Which would be the smarter way to run a project:
- Leave all decisions-making power and creative control to a single person with a genius IQ, or
- Share decisions and idea-making among a team of interested people?
There may be some power-hungry geniuses who could effectively argue the first choice, but my money is on a shared responsibility. No matter how well I know something, I can’t honestly believe I’ll think of every angle, and that’s why it’s important to gather feedback.
Yet many organizations – very often nonprofits with limited staffs – will leave construction and maintenance of a website to a single person. What a mistake!
When we work through projects with clients, we encourage them to discuss ideas together before coming to us. They’re usually surprised at how much their ideas about the site differ. This is one of the key reasons why you should assemble a reliable tech team to guide your organization through the process. I believe this is doubly true if your nonprofit is a church or synagogue or otherwise serves a large community.
Why build a tech team?
- It helps solicit feedback from your audience/congregation in an organized way
- Helps draw out other’s talents to achieve organizational goals
- It works!
When creating your tech team, make sure you have all areas of your organization represented, and make sure you know who’s in charge. Everyone has to have a voice, but it’s imperative for successful projects to have one person who can give the nod on development, and then have one person who can give the nod on an ongoing basis.
Once you’ve got your prospects for a tech team, run this checklist by yourself:
- Does your tech team adequately represent everyone in your audience/congregation?
- Is there a single person in charge who’s good at leadership?
- Have you decided who’s in charge on an ongoing basis?
Now you’ve got your dream team, you can put them to work on discovering what should go into your site. Best place to start? A needs assessment.