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Wednesday, March 2, 2010
Mosaic

 

Dear Nonprofit CEO: A Message From Your Employees

By Todd Owens, Principal, Dewey & Kaye


Recently, I had the privilege of meeting with two dozen of the most talented, motivated and enthusiastic young people in the nonprofit sector. These were not the individuals highlighted in recent research about the lack of talented leadership to fill the void created by the baby boomers that founded many nonprofit organizations across the country. The occasion was the first in a series of Executive Director 101 Seminars presented by the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network.

During my time with these committed leaders we discussed some tactics and strategies they can utilize to move from worker to manager and from manager to leader. We started out by discussing the traits, behaviors and characteristics of their best and worst managers.

What we know from the wealth of research on employee retention and hiring is the following:

  • The majority of individuals leave a job due to a mismatch between their understanding of what is expected in the job, workplace, work environment, etc.
  • The other major reason individuals leave a job is due to poor management, lack of faith in management, or a lack of trust and ethical fitness in their manager
  • Employee turnover is costly – estimates vary between 1 and 3 times the individuals annual salary depending on their seniority and level of responsibility
  • Pay is rarely the reason that exempt, non-hourly employees leave a job

So, Nonprofit CEO, what did these individuals most frequently mention as the traits of their favorite managers?

  • Provided clear direction on the end goal, but trusted them to determine the means
  • Respected me, trusted me, included me
  • Understood what motivated me and that as a nonprofit employee I sought different goals than my colleagues that worked in the private sector
  • Empowered me and delegated responsibility
  • Communicative! And utilized various communication platforms effectively
  • Thanked me in a manner that was appropriate
  • Shared power and didn't take credit for what others did
  • Trust, honesty, ethically fit, genuine, transparency, passionate

And the most mentioned worst manager traits were:

  • Extreme micromanagement
  • Indecisiveness, floundering on decision making (this was observed as sometimes being initiated by board micromanagement of the CEO), inconsistency
  • Faux empowerment – making an employee think they have power to make a decision, when in fact they don't
  • Do not know how to provide constructive feedback and doesn't recognize the successes of individuals or the team
  • Doesn't understand the impact of management decisions throughout the organization
  • A lack of vision
  • And perhaps my favorite quote of the day – "Leaders who think that ambiguity is a catalyst for creativity"

So, what are a few things you can do to work towards putting the "favorite manager" traits on the credit side of your leadership ledger?

  • Communication is rule #1 – If you don't tell the story or share information, your employees will create the narrative and it"s usually not positive.
  • Know yourself – through a psychometric behavioral assessment (DISC, MBTI, TriMetrix, PI) you can get a much better glimpse of how you and others see yourself. Utilize this information to make yourself a better manager and start down the path to better understanding those on your team. Learn the other styles and tendencies and incorporate this into your management, communication, reinforcement and management approaches.
  • Hire for diversity – And this is not a reminder about racial/gender/sexual orientation diversity. We tend to hire in our own likeness, which can create a dysfunctional team. Hire individuals with different styles and approaches, assess them, and use that enhanced understanding to build a truly effective management team.
  • Provide feedback, but also ASK for feedback – Responses I get to the interview question "How do your employees describe you?" always amaze me. When people respond with, "I think they'd say…" it's difficult for me not to assume that this person isn't an enlightened manager. A formal 360 degree assessment does not have to be in place for a manager to simply ask, "How am I doing?" "What could I do to better support you in your work?" or "What could I do to improve my management of the team/organization?"
  • Individuals often learn more from their failures than their successes – Success feels good, and failure feels bad. However, from that failure comes lessons that can be better engrained in employees if you seize the teachable moment. Don't be a screamer as the message will get lost in the delivery. Create an environment where a certain level of failure is acceptable and normal. After all, nobody is perfect.
  • Challenge your employees – Seek out and identify stretch opportunities that will build their skills sets, cross train your team, and allow them to grow and expand their thinking. You'll keep them longer and have fulfilled employees who can contribute more to your organization.
  • Finally, take a break –  Find out what motivates each of your employees and reward them with something along those lines every once in a while. Money is not always everyone's motivator, particularly in the nonprofit sector. It might be a nice afternoon off to ride their bike, or flexibility to attend a child's event. Get to know your employees as people (not just worker bees), and treat them as such.

The future of the nonprofit workforce is bright indeed. These talented leaders had some interesting perspectives on management, and some experiences from which we can all learn. So, Nonprofit CEO, take note and make sure you're doing all you can to retain, challenge, motivate, reward and empower your employees.

 

Todd Owens is a Principal with the Dewey & Kaye division of McCrory & McDowell. He loves any day spent outdoors, and the pursuit of pristine single track trails. He can be reached at towens@deweykaye.com, called at 412.434.1335, or connected with on LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/in/linktoddowens. Connect with him.

 

Dewey & Kaye