Difference between revisions of "CRM Tracking leadership development"

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'''Tracking leadership development'''
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Recap: We had a really robust conversation on constituent relationship management systems, which are used to track interactions between the organization and its base, which can be members/volunteers/donors, etc.
  
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'''Why we are here'''
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1. An effective database builds up a picture of your constituents, both on individual level and big picture. You’ll need to decide what data you want to collect, and note the variability of contact info for marginalized communities
  
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* Our failed attempts at tracking this were driven by funder ideas/wants that were not connected to what was important to the community. Engagement not leadership. Higher end was political actions, lower end were community events--membership event participation were not tracked as a whole story, every month for 12 months.
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2. It might be helpful to ask staff/Board/volunteers what changes you’re hoping to see/ accomplish (behavior, attitude, action).
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* Ladder/web/grid of engagement--want to know what practices people have used to ID where folks are at, where folks can be moved "up" or "sideways", what metrics people have used. Also HOW and actual mechanisms for tracking that are not linear/one-dimensional, like assigning points to signing a petition etc. Ladder, grid, web, etc.
 
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* Echo all this, esp tracking driven by fundable actions. We use Bloomerang (CRM) to track this. We track events that people attend and use the # of how many events they have attended to design our outreach, it's not working ok but could be a lot better. Also use RSPV forms. This is more engagement than leadership. Not tracked but think about it in a relational way--who knows who, what their interests are, what they want to do.
 
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* How do we systematize recording and analysis of this relational stuff?
 
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* New frontier in program to track leaders. Right now there is a form people fill out re their experiences with the leadership. Just a start. Lack of understanding of what leadership is doing? Mission is to empower students to use tech tools for social justice. Interested in the leadership of the program not the students bc that is taken care of in other ways
 
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* How do you grow in the work that you are doing? How do organizations transmit leadership to the communities they work with? 99Rootz talked about it yesterday. They are seeing high schoolers talk more about themselves and their work and that is sign of growth. More expansive ways of thinking about leadership. Finding your own voice. We also need that inside our organizations. Building confidence and participation. When we can transform our organizations, change hierarchies, when more voices are on the table regardless of the size org.
 
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* At my org we do a lot of tracking but it's not consistent. We do check ins with youth and have a form, have been able to ID different leadership skills they have and what they want to learn. Some are phone banking, some are mobilizing, some are public speaking. We go through the sheet of skills and show it to them and ask where they want to grow, check in emotionally and academically. Then we type it up and it gets lost in the digital world. How we publicize it to funders is through education rates, where they are going to higher ed and jobs. Wheere we have not done a good job is distinguishing leadership and organizing. Leader and front face and the work that organizers do. We are trying to develop long term community organizers. IN the parent component we don't do check ins, we track their leadership via attendance at events. Forms and spreadsheets. We don't follow up about what they learned. Parents don't age out of the program the way youth do, parents are long term. We need a different tool, more like what we do with the youth. There is no culmination like graduation with adult development, we need different metrics. FUnders want numbers. How do we develop parents to be community organizers and be the best community organizers ever. We also try to measure their comprehension of our campaigns. If they don't understand our work we need to get ourselves together. Where are we lacking in involving youth and parents in our larger work. Making sure we are prepping folks to talk about our work. HR is also underdeveloped so staff development is super disconnected. Review and reflection is imporant to continued growth!
 
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* Tracking adult development. Seen many orgs going courses for adults, diplomas for courses/certificates etc. Something you can count and that they can show for their efforts.
 
  
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'''General discussion'''
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3. Differentiate what data is important for your organization and what is important to funders; it is equally important to collect both.
  
