NPTech Career Thoughts

For my 15 year anniversary, I pictured some celebration, some recognition. I looked forward to a lifelong career with a big retirement celebration. I had seen so many of my mentors achieve this.

I grew up attached to a cause, an organization I loved. I believed in the mission (and still do, just not sure they do), I put my career in the hands of the org.  My career plans centered on how I could best serve the organization and the best role available for me to have the most impact.

Lesson learned the day I was laid off for a second time within days of a vacation and only weeks from my 15 year anniversary. And not just me, over the years it was other family members, friends and colleagues.

Here is the trap I see so many nonprofit staff end up in. We are part of a cause we are truly devoted to. We love our organization. We have a meaningful and real relationship with our co-workers. Saying we are like family is an understatement. So we do everything in our power to make an impact. We roll with the punches and our job morphs, shifts and changes. We adapt and do whatever is needed from us. But often it requires us to ignore our own career and only focus on our job.

When you are hired, there is often a fairly clear job description and set of expectations. But as time passes, you pick up additional work, your role blends with others, your duties may completely shift from where they started. You become a jack of all trades just to fill any holes in your org, you step up and make it happen! You are an integral part of the org and you have no idea what they would do without you.

But while you are becoming the jack of trades for your org, you may be losing your career path and your ability to get the next job.

The first time I was laid off, my job was unique, different and had a title which didn't represent what I did. So when I started to look for a new job, my resume was hard to follow and understand. I didn't have a clear brand for myself. My experience and job title meant very little to the hiring nonprofits. I had made myself valuable in my job, but not my career. I had not taken time to take care of myself. In the end, my work was only valuable to the org, it was not transferable.

So my job search was a long one. And each time I got close, it was always the same  thought, "we like you and have an awesome set of experiences, but it just doesn't fit our opening."

There seems to be a disconnect around expecting staff to fill needs in our org and mission as needed, while hiring with strict qualifications. We want existing staff to pitch in across the org or grow with the org. But then when we hire, we look to fill a position, we look for a set of defined experiences and skills to fill a specific purpose. 

So on one hand we push staff to work beyond their job description, but we only hire people with experience specific to a job description? So we often wouldn't hire the staff we have doing the job they have?

When I did get my next job, I was very deliberate about building a network, a personal brand and getting experience in a skill set which was transferable and valuable in the job market. Since I knew I couldn't trust the org to look out for me.

You might be thinking, Steve, you seem so bitter. But you couldn't be more wrong. I am so thankful for where I am and what I have experienced and learned. It is sort of like the country song, unanswered prayers.

 I could not be in a better place in my career! I love where I work, all of my past experience is proving valuable every minute of every day. I am diving in again, head first. I am more than uber excited to be a part of a cause I have a heart for, poverty and homelessness. I am immersing myself in my job and giving it everything I have. In less than a year on the job, I am more at home here than any job before it. I completely trust that the org is as interested in me and my career as they are interested in the mission and org.

But I think it is important for me to be open and honest about my nonprofit work experience. I have met numerous people entering the nonprofit career track and countless more who have been in nonprofits longer than me. But I cringe a little when I hear them talk about their job, I just wish they could see what I see now.

Don't let your job turn into a string of sacrifices and become so focused on daily needs causing you to ignore your own needs. This isn't good for you or your org, neither of you will be happy in the long run. 

So a word of advice, things happen, are you in a place to take care of your career when it does?

(behind the scenes - my faith and trust in God played a large role in this journey and my success, however, that is a post for another day. I know He had a hand in guiding me in this direction and getting me here.)

A 6 Year Technology Roadmap. Are you crazy?

As I approach 9 months at my new job, I am getting closer to completing a 6 year Tech Roadmap.

I have told a few of my IT colleagues and many of them say the same thing: Are you crazy? How can you plan 6 years into the future. Tech changes way to fast. Or I get the question about how do I have time to do that? Well. I make time, go back and see my post about urgency versus priority.

What is a Tech Roadmap? I don't even know if it is a real term. But here is what I mean. It is a summary of the overall direction and identifies what we will focus on.

