This workshop was the second in a series of three workshops with the Concern UK Extended Digital Team, which sought to co-design the digital strategy for the team.
This workshop sought to define how the individuals who will be part of the Extended Digital Team can form a “team” and define what their joint vision is.
Participants
- Ciarnan Moore
- Hoho Lam
- Lucy Bloxham
- Mark Nambale Mukasa
- Cliodhna Donnelly
- Lionel Riviere
- Lucy Noakes
- Vicky Ingram
Defining the team and its scope
In the first exercise, participants discussed good and bad teams in breakout rooms.
Based on their input, a poll was conducted to gain insights into what made good and bad teams. This revealed that clarity of objectives, supportive communication, defined roles and responsibilities, and team collaboration were essential for building a good team.
On the other hand, micromanagement, unclear roles, lack of communication and innovation, overloaded workload, and egoistic behaviour were some characteristics of bad teams.
Presentation: what is an effective team
Nick started by a presentation outlining key academic and business thinking about what makes an effective team. He outlined the concept of workgroups and teams:
Working Group | Team | |
Leadership | Strong, Clearly focused leader | Shared leadership roles |
Accountability | Individual | Individual and mutual |
Purpose | The same as the broader organisation | Specific team purpose |
Outcome | Individual work products | Collective work products and services |
Meetings | Efficient | Problem solving |
Measurement | Indirect, by its influence on others | Direct, by assessment of its collective
work products |
Decision-making process | Discusses, decides and delegates | Discusses, decides and does real work
together |
He also outlined the processes of team formation – from storming to norming to performing. He then went on to discuss the importance of skill sets and complementary skills, highlighting different shapes of skills from "I" to "T" to “π” and "Comb" shaped people.
Scope of the team
Nick then led an exercise with participants, asking them to place hypothetical tasks in a matrix of whether they are decided by others or themselves and whether they are delivered alone or with others. The exercise was designed to help participants start thinking about the scope of work they will collectively take on as a team.
In general, participants recognised the importance of agility and quick decision-making but agreed that many tasks required consultation and cooperation with other teams. Specific examples discussed were:
- An online supporter journey for a seasonal cash appeal – would require collaboration and expertise from multiple channels and teams.
- The creation of an influencer marketing campaign – could be done within the group's but needed engagement with others.
- Developing a new digital fundraising value proposition or a virtual gift promotion with a budget – would require collaboration with other teams or agencies.
Team purpose statements
To identify the purpose of the team, the team started with an exercise to define and vote for “the what, who, why and why?” of its impact. The following statements were generated and voted upon:
We can… | For / of / with… | So that they can… | And as a result... |
Develop digital strategies and tactics that attract and connect
(5 votes)
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Develop digital campaigns, content and channels
(2 votes)
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Develop opportunities for digital engagement and participation
(1 vote) | UK residents with an interest in international development / humanitarian topics
(8 votes)
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Concern UK's target audience segments
(7 votes)
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Concern's beneficiaries in the field
(2 votes)
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Concern UK's donors and volunteers
(1 vote) | Make their mark according to their goals and needs
(4 votes)
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Understand the issues of extreme poverty
(4 votes)
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Participate and act
(4 votes)
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Increase their personal impact
(2 votes)
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Feel empowered
(2 votes)
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Be part of a movement
(2 votes) | More people exit poverty
(5 votes)
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More people are supported by Concern to exit poverty
(3 votes)
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Concern UK is able to continue delivering its mission into the future
(1 vote)
|
The team were then invited to individually draft statements that capture the purpose of the team. These were subsequently voted upon.
- We create and deliver an innovative digital strategy that engages people with the work of Concern and empowers them to take action in supporting our mission to end poverty. (2 votes)
- We create opportuities for our current audience and others to engage with Concern and take action digitally, raising awareness, action and funds to help people ilft themselves out of extreme poverty. (1 vote)
- We create innovative, smart and nimble digital strategies & tactics that’ll help connect UK residents with people living in extreme poverty to help them exit poverty. (1 vote)
- We develop and deliver digital strategies to reduce extreme poverty which empowers us, our target audience and our beneficiaries. (1 vote)
- We campaign digitally to encourage people in the UK to join Concern's movement of ending extreme poverty (whatever it takes). (1 vote)
- Here at Concern, we develop effective digital campaigns, content and channels and target our audience segments to be part of a movement that ensure that vulnerable people exit poverty. (1 vote)
- We use digital channels to raise awareness, recruit and retain donors to empower people affected by poverty to improve thier livelihoods.(1 vote)
- We lead digital marketing at Concern, growing income, awareness and engagement by developing and delivering digital strategies and tactics to attract new supporters and increasing the value of existing supporters, to help more people exit poverty. (1 vote)
- We campaign digitally to inspire our UK target audience to help end extreme poverty.
