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hello good morning I just wanted to welcome everybody today thank you for joining us we are going to be focusing on the nonprofit industry today how's everybody doing doing well Warren David good I'm glad me I got a haircut so I feel a lot better today I just wanted to first off for we start I just wanted to congratulate you guys for I guess you know navigating through this kovetz storm you know I know it's been a lot of of uncertainties and you know if you're still here it's it's a it's a good thing so I just wanted to congratulate you guys for being here today pretty much we're gonna focus on the experiences of nonprofits and things as they return back to to try to return to some sort of normalcy so you know talk about other kovat 19 storms change things and what we can kind of expect moving forward my name let me introduce myself so you know I am my name is David bran and I am a business development executive here at first call computer solutions and I will be your moderator today for those of you unfamiliar with first call we are a full resource technology company we specialize in managed IT services events cyber security services network design and implementation phone systems and we also help small businesses with websites we've been in the IT world for 23 years and we have a staff of over 40 IT professionals now I would like to meet our panel and for today's discussion oops sorry but Liz would you like to introduce yourself and speak a little bit about your experience in the industry yes I am Liz Moore I'm the executive director with Montana nonprofit Association we are membership organization founded on the belief that a strong nonprofit sector is essential to Montana's prosperity and future we need functional government and healthy business climate and a vibrant nonprofit community to make it all work in Montana so we have 700 members and I have been with M&A in leadership for nine years and we our team is a small but mighty group who right now is leading the way in terms of kovat response for nonprofits across the state and thanks for the opportunity to be here oh thank you um and sorry would you please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your background in the industry yes I'm Sheree bomber and I work at the National Forest Foundation my role is the director of administration so the National Forest Foundation role is to really engage Americans and also communities to promote the health of the national forests 193 million acres of national forests and our premier partner is the Forest Service but we are partners also with corporations foundations and individuals and my role here is in the human resources area working with our president with our board of directors risk management and obviously working with thanks for hey thank you for for being here and Connor would you like to introduce yourself in that role for Generation Montanan business owner of first call I really enjoy businesses nonprofits we work with lots of organizations across the state of Montana trying to align their mission and operations with IT and so from a kovat standpoint much like Liz I want to work with organizations to power through this and not just get back to normal but give back or get to better than ever so anything first call can do to help organizations out there you know we're passion about what we do and again want all those different entities as Liz mentioned to really come together and be stronger through this whole thing okay well thank you also for taking the time to be here I'll give us a quick agenda today we are going to speak about the workplace what has changed with social distancing you know a lot of things have changed so we're going to speak a little bit on that we'll talk about five keys and what that means in practice we'll also address what's coming in both the short and long term you know actions that organizations can take and then also Kohner at the end is going to talk a little bit about technology and how it's had a huge part kind of facilitating the change so before we get started I would like to have all three and Liz speak a little bit about the overall state of what you guys are seeing in the nonprofit industry cherie more specific with your with the National Forest Foundation kind of you know what challenges you guys are seeing and maybe what opportunities you're also seeing from from this go ahead and speak first list thank you well we've been meeting with nonprofit leaders really weekly since the middle of March and you know I can remember like March 12th we were building a website for covert response and you know the first thing we were sending out is like how to wash your hands and two days later we were sending things on how to work from home and then about three days after that it was all about the federal loans and then it was the state the state stuff and so you know we're seeing rapid change and now we're all and today we announced our reopening website and so we're it's it's very rapid change and Nan off it's out you know we've done quite a few surveys some have shut the doors and just waiting to reopen some needed to stay open food banks domestic violence shelters things like that or those that don't have a lot of you know like Montana nonprofit association we can do our work you know from home and so we while we moved out of our office we didn't stop work at all of course now as we look at reopening you know there are a lot of questions still a lot of questions about funding and money and he works in the state stuff and then a lot of questions about liability and risk management so I'm glad Sheree is on the line and then questions about just how to handle the tenacious uncertainty you know where that's just it is a fact that we I mean technically we always don't know the future we think we do and we plan as if we do but right now we have to plan knowing we don't know and that's a different skill and so and then of course somehow did hang a team together in a very digital environment so those are the things I would say where we're looking at and there is a lot of opportunity in that we can talk about that and a lot of new you know this