For instance, Broadwater says, an employee might decide he needs the full Adobe Creative Suite, and if IT doesn't provide it, the employee might purchase it at the full retail price and expense it to the company-a problematic outcome for any enterprise but especially tricky for a nonprofit like Sesame Workshop.

"We stopped saying no," Broadwater says. "'No' has become the word I hate the most from my staff. Instead, you say: "I understand, let me look into a solution." If you say, "Let me understand what you're trying to solve, and I'll try to help you," then they don't try to go around you."

"IT is there to serve the company," he adds. "IT exists as a service organization. Saying "no" keeps the company from doing its business."

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Schadler agrees, "What you should be saying is: 'Oh you need it! How do you need it? Why do you need it? What characteristics are most important to you? How can we scale it to the rest of the organization? How can you help us, the business, succeed? How can I help you take advantage of that technology?"