TALENT MANAGEMENT IN THE
NONPROFIT SECTOR A discussion paper based on Verity’s First Quarter, 2013 Bridge2Success Executive Breakfast Forum
By Colleen Fleming, Forum Moderator and
Managing Director, Bridge2Success Verity International Limited
TALENT MANAGEMENT IN THE NONPROFIT SECTOR
An introduction
In today’s competitive marketplace, nonprofit organizations and their
boards look to attract and retain first class talent, and while the sector
faces a variety of challenges in managing this talent, it is also seeing
many successes.
On February 28, 2013, a group of senior nonprofit executives came
together to discuss the challenges, opportunities and successes
surrounding talent management in the nonprofit sector today.
One of the greatest challenges to talent management in the sector, as
recognized by the group, lies with the historical barriers towards
investing in staff. In many cases they admitted to feeling the pressure to
improve the performance of their respective organization, but that they
were also caught skirting around the constraints within the sector.
Throughout the session the executives sought to identify solutions and
tactics that they could adopt in support of their work.
This discussion paper is the second in a series we plan to release, which
will address issues that are currently keeping executives and influencers
of the nonprofit sector up at night. We hope that in reading this paper
that you will gain a better understanding of the challenges within the
sector and that you become better equipped in managing them.
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Contents
Talent Management in the Nonprofit Sector: An introduction 2
Historical Roots: The Lack of Talent Management Investment 3
Take Away Tips to Adopt 4
Implementation Tips 5
Summary 5
Bridge2Success 6
About Verity 7
Historical roots: The lack of Talent Management investment
The first topic of discussion was a reflection on the history of the lack of investment in
talent management in the sector. Participants sought to understand the underlying
drivers as a first step to managing change and influencing stakeholders in the direction
of supporting it.
"A strong and commendable historical ethos" of focusing spending on the short term
and on the mission of the organization was observed by Ene Underwood. The issue of
this ethos is one of the key historical underpinnings of the hesitancy to invest in staff
training over direct client services and is a matter to which all participants resoundingly
identified with. Compounding this is the fact that the culture has been even further
entrenched by tight budgets and the CRA ratios.
The public and many nonprofit boards of directors sometimes guide their decision
making by financial indicators suggested by CRA and/or emerging organizations that
provide comparative criteria particularly in the area of fundraising and administrative
activities. The intention of providing parameters is a worthy initiative but some critics
claim numeric guidelines are too simplistic to be meaningful in comparing
organizations with very different circumstances. Similarly, this approach also leads to
short term thinking.
Joanne Doyle captured the boards' sensitivity to public backlash by asking "How would
it look?” She further described the importance of continuing to push for understanding
regarding the balance between efficiency and impact. The executives and boards are
aware that the general public is time pressed and will frequently revert to the quick
ratios to guide their donations and will not take the time to read a fulsome business
case for Talent Management. Thus the sensitivity can dominate decision making and
needs to be balanced with a narrative about what impact the sector is having. Recent
media and public attention to what are viewed as "spending scandals" of publicly
funded and charitably funded nonprofits have further heightened the level of caution
regarding non-client spending.
Janet Yale noted that a public education campaign is also required to overturn the
"charity mentality" that dictates wages in the nonprofit sector. Historically nonprofits
were staffed by volunteers and funds were raised within the local community. That
model is steadily becoming a thing of the past as nonprofits are developing into
national or international organizations which compete for professional career
orientated staff and donors’ dollars.
Georgina Kossivas observed that there is a wide held belief that because nonprofit
enterprises "contribute to the public good" it would be unseemly to offer wages that
weren't significantly discounted.
The impact of low wages and the lack of talent management investment ultimately
leads to high turnover which in turn lowers productivity and increases risk within the
sector – none of which contribute to the mandate of the nonprofit enterprise.
Lee Giles emphasized that the key component of the business case for talent
management is the enterprise risk nonprofits face due to untrained staff and high staff
turnover.
Bridge2Success Executive
Breakfast Forum
February 28, 2013
Our Participants
Joanne Doyle, Senior Vice President, Community Impact, United Way Toronto
Lee Giles, Former Executive Director Sheena’s Place, and Altruvest Charitable & Board Match programs
Georgina Kossivas, Bursar and CFO University of St. Michael’s, University of Toronto
Ene Underwood, CEO Habitat for Humanity Toronto
Janet Yale, President and CEO The Arthritis Society
Hosts
Colleen Fleming, Forum Moderator Managing Director, Bridge2Success Verity International Limited
Jeff Welton Managing Director, Verity International Limited
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Some voluntary board members perpetuate the charity mentality because they are
not paid for their contribution to the enterprise. Of course volunteering on the board
is not a source of income nor is it a full time activity. The participants were not
advocating for equity to private sector wages but were advocating for talent
management investment for staff who were identified as integral to the long term
success of the enterprise. Participants want to recognize the trailblazers who have
already adopted a more progressive attitude with regards to investing in their people
as a means to achieve the business plans and lower risk and liability.