I am not planning every IT project and every step for the next 6 years. I am just setting a direction for our course. If you only do planning once a year, you will end up making progress. But if you put together enough straight lines with small turns, you can still end up going in circles.

Things will change. I don't expect everything in my Tech Roadmap to go perfectly according to plan. Staff will leave, budgets will change, priorities will shift, etc., but you still need to know your long term direction.

Think of it like your career:

• You go to school, to get the right degree in anticipation of getting the "right" job. You talk to counselors and get expert advice. 
• You read up on the job market. So you make plans and set a direction. 
• You have a life plan! 
• Then college life happens as you try to live out this plan. You start to have life experiences, things happen. 
• But hey, you stick with that degree, cause it's still what you want.  
• Then you get the first job, which is where plans usually change. 
• Suddenly it isn't what you expected or you stop planning because you are too busy working

This is where I hope our Roadmap helps. The Roadmap will provide long term direction, while allowing for a typical annual Strategic Technology Plan. How do you know if your one year plan is the right one without seeing how it fits over the next few years? How do you know your large projects are in the right order? How do make the big decisions in technology?

Some examples of what is in my Tech Roadmap. 

• Move from a heavy internal network to hosted solutions where appropriate
• Move from data repositories to workflow management tools
• Move from scattered internal communication to centralized, easy to access intranet
• Move from a stable-secure network to a tested, documented, monitored network
• Move from limited tech policies to governance in data, process and tech planning

The tech team brainstormed these types of directions for all of the different areas of Tech we will focus on. Then we thought through some of the initial projects for the first 2-3 years. We also examined where we need to shift culture, influence staff, build competencies, etc.

Then we shared this with our CFO as an early draft, not a completed, format, finalized document. It was meant to spur conversation, which it did amazingly well. We had deep conversation and thought through impact. 

Why 6 years? Well it started as a 5 year plan, but one of our amazing Technology Advisory Board Members suggest we match our Roadmap to our Tech Replacement Cycle which is planned at 6 years for some of our network equipment.

Anyway, if you ever want to debate the value of my 6 year roadmap, I am open to it.

#14NTC is not a social media conference, bring back the TECH!

Let 2014 be the year Technology returns to the Nonprofit Technology Conference.

Social Media, Marketing, Fundraising and Communications are all important. But they get plenty of attention. 

For years I have done my best to stay out of the "vote for my session cuz it is the best and I am popular" tweets, posts and general campaigning for sessions. My sessions tended to make the cut because people found them valuable and voted on them without me hyping it up.

But this year is different. Here is some of the feedback that is listed on the NTEN website about what people are looking for:

More than 70% of 13NTC attendees surveyed identified as either managers or directors at nonprofits. More than 60% of that number also identified as intermediate or journey-level learners. When asked what kinds of content they're specifically looking for: 

• 53% indicated they'd like to see an emphasis on technical how-tos
• 50% indicated they'd like to see an emphasis on programmatic uses of technology
• 40% indicated they'd like to see an emphasis on management strategy

So here I am campaigning for sessions. Here are the ones I would recommend you take a few minutes to vote for. And if possible take time to go through the IT Track.

1. Requests for Proposals: Making RFPs work for Nonprofits and Vendors
2. An Introductory Session on CMS, CRM, and other Three Letter Acronyms
3. Tech Planning Smack Down! Tactical Vs. Strategic Vs. Missional
4. Data Governance - 10 Steps to Building Yours
5. Tech Tools for NPTechies
6. It's not the software, it's you. Process Mapping.
7. Cloud Migration and Integration Workshop
8. From talking about data to actually tracking your data: The right technology for Data-Informed Nonprofits
9. Playing it Safe: Keep your network secure with the 20 Security Controls
10. Manage Any Project Better

Please take a few minutes and vote for my Top Ten! Or suggest your tech session in the comments and I will check it out!

YMCA of Metro Chicago Facebook Resources and Case Study

This is a post I created back when I was at the YMCA of Metro Chicago, but thought I would re-share it here.

