Re-Assess the Mess

DAY 45

I'm now more than six weeks in to this new job. I thought I'd be farther along through "The First 100 Days" checklist than #11 -- Assess the Mess. Actually, I have gone further than this several times but I keep circling back to #11. Each time I think of a new initiative or one of the staff comes up with a great idea, it quickly loses steam because we realize that actually carrying out the new idea is probably unfeasible.

Why is it so hard to do something new here? Because the communications situation is a mess. I can't find images when I need them. I can't revise flyers or design ads. I can't organize info packs. It is all a mess. What I'm realizing is that I shouldn't have skipped item #12 -- Deal With The Mess.


I skipped it for two reasons. First, I wanted to jump into revising and producing actual things, mostly so the directors and the staff would now that I'm worth something, that I can do this job, that I'm a good part of the team. Second, I figured the organization had been limping along with this jerry-rigged communications "system" (basically an electronic version of dozens of semi-labeled cardboard boxes in a back room) for years -- overhauling this system would take significant energy and time so let's put it off until I find my footing in this new world.

Well, the time has come to Deal With The Mess. There's no getting around the need for a functional system to find files, images, text, products, etc. There's no getting around the need for basic info materials. There's no going anywhere near the world of Web 2.0 when our communications department is operating on Planet 0.5. (I say "0.5" to emphasize that from a communications perspective, our organization is not even at a level of legitimacy. Certainly they are known and well-regarded for their actual work. But they barely crack the level of ramshackle in their public profile.)

You can see from the image that I've done some brainstorming about how to attack this mess. I figured coming into this job that my first strategic plan would be all about how we are going to change the way people think about our core issues (social equity, affordable housing, community re-development) and all about the innovative ways to use Web 2.0 to build support and understanding. Instead my first strategic plan is about plumbing -- how to get the water flowing, the electricity hooked up, the phones turned on; how to raise four walls and put a roof over our heads; how to properly hang out our shingle in the competitive world of social betterment.

'Nuf said. Time to get to work.

Back To Basics

When I took this job, I didn't realize it would be so hard. I didn't realize that it would take so much work to get the organization up to speed on basic communications activities. I didn't realize there was so little happening on the communications front. I didn't realize that this organization was only ready to take baby steps into the 21st century and not leaps and bounds into Web 2.0.


Now I know. After six weeks on the job and two long discussions with staff over the past week, the picture is becoming clear to me... and it's not a pretty one. The organization does not have a record of attending relevant conferences, even locally based ones. They do not have a regular packet of information for potential funders. They do not have a clear path to relevant information on the web site. The web site itself is outdated, clunky, and irrelevant. A local organization has asked us to have a info table at a public event and we don't have any materials ready to pass out -- and the organization banner is all crinkled and folded, sitting in a dusty corner!


Now I know. When I interviewed for this job (and even in the first week or two) I talked about my ambitions to get us involved in social media -- blogging, Twitter, Facebook. It seemed like a natural direction for our work and our desire to mobilize people around our issue. But now I see we are not even at Web 1.0. We are not even at Communications 1.0. We are in the Stone Age.


I can see that before moving forward on any ambitious outreach, we have to build the infrastructure. This will take time and it means we will keep missing good opportunities for outreach (such as that public event I mentioned). This is especially frustrating because I sat in these discussions with staff and heard energy, enthusiasm, ideas, and excitement for telling our story to the public. Especially among the twenty-somethings on staff, there is an abundance of innovative ideas and get-up-and-go that I love to see -- but I don't know what to do with it. I hate to think that their energy will dissipate into frustration because they will have to wait so long for their cool ideas to occur. Most of their ideas will have to wait for the basic communications infrastructure to be built -- public mission statement and vision, program descriptions, program images, program graphics, promotional materials, basic web pages, etc. It may be quite awhile before we can do the "cool" things of blogging, v-casting, using Slideshare, building a network of supporters. It will take patience on my part and their part.


My task in the next week or two should be laying out a strategic plan for how this is going to happen. Show them how we can do their ideas (to keep their enthusiasm alive) by doing the basic building blocks first.


Is this a common situation for new communications director's to walk into? I came in with all these strategic and tactical ambitions, but they will all have to wait. I won't have a chance to flex my strategic or visionary muscles for a while because what this organization needs right now is simply a leg to stand on.


