Communications people in traditional organizations are often naturally oriented to command and control communications models, message discipline. But that's not how it's going to work any more.
– Chris DeCardy, The Packard Foundation
Working with Web 2.0 technologies also takes a new alignment of resources. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is one of the foundations that has created and hired a full time staff member to manage online communities. To advertise the opening, Marc Fest, vice president of communications, created a simple and short video that showed him describing the position, giving a tour of Knight’s office and asking selective staff to answer the question “what do you like about working at Knight Foundation?” Knight posted the 3:08 minute video on YouTube, in an example of taking their message where the conversation was happening.
Foundations like Knight that have created new positions are recognizing the value of having an internal technology “evangelist” on staff, someone who can influence the organizational culture, acting as an advocate for new media and contextualizing it for other staff members who may not understand, much less appreciate, its potential. Fest said that Knight’s goal was to find someone who could help the foundation deepen “a culture that values outside influences” and ideas for change, the type of perspectives that can be found by tapping into new networks and new media. “Once you engage in the Web 2.0 route, you give up a certain level of control—and you run into staffing/resource issues. But it’s about having a vision for how these new technologies can benefit your mission. It requires seeing how creating this ‘outside-in’ information flow can make a positive difference in how you operate as a foundation.”
Dianne Price of Kellogg Foundation, who also has a recently created “new media manager” position, said she looked for someone who could bridge generations as well as multiple external and internal audiences. It wasn’t enough to just be a technology whiz.
Blogs and other interaction-intensive forums can require a full time staff person to help line up content and moderate the comments. According to Victor d’Allant of Social Edge, any organization considering a new blog should ask themselves: “Can we commit to it for the next six to twelve months? If you don’t have enough to say for that period of time, it’s probably not a blog, it’s something else. So don’t start.”
In addition to a commitment for the long haul, online communications happen at a completely different pace from traditional communications. Resources are needed to keep up with and respond to the 24/7, anytime/anywhere nature of online communication.
Some interviewees questioned whether the need is really for more staff, or differently aligned staff with greater clarity on priorities. Chris DeCardy, vice president and director of communications at The David and Lucile Packard Foundation noted that “the talent pool to tap may not be communications skills as much as organizing skills, or networking skills. Communications people in traditional organizations are often naturally oriented to command and control communication models, message discipline. But that’s not how it’s going to work any more.”
William Hanson, director
of communications and technology for the Skillman Foundation, wondered
if his foundation invested in a new media refresh of its Web site, would
they need to stop doing other things, like producing the usual array of
print publications? Are snail-mailed newsletters, for example, being eclipsed
by electronic bulletins? How much longer will foundations continue to
produce costly annual reports?
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Related Links The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation The David and Lucile Packard Foundation
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