This is new territory for me but as I delve deeper into this area, I am coming to believe that SCRM will soon be a very sought after tool (and skill set) in the non profit sector. I believe this because like business organizations, non profits will need to become more efficient at raising money, delivering services, partnering, collaborating and strengthening their staff’s skills using social tech tools. The default organizing software for doing this well is and will increasingly be Social CRM.

Social CRM is about engaging your constituents, not managing them. A Customer Relationship Management software platform (CRM) is a standard tool for segmenting, tracking, monitoring and managing customers in the sales industry. With Social CRM you are able to integrate your social media strategy with the core communication and knowledge management functions of your organization.

As more and more people are conducting their business and personal lives online, companies and non profits are learning that pushing their content to them with the aid of their CRM is not good enough. They are learning the value of giving up control (which doesn’t really apply any more) and inviting people and groups into their operational and innovation theatre.

Watch Paul Greenberg (follow him on Twitter @pgreenbe), one of the early adopter who mapped out the CRM space gives a succinct overview of what’s happening in the Social CRM space. He points out the two converging forces ’social’ and ‘CRM’ spaces that are coming together, yet the third force, ‘companies’ themselves aren’t yet ready for the internal changes that are coming. I picked this video and post up at Jeremiah Owyang’s blog, one of my favourite mentors in the web strategy world.

I know the details of this map are not relevant to many readers but as I reflected on on these clusters I started to think of questions that could help our committee make sense of what’s going on.

If anything, I  think mapping is such a cool social media tool  that just compels you to start making sense of of data and asking relevant questions.

Here are my questions:

• Who these groups are, what are they doing and how successful are they in terms of supporting parent, family and community engagement strategies?

• What are their organization’s relationship to other organization in the same network?

• How the groups might possibly link within their network or external to their network in terms of alliances, partnerships or possibly merging,
• How do these informal networks and groups relate to what we know about emerging challenges in York Region?
• What are the gaps in those networks that could be filled by other groups etc.?
• Can these disparate groups inform the CEWG in its work of supporting parent, family and community engagement strategies?
• Given the fragmented aspects of the map, are there CEWG’s strategies that can be established to better support parent, family and community engagement strategies? Related to this question – what are the CEWG strategies?

I’m using the term social learning as I’ve just discovered an interesting discussion on this term at Bud the Teacher’s blog. It should be of interest to schools and community groups involved in student & civic engagement.

We also know that many of the changes brought about by the social media groundswell are influencing how practitioners are thinking about their future. More and more front line and management staff are thinking deeply about their long term career as opposed to clinging to the illusion  that their current job will last forever. I think this is a good thing.

I stumbled across this very interesting post from Luc Galoppin one of my favourite bloggers writing about consulting. Luc is writing a series of posts on the world of work, aptly titled “Love & Work. In this post which I inserted below, he cites the work of Jan Denys, a European Labour Market expert who has just released his book, Free to Work. Denys has composed a list of career anchor points are a simple but a very powerful way to identify and use your anchor points to drive your career. Career Anchors match the ‘who you are’ part with the ‘what you do’ part of your daily life.

In the below One-Minute-Interview Jan Denys explains what this means for every single employee who gets ‘trapped’ into the comfort zone of a stable job: Your comfort zone should be coloring red when you find yourself loosing the external focus and ignoring the long-term perspective of your career.

Nowadays, there is no such thing as a lifelong job in one and the same organization. However, in times of economic crisis we see people digging themselves even deeper into the security of their job: comply more, don’t speak up, play-safe-games and even increase the inward focus.
Anchoring Your Career

Denys promotes the career anchors of Edgar Schein to cope with the identity crisis that may occur once an individual stares into the abyss of the labor market: it never hurts to get a clear perspective on who you are and what you want.

Career Anchors match the ‘who you are’ part with the ‘what you do’ part of your daily life. The more these two resonate with each other, the better your chances of finding your way. If you know that most of the people tend to build their career on their very first job, knowing what really matters for you may be worth finding out, for it may not be where you started your career.

Schein distinguishes the following Career Anchors:

• Technical/Functional competence: You like being good at something and will work to become a guru or expert. You like to be challenged and then use your skill to meet the challenge, doing the job properly and better than almost anyone else.

• General Managerial competence: Unlike technical/functional people, you want to manage. You like problem-solving and dealing with other people. You thrive on responsibility. To be successful, you will also need emotional competence.

• Autonomy/Independence: You have a primary need to work under your own rules. You avoid standards and prefer to work alone.

• Security/Stability: You seek stability and continuity as a primary factor of your live. You avoid risks and you generally prefer a job for life.

• Entrepreneurial Creativity: You like to invent things, be creative and, most of all, to run your own businesses. You differ from those who seek autonomy in that you will share the workload. You find ownership very important.

• Service/Dedication to a cause: You are driven by how you can help other people more than using their talents.

• Pure Challenge: Driven by challenge, you seek constant stimulation and difficult problems that you can tackle. You will change jobs when the current one gets boring.

• Lifestyle: You look at your whole pattern of living. Flexibility and the integration of life and work is key.