Comments? Thoughts? Advice? Commiserations?

Opening a Can of Worms

DAY 38

In my last post, I wrote that I'm not sure how to convince my managers about the need for a second go-round of rebranding. Since then, other events have intruded and I have made no progress on this conversation, though I think that will change later today.

This afternoon, I will present my reflections on the NTC to the whole staff, including the directors, in an informal conversation about the future of the organization's mission. I'll present the ideas I took away from the conference about the need to define ourselves clearly and connect in compelling ways with our audiences. And I will raise questions about what the staff thinks our mission is and how we should frame that mission to various audiences. I will ask them how they describe their work to their friends and family. I will ask them what they think is the most unique or important aspect of the work we do. I will raise the question of whether our programs are the most effective way to bring about the change we want to bring or should our mission/goal be more clearly stated than 'change the world for the better.'

If nothing else this conversation will get the staff thinking about these issues and alert the directors that I am approaching this work from square one -- I am questioning the assumptions behind the organization and asking for a rationale for choices that have been made. I may be opening a can of worms, but I believe that is what I am supposed to do if I am going to be any good at my job and make a valuable contribution to this organization.

Stay tuned for a report on the meeting!

How Do I Make The Case?

I’m at the NTC (Nonprofit Technology Conference) in San Francisco this week, soaking in all the knowledge, wisdom, and information I can.

I just finished a session from Dean Hollander (Fenton Communications) about strategically re-designing your web site. In the Q&A session, one person after another stood up and said, “At my organization, we need to change our web site but I’m not sure how to convince management to invest time in it…” or “How do I convince my boss not to put an essay on the home page?”

I raised this exact question in a session yesterday about branding and my qualms about asking my directors to re-open the branding process that they just completed (see my last post). It sounds like a lot of us in the nonprofit communications field are butting up against this issue – managing our management.

We know the value of communications and the web site and e-newsletters, et. al. but we’re struggling to find the words, tactics, language, tools that will make our bosses see the light. It seems so apparent what we should do to us, but we know that there will be push-back from above.

I’m not sure there are any general answers to these questions – only experience will help… and learning from others’ experiences.

To this end, I’ll write about my experience over the next weeks and months about convincing my organization to re-brand and re-design. If I crash and burn, at least you’ll all know what not to do!

A Dicey Branding Situation

Day 29

When I joined this organization nearly month ago, there was good news waiting for me… and bad news. The good news was that the executive committee had taken the big step of engaging in the redesign of the organization’s brand – a name change, a new logo, a new tagline, the whole works. They had lived with the same brand for years (maybe even decades! The history is unclear) and it was courageous of them to both recognize that they needed a change and start the process of change.

The bad news is that the result of their re-branding process was less than inspiring. In fact, it looked like more of the same – a vague name with a vague tagline and a forgettable logo. As I learned more about their process, it sounded like they had violated all the ground rules of re-defining your organization.

First, they had changed the organization’s name so that it better reflected what they thought they did. They didn’t seem to consider whether this new name would mean anything to their constituents and audiences, whether it would engage, spark, or intrigue people, or whether it would be a recognizable something that people would want to be part of.

Second, they didn’t seem to consider how this name change would differentiate themselves from their competition (other organizations that advocate for similar issues). In fact, when I asked one of the directors about their choice, she stated that they chose the name “because it will be more like what other organizations are doing.”(!)

Third, they didn’t plan the release of this new brand to coincide with any external or social event. Instead, they assumed that the name change itself would be enough of an event to get people excited. They didn’t seem to realize that people get excited about the issues we work on and the work we do, not about any organizational restructuring or internal redefinition. As has been said many times in the nonprofit marketing world, it’s not about you! It’s about what they think of you.

This is a sticky situation for me. They have invested a lot of time and energy (and money) on this rebranding process. But I believe they are making a big mistake and missing a huge opportunity. I’ve prodded one director a bit about how open they are to reconsidering the new name/brand now that I’ve joined the team and the answer was, “Not much.”

So how do I address this situation? How do I get them to see the opportunity they are missing? How do I get them to revisit the issue without denigrating the work they have already done?

I could let it lie and just go with it, but I feel it is my professional duty to pursue a better outcome to this process. Any suggestions?

