The premise: a strong core is the root of overall healthy functioning.

We like this philosophy at Framework.  We like it so much we practice it all the time in the form of “Organizational Pilates”.  For a bit more detail about Organizational Pilates as our core management practice, take a quick read of Anil’s September 2009 guest post in Volunteer Vancouver’s blog.

For now, I’d like to share an example of how the exercises and ‘training’ we’ve been doing for the past year or so (our organizational pilates regime) are translating into agility, flexibility and overall effectiveness.

I’ll work backwards, starting with the end result and finishing with the exercises that got us here.

The Success

The GenNext volunteers in London are motivated and passionate to make the 1st London Timeraiser a huge success.  They are currently out connecting with local businesses like WCS Financial and Libro Financial Group who will sign on as sponsors so we can buy artwork at fair market value from local artists.

When a volunteer confirms a new corporate sponsor, we are able to alleviate the burdensome administration around partnership agreements, invoices, etc.  After one quick email containing contact information, we can produce all the necessary documents, email them over, and often have everything signed in 20 minutes.

We transformed an administrative process that used to be circuitous, redundant and cumbersome into one that is fast, easy and efficient for everyone.  Moreover, volunteers can focus their skills where they’re most important: connecting with local businesses and building relationships.

On our end, what used to take us, on average 3 days, can now take 20 minutes start to finish with the end result being more organized and more transparent.

The Process: Before & After

We have completely removed printers, faxes, paper and pens from this workflow and instead rely on a wicked integration of Salesforce.com and EchoSign.

I won’t go into it here, because it’s much for fun to have Amanda take you through the process in this concise and colourful video (shown above). Really, it’s a good video, even the folks at the EchoSign blog said so!

How we got here: Organizational Pilates regime

Our success can be attributed to our strong organizational core.  Our daily pilates regime builds:

1. Strength to evaluate and implement technology that works best for us
2. Agility to practice processes that can engage new ideas and evaluate them against our existing programming
3. Focus to always use programming that engages and supports the best staff and volunteers
4. Resiliency to learn from the work that we, and other like-minded initiatives, are doing
5. Motivation to share everything we know, data we have and insight we generate

We’re going to keep on this exercise regime; we’re feeling fit as ever!  And one thing I learned from my back injury is that maintenance is everything: I re-injured my back last year having neglected my transverse abdominus exercises.  Luckily I enjoy our organizational pilates more than actual exercise!

Let us know how you exercise your organization’s core!

Here is what I like about Freeman’s character: Episode after episode, you will see Freeman patiently peering under a magnifying glass with his wood working tools creating some little toy while waiting for the bad guys to make a call and activate the ‘wire tap’.

It was boring work. But it was critical to make the case.

His other colleagues were often out on the street, cracking heads and making arrests. Freeman was assigned to the tedious grunt work.

Freeman also spent a lot of time searching for patterns in loosely organized pieces of crime reports, maps, the banking statements of criminals, suspect photos and property development information.

In several episodes you would see him sitting there, silently, looking at the collage on the wall. He’d sit there, hour after hour, day after day waiting for the pattern to emerge. This method Freeman’s colleagues to no end: they wanted immediate results.

However after time, patterns would emerge. The gangsters operated more sophisticatedly than the police gave them credit for. Their techniques more thought out than police suspected. And unsuspecting accomplices were keeping their exploits hidden.

In our offices, we also like to look at a lot of seemingly random data, stats and stories. We, like Freeman, often post them on a board or wall or into a GChat. Often it is a bunch of random stuff about the nonprofit sector. Sometimes it’s simply “Hey have you seen this?”. In doing so, we see a few patterns emerge. We’ll be blogging about a few of these patterns in the next few weeks, but the one that is most promising is the open-data/open-architecture movement.

We think there is massive opportunities in our space. We’re also happy to see more buzz around Social Enterprise and will be connecting the docs on seemingly random stories that relate to both areas.

Feel free to share your observations with us; collecting information from all sources is the best way to solve a case.

The best way to figure out if your audience is listening is to ask them, and give them choice. I thought I’d run a mini “A-B” experiment and see which of our Civic Footprint Tweets were the most effective. Since we have the Edmonton Timeraiser quickly approaching (11 days!) measuring #yeg Timeraiser content seems fitting.  The results are interesting.