Who Is Driving Your Career?

The one thing you should remember about your job is that job-security is an illusion. Instead, you should be working on a career-strategy; and the best way to start is to see which career anchor resonates best with who you are.

Are you spending your working time in the area of your anchor? Well, then you have nothing to be afraid of; no reason to play safe by ‘fitting into the job’.

Fitting in will no longer safeguard your employment. Instead, build your career-strategy on this anchor, so you can stand-out in your career.

If the organization doesn’t have an online strategy, then the data can be a persuasive argument for developing a strategy. After all, if your donors, supporters, service users, staff, past and future stakeholders are engaged in online activities doesn’t it make sense to be were your constituents are?

An even greater challenge to organizations without a social media strategy is the rising number of Canadians that first judge a non profits online presence when they are considering making a donation. If the organization is not presenting any compelling social media options that engage them in their cause, those potential donors will move on – very quickly.

A must see and experience site is Museum 2.0. Nina Simon is the blog author and she does such an excellent job of making museums accessible for those who just don’t get out to visit these wonderful resources.

With web 2.0, these buildings and their treasures are open to visitors 24/7 and you are invited to not only soak up the exhibits with your eyes but participate through the wonders of social media.

Another participatory Art & Media site is called ArtsBabble.  Be prepared to while away a few hours. This is what the site is about:

“1. free flowing conversation, about art, for anyone.
2. a place where everyone is invited to join an open, ongoing discussion – no art degree required.

The fledgling Multimedia Film Festival of York Region has a vision to be vehicle for enriching our community through the multimedia talents of our residents. The Film Festival Council (my partner and I created and provide support the web site) are envisioning a site  that will eventually have features like the ones used on Museum 2.0 and ArtsBabble.

The VoiceThread below gives a very good explanation of what web 2.0 means in terms of user participation. You can add your opinion and comments by  typing, audio recording or even video recording.

Related Posts:

PhotoVoice – Hidden in Plain Site

This short video illustrates some of Peter Block’s principles and what he means by using structure, language and invitation to engage people in dialogue about restoring their community. I think that his ideas have tremendous application for community building in York Region. Fragmentation, isolation and cynicism seem to be taking deeper hold in our community.

A community restoration approach can be challenging for organizations that are used to problem solving, collaboration and outcome based discussions. I especially like how Peter Block in his book Community, the Structure of Belonging talks about how community is really an ongoing conversation. I’ve included a brilliant overview of his model titled Civic Engagement and the Restoration of Community – changing the nature of the conversation.

Community Engagement – Restoration of Community

The full Social Technographics profile tool can be understood by reviewing the Groundswell presentation from Forester Research.

Click thumbnail to see larger image of the full ladder profiles for Canada.

Time for my disclaimer. I’m on the Board of the ACYR and an unabashed supporter for this wonderful organization serving our community, particularly people living with HIV/AIDS and those affected by HIV/AIDS.

The event was held at the beautifully renovated Aurora United Church. It was a magnificent evening of music and sharing. The musicians who made the Solstice CD were in attendance and performed songs from the CD. Also performing were children’s choirs from local schools and the Aurora United Church choir.

I felt very proud to be able to contribute to this evening of celebration and sharing. The ACYR extended their appreciation of support to all those that made the event such a success.

High on that list was the Aurora United Church for allowing them to be the first community group to utilize their beautiful (acoustically pristine) renovated church. Of course the musicians and all the local groups that work to make York Region a great place to live were given special thanks for participating in the Concert.

Last but not least were the community residents who bought tickets to the event, purchased the Solstice CD, and helped the fundraising goal by buying raffle tickets for a beautiful Yamaha guitar donated by a local business.

Marnie Sigmar and Precious Maseko, Directors on the ACYR Board hosted the event and did a great job of introducing the musicians and telling the ACYR story. Of course they had tremendous support from Agency staff and volunteers.

My partner and I video recorded the whole evening of music. We will be making a full DVD of the event for the Aids Committee of York Region. I will also upload some of the performances on my Youtube channel.

That said, let me share news about an exciting fundraising event sponsored by this wonderful organization. Their web site’s – About Us page has full descriptions of their programming and values.

Since 1993, the ACYR has been working to improve the quality of life in York Region by raising awareness through community education, and by providing support and access to dignified care for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. All services are free of charge, confidential and anonymous.

The AIDS Committee of York Region will launch their new CD Solstice, on Friday, November 13, at Aurora United Church with a Benefit Concert. Come listen to the great sounds of Soul Influence, Glenn Marais, Jamie Miller, Dani Strong, The Beautiful Groove and Joe Crone, all of whom have shared a song on Solstice.

The CD also includes the glorious voices and sounds of local choirs and school bands including the Aurora United Choir, Bogart Public School Choir, Pickering College Jazz Band, and Lisa Freemantle Catholic School Choir.

Come to experience an evening of music and celebrate a journey of sharing. Tickets are $20.00/seat.

To purchase tickets, contact:

Jacqui Locke

Coordinator of Events and Volunteer Programs

905-953-0248

volcoordacyr@bellnet.ca.