is dot and experience anybody you know has gone gone through before and so it's also just a lot of new and I really like that fast and furious you know rat rapid change because that's certainly it seems all the industries that we've talked to it's just every couple days you know there's something new and significant well you know right now what we're seeing is a certain kind of lethargy we we framed it as the dog days of the pandemic it's like no we've all all said it's not a sprint it's a marathon but there's this point in the marathon which is like the marathon needs to be over already and it isn't and so how do you a how do you work with the ebb and flow of energy of being kind of exhilarated by new ideas and yet sluggish because it's just it can only handle so much so yeah and we'll talk about that as we talk about teamwork okay sorry you want to speak a little bit about what you're seeing over there at the Forest Foundation Oh going back to March obviously is when it hit and we were in the middle of hiring for new employees at that time and half of our employees already work remotely from home so they were well positioned but the other half of our employees were here in the Missoula office and so actually transitioning to telework it was a big deal to this half of our employees and the logistics that went along with that which I'm very thankful to first call for being very responsive to to help us you know set up laptops make sure everybody was able to work and add the appropriate software to work from home so that was one challenge and then those people who did work from home and are still working from home in fact in our Missoula office we have 20 positions three of us have come into the office and the three of us and I am one of them we feel like we were quarantine but at work and so you know and so the people that are working from home it was a transition and I think they are still transitioning and getting used to it because some of them had children or animals or whatever was in their home that also they had to consider and as an employer our president our management team was very considerate and very willing to hear their concerns and very responsive and so willing to make flex schedules with them to work with them we also for a couple of our employees they needed to be involved with a family first coronis virus response FFF CRA which you know they could apply for that emergency paid leave or that expanded metal family leave they could do both and we've had employees do that and we've been willing to be responsive to that obviously in obvious one other thing about that if fcra it's really for employers that are 50 or more employees and our leadership even though we are an employer of about 40 employees our leadership decided to still embrace that even though we have very gen leave at the National Forest Foundation they decided to embrace this to support our employees and and they have so we had some employees take advantage of that obviously I think Liz mentioned the federal loan program as a non-profit our leadership decided to take advantage of that and apply for that early right when it came out I guess some other things is because you know humans that touching you know that engagement with humans is a big deal and one of the ways our nonprofit does it is through events and field season is usually between spring and November and so we've had to change and cancel quite a few events that were already on the docket because we plan you know a year in advance we plan actually five years in advance but the the year in advance actually setting up the logistics for those events a lot of them had to be canceled and so another way we're looking at those is potentially virtual events so it so anybody that's a little bit about how it's been affecting us all right well let's jump in the workplace and there we go so just like pretty much every businesses right now most nonprofits are being faced with challenges during the kovat crisis many people are returning to the business and they're they're having to deal with new guidelines the day to day operations have changed for many Liz maybe you could touch on some of those things some of the operational changes you have noticed and you know how technology is possibly playing a major role in helping you know with return to work Liz where are the majority of nonprofits out right now is it is that are you just so diverse that it's all over the place or is there a trend well it is we are diverse and so but I would say generally we're moving into Phase two and people are looking at how to phase back that's I would say that kind of measured approach is what people are using it's the issue and I sat on the governor's task force M&A sat on the governor's Task Force on coronavirus the coronavirus relief fund and huge emphasis there on how do we make sure there's enough support for not just for a licensed registered childcare but are all childcare like the summer camps and things like that the parents rely on mean people cannot we have on our team people cannot return to an office if there's no we have the same challenge yeah and if you and if care is still not safe then you know you have to deal with that yes and so that's a big one and then just safety generally people are all over the place because people who work with children with disabilities or work in group home or seniors who are in isolation things like that you know they're in a very different position then same association that can you know isn't as much interacting with the public and then as Sheree said you know all the arts and conservation organizations are you know pivoting to a more virtual type of events and things like that you know Springs are pretty major fundraising time and that's we can't get that back so that's been tough and very sensitive to the fact that businesses are right alongside us you know wondering how they're gonna make it and how do we open and all about and so you know contributed income is a part of the nonprofit business model and so we're really sensitive to the fact that that's changed and businesses may not have the resources to given the same way I think a big a big issue is access to protective