How do you get 50 authors prepared to manage 15 Facebook pages in less than 2 months with a team of 4 people? The YMCA of Metro Chicago faced just this challenge in the summer of 2010. There was a desire to get a presence established on Facebook in order to connect with our communities in new ways and do it quickly!

Our bigger challenge was managing the pages once they were launched. This case study will walk through the process we followed to get the pages launched and equipped the authors to manage them.

Below is a short summary or for a more visual representation view our YMCA of Metro Chicago Facebook Case Study Presentation.

YMCA of Metro Chicago Facebook Casestudy from Steve Heye

Our Challenge Our members and communities connect with their individual center and want information from them. But there are numerous obstacles in allowing our membership centers to take primary responsibility for their own pages:

• Membership center staff already fill numerous roles and have limited time to dedicate to new projects
• Experience with social media and online communities is limited in depth beyond personal experience
• Staff already struggle to get content created for our websites, newsletters and email communications
• Limited full-time staff at some centers and limited resources to pay part-time staff

Our Metro office had challenges of its own to overcome:

• Limited capacity to manage page for all centers, need to equip authors to create sustainability
• Brand management and YMCA information needed to be monitored and consistent across our channels
• How can we provide enough support to make sure the center pages are successful and what do we do if they aren’t
• Manage risk, possible negative interactions and uphold character values

Our Strategy The key to our success was the readiness of the authors, not the mechanics of the page. So with seven weeks to work with we decided the key was to establish staggered deadlines for the authors to meet and a focused one day boot camp.

Due with application	Due at Kickoff	Due before Boot Camp	Due before launch
Create Flickr acct Completed Application Create Facebook profile	Attend kickoff Communication samples 15 photos	Review Facebook privacy Write 2 status updates Marketing calendar	Fill in Facebook page October Mktg. calendar Document comment reply process Sign Author Ack.

While the authors were busy preparing their materials; Marketing and IT collaborated to get the Facebook pages configured and designed for all of the centers. Our approach was to get all of the pages setup identically to a point where they were ready to launch without involvement of the centers. We created guidelines of what could be edited and what should be left standard.

We wanted our centers to focus on the content, not the structure of the page. However we did give them the long term freedom to make changes once they were ready to support it themselves. This structured approach allowed us to gauge the readiness and commitment of each member center even before launch. It also helped set expectations for our Boot Camp.

Our Materials Once the authors were trained and the pages launched; the centers have primary responsibility for managing the page with limited support from Marketing and IT. So we needed to be very purposeful in providing them with the appropriate resources. We provided them with:

• Social Media Author Acknowledgement – In addition to getting their commitment to represent the YMCA appropriately, we provided clear expectations of the role
• Comment Escalation Resources – we shared the Air Force Blog Response Chart along with a Comment Escalation Flow Chart to clearly identify steps in replying
• Content Tips –Strategies for quality content and how to represent the brand
• Page Administration Guidelines – Parts of the pages that can be edited and disallowed Facebook Applications
• Marketing Calendar Template – Table structure to assist in thinking about how to post content across all communications and marketing
• Links to articles on privacy – Shared links on updating your personal Facebook profile privacy settings

Most of these resources are included in the Facebook Manual below:

YMCA of Metro Chicago Facebook Manual and Case Study from Steve Heye

Our Outcomes Aug 23, 2010 we launched our pages, before the end of the day we had our 25 fans to secure our vanity URLS and our authors were posting welcome messages. Over the next couple weeks our centers worked to promote the page to all of their staff to build up some initial fans. We placed the “find us on Facebook” button on all of our website homepages.

By the end of August 2010, we had over 1100 fans across the pages, 116 wall posts by authors, almost 1500 unique page views and some great early engagement. In October 2010 we began our mass promotion of the pages to our members through emails, newsletters, program brochures and more. As of Nov 2, 2010 we were up to 2,285 fans across 15 pages, with 2,618 unique views and 396 comments\likes on our content for October 2010.

Our authors have done a fantastic job moderating comments and posting content!