The take-away tips to adopt
Participants confirmed that due to resource limitations, nonprofit enterprises
typically do not employ fulltime human resources executives as part of their staff
compliment. However, the participants questioned who better to help support
the business case for talent management. As an outcome of the candid
discussion, one of the participants plans to include senior level human resources
skills as part of the skills matrix for the board on a go-forward basis.
The participants also looked forward to ensuring that their boards are fully
cognizant of the risks an undeveloped staff can create when working with a
sophisticated donor community which wants assurance that their money is well
spent. The rapidly changing regulatory environment and a sophisticated public
demanding transparency are also key reasons to invest in talent as it will lower
the enterprise risk.
By this point in the discussion the B2S Breakfast Forum group had much to
ponder and proceeded to turn their attention to the business processes required
to articulate an aligned Talent Management Strategy. It was agreed that ideally a
visionary strategic plan would be approved by the board and out of this
fundamental document the staff would produce a business plan.
The development of a three year strategic human resource plan would align the
people strategy to the strategic and business plans. One participant shared that
their strategic human resources plan graphs the talent of the organization on two
axis — current performance and potential performance. Jeff Welton helped the
group delve into this idea further by outlining a people plan he was familiar with
and which was based upon the 3C's; capacity, capability and culture.
Furthermore, another participant’s organization had adapted the Executive
Talent Management Framework developed by the Treasury Board of Canada
Secretariat with great success.
Many nonprofits have a scale issue and this forces them to go outside for talent.
In addition to the scale issue, in some settings there is a culture of fighting
against what is perceived as ‘outsider’ skills and people (e.g. marketing and
private sector candidates) entering the nonprofit sector and ushering in
disruption. Regardless, the participants agreed that new talent could serve as
‘stimulus for personal growth’ and help to renew and grow the current
workforce.
The group also wanted to adopt the self-empowering notion that each individual
in the sector is also accountable for their own career. Nonprofit employees need
to be aware of the personal benefit of networking and building their CV.
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Take-away #1
HR Skills need to be added to
the nonprofit sector.
Take-away #2
A three year human resources
plan is required in order to
adequately communicate with
stakeholders including the
board, and to measure
progress. It will require resolve
to make this happen as
research shows that even in
the private sector only 1/3 of
companies focus on the
development of leadership
skills within their
organizations.
Take-away #3
Nonprofit professionals must
take accountability for their
own careers.
Implementation tips
As the breakfast forum neared conclusion several excellent implementation tactics
were identified. Due to the constrained budgets, executives sought to form
partnerships with sponsors that would support the development of talent. Networking
and mentoring, especially outside the employees' enterprise, were also seen as a cost
effective means for developing skills. One enterprise was hosting an annual
educational symposium. It was also identified that the member organizations that
serve nonprofits such as Imagine Canada and AFP could play a key role in upgrading
talent. The colleges and universities are also addressing the talent shortage and
offering a wide array of learning options.
The group is aware that historically the nonprofit sector was staffed by volunteers and
over the course of time volunteers evolved into paid staff. An interest in the cause and
being a local resident were key criterion for staff because funds were raised locally and
often spent locally. Now that nonprofits may compete for funds globally and the
industry is mature new competencies are required in the staff. The introduction of the
new skill set provide new internal expectations for employee performance within
nonprofit enterprise. A key component of the Talent Management strategy is the clear
identification and articulation of the competencies the enterprise requires for success.
The point was also made that executives need to fairly terminate employees when
they are not ready or able to meet the new expectations. The budgets and the cause
are not well served with waste in the system and many nonprofits are unraveling
federated models which originated because of the historical grassroots. It was agreed
that real change means making some hard choices.
Janet commented that nonprofits need to work at pruning activities so that dollars and
resources can be more productively spent. She advocates undertaking a budget
exercise which matches the dollars spent with the impact achieved.
The group sought nonprofit benchmarks for financial investment in talent
management. The benchmarks the group was aware of ranged from two weeks a year
for senior executives in the private sector; ten days in large nonprofits or broader
public sector enterprise; to a couple of days in small enterprises; and with the dollar
spend being roughly $500 per person annually or an investment matching the cost of
living.