equipment and so that it doesn't need to be medical equipment but kind of like every nonprofit is just figuring out on their own where do I get Matt where do we get mass where do we get sanitizer that Krista would it be fair to say that there is no one-size-fits-all approach and that while there's certainly knowledge and resources out there everybody's got to take kind of a very surgical approach you know even down to the employee of gauging you have this childcare issue you have an at-risk you know factor associated you know whether it's health or age and just being you know very surgical and applying that absolutely that's a really good way to put it and I think for employers that's a that may be a sea change and you know as we look at next generation leadership and what appeals to incoming professionals this flexibility and using more of a performance management approach I'm a little off script now but using more of a performance management approach where you get the work done it it isn't as important when you show up at the office or where you know it they're probably parameters around that but I probably permanently moved to a more flexible model that is a really a combination of what the organization needs and what the employee needs and how you put those together in an overall human resource approach and really values based approach Sheree maybe you can speak to that a little bit too in terms of yeah there were factors that existed you know before kovat hit that we're driving some of that you know flexibility what things had national forest foundation you know already done you know to embrace you know kind of the challenges we all face and balancing work life and all of those demands well our organization has you know is willing to for our employees to talk with their supervisors and explain that whatever their challenges are so that they can understand and try to be responsive and so there is a willingness for our organization culturally to be very sensitive to people's needs we recently had I was looking at the workplace here that we're talking about we had one employee with of course no names where they had a newborn and their child care in their community was actually going to open up to let children know and that particular employee had a toddler and so then the decision was by that doctor and that child care organization that she has a newborn at home bringing a toddler into the childcare situation and having that toddler go back home to a newborn was not something they recommended so this in this employee decided to apply for that FF CRA the the emergency paid leave and the expanded leave so that the toddler could stay home with her and the child in this particular case but in other cases we have employees that are working from home and they figured out ways to navigate and change their schedule that maybe we had another situation where the employee had a child that was like 12 and there was a need for some extra hands-on with doing schooling at home and so during the core day that that child needed that that particular mom the like that four hours that employee was working but earlier that morning or later in the evening early afternoon the employee worked so we had a flexible schedule kind of situation for for that employee so we are trying to be sensitive and I think that would be the thing that most people should do right now because it's a lot of pressure for those family members and then they're still trying to be productive at work as well so I hope that was addressing what you wanted it must be super difficult with so many different levels of people being scared and you know levels of of they will some people are wearing masks some people aren't wearing masks it must be difficult to to facilitate all those people and keep everyone feeling safe yep Gauri I was just gonna say on that that actually was a situation for us because we have hree of us that have been coming into the office and then the other the rest of the other 16:17 are doing telework and so initially they wanted to keep coming back in and so we we created parameters because the whole idea is for them to be at home and work and so we created a few parameters where if they needed things they let us know we brought it to them at the door so that they weren't you know coming in to the workplace and potentially you know provided for bringing you know coronavirus in it so the idea was to protect the people that were coming to work and to protect them at home so and that also helps alleviate some of that fear and then once I understood that everybody was willing to do that no problem we are working on our return to work plan but it's gonna be we are we have written out of guidelines for returning to work plan and so that addresses a lot of those things that people are concerned about we actually did a survey to all of our employees about returning to work our our president did and asked a bunch of questions to get their feedback and responses and their concerns because you know as the president you might like hey come on all everybody come back to work but no she would actually did the survey heard what their concerns are and then after that wrote a guidelines to return to work and so to allow it to be in a measured way not in a rush to a and to allow consideration for everybody's individual needs while still tiller trying to get all the work done so all right all right let's move on okay we want to speak up you know a little bit about the five keys back it up one sec sure no problem fundamental as I know this is top of mind and I do want to share a few things in terms of what we're seeing on the private industry because I know you know private there's a lot of support of nonprofits we know it's a challenge we know there's a lot of unknowns but are there opportunities you know that members are seeing of different ways to engage you know both on their own but also on their contributed income well yes I think everyone is relooking at budgets you know and including PPP and idle loans and what the state has to offer but then as far as the more traditional fund development it's you know there are a lot of questions about how to ask right now for contributions