• Tweet A: A tweet about inspiration and opportunities for volunteering received 22 clicks and was “retweeted” by 4 different users: Looking for a reason to be inspired? Seeking Volunteer Opportunities? October 17th is the 1st Edmonton Timeraiser. http://bit.ly/x453M. September 30th at 2:11pm.

• Tweet B: Comparatively, a tweet the next day about bidding time towards art received virtually the same number of clicks, but no one felt compelled to pass the message along to their users. Match your skills with volunteeragencies who need them. Bid time on art. We’re coming to #yeg for the 1st Ed. Timeraiser http://bit.ly/x453M. Oct 1st 1:59pm

• Tweet C: As a final test, I sent out a rather provocative message at 11am on a Tuesday morning (supposedly the best time to capture readers) to see if it would change the number of click throughs to our Timeraiser page. It received 7 clicks and no retweets. Hey #yeg! What are you doing on October 17th that is more interesting than the Edmonton Timeraiser? http://bit.ly/x453M. October 6th at 11am

When it comes to engaging with our audience, messages of inspiration and volunteerism are most likely to attract action (click and forwards).

Why this is important

As an NGO, dedicating resources to Facebook posts, Tweets, LinkedIn Updates and blog posts can be a daunting task. There are many free resources for monitoring the “buzz” around your brand and for seeing where your visitors are coming from (and how often they click your links).  Seeing what happens to your content, and knowing whether or not your efforts are worth the resources is valuable in building effective strategies for social media. Being flexible and prepared to change direction become key elements for being involved in a shifting environment like social media.

How do you measure success?

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Side notes on the A-B experiment: Time of day is likely a contributing factor to how often our links our clicked. While the first two tweets were sent at roughly the same time of day (on two different days) the third tweet was sent at an earlier time of day.  Since the West Coast will be just starting their work day at 11am EST, it would be a contributing factor to how much interest a tweet gains.

As the article describes, products like the Flip Camera have “stunned the industry”, offering “cheap, fast and simple tools” that are extremely popular. The article points to several examples of customers moving towards easy-to-use tools that offer most (if not the majority) of the functionailty we need at a price that cannot be ignored (as is the case of cloud computing, where many software tools are free).

Capps outlines three elements that participants of the “Good Enough Revolution” are focused on; ease of use, continuous availability, and low price. As he explains, “Thanks to the speed and connectivity of the digital age, we’ve stopped fussing over pixel counts, sample rates, and feature lists”. These elements resonate with what we’re building as a non-profit organization, and our goals to be an open-source organization (where our volunteers, staff, stakeholders and fans can participate and collaborate).

As tech tools continue to become the method for which we produce great work (instead of becoming the work itself), do we need flashy options and endless capabilities (and lengthy training courses?) or do we need software that allows us to create, produce and remix awesome work without huge start-up times (and costs). I vote for the latter. As Shel Holtz has said in regards to social media, “It’s not about the tool, it’s about the conversation”.

In evaluating new technical tools for our organization, I am faced with questions like “will our users pick up and start using the tool without much training? Is it accessible and in the cloud? Is it collaborative? I look for tools that can complete the task (ideally quicker and easier than desktop software), that don’t demand a huge learning curve, and at times, ones that have a “cool factor”.

Maybe more importantly, the Good Enough Revolution is successful because it allows organizations to get started in using the tools now, and then adapt and grow in the future.  Picking up the “Good Enough” tools and running without a strategy isn’t the reason why they are so popular.  In fact, using too many tools without a plan is a surefire way to confusion, disorganization and duplicated processes.  Instead, organizations should look to “Good Enough” tools as a way to excute strategies and projects without commitments to expensive software, training and extended planning.  Get going, experiment and adapt.

It’s interesting that Capps writes, “As more and more industries move their business online, they too will find success in Good Enough tools that focus on maximizing accessibility. It’s a reflection of our new value system. We’ve changed.”  At Framework, it is clear that our values lie with accessibility and open-source.  What do you think about the Good Enough Revolution? Are there some features that the “quick and easy” tools can’t provide for you?

