and broadcast list strategy
7
Identify low-cost resources.
- Online
- In
your local community
- Within
colleagues working on similar issues and the umbrella organization
that serves them
- Within
other networks and communities of interest
8
View technology as an ongoing operational cost — not
a capital expenditure.
- Will
need to be an item in your annual budget — just like
phone or printing
-
Plan to upgrade every 18 — 36 months
- Build
it into issue-based funding proposals
9
Design for evaluation.
- Monitor
- Identify
and problem-solve around barriers
- Establish
feedback loops
- Make
web sites interactive
10
Be realistic.
- Outcomes
are not immediately tangible
- Goal:
Creating a framework for the future
- But,
once "over the hump," no one ever turns back.
Developed
by Terry Grunwald for the Women Connect conference, November
1999 in London.
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