at a time when we people may be stretched you know but whether businesses or donors so I'm a couple of things about that one is I think more things are moving to virtual right now but that does not supplant the need for one-on-one relationships and in fact right now maybe even more so that need for individual outreach individual checking in and that maybe over the phone not screened it's probably not quite in person yet but I'm a much more high-touch individual approach people are added with digital information and there and fatigued with that and so on anything we can do around being more personal about that is important and I would say there are opportunities to do things differently I look at Montana nonprofit Association we do a conference once a year that usually draws 400 450 people you guys are usually there and you know we're doing that virtually well on the one hand that's you know a real change and disappointing but on the other hand it opens the conference up you know that kinda has world-class talent and business representation to a much larger group of Montanans right and oh that's a positive thing and and I really see from what we've seen with other organizations as they learn those new platforms not that everything will end up digital because there it's not a panacea but you end up with new skills and then potentially a hybrid you've just got new channels to engage more people in different ways in different times and that rich content can be reused when it's captured digitally so I think there's a lot of opportunity there yeah it's a learning curve but as organisations get through it I think they'll end up with really both approaches being stronger in the future sharee on the talking about donations and working with with your donors you know any tips or recipe or you know just more echoing of what listen so one thing that we do in our organization which we were able to not capitalize on but actually work with during all of this is our development and communications teams we have assigned prospect managers that work with our different corporations and our foundations and so we did this years ago and so then when coronavirus came the because we were routinely checking in already and these people already assigned you know one person assigned to this corporation another one then they were able to just check in and say how are you doing and not make it be about an ass for how much more they can do and organically through that process of them checking in we have been having some small successes even during this time because some of the ones that were able respected the fact that we still cared about them it's just it really isn't about the money it's been about the relationship all along anyway about their relationship to the national forests and our relationship with them and so we were able to just just continue to check in and we've been able to have some successes because of that with the people that are capable I mean then bringing it up them offering and so I thought that was kind of does that help some what yeah and we you know just to share from the private side of things we've been approached by some of the organizations that we support and same type of thing it has been conversational you know to check in but at the end of the day if your mission resonates with us and we're already involved and we're already passionate about what you do we want to support and so you know even if it's just the question of are you gonna be able to support in the same way that you were that's a conversation that you know we can have and yes we can express the uncertainty and yes we can express the unknown but we can also express where we're at dollars cents and you know again where our feelings are at you know in terms of a specific organization and there is a lot of organizations on the private side of things you know that are performing you know well financially you know banks credit unions you know those types of things are doing well the the what I call the freedom business you know people that are selling motorcycles and campers and and those types of things are also doing you know very well right now so there there are some blue spots and blue sky spots in the economy I'd really encourage nonprofits you know to stay in touch with just as you said Sheree the people that you know across different industry spectrums because you'll get facts you know on what's happening within the ground that will help you plan based off of how that industry has supported you in in the past don't do guesswork don't just go off of what you read in the news you know talk to people that are in the seats that you already know that are you're already involved in and that will help you get rid of some of the clouds you know that are existing there I think Connor the other thing is the opportunity for nonprofits to really become very clear on why they exist and I think Sheree you know like in the time of covin yes there is it that that crystallizes the about our forests and the being able to get outdoors I've seen that with other conservation groups it's like what you can't do but you can still go outdoors and arts organizations are saying no we're not I mean they're not saying but but in conversation they're saying we're not the food bank we're not the one taking care of domestic violence but we are the one bringing this sense of humanity and community and creativity and optimism and that's our niche and so I think for all of us too it's just a chance to really step back and say are we essential are we what is our space in civil society and grab a hold of that and that donors know when you've done that and so it's kind of you can call it focusing in but it but it requires the internal organization to be really clear we are value we are relevant there's a lot we're not but this is what we do that nobody else is doing and I think to the extent that we can do that we have a saleable if you will mission that donors move on to okay um now I wanted to speak a little bit about the workplace and how you are keeping morale up for like mental illness has been coming up as a big issue for people being quarantined staying at home working remote I just wanted you to