Investing for the Long Term

First of all, sorry for the absence. I got taken down by a cold (probably from the stress of a new job) so I haven’t been able to get any thoughts in order lately for public consumption.


The big news to report over the last ten days is that the executive committee of my organization has done an impressive thing – they have put aside the immediate in favor of the strategic.

After three weeks on the job, both my directors and I observed that I was getting inundated with projects. Sending photos to publishers, preparing promotional packs, organizing contact lists. This was not what they hired me for. Certainly these things needed to get done and eventually they would be my responsibility. But this was not what they hired me for.

So we all sat down and returned to their vision for this position – someone who develops strategy for better advocacy, who understands the issues and the field, who can see the best directions to go in. Executing the strategy is part of the job, but it is not the most important part. My value to this organization lies in the big picture arena.

So the executive committee did a bold thing. They declared that my responsibility for the next 3-6 months was to learn. Not to produce or execute, but to learn. They passed the pressing and immediate communications tasks to other staff to do on a part-time basis and opened my calendar to any and all opportunities to read, network, attend seminars, review materials, explore ideas, and develop my understanding.

While the organization is pressed for help with daily communications tasks, they understand that dumping all that on my plate would just be a short-term solution to an immediate problem. Allowing me to embed myself in the field for a while will pay off in the long term with much richer, deeper communications strategies that will have more impact.

In this stressful climate, when our organization like many is counting its pennies every month and fearful of layoffs, it is impressive for this committee to make a long-term investment. I suspect that this is the kind of choice that has made this organization successful over the years. It makes me happy and proud to work here.

When Did I Become A Manager?

Here’s a list of things I did yesterday:

• Tracked down the email list that was being reviewed by John, a program manager, and had settled into the mountain of papers on his desk
• Talked to Oliver, the IT guy about upgrading our publishing software
• Talked to Jeannie, the staff member, who is producing the layout for a promotional packet
• Uncovered the list of possible funders that we should be in touch with and reviewed them for Alex, our development person
• Checked in with Canton, a staff member, about the promotional board for the front of the office
• Met with Jamie, a director, about re-writes for a presentation packet
• Searched for tools to use to re-organize our overflowing image collection (15,000+ !)
• Stared at the screen for ten minutes as my brain began to melt down

You will notice that nowhere on this list is the word, “wrote,” or, “produced,” or , “designed.” Somehow I spent my entire day tracking people down, tracking things down, and tracking the status of projects. At no point did I do any actual communications work.

I guess this shouldn’t be too surprising as part of being a director involves overseeing the whole program and making sure it keeps moving toward the goal. But I guess I envisioned at least some of my work involving the act of communicating – writing, designing, creating, producing.

The flood of projects, large and small, that pop up each day, that need to be done by tomorrow, by Friday, by next week, means that management is going to be a big part of my job. I will have to manage the flow of the projects. I will have to manage the people contributing to the projects. I will even have to manage getting my bosses to finish things for me.

Taking out time for writing, turning off my email to think about a design, finding a quiet conference room in which I can sketch out my thoughts – these things are going to be hard to do. I will have to consciously block out time for this work. I will have to intentionally set aside the more immediate, pressing concerns and focus on the creative task. I will have to make my need for this clear to me and clear to all the people putting things in my In-box that they needed yesterday.

This is a challenge I was not prepared for. I kind of like the idea of stretching myself in this direction, trying out the management hat, seeing if I can do it. But for both my professional success and personal satisfaction, I need to keep creative time as a conscious priority and not let it get swamped by the here-and-now.

Thoughts?

So, What Do You Do?

Thursday I went out to lunch with some people from a nonprofit development organization that we occasionally work with. It was a kind of meet and greet thing, just to get to know each other better and keep the working relationships going.

Since I was the new guy, one of our program directors introduced me around as the new communications director. Everyone nodded their head at that and we got down to ordering our lunch.

But when the food came, one of the development people turned to me and asked, “So, what do you do?”

“Well, I’m the Director of Communications for our organization,” I replied.

He looked at me quizzically.

“I do the communications and outreach for the organization,” I offered.

“Oh,” he said, “you mean like the web site?”

“Yes, but its more than that. I’m in charge of spreading the message about our work. I write descriptions of our projects and create graphics for flyers and such.”

“Oh,” he said as he turned back to his chicken curry.

