If you use it, EVERYONE must, right?
10:08, 9 July 2009
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If you are reading this blog, then there is probably a tech tool you LOVE and feel you could never live without. You use that tech tool several times a day. It seems to you that all your colleagues and friends use it as well, and that means everyone is using it.Maybe it's texting on your cell phone. Maybe it's FaceBook. Or Twitter. Or YahooGroups. Maybe its RSS. Or your Blackberry. Or Skype.
Whatever it is, if you work at a nonprofit organization or government agency -- and, therefore, your work is focused on a mission, rather than profit -- it's imperative that you remember this:
Just because YOU love that tech tool and, perhaps, most of your colleagues and friends love it and it's how all of you stay connected, it does NOT mean everyone is doing it, or will ever use that tech tool.
Believe it or not, not everyone reads email every day or has a cell phone. Believe it or not, there are people who still don't have FaceBook accounts, and never will. And don't assume I'm only talking about people from a particular age group!
It's like the ancient discussions from millions of years ago (actually just 15 or 20) about how some people love talking on the phone and some people prefer a face-to-face meeting. People are unique, and each has different ways they like to communicate -- both to send information and to receive it. This is how it has always been, and this is how it will always be. You can never assume that your favorite way of staying in-touch and connecting with others -- with or without tech -- is also everyone else's.
If you think there is just one way to communicate with all current and potential volunteers, supporters, clients, colleagues, members, etc., then I challenge you to step our of your comfort zone: talk to people, face-to-face, that you don't usually talk to. That could be your neighbors, distant family members, staff in departments at your large company that you don't work with, staff from organizations down the hall or next door to you, members of your community of faith, people at a sporting event you are attending, and so on. Talk to a diversity of people: different ages, different economic situations, different workplaces, different ethnicities, different whatever. Find out how they get their information for work, for what to do on the weekend, for breaking news, whatever.
What you discover will help you become a better communicator for your nonprofit, government agency, or other mission-based organization. And it will open your eyes to the myriad of ways people seek information and interact with each other.
Believing the hype of some of my colleagues, I thought no one read email newsletters any more. So I tried to get rid of my own email newsletter, Tech4Impact. The response was swift and adamant. And, because I listen to my customers, the newsletter continues, and subscriber numbers have held steady.
On a related note: what's my favorite tech tool? I still love email most, followed a close second by online communities, particularly those at YahooGroups. My Google Calendar, which I've configured to send me text reminders via my cell phone at certain points before appointments, comes in third.