speak a little bit about how you are helping keep morale up and in that aspect I think that this is a time for real situational leadership you know any of us that have done any leadership work know that there's you know there are different times for different kinds of leadership and so as far as the immediate team goes if we are you know to the extent that we are mortage then we were there's a different set of tools we've talked about flexibility and Cherie you've talked about that and yes you do have to deal with kind of one employee at a time and which is a great practice anyway and then as an as an association we're really thinking about how to help nonprofits work with staff teams in a more kind of holistic way that recognizes at the end you know we're humans I'm sitting in my dining room you know you can see the color that's you know you that that's something that we didn't know about each other before and just inviting that in in whatever ways we can that doesn't really address the mental illness issue it's more around mental well-being but the pervasiveness of anxiety and stress call for a different set of tools and I think it's a leadership challenge for organizational leaders and one that we need to be as creative and innovative in meeting that challenge as we are in meeting our revenue challenges our strategic planning challenges fund development all of those kinds of things yeah it seems that you know even though we're disconnected we've found you know you're finding more ways to be more connected um go ahead Connor sorry oh sorry we were gonna add something on that note one of the things that our leadership decided to do during this whole time is we have all these people teleworking and of course all of our remote staff in run nine different states and so we decided weekly that our president would have an online we're using Adobe Connect for this particular thing we're also using for other things but we basically bring all the staff together from to just you know we have a regular staff meetings but this is a different kind of meeting this is just come in what's everybody doing what are you doing different now that your weren't doing before kovat at your home in your life what did you do exciting this last weekend so we've been doing that once a week to encourage our employees and to help them you know feel good about what we're doing also our president meets with our board members as well and there's a lot to be learned cuz they're all across the United States all of our board members and they have ideas so that helps and I think it helps keep them focused they have they even have a little of time an ad-hoc committee going on to see what they can do for first responders focusing on said of themselves you know keeping the focus on others and the forests and things like that and any employees how are you doing what are you doing that kind of thing and so I think that's in the mental health and wellness well-being aspect what we're trying to do well and it's probably a good transition here you know Liz talked about tenacious uncertainty those types of things can also bring back certainty you know that your peers are there you know that they have real lives that work is still going on you know that that kind of helps ground people so that's transition here O'Connor while we're moving to the next slide I would echo what I'm sure you said we are our staff actually meets daily and we only have a team of eight but you know we have a long meeting once a week that strategy and then the rest of the week we use teams a lot so during we we don't say can't do you have time for a call we just dial somebody up on teams and that really works and then we do a 15 20 minute check-in every morning and you know it's it's worked it won't work forever but it's been effective team does a great tool we've utilized it here and it's uh it really helps oh yeah immediate yeah so now that we have the functions identified it's important simplify everything so five keys our work is still work if you had consumer services before you're going to still have them now the norms have changed organizations of a dentist is to do this scene and cleanliness and given these new norms we've got to figure out the best way to move forward and work as a team so with that being said nonprofits are still in the reopening phase what we need to focus on is safety and teamwork and what it looks like specific to these functions Sheree given the norms of change talk to us about maybe some obstacles you were experiencing and maybe some of the opportunities you were seeing at the National Forest Foundation and maybe also touch on how teamwork is helping play a successful role in all that moving forward well I think I think it really all starts with teamwork initially because we have natural teams we have you know our development team our communications team we have our conservation team we have our different teams through you know are admitted Minh and accounting teams so we have our different teams and so they have to well work well within themselves by checking in with themselves and then we come with the bigger team which is the whole which is all you know really drilling up to the whole national forest foundation that we want to promote the health of the national forests so so it really all just comes down with teamwork anyway and because this is something that our leadership is very interested in and has been for a long time when Koli came we were able to use that and continue to use that and that kind of gives a feeling of normalcy right there even though everything doesn't feel very normal keeping that team structure in place gives you kind of a grounding and I think that's what our met our president and our management team was going for and in terms of taking it through to cleanliness and distancing obviously we came up with our one office where we have the most half of our employees three working at work the rest teleworking that created the distance and the return to work plan the way we're gonna do it is we're looking at potentially we have three office suites and we're looking at maybe allowing three people to work in each suite instead of least approach phased