How cross-functional project teams accelerate a nonprofit's campaign planning

If your organization wants to ensure that any campaign or project will succeed, you must prioritize the internal process before anything goes out externally.

Thinking back to how I approached things ten years ago to today, I have shifted my thinking on what this process looks like. It would often be an entirely top-down approach where the vision or assets would simply be handed down. I remember taking this approach to the redesign of a nonprofit website that I was overseeing.

I thought I was getting buy-in by cc'ing other people, but many decisions were done unilaterally, especially regarding the rollout of the parts that intersected with the CRM.

Today, I'm going about projects differently and wanted to share a bit about how I've approached the buy-in process. With the caveat that I'm still very much figuring this out and in progress, here's what I've discovered in working.

Start With Why

When beginning a major campaign or project, such as a rebrand or website redesign, the first action you'll need to start with is the core why around the work that the organization is focused on.

This isn't simply reading the mission statement at the beginning of a meeting. This is about ensuring that every decision is infused with that core why. The most famous approach is Simon Sinek's book Start With Why.

Practically speaking, if a nonprofit kicks off a website project, then they'd begin with the following questions:

• Why do we need a website redesign?
• Why will this benefit our audience?
• Why will this benefit our employees?

Don't start with What or How but first Why on the project.

Cross-Functional Buy-In

The next part is tricky but can be navigated with patience: approaching projects by intentionally designing a cross-functional team.

This approach differs from the traditional top-down approach or the bottom-up approach by layering in different perspectives from your organization. So instead of the marketing team "owning" the website project with unclear asks from other departments like fundraising, this approach makes people part of the process in very specific ways.

Putting this group together itself takes time, and it needs to be clear where they are plugging in their expertise and thoughts. I established a Brand Champions Committee for our brand process for cross-functional insights, but I still need to tap that power fully.

That's why it is important not to assume that any management style will work for every situation. Here's how I plan on utilizing the three different styles at various stages in our process:

• Top-Down: senior leadership needs to sign off on the core WHY of the project, since questions around ongoing support can crop up if it isn't clear this is a strategic priority. Being able to say "our board has reviewed and has empowered us to move forward as a strategic focus" is a powerful starting and ending point to a project
• Bottom-Up: community-driven initiatives need the chaotic flow that is a bottom-up management style that derives its power from participation. Sometimes things like Slack or surveys or group sessions may get out of hand on the focus on the project, especially if folks are not part of the planning committee and not fully up to speed on all the decisions. Pointing back to the core WHY is critical here, but hyper-specific tasks that add meaningful value are great for this
• Cross-Functional: consensus decision-making is essential when working with a cross-functional team and this is something I know I can be better at with our own Brand Champions but once folks are comfortable with the process, the goals, and the asks you are making then taking the time for longer discussions to get the team's collective buy-in is where the real magic can happen

So practically speaking, here's what this looks like:

1. The core idea of the campaign or project is settled on, and a case for support begins to be built internally
2. This case of support for strategic prioritization is built using insights from the communities the nonprofit serves, not simply relying on the "gut feeling" of leadership
3. The case of support is presented to the executive leadership (such as the board of directors) for review and feedback, with a general YES or NO settled upon for the initial movement forward
4. A cross-functional team is then gathered to ensure that different parts of the operational teams are included. These folks will understand that unless their job is to carry out the build-out of the campaign or project (e.g. a web design employee) that they will be providing advisory insights vs. decision-making authority
5. The team leader continues to solicit executive feedback and approval at important milestones and then focuses their efforts on participatory or cross-functional data gathering. I'll unpack this part in its own newsletter in a few months, honestly since its been the most interesting!
6. Depending on the project, various meetings or updates may be needed to tie these strands together. There should also be a specific time frame that work is being completed within. Yet another thing I can't wait to unpack in a newsletter!

Want More? Hear Me Next Week!

This is still very iterative and has a bit of "making this up as I go" feel to it but has been a wonderful learning process. I'm going to share the practical applications of accelerating your generosity experience through technology next week at the Community Boost Nonprofit Marketing Summit. RSVP for free here!