The human side of tech: mastering change management for nonprofits

When we think of technology change, most people often picture big, planned events like a CRM migration years in the making, or the decision to update your online fundraising or ticketing tools to provide more seamless payment experiences. But in reality, technology change is rarely a single event, and it often happens without the input, or even the knowledge of most users. Software tools today are constantly being updated, adding new features and functionality. As technology vendors release updated versions of their tools, they may stop supporting the use of older versions, or even require migration to a completely new platform.

Change management isn’t only important when you’re bringing in brand new technology. Technology changes outside of your control can have drastic impacts on your team’s productivity if you aren’t proactively managing the change.

When a tool you’ve relied on for years undergoes a major shift, it’s easy to feel a sense of “change fatigue.” However, if approached strategically, these moments of transition offer a rare opportunity to re-evaluate your workflows and ensure that your technology is actually serving your goals.

Whether you’ve recently made the choice to make a big technology switch, or you’re preparing for an inevitable change in your current tools, here are a few tips for effectively leading your team through technology transitions.

1. Take the opportunity to audit your workflows, not just tools

The classic “Grandma’s Ham” anecdote perfectly illustrates the cyclical relationship between our tools and our workflows. In the story, a woman starts to prepare a ham by cutting 1-2 inches off of each end. When an onlooker asks why she is sacrificing so much ham, she replies that this is the way her mother learned from her grandmother – a ham technique passed through the generations. When she next speaks with her grandmother, she asks about the reason for cutting off the ends of the ham and her grandmother offers a surprisingly simple explanation: “so the ham could fit in the baking pan.”

The way that we do things is often shaped by the limitations of the tools available to us. But as new “generations” of staff are trained in an organization’s standard processes, the “why” is sometimes lost, and the processes continue long after a bigger baking pan has been purchased (or new technology has been released).

When you’re preparing for a technology change, before diving into the technical specs of an updated or a new system, take a step back and audit how your team actually uses the current system. What is your ideal goal or workflow, and do your current processes align? A major update is the perfect “permission slip” to ask: “Is this workflow actually efficient, or is it just familiar?” If a technology update requires your team to relearn a process anyway, use that friction as a catalyst to streamline the process entirely.

To start a workflow audit process, engage your team in a brainstorming session to discuss your ideal workflows, regardless of whether or not they seem possible today. The ideal process you dream up is your goal – now you have a north star to guide you as you evaluate the capabilities of your new tool. You may not be able to do 100% of the things you’d like to, but this process will help you identify where there are opportunities to get closer to your idea and stop “cutting off the ends of the ham.”

2. Build a team of change captains

One of the biggest hurdles in change management is the feeling that a change is happening to a team rather than led by them. To combat this, identify “super-users” across different departments – not just your data team, but the fundraisers who are as comfortable in the database as they are in a donor meeting, and the membership managers who check multiple reports daily.

These people can make or break the success of a technology change, so involve them early in the process. When staff members feel that they have a seat at the table during a transition, they become advocates for the new system rather than critics. To engage these team members, consider:

• Asking them to lead process audits of their own departments
• Inviting them to group demos or trainings provided by your software vendor
• Deputizing them to share information and even lead smaller information and training sessions with their departments
• Keeping them updated regularly on the schedule and status of the planned change, so that no one is caught by surprise

3. Prioritize training and enablement

Technical shifts can often be triggers for significant anxiety, especially if staff is already overwhelmed or dealing with complex systems and expectations. Effective change management addresses these fears by providing ample, low-stakes training time.

First, ensure that communication is clear and that everyone is receiving the same message, so that no one in the organization feels out of the loop or behind the pace of their teammates. If you know a change is coming, let them know what to expect, when to expect it, and how you plan to support them, to ease apprehension.

Second, offer targeted training, focusing on the most important functions to each department or role, rather than overwhelming teams with training on every feature at once. Take different learning styles into account – some people may find reading a manual or watching a video helpful, but others will need hands-on practice in the system in order to feel confident.

Third, provide clear documentation that can be referenced after the initial training. Staff will not retain 100% of the information presented during training, so it is important to make sure that they know where to find help docs, standard operating procedures, and other documentation when they have questions.

Finally, don’t just focus on training the team on how to use the tool, make sure they each understand how the tool fits into your overall tech stack and processes. If the tool is integrated with other platforms, document where data lives and how often it is transferred between platforms so that everyone understands how to find what they need.

Change is inherently uncomfortable, but it is also the only way to avoid stagnation. Whether you are facing a mandatory migration or simply realizing that your current tools no longer meet your needs, remember that the goal of technology is to clear the path for your mission, not to stand in the way of it.

By prioritizing effective change management, you empower your team to move past the comfort of the familiar and toward the tools that will truly magnify your impact.

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