I knew I had missed the mark. My description of my job carried none of the excitement I feel about the work. I wasn’t making sense to him. I wasn’t bridging the gap between people who do the programs and people who communicate about the programs. I wasn’t making him see the value of quality communications and how they are so critical to nonprofit work.

It wasn’t until later in the day that I was able to think of a better way to answer the question, “What do you do?” I realized that my communications work is not just about making tangible changes, like redesigning the web site, producing ‘leave-behind’ materials, or creating a regular newsletter. My role is not defined by these things that I make.


As the communications director, my job is to be the Storyteller in Chief for the organization. My job is to capture the stories that drive the organization’s work. I look beyond the technical aspects of the programs they run to the human emotions and qualities that make it all happen. I draw pictures of the challenges they face in this very personal work of changing their part of the world.


I also realized after that lunch that facing this question and sorting out my answer to it is a critical part of my work. If I cannot explain my value to someone in the nonprofit world, it’s unlikely that I’ll be able to sell the broader audience on the value of our organization. I definitely should take advantage of lunch meetings like these to practice my messaging!

Seven Days In

Let’s take a look at some of the tips and tasks that I’ve already run into in my first six days on the job.

#11 Assess the mess & #12 Deal with the mess
In the first few days, I toured the communications archives of the organization – the piles of leftover flyers and handouts, the folders full of media clips, the server storing hundreds of photos, documents, and various graphics. There was some semblance of organization to it all, but for the new guy coming in, it was a labyrinth to me. Apparently it had grown through accretion over the years. People knew where to find things for their particular needs (a flyer for my meeting, a photo for my PowerPoint), but there was no overall system.

To some extent, this mess feels paralyzing. All these documents, photos, clips, and materials have to be sorted out and organized (and culled!) before I can make any decisions about what materials to make next. But the mess (or messes) will take some serious man-hours to pull apart and re-sort. It feels like a difficult trade-off between going through these archives (looking backwards) and getting projects done today (moving forward). Anybody know a good intern?

#13 Take care of my boss’s pet peeves
My boss is a stickler about photos. All pictures of our work have to show the right angle, the best light, and the critical details. Editing must be done carefully and precisely. Fortunately, several staff clued me in to my boss’s focus on photos so I was well prepared when putting together a small magazine advertisement yesterday.

#15 Find out what your coworkers think your job is
This organization has had two marketing managers in the past but this is the first time they have had a full-blown communications director. While I’m sure that most have them were told that my job will be different from the past, a few people have fallen back into referring to my position as the marketing person” or “marketing director.” I’ve refrained from correcting them (because it would have sounded peevish) but in the near future I should do a brown-bag lunch and present the full gamut of my work. I’ll need my coworkers to support my efforts so they have to see the whole picture.

#18 Review the organization’s 12-month calendar
The calendar of events for this organization, like much of the organizational info, is walking around inside the heads of the directors and staff. So far, they only way I have found out what is going on is through informal conversations with staff at all levels. To keep on top of the calendar, it would be nice to create some system for centralizing this information. But the key players have been doing it this way for years, so I’ll have to work with them for a while.

Fingers in the Pie

One of the key tasks I was brought on to do for this organization is to lead an overhaul of their web site. The site needs a completely new architecture, navigation structure, and graphic theme, not to mention an infusion of updated content, images, video, and applications.

I definitely have my own ideas of how this needs to be done. I come with a vision for a more interactive, more story-centric web site that first engages audiences and then educates them. I also have a sense of how the process should work, especially since the responsibility for making the changes ultimately resides with me.

However, I am realizing very early on that even though I am leading this project, I am not the only authority on it. In fact, almost everyone in the organization seems to have an opinion about what the web site looks like, how it works, and what is on it. The executive director wants the home page to explain what the organization does in full. The program manager wants better graphics for her program descriptions. The receptionist thinks the contact page needs to be reworked. The IT guy is worried about changes to the file structure.

What is interesting about this is seeing how each and every person seems to take the web site personally. They see it not as a functional tool for communications but as a presentation of their identities, both individually and collectively. They feel that everyone in the organization has a voice in what the web presence looks like.

As this process moves forward, we will see whether this universal interest in the web site is a good thing or a bad thing. On the good side, their concerns reflect a strong connection and commitment to the organization. Everyone wants to make it work and help their mission be realized. On the bad side, however, their concerns could lead to fractured decision-making and an inability to move forward on the redesign. The project could be stalled along the shoals of minor disagreements and turf wars.