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* How did your evaluation work?
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4. When switching CRM’s or tweaking your current system to work better for you, onboard new staff, establish clarity of process and expectations, and create a rudimentary guide showing how to accomplish top tasks.
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* Based off of professionalism, working in coalition, and my own goals. Supervisor did survey based on my performance. I would have liked it to include a self-evaluation as well. It was great to hear his feedback but it was a missed opportunity. Any time for employees to reflect on their goals/role/opportunities for growth is ideal. Share ideas with other staff.
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* Put professional development in workplans, budgets, staff meetings (for the latter, time to discuss opportunities with each other)
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* Using belts/badges/milestones that people reach. Makes people feel good to reach things.
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What Brings You to this Session?  
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* Using something like strengths-finder to ID and cultivate strengths/paths for leadership. This can also support matching people to work on stuff together.
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* Nancy (IDEPSCA):
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* Milestones for growth
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** Starting to use Powerbase; wants to talk about the shift of using a new CRM
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* Skills inventories that people fill out every 6th months, with where are you at with all these and where do you want to focus your growth? This can yield interesting longitudinal and individual data, can tell a story and also invite reflection for growth
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** Other issues: reporting back to funders, tracking data takes time and effort, big accomplishments over time get lost
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* Capacity for tracking is a real issue. Needs to be a conversation. Articulate the value of the data collection.
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** Jazmyn designed Powerbase for previous org, can help Nancy.
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* Having participants do their own entry via a form. THen you can do analysis/ID for outreach on the back end.
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* How to measure community outreach done by others/connections to people so that people's work on behalf of your org can be acknowledged
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* Shirley (API Equality LA)
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* Aspiration's hypothesis is 1) tech skills lead to leadership development in orgs and networks and 2) participatory methods and facilitation skills lead to leadership development. These can be applied to people at every level of an org, not just leadership. Having these skills makes you valuable to an org. Tech capacity building is the carrot for leadership development. Very tactical skills. Then people use these skills in ways that elevate them within the organization. Cultivate people recognizing their own power. We can measure this by growth of skills and within the org.
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** Looking to synthesize communications & donor tracking in 1 software
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* We ID people in our networks who have the "spark" around participatory methods/frameworks and try to work with them to learn from them and bring them closer, elevating them within the network so the whole network becomes more participatory.
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* One to one, within an org, within a network <--this is how we scale/talk to funders about scale. We only call it leadership development when we need to for a grant.
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* Tiffany (UC Santa Cruz)
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* Where is the space for conflict resolution/creative problem solving in this?
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** Nonprofit serves population of 1600 people and has a five-person Board.  
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  * Great Q! People often are bringing those skills already (part of the spark?) We can also tap into our networks about that. Connect with people who can train on that, we don't focus on it.
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** Wants to learn how to store personal contact info safely, alternatives to Google Contacts
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  * Managing group dynamics/conflict is also important to facilitation
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  * Could get better at managing vulnerability/supporting people's growth
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* Jazmyn
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* Challenge: How do you track leadership development when people move around organizationally? We WANT people to go other places!
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** Has a research/data background, currently bringing that knowledge to nonprofits in how to tell deeper stories and trends that data shows, has dealt with a lot of pushback from leadership not recognizing the value of data
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* Alumni tracking--retain relationships and have people report back to you
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* Case management as a model. But this is can be heavy systems burden.
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* Lisa
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* Are there sector-wide metrics we could track about how our ideas are taking root?
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** After Leadership Tracking seminar, the next logical step is to talk about how/where nonprofit data is stored
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* Story collection/story banking
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** What interests Lisa is the data model, or structure of the information you need to collect and how they’re related to each other
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* We all take what we have learned, the good and the bad, with us when we move on
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Discussion Topic 1: What would a database need or have in order to be effective?
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* What does it mean to be developing leadership in a freelance context/without an organization?
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* It tracks something about people over time that involves collection of information from them
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* There is an underrated social/relational element of leadership development
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* Ideally, it presents a holistic view of person/constituent, so staff/volunteers can look for themes and changes in individual growth, as well as a big-picture of the organization.
 +
** Example: - If someone comes to a membership meetings every month, that paints a really compelling story about their involvement.
 +
* Log every storytelling/relationship building activity (meetings, 1:1’s) – anything substantial.
 +
 