Armed with my laptop, a travel mug, cheques for 2009 Vancouver artists, my BlackBerry, a headset and my daily notebook I made the move from Toronto to Vancouver on August 1st. With this ‘office’ I can: access every file I need that relates to planning, administering and reporting on a Timeraiser, get coffee to go without using paper, pay the 25 amazing 2009 Vancouver artists, access the internet anywhere (with my USB I can tether the internet to my laptop, too!, use Skype to talk to my lovely colleagues for free, and track ‘to do’ lists; the minute I land, I’m ready to go.  I don’t miss a beat and I don’t have to use vacation days to organize my office (Since I’m on the west coast, there are many other things to do on a vacation!).

If you read our other blog posts, or peruse our various Google Sites, you’ll probably notice that one of the things we strive for is to be as transparent as possible and provide uninterrupted access to our planning, administration and reporting tools.  You’ll also notice that we are big supporters of cloud computing and leveraging our technology platforms so that we can be efficient, agile and most importantly during these times, resilient.  So even with this big move we’re feeling strong and stable because we’ve been investing time into completing exercises that reaffirm our use of these tools as well ensure we are living the values we are promoting. 

One of the original purposes of these exercises was to ensure, for example, that our volunteers on the other side of the country could always have the up-to-date documents they need to support one of our programs.  As it turns out, this has benefited me now that I have moved offices – I have instant access to every document I need without having had to backup the hard drive of my desktop computer in Toronto.  I also have access to documents created by volunteers and colleagues without worrying about who in our office had the most recent version.

At its core these exercises or “organizational pilates” help us remain thoughtful about how we plan, administer and report on our programs.  We’ve deliberated the how’s and why’s related to the various technologies we’ve chosen to leverage in a more “slow food” approach as opposed to a “fast food” approach. 

A Fast Food approach is transactional.  Think “super size me” and the “I want it now” idea where the focus is satisfying short term cravings that ultimately jeopardize long term health of individuals and environments.  In Fast Food you never know what all the ingredients are, let alone where they came from.  A Slow Food approach is fundamentally different; it is deliberate and focused on awareness so that less is more.  Encouraging consumers to know where their food comes from, Slow Food encourages the use of fewer, quality, seasonally appropriate ingredients which is healthier for people, environments and culture.  

Using this analogy, rather than being reactive and focusing on short terms goals that may ultimately jeopardize our organizational core (fast food approach), we have been thoughtful, strategic and deliberate in organizing our operations (slow food approach). 

This Slow Food approach is the bottom line of why a big change like moving across the country hasn’t disrupted our operations.  The ease of this transition shows that the time we invested early on in creating our cloud infrastructure has been well worth it.

If you haven’t yet – check out our Facebook Fan pages and become a fan! While you’re at it, follow us on Twitter.

It wasn’t an instant process to get here. We knew that building a social media presence would mean more than setting up a profile and letting it sit. We also knew that building the tools without a goal and purpose would be a waste of resources. Our participation in social media has started with a strategy and some great conversations on what we want to do with these tools.

The challenge we faced was reaching out to and engaging multiple stakeholders in the social media tools they are using. We knew to be successful, we must be where they are online.

Otherwise, how do you capture attention and build a conversation knowing the interests of your audience varies greatly? Some people (still) love email. Others live in Facebook. Lots have flocked to Twitter. Others surf on Youtube all day.

So how do you ensure that each of the profiles update regularly with engaging content and link back to our other sites?  Without a well thought out strategy, the mere thought of maintaining a meaningful presence is exhausting. But as you’ll see from the diagram below, we sat back for a moment to visualize where people are and what tools they are using.

At the end of this exercise, we’ve determined that Facebook will serve as our “hub” which connects to, and grabs content from, our other tools.

Our blog updates to our Timeraiser and Civic Footprint Facebook pages, users can view our Tweets and LinkedIn group through Facebook and the blog, and watch our Youtube videos right in Facebook.  It’s all connected.

Now that we know how each of the tools fit together, it’s time to begin building valuable content.  Once we’ve established ourselves in these tools, we’ll begin to measure their success.

We have written detailed strategies for each social media tool; we’d love for you to check them out and let us know your thoughts.  You can find our detailed strategies in our Technology and Operations Portal. In the coming weeks we’ll be blogging about some of our specific strategies with each tool – stay tuned for a Twitter posting schedule, coming soon.

What does your Social Media Strategy look like?  What are your thoughts on our approach?  Drop us a line and let us know what you think.