Organizational Intelligence and nonprofits (part 1)

While I was getting my MBA, I took this amazing class in organizational intelligence. Basically, organizational intelligence is a cultural shift from a single person hoarding all of his or her knowledge in an organization to recording the knowledge so others in the org. have access to it. Think about it--when someone leaves an organization, there is usually a giant gaping hole left in their wake. If an organization has a culture of intelligence sharing there will be a smoother transition between employees and between employees across the organization in real time. Less duplication of work, more collaboration between employees--sounds pretty amazing to me!

In a nonprofit organization, many employees wear "multiple hats" and have so many different roles that the organization must instill a culture of shared intelligence where the employee (or volunteer) is willing to share what they know or do for the organization's future.

Technology is the best answer to this problem--asking employees to do something as simple as asking employees to post key documents on Google Docs (or another open site) or to record key relationships in the CRM would help anyone involved in the organization to see exactly where things stand with constituents.