 +
Discussion Topic 2: What questions should we be asking to collect good data?
 +
* Start with staff/volunteers: what changes do you want to see, what are you hoping to accomplish? Is it a behavior, attitude, or action? (Then, figure out your data collection method. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck with generic info like attendance.)
 +
* A follow up question for staff might be: what ladder of development opportunities are you offering for members of your organization?
 +
* How difficult is it to get to our event? How motivated are you to attend our events? What is your impression of X?
 +
* A lot of qualitative data lives internally within staff, volunteers, etc. Therefore, think about how to frame better questions to get rich story of constituents/members.  
 +
* When intentionally collecting stories, ask “how does you current work relate to what you did with us X years ago?” Example: alumni tracking
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Discussion Topic 3: Data Analysis
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* You can do a word analysis and see which words/ themes are being most used.
 +
* When analyzing your data and impact, if you see that Person A and Person B have the same impact/result but have followed a widely different “ladder of engagement,” reassess your ladder. If skillset gained does not match up to activities to get there, evaluate program.
 +
* Capacity to do analysis is an ongoing issue. It has to be made a consistent priority. Clarity of process and expectations helps. Have the person you’re training use their notes to create a rudimentary process guide or top 5 tasks guide.  
 +
 
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Discussion Topic 4: What are the different CRM’s out there?
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* Saas can create mind maps but it needs the data behind it.
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* Atlas is a research tool.  
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* Bloomerang is a CRM
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* Powerbase does have a volunteer tracking tool, it can track phonebank shifts or hours tracking.  
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Discussion Topic 5: Qualitative vs. Quantitative Data
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* Most CRM’s don’t analyze your data for you, they only facilitate it so that you can perform your analysis.
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* Numbers don’t tell the full story to funders and the general public – stories do. Funders usually dictate how they want to see your data, but if we keep demanding stories over “hard numbers,” the world will eventually shift.  
 +
** Example: IDEPSCA has a group of 15 workers who have been involved and active for X years consistently; even though it is a “small” number, the years of involvement tell a bigger story based on lifestyles/how hard it is for them to be involved.  
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Discussion Topic 6: Making the switch to a new CRM
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* People often transition out of an organization before they get to document the important relational stuff, especially when working with marginalized communities.
 +
* With turnover, you can lose historical year-to-year information and/or have variable contact information, especially when working with marginalized communities.
 +
* Make it a priority to onboard staff/teach the important information to track.
 +
** Make sure your onboarding/database teaching is inclusive: a lot of people would rather watch a video than read a manual. To make your own video, record your computer screen doing database tasks while recording your voice.
 +
* When making the switch from paper to database, collect data/surveys on paper first, and then transfer data into the database at a convenient date, maybe via intern. Another option would be to use text recognition software exists.
 +
* Pinpoint what information is important for you and what funders want to know. Each are equally important.

Latest revision as of 17:24, 24 July 2019

Recap: We had a really robust conversation on constituent relationship management systems, which are used to track interactions between the organization and its base, which can be members/volunteers/donors, etc.

1. An effective database builds up a picture of your constituents, both on individual level and big picture. You’ll need to decide what data you want to collect, and note the variability of contact info for marginalized communities

2. It might be helpful to ask staff/Board/volunteers what changes you’re hoping to see/ accomplish (behavior, attitude, action).

3. Differentiate what data is important for your organization and what is important to funders; it is equally important to collect both.

4. When switching CRM’s or tweaking your current system to work better for you, onboard new staff, establish clarity of process and expectations, and create a rudimentary guide showing how to accomplish top tasks.


What Brings You to this Session?