approach instead of bringing l20 back so we're looking at maybe nine coming back and that really will be dependent on what their concerns are they may still be having child care issues there maybe even summer camp says that Liz was saying earlier and some things like that so we have two we were created out as an opportunity we have a couple of people that are working at telework from home but they have a few things they need in the office or me we've been supporting that there are functions of some of their functions the three of us every year so maybe they always come in one day a week to take care of their own functions in the future and then the rest of the time to telework so this is creating and maintaining that distancing the one thing we talked about are the masks and the common areas so our common areas is like the kitchen the conference room the copier room the backhoe obviously the with these other areas and so maybe it is one person in the kitchen at the time two people in the conference room based on the size of that room one person in the copier room so we've actually I did you know defining to those kind of things to help continue with distancing and as far as the masks right now we're going to let that be something that is those nine three per suite come in whether they want to wear the masks at their desk or when they're in the common spaces we're going to keep that optional to the individual and there may be continued discussions on it maybe that will change and we all feel that we need masks in the commo spaces all the time we have to be open to the flexibility and willingness to change a little bit with this so we're maintaining the distance II the cleanliness aspect we've had we have a cleaning service that comes in and we've slowed down that service there's only been three of us at work but we did a couple of weeks ago how that clean service come back in into a deep cleaning and the deep cleaning included going into every office and all the keyboards Mouse's door handles light switches anywhere a person could touch so we made sure that was done and we've talked with that cleaning service about as the phase dinner approach is going to be happening when people come back to work that they're normal weekly cleaning and then one night a week in the middle of the week that just focuses on sanitizing those those common touch points in our office and that cleaning service is willing to do that for us so that kind of takes care of the cleaning the other thing is we went and we using compass supply and as one of our suppliers and they were able to get us hand sanitizer and so we purchased there on the floor over here they just arrived yesterday 16 ounce bottles of the hands gel hand sanitizers it was a little expensive it was 18 dollars and 99 cents a bottle and I was like why so much of that 20 price-gouging we're talking 16 years anyway and they said it's not they're maintaining the same margins in their what they make but the raw supplies for the hand sanitizer are short there's a shortage of them and that's what's driving the price so we bought one for every person's desk so 20 bottles and the other thing is we did buy 3 or 4 gallons of bleach and we bought those spray bottles where we are doing the dilution there and so what we thought is every person would have their own hand sanitizer at their desk they would have their own spray bottle so that they can keep their their space taken care of and then the cleaning service is really going to focus on those common areas so that's - the cleanliness so I hope I answered your question sorry lots of good detail and information a lot of things people are implementing Liz as you're listening to all of that and you know thinking about all of the the members you know there's the tactical things you know then there's the emotional side of it what's running through your mind well we've talked about four things that really are guiding our response so one is for organizations to be informed and you know people are insecure and and there's so much we can't control so what can we control well we can steep ourselves in information we have a web page that's devoted to reopening shortly after this we have a at eleven o'clock today we have a town hall meeting where we have the state medical officer on speaking and a communicable disease guy and infectious disease guy doc speaking to nonprofits so being informed in all the different ways we need to be use a measured approach in other words if it you know try it and and be a but try it in pencil you know walk it back if it doesn't work you know we're just trying I don't know that's hard in a litigious age litigious society to kind of we're gonna try this because like what if we get it wrong and then who are our partners to else is doing this work that we can you know with first call I think you're you're doing this kind of informational approach and who else is in you know who else is doing domestic violence work who else is doing outdoor work you know and and what are the protocols around that every industry has its protocol in the nonprofit sector and then do you make your best decision and that again goes back to leadership that there's this you know if you take all the information at the end of the day you have to decide something and no you do and you know as a leader you hope that you're a learner and a listener and it sounds like Sheree you have a leader who is very much that and soft skills you know and there are we don't have the concrete answers we want and then just understanding that there is really beginning that it's valid and necessary actually to read the emotional tone of how people are and on any given week I'm somebody who was jazzed about their work last week might be in a trough this week that's okay and not okay not okay in the sense of no holds bar you know like you let everything go but more like recognizing where people are and and finding ways to give them the tools they need to move back up to the performance level you need and so whether that's take the afternoon off rejuvenate just spend the time with your kids don't be conflicted this afternoon we'll see you back tomorrow you know so you're not letting go