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10 Ways To Get Tech Buy-In
Getting buy-in for a great idea from everyone in your organization – constituents, board, even staff – is sometimes like trying to feed broccoli to a three-year-old. You know it’s good for them. But they are too stubborn to try it, and by the time you finally convince them to go for it – it’s cold.
It’s time to change tactics so that your ideas don’t get trashed, according to Ann Crowley, membership director, and Dane Grams, online strategy director, for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), at the recent Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation’s Leadership Summit. Open up, and devour these tips:
- Make time. If you have a pet project, make sure you have enough time to do it – because no one else will want to be responsible for your idea.
- Sell your idea. You know why your idea is great but now you have to convince everyone else it’s dandy too. Try for your own elevator pitch.
- Build a consensus. “Divide and conquer” should not be your motto here. Work on bringing everyone to the table so that you get full support from your organization.
- Utilize outsiders. People who are excited about your mission will want to help – so let them. HRC tries to send staff to help at fundraisers done in their name by groups that feel passionate about the organization’s work.
- Arm yourself with facts and figures. Nothing solidifies an idea like numbers and evidence. Your board and staff will have questions about your idea, so you better have answers. And who doesn’t like a nice pie chart now and then?
- Start small. Don’t jump head first into a capital campaign – you will just get hurt. When you take smaller steps, you can learn from your mistakes and implement better practices. That will help build your argument for the next, hopefully larger, project.
- Offer options. Think of a few different avenues for your idea so that if one aspect is rejected, you will have something to fall back on. This gives you added control over the situation and proves that you can be flexible to your organization’s needs.
- Choose face-to-face communication. Building relationships is central to nonprofit work. It might be easier to shoot off an email – but reading text feels static compared to talking to someone across from you.
- What’s the cost/return? Using the hottest technology may not work for your organization – no matter how cool the tools are. Investigate the return on investment for the short term and long term to build your case.
- Persistence. “Don’t give up,” said Grams. “Sometimes it takes people a lot more than one time to get an idea across.”
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This article is from NPT TechnoBuzz, a publication of The NonProfit Times.
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