Staffing & Human Resources

Let’s discuss the right way and the wrong way to build a leadership team. A while back I coached a very smart and ambitious young woman who, for the sake of privacy, I’ll call Meg. Meg recently had been promoted to run the communications department of a mid-sized nonprofit. She had never held a senior…

Kevin Spacey said, "If you have done well in whatever business you are in, it is your duty to send the elevator back down and try to help bring up the next generation of undiscovered talent.” I’m not sure when Spacey’s iconic role in "The Usual Suspects" became the go-to for life advice, but I surely agree with the sentiment...

Each candidate must be prepared for a job search and what that entails. A major piece of that process is the dreaded job interview. You would think experienced professionals, over time, would improve in this area, but, sadly, many do not improve because of lack of focus and preparation...

It was a new vice president for development, and expectations were high. I was serving on a campaign steering committee and enjoying a day full of high energy. The new staff leader entered the room quietly, sat in a row of chairs against the wall and proceeded to either text or read emails until he was asked to speak...

Good instructional design and delivery engages people’s brains, eyes, ears and bodies. People pay attention more, they learn something, they retain it better, and there is a better chance of them applying what they learned. There are many creative ways to engage learners during a training—both face-to-face and online. Moving around is better than sitting…

We all have seen agendas that have time amounts allocated for each item, but are never followed. At a certain point, members get tired or uninterested in the meeting or spend too little time on the most important issues. How many of us take meeting agendas for granted? Since meetings are an important part of our business life, we need to better understand this topic...

Recently, I came across this comment on a Huffington Post article about nonprofit salaries: Here’s why I don’t donate to nonprofits. There is no legal cap to the salaries paid to executives. Really? Do y’all think I donated to feed the pig CEO, or the needy? See a poor person in the street, give them…

This has been a crazy week—I co-presented a webinar for NonProfit PRO and am heading to Washington, D.C., for the annual Bridge Conference (as a learner, not a presenter). Why? Because I am absolutely passionate about continuing education, both for myself and what I share with others when I can. And I want to energize you about continuing education, too, which is why I write about investing in you about once a year...

Genuine, wholehearted appreciation trumps money, benefits and an epic job title. Because at the heart of it is the idea that you enjoy coming into work every day. Sure, a job is a job, but a cheerfully positive outlook on the space where you spend the majority of your day-to-day shouldn’t feel like a novel concept...

The Department of Labor in May announced new overtime rules, effective Dec. 1, that will make millions more Americans eligible for overtime. Predictably, reaction has been mixed, but it wasn't clear exactly how the rules would affect the sector. Now, we have a better understanding. National Council of Nonprofits last week released the results of a national survey polling nonprofits with government grants and contracts on the overtime rule changes, and the results are, well, kinda grim...