Interview: Church City Mission

When Dekode had been working on the digital initiative (strategy, website and e-commerce solution) for Kirkens Bymisjon for about a year, we took the time to have a little chat about the collaboration.

The Church City Mission is an organization that is present for many people in many different ways. They operate in around 40 cities and towns in the country and contribute, among other things, with work initiatives for people who have fallen out of society, warm cafés with food or initiatives that are more aimed at treating drug addiction.

Social work on the street and online

Kristian Badendyck Fjeldstad is a communications advisor and project manager at the Church City Mission and tells us about the project, about the collaboration, and about what it takes and what is required to implement a comprehensive digital project.

- You are a large organization with many different starting points and needs within the Church City Mission. What was it like to get started with something like this?

Kristian B. Fjeldstad: "Talking about web development within an organization is not always easy. For example, a word like "integration" can be completely Greek to people, so we've been keen to work on how we talk about the project to make it understandable. At Kirkens Bymisjon, we developed simple principles right from the start, which we have always communicated as guiding principles for all development.

Church City Mission's six simple principles:

  1. We must think practically on behalf of our guests/users/ clients
  2. Always give our visitors a clear "Call to action"
  3. Development based on analysis, not emotion and opinion
  4. There should be an interaction between the platforms we have at our disposal (channel choreography) - the website should not solve all problems and needs
  5. We must be brave and innovative - dare to prioritize, dare to build stone on stone, dare to be in development
  6. Kirkens Bymisjon will appear coherent and holistic across platforms, fields of work and city boundaries
Kristian Badendyck Fjeldstad in Kirkens Bymisjon

-Howimportant is the process ahead of such a project? What are your thoughts on this?

Kristian: "Spending a lot of time on preparatory work, with a web strategy as we did with you in Dekode, has been important. Everything we do at Kirkens Bymisjon is built on this foundation. In addition to following the principles. We have put our internal needs at the back and the needs of our users at the front. That has been very important.

I've learned that good results are based on clear orders and hard work. And it doesn't hurt that we've had a lot of fun together along the way. It's not always easy to find good partners, especially when you're working on a project over time. A lot can go wrong along the way. We've been lucky in that respect, and I must be allowed to brag a little about Dekode here. I feel we now have mutual trust in each other. And I'm convinced that you need good partners when you work on a project like this.

WordPress

Kristian: "The fact that we're now using WordPress is also a good choice, it's very comprehensible and user-friendly for most people, which of course helps when so many people are involved. But this is also about more than the technical aspects. One of the most important things I've learned along the way is that you can't "outsource everything". Good results come from ownership and priorities in the company or organization, both in terms of money and work capacity. We have an internal project on this, in parallel, because there's a lot we have to do ourselves in order for it to last and not disappear in a few years. You're dependent on things like that. For example, when we embarked on the project, our head of communications made a tough prioritization, and took me out of several projects in the organization even though we were short on people and pressed for capacity, precisely so that I could work 100% as project manager for this digitization project.

-That sounds quite extensive?

Kristian: "There's no doubt that working on this online solution has challenged us. This is a comprehensive project that covers all of our approximately 250 initiatives nationally, and then you also have the online store, which in many ways is a completely separate thing that has really flourished. There are many needs to be met and we are a large organization. That's where a lot of the challenges lie, because in many ways we're a bunch of entrepreneurs who are keen to create and build something. Now was the time to bring together the Church City Mission under a clear and distinct profile and structure.

Image excerpt from Kirkens bymisjon's website. A hand working with crafts. Writing is above the image "Now that I'm working, I find that people give me a thumbs up. Previously, people pointed with their fingers!"

Clear and patient

There are a lot of changes to be made in a short space of time, I imagine. How was this project received in your own ranks? 

Kristian: "Early on, we were keen to finish the old website, we wanted to get a beta website up as soon as possible. We had to dare to start again, make some tough choices and start building from there. When the website is live and open to the world, it becomes very concrete and visual. Instead of just leaving the project on the drawing board until it's "completely finished". Now it serves as a common frame of reference and helps us see the gaps we need to close, for example; when we fail to present ourselves well internally, it also becomes difficult externally. With the website, the shortcomings become visible and what we should do more tangible.

-"We at Kirkens Bymsjon have also been clear that this project will take time and that it is under development. This is something we all agree on, even though for many it is painful to see unfinished solutions and content "live". Fortunately, the organization has been extremely patient and given us the opportunity to do this, while I have received a lot of clear feedback that the project cannot progress fast enough. But we have always been able to show results based on what we have prioritized and a clear progress plan.

- Do you have any tips for others who are about to embark on something like this? In addition to what you've mentioned about thorough preparatory work and clarity about what the project is and should be?

Kristian: - I have found out that for me as client , then it is important for me to have a good relationship with those I work with. It can mean many things. It's probably about trust and being able to tell if something is amiss, both ways. We have to deliver on everything. You have to take the customer role seriously, you have to give clear orders and you have to prioritize a project like this internally. As an orderer, you must have free time in your timetable, because you cannot expect consultants who come in and do a job to understand the needs of an entire organization in one-two-three.

The Church City Mission's 5 keys to success:

  1. Technical development of our own platforms: which gives us good opportunities for further development and integrations with other platforms
  2. Work with content: High quality text, photo and video
  3. Visibility/distribution: Increased visibility through strategic use of Google, Facebook, email marketing, cityscape presence
  4. Operations and management: Ensure that our platforms and content are well looked after, both organizationally, technically and financially.
  5. Organizational development: New technical solutions make it possible - and sometimes necessary - to rethink how we work (organization, structure, tasks)

Rigged for the future

- What do you think this work will mean for Kirkens Bymisjon?

Kristian: "What this platform does is lay the foundation for what we will do in the future. This solution enables several initiatives that we haven't been able to do before. We work with social work on a daily basis, but we want to continue this online. That's the carrot here, that we now have the opportunity to do more for more people. We want to make a difference for people and for our city.

- Now that the foundations have been laid, where do you think you'll be in 10 years?

Kristian: "It's hard to predict what will happen, but for me personally, I think we'll continue this development online and my dream is that we can be a place that entrepreneurs can and want to work with if they want to solve social problems with digital solutions That we become a kind of hub or create an environment for social work online. We're already getting inquiries from people with good ideas, but I hope there can be even more of this - and that we can pick up the ball. With our new platform, I don't think this is impossible; we're now set up for the future.

Left:

Visit Kirkens Bymisjon's website

Visit Kirkens Bymisjon's online store

Read our project description of the collaboration with Kirkens Bymisjon

Image excerpt from the Church City Mission's website. A hand is holding a coffee cup, above which is written "You can't walk alone on the street, it's not possible".

How can we help you? 

Would you like to know more about how we can help you with a website based on WordPress, Gutenberg and Teft? Then send us an email!