  • Nancy (IDEPSCA):
    • Starting to use Powerbase; wants to talk about the shift of using a new CRM
    • Other issues: reporting back to funders, tracking data takes time and effort, big accomplishments over time get lost
    • Jazmyn designed Powerbase for previous org, can help Nancy.
  • Shirley (API Equality LA)
    • Looking to synthesize communications & donor tracking in 1 software
  • Tiffany (UC Santa Cruz)
    • Nonprofit serves population of 1600 people and has a five-person Board.
    • Wants to learn how to store personal contact info safely, alternatives to Google Contacts
  • Jazmyn
    • Has a research/data background, currently bringing that knowledge to nonprofits in how to tell deeper stories and trends that data shows, has dealt with a lot of pushback from leadership not recognizing the value of data
  • Lisa
    • After Leadership Tracking seminar, the next logical step is to talk about how/where nonprofit data is stored
    • What interests Lisa is the data model, or structure of the information you need to collect and how they’re related to each other

Discussion Topic 1: What would a database need or have in order to be effective?

  • It tracks something about people over time that involves collection of information from them
  • Ideally, it presents a holistic view of person/constituent, so staff/volunteers can look for themes and changes in individual growth, as well as a big-picture of the organization.
    • Example: - If someone comes to a membership meetings every month, that paints a really compelling story about their involvement.
  • Log every storytelling/relationship building activity (meetings, 1:1’s) – anything substantial.

Discussion Topic 2: What questions should we be asking to collect good data?

  • Start with staff/volunteers: what changes do you want to see, what are you hoping to accomplish? Is it a behavior, attitude, or action? (Then, figure out your data collection method. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck with generic info like attendance.)
  • A follow up question for staff might be: what ladder of development opportunities are you offering for members of your organization?
  • How difficult is it to get to our event? How motivated are you to attend our events? What is your impression of X?
  • A lot of qualitative data lives internally within staff, volunteers, etc. Therefore, think about how to frame better questions to get rich story of constituents/members.
  • When intentionally collecting stories, ask “how does you current work relate to what you did with us X years ago?” Example: alumni tracking

Discussion Topic 3: Data Analysis

  • You can do a word analysis and see which words/ themes are being most used.
  • When analyzing your data and impact, if you see that Person A and Person B have the same impact/result but have followed a widely different “ladder of engagement,” reassess your ladder. If skillset gained does not match up to activities to get there, evaluate program.
  • Capacity to do analysis is an ongoing issue. It has to be made a consistent priority. Clarity of process and expectations helps. Have the person you’re training use their notes to create a rudimentary process guide or top 5 tasks guide.

Discussion Topic 4: What are the different CRM’s out there?

  • Saas can create mind maps but it needs the data behind it.
  • Atlas is a research tool.
  • Bloomerang is a CRM
  • Powerbase does have a volunteer tracking tool, it can track phonebank shifts or hours tracking.

Discussion Topic 5: Qualitative vs. Quantitative Data

  • Most CRM’s don’t analyze your data for you, they only facilitate it so that you can perform your analysis.
  • Numbers don’t tell the full story to funders and the general public – stories do. Funders usually dictate how they want to see your data, but if we keep demanding stories over “hard numbers,” the world will eventually shift.
    • Example: IDEPSCA has a group of 15 workers who have been involved and active for X years consistently; even though it is a “small” number, the years of involvement tell a bigger story based on lifestyles/how hard it is for them to be involved.

Discussion Topic 6: Making the switch to a new CRM

  • People often transition out of an organization before they get to document the important relational stuff, especially when working with marginalized communities.
  • With turnover, you can lose historical year-to-year information and/or have variable contact information, especially when working with marginalized communities.
  • Make it a priority to onboard staff/teach the important information to track.
    • Make sure your onboarding/database teaching is inclusive: a lot of people would rather watch a video than read a manual. To make your own video, record your computer screen doing database tasks while recording your voice.
  • When making the switch from paper to database, collect data/surveys on paper first, and then transfer data into the database at a convenient date, maybe via intern. Another option would be to use text recognition software exists.
  • Pinpoint what information is important for you and what funders want to know. Each are equally important.
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