Urgency kills Priority, don't let it kill your Impact

So at my new job I have been working on ways to prioritize projects and daily work to move things forward. You know, good old strategic tech planning.

One of the things we did was we took a couple steps to formalize how people access the IT help desk. Nothing fancy or new, just a simple policy. One of the keys to me though was asking users to set a priority for the ticket; High, Medium or Low. I defined these terms in the policy something like;

• High= interrupts business for multiple people, impacts finance, etc.
• Med= interrupts your ability to work,  no work-around, etc.
• Low= everything else

I also asked for any associated deadlines, details, screenshots, etc.

But here is where things got interesting quick. And before I say anything else, I am not trying to say anything bad about our staff. This just seems to be human nature.

Requests came in, but the priority seemed to be driven by when they needed it done, not by the impact or importance. Because things get more important when you are faced with urgency. I need this by 1pm today, I am working on something for a Board Member that is going to be here in 30 minutes....

This is not a big deal when it is the occasional request, which is true for my org. They are typically good about leaving time and being purposeful. But this really got me thinking about the difference between urgency and priority.

The trick is that if you have too many urgencies, you can get to the priorities. This is where a help desk process can really help. 

Track IT! If you are tracking all of your requests and work, you can look for these trends. You can see repeat requests each month at a deadline and anticipate them. Then make a change to your technology to address it. Automate the report.... Follow up with that department, ask them to request earlier... Simplify the tool to allow self help....

Expectations! Setting expectations in your help desk process will help drive the change needed. Tied to the priorities in our help desk process was a service level agreement. We plainly tell our users how quickly to expect support based on the priority of the ticket. The service level agreements will range from org to org based on available resources. And we told the why, to allow us to balance projects with big impact with the daily urgencies.

Definition! Taking time to write a policy, enforce it and define all terminology is not easy or fun. But is important. Simple definitions and ongoing conversations have a real, lasting impact on culture.

Address the problem, not the symptom. Not a new idea. Focusing on urgency will keep you focused on the symptoms.

We are also looking to formalize our tech project request, our tech project steps, data governance, business process documentation and so much more. We have to shift from urgency to priority to allow for impact.

My question is why aren't more topics like this at the forefront of our technology conferences, blog posts, webinars, etc? Basic technology support is still important.

Due June 15! Tech Session Suggestions needed for #14NTC!

Social Media and Communications session suggestions out number the tech and tool session suggestions in mass quantities.

We need your help to get the NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference to have a better Technology focus.

Here is some of the feedback that is listed on the NTEN website about what people are looking for:

More than 70% of 13NTC attendees surveyed identified as either managers or directors at nonprofits. More than 60% of that number also identified as intermediate or journey-level learners. When asked what kinds of content they're specifically looking for:

• 53% indicated they'd like to see an emphasis on technical how-tos
• 50% indicated they'd like to see an emphasis on programmatic uses of technology
• 40% indicated they'd like to see an emphasis on management strategy

I suggested sessions on:

1. Tech planning: When to use tactical vs strategic vs mission impact planning
2. How to process map

I would love to see some others that have experience suggest some of the following:

1. Working with technology consultants - how do you pick?
2. Using a managed network vs hiring your own network admin
3. My favorite Network and technology management tools: what do you use to monitor your network, run help desk, measure bandwidth, review capacity, audit security, etc?
4. Data mining and dashboards
5. Office365 vs Google Apps
6. Back to the basics on Project Management
7. The value of a technology committee (project review, peer advisory, etc)
8. Best practices in desktop support\management
9. BYOD and other policies needed for todays tech
10. Governance of all kinds, data, process, etc

Anyway, that is just my initial list, I am sure you have ideas, so go suggest them now!

But before you do! Be sure to read this awesome post from Peter Campbell about how to suggest a session.

Then go to NTEN and suggest your session! Before June 15, yeah, only 4 days left.

Prove me right about the YMCA!

I am no longer a YMCA member.

That is a strange phrase for me. I have been a YMCA volunteer, member, staff person for over 35 years. But with recent changes and management decisions that has changed. But I do not want to go down that road in this post.