of the performance expectation but you are meeting people where they are and so again I think it comes down to leadership skills and team's ability to flex with their teammates and pick up the slack okay bill I'm sure that says will step in as needed or one another rather than that's not my job so that starts a long time ago you know you can't just create that culture in the when code hits um so yeah those are some of the things about but having a framework I think it's really important so that be informed to be measured think about your partner's and then make the best decision well close with analysis paralysis you know absolutely those leaders need need to avoid it and the other thing I want to say is that in terms of the many other industries that are out there outside of the nonprofit world they've already moved through that reopening type of stage and so if you've got relationships you know with banks or with other types of critical infrastructure companies you know they've already moved through that you know those leaders are other resources to talk to to see you know the technical the emotional you know and the personal side of things so great stuff look at you we better get moving forward here yeah cuz lose notes get the get going here so well moving to some phases Park you know next phases are gonna be crucial for many businesses there's gonna be operational technical and emotional aspects everything so I just wanted to touch quickly I guess on you know phase two reopening is about to start what actions you think need to be taken in the next 30 to 60 days key and maybe some key actions beyond that yeah we've touched on quite a bit of this already but in any other new quick thoughts sorry I think he is a measured approach and I think being flexible being willing to listen and being sensitive to each other's needs still maintaining you know the workload and moving forward and keeping the focus on what needs to get done for to support the mission of each organization it's it's a little bit of a dance actually and and but if you're aware of those areas and including the teams as we were saying earlier then you can be intentional about it as a leader in the management as a management team in your organization you can be intentional about it so I think identifying those areas and using them to help you navigate it it's important but your lives as Sheree said I think clarity of expectations having policies in place that are flexible but still there may be you draw them with dotted lines not hard lines and then communication I heard somebody say early on that the key tool you need in a pandemic is communication and so with our constituents with our members and with our staff team you know just being as clear as possible where we can be and then communicating all right Connor do you want to speak quickly hahaha so we've seen organizations kind of in two camps and it's kind of the same either you are culturally ready for this or you've had to make a lot of cultural changes same thing on the technical side many organizations you know are very much in the long-term view of email as their primary form of communication and have had to try and react and embrace some different methods it's all a new frame of reference and so just like you're taking that frame of reference from a fundraising standpoint from an event standpoint from an operation standpoint you also want to take that new frame of reference from a technical standpoint and revisit kind of your vision in your plan and then it doesn't have to be some super complex thing but once you've arrived at it with your leadership team you know commit to it if those aren't strengths that you have on your existing leadership team just like Liz said you to find a partner or a resource that does have those strengths and can help you you know make that concrete and actionable Lotto talk about remote work and I just want all nonprofits not to have that as the endpoint in mind it's not your destination you really need to be thinking about data and voice flexibility as your destination and so you can leverage tools like Microsoft 365 you can revisit your core software applications that you use and you know see okay based off of the last 60 days or so where we run into issues also you know phone systems video all of that type of communication you know has become more important as we've got the distance involved some of your organization's also have compliance requirements like HIPAA involved maybe PCI and so as you're making those changes don't don't lose sight even though it seems like right now it's a little bit more you know kind of do what you want you know that short term you know those regulators will be coming back saying okay things have settled down we need more order so don't lose sight of that and then cybersecurity and backups you know we've we've kind of been inundated with this to of hearing okay as we've we've moved around offices homes gotten more mobile we need to revisit cybersecurity I would just say yes you do but be careful about make sure you decide how much do we need to revisit that you know there's two different types of organizations and you kind of need to decide which camp you're in standard risk or high risk if you're in the high-risk category you know make sure that you're also looking at advanced types of cybersecurity you know methods because it's it similar to kovat you know if we don't get our behaviors in check and our tools in check and our processes in check it can be a game game ending so situation and then the last thing is just workforce development and it's like we've talked about with the other things you have to think down to the individual employee and where they're at and get surgical with it and make sure that they have the understanding of the new tools what the the norms are that you want around those tools give them those guidelines give them that coaching and then you'll begin to see the team normalize and and begin to perform I think what I've seen a lot of organizations do is embrace a lot of band-aids zoom here you know Dobby connect lots of different pieces and parts it becomes confusing for employees and becomes difficult for employers to set