BAodn’s mission is about supporting a community of organization development practitioners. As Director of Technology & Infrastructure for BAodn, I am focusing on how we can best use technology to forward that mission in two ways. One is making sure our board members and volunteers have access to tools & resources they need to communicate and get work done on behalf of the organization. Second is improving services we provide to members and to the OD community via technologies like our website, our membership directory, e-mail newsletters, the BAodn blog, and social media.
When Paul Konasewich, last year’s president, posted the description for the board position of technology director it said, “In many ways, running BAodn is like running a small company”. This is so true! As an all-volunteer organization, operating primarily in the virtual world, we face particular challenges with coordinating schedules, sharing knowledge, and getting the right information to the right people without inundating folks with e-mails. These are not just technical decisions about what tools to use, but cultural and style decisions that depend on who we are and how we like to get and transmit information. Add to that the fact that we want to maximize efficiency on a small budget. Luckily there is a wealth of choices for online collaboration out there, many of them free such as Google docs and groups.
We are not alone in grappling with these issues. I shared some e-mails recently with Liz Smith, programs coordinator of the Chesapeake Bay Organizational Development Network (CBODN). She was soliciting information from other OD networks about what business systems and collaboration software we all use (She will be sharing her results with us!). Again, one side of the equation is researching what the technologies can do. The second side is what works for us, considering who we are and what we need. What I hope to accomplish is to use technology wisely where it can help, but not change old tech for new just for the sake of modernizing. For some things a regular e-mail to a decision-making group is still the best way to coordinate!
Choices we make about our outward-facing technologies are not straight-forward either. It’s easy enough to say, for example, we should have a Twitter account, or that we should add certain bells and whistles to the website. Sounds great! But what does that mean for implementation? Our current board president Chanterria McGilbra suggested a framework which we used for discussing the launch of the BAodn blog. She asked Alyea Sandovar (blog editor) to present an outline of what needs to happen to get it going, and what we need to do to keep it going. In other words, we want relevance, but we also want sustainability. My approach therefore is to look at efforts around technology in a comprehensive way. I presented five components of my strategy at our board retreat in July and I’ll share them here:
Support the BAodn mission and overall strategic initiatives. This is key, because we want to be developing resources that are relevant to our members and/or to sustaining the life of organization.
Leverage existing tools and resources. No need to reinvent the wheel if we can improve or tweak something we already know and make that better. This is also about being realistic about what our limits are, in budget and in volunteer time.
Balance technology choices with our organizational culture and preferences. This relates to what I said above about internal collaboration, to the degree that outward-facing tools are maintained by the same board and volunteers. Some people thrive around technology, while others may be uninterested or frustrated. We don’t want to introduce technologies that only a specialist can or would want to manage.
Use data. This comes from my training in both web development and OD. Rather than guessing at user needs, let’s look at statistics for some direction. Are there pages on the website that no one goes to? We can see that (with Google analytics) and make adjustments accordingly. Does membership go up when we send out newsletters to our public mailing list? We can use information like that to make decisions about our communication technologies.
Adopt best practices for technology and social media. Again, we are not alone in developing services for a membership-driven, professional association. What can we learn from other groups about creating and supporting online communities? Furthermore, what can we learn from for-profit companies and web experts about things like web usability and social media development?
This is an exciting time to be involved with BAodn as we put our attention on what our members need and on how we can best support OD practitioners. If you would like to help with our technology or social media initiatives please feel free to contact me at technology@baodn.org or e-mail volunteer coordinator Katherine Kott at volunteering@baodn.org. We are currently looking for a webmaster and you can read about it on the BAodn website.
When Paul Konasewich, last year’s president, posted the description for the board position of technology director it said, “In many ways, running BAodn is like running a small company”. This is so true! As an all-volunteer organization, operating primarily in the virtual world, we face particular challenges with coordinating schedules, sharing knowledge, and getting the right information to the right people without inundating folks with e-mails. These are not just technical decisions about what tools to use, but cultural and style decisions that depend on who we are and how we like to get and transmit information. Add to that the fact that we want to maximize efficiency on a small budget. Luckily there is a wealth of choices for online collaboration out there, many of them free such as Google docs and groups.
We are not alone in grappling with these issues. I shared some e-mails recently with Liz Smith, programs coordinator of the Chesapeake Bay Organizational Development Network (CBODN). She was soliciting information from other OD networks about what business systems and collaboration software we all use (She will be sharing her results with us!). Again, one side of the equation is researching what the technologies can do. The second side is what works for us, considering who we are and what we need. What I hope to accomplish is to use technology wisely where it can help, but not change old tech for new just for the sake of modernizing. For some things a regular e-mail to a decision-making group is still the best way to coordinate!
Choices we make about our outward-facing technologies are not straight-forward either. It’s easy enough to say, for example, we should have a Twitter account, or that we should add certain bells and whistles to the website. Sounds great! But what does that mean for implementation? Our current board president Chanterria McGilbra suggested a framework which we used for discussing the launch of the BAodn blog. She asked Alyea Sandovar (blog editor) to present an outline of what needs to happen to get it going, and what we need to do to keep it going. In other words, we want relevance, but we also want sustainability. My approach therefore is to look at efforts around technology in a comprehensive way. I presented five components of my strategy at our board retreat in July and I’ll share them here:
Support the BAodn mission and overall strategic initiatives. This is key, because we want to be developing resources that are relevant to our members and/or to sustaining the life of organization.
Leverage existing tools and resources. No need to reinvent the wheel if we can improve or tweak something we already know and make that better. This is also about being realistic about what our limits are, in budget and in volunteer time.
Balance technology choices with our organizational culture and preferences. This relates to what I said above about internal collaboration, to the degree that outward-facing tools are maintained by the same board and volunteers. Some people thrive around technology, while others may be uninterested or frustrated. We don’t want to introduce technologies that only a specialist can or would want to manage.
Use data. This comes from my training in both web development and OD. Rather than guessing at user needs, let’s look at statistics for some direction. Are there pages on the website that no one goes to? We can see that (with Google analytics) and make adjustments accordingly. Does membership go up when we send out newsletters to our public mailing list? We can use information like that to make decisions about our communication technologies.
Adopt best practices for technology and social media. Again, we are not alone in developing services for a membership-driven, professional association. What can we learn from other groups about creating and supporting online communities? Furthermore, what can we learn from for-profit companies and web experts about things like web usability and social media development?
This is an exciting time to be involved with BAodn as we put our attention on what our members need and on how we can best support OD practitioners. If you would like to help with our technology or social media initiatives please feel free to contact me at technology@baodn.org or e-mail volunteer coordinator Katherine Kott at volunteering@baodn.org. We are currently looking for a webmaster and you can read about it on the BAodn website.
Pam Davis is a futurist interested in helping organizations align goals, strategy, people, and technology for maximum success. Her diverse background spans education, community organizing, office administration, website programming & analytics, knowledge management, and social media technology. Pam is completing an MA in Organizational Psychology at Alliant International University’s Marshall Goldsmith School of Management. 
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Pam - great post. I think you bring amazing clarity to using technology in support our organization and network. Thank you for so clearly outlining your thinking here.
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