A synthesised version of the most voted purpose could be:
Team vision statements
10 year “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” (BHAG)
As a first stage to building a team vision, the team were invited to draft a super ambitious BHAG and then vote on them.
- To 10x our digital supporter base and 100x their impact on extreme poverty (7 votes)
- To drive a 100-fold increase in donor engagement and contribution (4 votes)
- To boast the most effective digital engagement programme of any UK INGO (3 votes)
- To have 100% digitally active supporters (1 vote)
- To 10x Concern UK's digital fundraising income (1 vote)
- To be recognised as the most innovative digital team of all Concern's worldwide (1 vote)
- To be the most copied UK INGO in digital campaigns, journeys and propositions (1 vote)
Vision for 2026
Finally the team were invited to bring everything together in a vision statement for the team to take them through to 2026. These were subsequently voted upon.
- By 2026, we will deliver efficient, innovative and engaging digital marketing and fundraising comms, through our team's agility to adapt and harness changing data and marketing technologies (eg AI) to create powerful and highly relevant communications, which will result in a market-leading proportional increase in digital income and engagement. (7 votes)
- By 2026, we will have 10x our fundraising income (& associated goals) through a growth mindset & great teamwork which enables us to capitalise on technological and societal changes digitally and in turn, 100x our organisation's impact on extreme poverty. (5 votes)
- By 2026, we will have increased by 10x our digital supporter base by creating seamless experience between offline and online, delivering outstanding, authentic supporter journeys that use state of the art technology (AI, innovative use of data) to connect them with people they support to tackle hunger. We will adopt a laser-focused, data-led approach on the best channels and places where our existing and potential supporters live and breathe digitally. (4 votes)
- By 2026, we will have increased our digital supporter base (fundraisers, campaigners and experts) significantly and therefore have reached more people living in extreme poverty. We will have achieved this through more authentic storytelling, digital innovation and the ability to work together in an agile manner with clear roles and responsibilities. (4 votes)
- By 2026, we will increase our digital community 10x through an evolving mix of trusted and new digital technologies and platforms to meet the needs of our new diverse online following. Our digital strategy will enhance our growing portfolio of fundraising products and campaigns - increasing income and postioning us as sector leaders in digital campaigns, journeys and propositions. (4 votes)
- By 2026, we will have increased our income and digital supporter base x10 by using creative and authentic content strategies, digital innovation and marketing automation that saves time and effort to enable us to help more people living in extreme poverty. (2 votes)
- By 2026, we will have significantly improved our digital strategy, online engagement and implemented a number of innovate strategies to the point that we have increased our fundraising income 10x. (1 vote)
- By 2026, we will have 4X engagement rates on our digital platforms and 5X our digital supporters with the help of the new technologies and tools we are having. We will work in a more agile way and adapt to changes quickly.
- By 2026, we will have improved our digital supporter base with a stand-out reputation for trust delivered with an innovative digital strategy. This trust will help increase our supporter base and will bring them on our journey on ending extreme poverty and empower them to take action and to make a difference.
A final synthesised vision statement could be:
Our team will achieve this by working closely together in a smart, agile and growth-minded way: integrating the latest technologies to build our capacity and impact; leveraging data and experimenting to generate insights and ensure focus on our goals; and connecting with internal teams and external partners to seamlessly link in their channels, resources and expertise.
Team skills map (and gaps)
The meeting completed with an exercise to identify key skills the team brings. The results showed the team as having people with core skills in most relevant areas. The following are potentially less strong, however, as the team had no one defining these as core skills:
- Information and Knowledge Management: Developing, organising and managing structures, taxonomies, and databases of content.
- Social Media Advertising: Creating and optimising ads for various social media platforms to reach targeted audiences.
- Community Management: Building, growing, and managing online communities – in particular on social media platforms.
- Media and Influencer Management: Engaging with influencers, bloggers, and media for coverage.
- Social Listening, Reputation and Response Management: Monitoring online discussions, understanding sentiments, crafting appropriate responses.
- CRM and Data Management: Overseeing and maintaining customer relationship management platforms to handle customer data and interactions efficiently.
- Internal Communication: Facilitating effective communication to colleagues and team-members.
- Training and Development: Improving the effectiveness of an organisation through its employees.
- Inclusion and Feedback: Creating and maintaining an inclusive environment that respects and values diverse backgrounds and perspectives.
- Conflict Resolution: Mediating disputes and finding solutions that all parties can agree to.
Team values
The values exercise was only completed by four participants, but identified three values shared by at least two of the team:
Value | # of responses | |
Creativity | imagination, inventiveness | 2 |
Compassion | empathy, sympathy | 2 |
Growth | physical, intellectual and spiritual development | 2 |