If you work in the nonprofit sector, it may not come as a surprise to you that the majority of small nonprofits do not have one staff member who focuses on HR. Small organizations with just a handful of employees tend to focus staffing responsibilities on one or two managers — including on the ED.
There’s a wide range of ideas – if not controversy — about whether it is in the realm of a funder to get involved in the day-to-day management goings on at a grantee.
While many nonprofits (and, for that matter, for-profit businesses) would benefit from some management guidance, is it something that should be required for funding?
Making a good hire depends, in part, on having positive interview experiences with your preferred candidates. Sometimes, employers underestimate the impact of a well-planned interview/interview process. Remember that outstanding leaders will remember your interview process long after you extend an offer to the candidate of choice. It makes good sense to go the extra mile to ensure that the process and the final result are commendable. That way, you will have made new professional linkages during the process and you can circle back to people whom you liked, but did not think would be right for the particular role you seek to fill.
While the very smallest nonprofit organizations may not find it necessary, any organization with more than one or two employees should consider creating a written handbook outlining non-contractual employment terms and work conditions.
“Where are they going to go?” “They’re lucky to have a job.” These are, unfortunately, actual statements I’ve heard in the past year from nonprofit managers offered as rationales for not taking steps to advance human resources practices within their organizations. While there is no question both the economic downturn and its effect on labor [...]
In part 1, I outlined a model of human resources maturity among nonprofit organizations based on the clear delineation of position, person and performance. I also examined the first two phases of this maturity including their implications for the design and the effectiveness of key human resources processes. These processes include recruitment and selection, compensation, performance management, professional development and career/succession planning.
During my years working as a consultant to nonprofits, I have observed three basic phases of organizations’ human resources maturity. This maturity can be defined in terms of how much delineation exists between position, person and performance. Each phase has implications for the design and effectiveness of key human resources processes including recruitment and selection, [...]
In my previous post, I made a case for the use of salary ranges as the foundation of a formal compensation program for nonprofit organizations. Particularly for organizations experiencing or have experienced significant growth, the use of salary ranges can go a long way toward ensuring salaries are equitable and competitive while, at the same [...]
In a recent post, compensation consultant Ann Bares questions whether salary ranges, long a staple of compensation programs among America’s companies and organizations, are still a useful tool given the relatively slow pace of salary annual growth during the past two decades. There is no question that administering salaries — and, in particular, differentiating rewards according [...]
“Why?” “Because I said so.” This exchange, perhaps a staple of parent/child relationships, has no place in management. In fact, communicating to employees the why of their work — the context, value and relevance of their work — is vital to both training efforts and to effective coaching. Further, recent research, including a study conducted [...]