The Soft Skills: Hardcore Techie Turned eRider

I am part of a seven-member eRider team. I am the most technologically oriented of these eRiders and have a degree in engineering. Even with all my technical knowledge, I am learning that it takes all kinds of skills -- not just technical -- to be a good eRider. My role in our team is to support the other eRiders so that they gain a better understanding of technology and to learn from them how to approach and better support the organizations with which I work.

Technical Skills

Here is little story about how technical knowledge can help an eRider understand a resistant executive director:

I agreed to an appointment with the director of an organization. I began by explaining our mission, and she stopped me and said, "We have everything; we are equipped with computers, a fax machine, and printers, and we are connected to the Internet. In addition, I'm working on a Web site for us. Our systems of work are effective. How can you help us?"

I was a little bit concerned about whether the organization really were as technologically competent as she said. Once she made this short speech, I tried to use more technical language, and I asked detailed questions about their systems. On every question she answered "yes." I decided to use a trick, and I asked, "Do you have a network card in your computer?" She answered "yes." I asked her, "Do you have a switch card" (there is no such thing), and she also answered "yes." She was simply answering yes to everything, whether or not the technology even existed. From our exchange I understood that she was not very technically oriented and she understood that I actually did know what I was talking about.

Technical skills can help eRiders understand their work, but convincing an executive director to cooperate in a project requires another set of skills. A deep understanding of an organization's programmatic, staffing, and budgeting needs is essential.

Approaching Technology

An eRider’s work is also about management, consulting, psychology, and training -- not just technology.

In the organizations I work with, it often seems that the level of resistance from the executive director mirrors the level of equipment and IT in the organization. The more technology the organization has, the more convinced the director is that they know what they are doing and do not need any support. In organizations where there is a lack of technology, directors have been more open for help.

Cooperation with small, ill-equipt organization begins with explaining the advantages of using IT and how it can aid them in their work. It's useful to explain in detail how they can use information technology in their projects. eRiders have to recognize what the organizations really need, and they should choose the appropriate technology. We can't forget that the aim is not so much to build technologically-competent organizations, as to build organizations that have effective methods of doing their work.

What I Have Learned

In November 2002, I attended an eRider training program with my RIP colleagues. At the training, I saw that technically trained people do not know everything. I began to see IT from a different angle. I saw how technology tools can serve non-governmental organization, and I learned about different services that exist, particularly online ones. I learned that technologically-savvy eRiders must learn consulting and management skills. But eRiders with strong knowledge of technology have some advantages over their less experienced colleagues. While consulting and management skills can be built through direct experience, a deep understanding of IT requires study and experience doing hard-core IT work.

It is clear that every eRider has a different strength. One may be very good in managing, while another may be stronger in fundraising. Everyone helps the organization how they can.

I am committed to helping my community, but I used to struggle with how to use my skills to the greatest benefit. It was not clear to me how my IT background could support my people. Through eRiding, I have found a way.