Staffing & Human Resources

Transitions—especially positive ones—can be very strong for you as a professional and for your organization.

The key to ultimate individual success in any endeavor—whether it is nonprofit in nature or not—is one's attitude. You can have the greatest talent and ability in the universe. If you have a poor outlook and attitude you will ultimately fail.

The primary reason a person does not perform in their job is that the job does not match the person's motivations and abilities. It's that simple. That's why, in my mind and management practice, I have changed the whole meaning of "firing" a person to "transitioning" a person to a place that really works for them.

Organizations are like cars. They need a manual. We give employees an employee manual—a guide to how the human should behave. But, we rarely create and maintain an operational manual—a guide to how the business works.

Corporate growth is almost always a good thing. It can augment the bottom line, create new jobs and open new business opportunities. Yet, expansion can sometimes create unforeseen human resource issues, especially in small organizations. In a rush to fill the personnel gap growth creates, companies often accelerate staffing actions without first assuring structures are in place to maintain organizational identity.

In the U.S., employment regulation and litigation have a significant impact on the way companies, including not-for-profit companies (NFPs) operate. Federal, state, and local laws govern just about every phase of employment, and NFPs must comply with these laws in the same way as for-profit companies.

While it is rare, Richard and I have found some of the best MGOs and managers are ones who collaborate, who go out of their way to seek counsel and have real confidants at work.

There are lots and lots of very good, very worthy nonprofit organizations out there. But how many truly "great" charities are there? You know, nonprofits that run efficient programs, maximize fundraising and operate as a unified, holistic organization?

To get a handle on what’s in store for 2015, NonProfit PRO rounded up some of the nonprofit industry’s finest, who were kind enough to share their nonprofit trends for 2015. Here are five trends on software/technology, special events and staffing.

Fundraising employment transition becomes a pothole in a sense that it causes disruption, loss of revenue, loss of relationships and many other negative implications. Think about your job experiences. Do you mandate a complete debrief of information when your employees leave employment? Do you ask board members to help bridge significant relationships to keep engagement and donor momentum in place? Do you provide new fundraising professional hires with solid prospect and donor information gleaned from former employees? How can this issue be dealt with in a positive way, especially when some departures are negative in scope?