The key for me, as the communications director and the leader of this project, will be to find the balance between these two directions. I want to harness the organization-wide energy for change and engagement by keeping the process transparent and open to input. But I need to maintain a firm grip on the rudder and steer us through decision-making processes that get us to our shared goal of a new, improved web site. This will take a sensitivity to the politics of the organization and a willingness to make decisions that won’t be universally popular.

Who knew that changing the web site would become an exercise in political management?

First Day: Goals, Not Tasks

Swamped. Deluged. Inundated.

It wasn’t even lunchtime on my first day and I was already overwhelmed by the information coming at me. Re-learning how a PC works (I’m a Mac person), finding all the marketing archives, remembering a dozen names, and locating the coffee machine.

In this turbulent environment, it was very tempting to grab on to something concrete, to get my hands on some project that I could dive right into, to hang onto something that would keep me afloat for these first few days.

One of the directors showed me around the office, describing a handful of such opportunities: revising a poster template for clients, cataloguing media mentions, designing a Web-based map of their work, revising a graph of their impact on communities.

However, I had to remind myself that doing these tasks is not the real reason that I am here. As the communications director, I am here to formulate a strategy, articulate a vision, and set priorities. As interesting as it would be to dive right in to revising the web site, I need to focus on the “Why?” question first. My job is to strategize first, execute second.

Therefore, in these first few days and weeks (and beyond), I have to remember that the way to keep my head above water is to focus on where I’m going with this communications program, not grabbing on to the nearest life raft. My mantra: Goals, not tasks.

Will I Be Ready on Day One?

For months I have been preparing for this Monday – the day I walk into my new position as Director of Communications for a social change organization. The question going through my mind this weekend is:

What am I walking into?

I know I am ready for this opportunity. I have years of experience running an education outreach program. I spent years studying political advocacy for social change. Over the past year, I have immersed myself in the trends and tools of social media, nonprofit advocacy, and online communications.

Yet I am still nervous. Why?

Because on Monday I will no longer be thinking about what I want to do in this position – I will actually be doing it. And that requires taking the first step, making the first decision, choosing the first direction.

While interviewing for this position, I laid out an ambitious communications vision. I want to tell the essential story of the organization using the best available tools of the trade – relevant enewsletters, active social networking, a compelling web presence, engaging collateral. I want to weave text, images, video, and audio together to capture the attention that this organization deserves. I want to put a human face on the people who create high quality affordable housing and the people whose lives are changed because of this.

And I want to do all of this starting on Monday.

I have to trust that these grand ambitions will be realized only a step at a time and that it doesn’t matter exactly which direction I step first on Monday – it only matters that I take that step.

To focus my mind, I will concentrate on Kivi Leroux Miller’s first five recommendations in her e-book, “The First 100 Days in Your New Nonprofit Marketing Job.”

1. Make “get-to-know-you” appointments.
2. Review all of the plans you can find.
3. Read the last two years of newsletters.
4. Read the last two years of donor communications.
5. Learn the chain of command.

As much as anything, these tasks will get the ball rolling. I’ll let you know how it goes on Monday, the first day of my new career!

My First 100 Days

In less than a week, I start my new job as Director of Communications for a medium-sized nonprofit organization. My charge is use the organization's bully pulpit to change how this country thinks about affordable housing and raise the organization's visibility as a leader in creating sustainable communities.

This will be a big challenge for me -- a step up from running an education outreach program and studying the theories of political advocacy and social movements. My first weeks will feel like walking into a tidal wave of new information, new people, new projects, and new ideas.

Thank goodness I've got Kivi Leroux Miller's "The First 100 Days in Your New Nonprofit Marketing Job!" In this ebook, Miller lays out 100 critical tasks that marketing and communications directors should do in their first 100 days. As an exercise to keep my head from spinning off into space, I am using Miller's list as an anchor for my first three months on the job.

This blog will serve as my muse. What will my first day be like? How about my first week? What is the first crisis I will face? What is the first mistake I will make? Follow along to see the inside story of building an advocacy/ communications program as I try to get it off the ground through the first 100 days.

Note that names have been changed to retain privacy.