Instead, I am hoping you can help me.

When the YMCA of the USA started it's rebranding process, it developed the strategy, worked with CEOs, consultants, key staff and whatever.  Then they worked with Marketing Depts and Leadership at local Y's to roll it out. They were trying to change the YMCA to be seen as a cause driven nonprofit, not a place to go.  But Marketing won't change that (in my opinion).

Ever since I started in the Y as a kid learning to swim and then becoming a volunteer as a Teen, I always knew the real mission impact was done by the program and membership staff at the local Y. It is the staff on the front lines working with the members that make the real difference. And these staff tend to be overworked and treated as just another employee by big Metro offices. These staff have the real power to change the YMCA image and impact. Not a new logo.

My theory has always been that the real power of the YMCA is the everyday staff. It is the lifeguard that takes time to high five a kid for getting in the water even though they were afraid. It is the Day Camp staff person that is purposeful about talking about Christian values, instead of barking orders about rules. It is Fitness Staff that encourage the Health Seeker by being realistic about body image, slow change and gradual progress. It is the Front Desk staff willing to chat with members and knowing the names of their kids. These are the YMCA Heros. These staff matter.

So what does that have to do with me not being a YMCA member? Well I still love the YMCA. I still cherish the friends I have made with other YMCA staff. But in the end, my YMCA career took turns that I didn't choose and now I am in a different place.

Over the years, I have collected mounds of YMCA logo stuff. Sweatshirts, T-Shirts, mugs, luggage tags, USB drives, etc. I want to share my collection with people who also love the YMCA and want to help me prove my theory right about the YMCA. The staff make the Y what it is.

My wife and her friend have started their own organization, Leap of Faith Arts Ministries (http://leapoffaithartsministries.org/). This organization embodies everything that the YMCA used to be for me, plus a strong emphasis on Worship which plays a larger role in my life today. Everything is focused on the mission and the kids in the program.  They are consistently asking themselves, what can we do to help these children learn to use their gifts to praise God and to know they are perfect just the way they are.

Kids today are under so much pressure to achieve, to be better than the rest, to rise above. What ever happened to having a heart eager to serve?

Image is everything. You have to have the right clothes, cars, house, cell phone, etc. Girls are encouraged to dress like they are 25 at age 5. Body Image is so distorted. Where is our sense of values?

Leap of Faith Arts Ministries is having a real impact on changing this. It isn't about the Arts that they learn, even though they are getting high quality, professional instruction. They are changing lives.

This is not some new start up though, Leap of Faith is new as a nonprofit, but has been around for years. They just recently went out on their own though. And this first year in their new building is proving financially challenging. They have a solid business plan for operations and funding through program and membership fees. However, they do want to go down the path of relying solely on charging more or running more programs to generate revenue to expand their impact.  They want to begin with a foundation of support from donors, so they can grow the program and not put a heavy burden of cost on the members.

This is their first attempt at real fundraising and we need your help to kick start it and show the board and parents that this is worth fighting for and raising money can be done.

So here is my ask. Can you show support for my wife's new org that is living out what I think is the best quality of YMCA staff today?

Here is the fun part. The first thirteen people that make a donation over $50 can get a Thank You in the form of random YMCA logo items. You will get one of the 13 piles in the picture below. Each contains some clothes and a random item.

Here are the rules:
1. Make a donation of $50 or over at http://leapoffaithartsministries.org/
2. If you would like the YMCA thank you, leave your name in a comment below in this blog post. I will get your address from the donation, so just your name, indicate you would like a "YMCA thank you" and any other thoughts in a comment. First 13 comments from people that live in the United States will get an pile of YMCA stuff shipped to them.

NOTE! so if you want to make sure you are one of the first 13, just count the comments below.

Here is another picture of all of the items.

Or if you would just like to show your support, you can make a donation or share this post with others. If you want to leave comments, without donating, that is welcome also. We also ask that you keep Leap of Faith in your prayers as they look to ensure their future growth and impact through their first fundraising efforts.

Thanks, Steve