Joanne noted that the nonprofit culture of "fair= same" creates a hurdle for the
budgeting of productive talent management dollars. The practice of not differentiating
the investment in key employees leads to incremental improvement and protracts the
time lines to close skill gaps. The implementation tip is to ensure that performance
management is a critical component of the Talent Management Strategy.
In conclusion, introducing Talent Management into the culture and budgets of
nonprofits is a necessary step in the evolution of the sector if the sector is to continue
to serve Canada. The executives are astute enough that they will pace the change but
they will indeed lead the change.
Summary
"A two hour investment with my peers at the Bridge2Success Executive Breakfast Forum is a worthwhile investment. It provides a safe avenue to candidly discuss issues within the nonprofit sector and get honest and helpful feedback.”
Georgina Kossivas
Verity’s Bridge2Success Breakfast
Forum on Talent Management in
the nonprofit sector was a success
due to the knowledge and
experience of our participants, and
the practices of their respective
organizations. While there is no single solution on
how best to help facilitate change
within their organizations the ideas
they shared are applicable and
scalable for all nonprofit
organizations – large or small.
Colleen Fleming, Forum Moderator Managing Director, Bridge2Success
Verity International Limited
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Unique Needs
The nonprofit sector is growing.
At the same time, its
organizations are facing increased
scrutiny and transparency over
processes and efficiency and
fierce competition over funding
dollars and donations. Its own
best practice research has
identified that the combination of
private and nonprofit sector
experience – the Blended Skill Set
– is critical to support
sustainability.
Aligning the work and the sensitive relationship of the board and the CEO/ED, as well as managing the performance of a CEO or Executive Director (ED); and
Meeting the expectations of stakeholders for rigorous processes for selecting a new CEO/ED and managing the renewal of the board, e.g. Slate Selection process.
Bridge2Success (B2S) is Verity’s distinctive practice area dedicated to unique needs of
the nonprofit sector. From coaching executive-level “Bridgers” (leaders moving from
the public or private sectors to the nonprofit sector), to consulting to the boards that
hire them - our unique services make the relationship work and the organizations
stronger.
Bridge2Success is the link – seamlessly “bridging” the skills between private and
public sectors and the nonprofit sector, benefiting the individual, the organization
and the overall
Distinctive Services
Bridge2Success offers a specialized array of services that are a direct response to these
needs.
Board-level Consulting – From how to work with a new CEO/ED from the corporate environment, and to set him/her up for success, to how to get a board to operate together effectively.
Executive Coaching – Coaching for the new CEO/ED, with a focus on how to transition corporate, “For-Profit” skill sets to the nonprofit world, including building skills to support productive board relations.
Selection Consulting – Working with the board to establish and manage/oversee the process of selecting a new CEO/ED and/or members of the board.
Specialized People
Our advisors are carefully selected to bring a unique skill set to our customers and individual clients – knowledge, experience, as well as business and consulting acumen. They are all experienced leaders and board directors, with a keen understanding of the unique challenges Nonprofits face. And most importantly, they have the passion to make a difference.
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ABOUT VERITY
Unlocking the potential in people
Products can be copied. Customer service levels can be matched. Information technology quickly becomes obsolete.
It’s your people who drive competitive advantage and sustained performance.
Verity unlocks the potential in your people.
Consulting solutions for the people side of business
Verity International Limited is a boutique Canadian human resources consulting firm that focuses on the people side of business.
We have decades of experience working as a trusted advisor with a wide-range of organizations, individuals and executives.
“Our mission is to help leaders align their people to build sustainably successful organizations—known for excellence in performance, innovation and employee engagement.”
We clearly understand the balancing act of managing the complexities of human performance, while meeting the demands of all
stakeholders.
Our consulting and coaching solutions are unique and tailored to the specific situation. We believe in developing solutions that are
specialized and results oriented—solutions that unlock the human potential that drives organizational performance and individual
dreams. This is our core skill, our passion and the heart of our approach.
In operation for over 25 years, we have four distinct practice areas:
Bridge2Success
Talent & Organizational Consulting
Executive Advisory Services
Career Management & Transition
We operate in all major cities across Canada through our national Verity Filion partnership and in over 40 countries globally as a
founding member of BPI group.
For more information please visit us at www.verityintl.com.
7
200 King Street West, Suite 1301 Toronto, ON M5H 3T4
Tel: 416-862-8422 Fax: 416-862-2757
www.verityintl.com