those guidelines and expectations so as you move forward with your planning try and consolidate streamline and then that whole workforce development becomes easier as well so anyway enough for me okay thanks I'll move forward we do have to get Liz out of here so quickly you know we we've no need to beat a dead horse we review the quick boys you know work still work norms have changed we obviously have to embrace new challenges you know operational technical emotional and one of the new huge challenges is staying connected people industry and market it's very difficult when you can't have face-to-face meetings obviously Liz I know you have to go so I would just want to thank you very much for taking the time to join us today your information has been incredible and it's going to help a lot of people through this through this storm is there anything else you'd like to add before you take off here oh I think you guys are really uniquely positioned to help us deepen our relationship with technology in a way that can create connection and help us meet the challenge and so we're we're proud to be partners with you that's been a long-standing relationship and we really appreciate it and so thank you and I'm sure it was really nice to be able to listen to your approach and the practicalities of that and it you know that's really good for us just to have that grounding and like how an individual organization is dealing with things and so thank you thanks so much allowing us to be part of that presentation thank you okay we'll move quickly Oh wrong way questions and answers you know I just like to give a couple minutes to any questions or to give Shree the opportunity to add anything else or yeah it is there anything out there on the Q&A panel at all not correctly no three closing remarks from you I think we've been in a storm for the last few months and and when you're in a storm there is all types of things that are going on and as you were stating all through this presentation whether it's emotional operational logistical I mean all the different things that go on during the storm and the leaders of the organization you have informal informal leaders they all make a difference in the storm and how fast you can get moved through it into a feeling of normalcy even if it's a new normalcy even if it's a temporary new normalcy and and I think them I think that's what organizations if they're intentional and they're thinking about it and they really care not only about their employees but they're all their partners whether it's a corporation a foundation and individual if they're caring about it it it will come through and communications the key team works the key all of those things are tools and that toolbox to get you to where you can get to that kind of a performance stage is the ultimate goal but yeah anyway thank you all thanks Liz nice to meet you I have seen quite a few of your emails and responded to a few of them recently and so anyway I just thank you all thanks first of all I love first of all so anyway it's we have a history so thank you with you of jumped to the resources slide know that there's the kovat response resources that the nonprofit Association has put forth we've also provided a link to national forests dot org Liz any other quick things on this at all I don't think so we just opened up a reopening page so it's got you know protocols and how to clean old buildings and you know kind of things that are unique so yeah it's a great page and hopefully will be useful to our membership and beyond well and as you mentioned it it's nice to have that distilled down all of the information down to something that's within your industry group because it's you go from the generic you know to the more applicable stuff and it's something you can talk about amongst your peers laterally yeah I want to just highlight a few resources that we have so one we've got wonderful people that you can connect with and have conversations with if you're struggling to figure out where are you and where are you going from a technical transformation standpoint I am one of those wonderful people now and then we have some guides as well you know one of the things Liz mentioned as Microsoft teams and it's not zoom there's a lot more to it it really does create a lot of that connection and collaboration that people are yearning for and lines up really with the way that people work and so if you don't understand what Microsoft teams is or you kind of do and it's a buzzword we've put together an e-guide six ways Microsoft teams can boost your operations that's great I just have to say real quickly that working from remote since we've adopted Microsoft teams it is absolutely made my job way easier and help me stay connected with the people remotely so it's a great no I would suggest checking it up I'm looking forward to looking at that we use teams but um there's so many aspects that you don't even know yeah a little bit early but thank you so much thanks yeah we really appreciate your time Liz and I hope you have a great weekend yeah thank you too and then next to that you know there's been a lot of these kovat crisis guides out there and so we've put together a leadership performance guide really more from a technologists perspective and so again if you've got strong operational strong human resource but you're feeling like I'm not sure from a echnical standpoint you know how we can move things forward to a better place this is a broader more education guide you know it might be a good resource for you and then lastly many organizations have found their phone systems just to be way too rigid you know they're using technology that's 10-15 years old and we've got a couple of different solutions that are out there and you can learn more about those at phone systems Montana com so hopefully that's some good education stuff you know for leaders out there to be able to embrace and then turn into action items as it makes sense so David thank you very much Sheree always wonderful to see you and again wonderful practical insights you know from the leadership you know down to the work space so thank you for being here thank you sorry thanks you guys all right [Music]