April 29, 2026 Giving Feedback, Leadership, Managing People Well

15 things NFP leaders should always say

We asked jobseekers working in the NFP sector to tell us what advice they’d give their current employer to “help improve the workplace, processes and practices in your organisation?” And guess what came top of the list?

Better communication!

If you want to be a good leader then it’s essential to also be a good communicator. The words you say to your team, no matter how minor you think they might be, can have an impact on job satisfaction and productivity. That makes good communication a core part of every leader’s job.

April 22, 2015 Giving Feedback, Managing People Well, Organisational Strategy, Performance Reviews

Six ways to make your performance management processes really work

According to the latest Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends survey, there’s one area in which organisations are failing significantly – and their leaders know it: Performance management.

Of the 3,300 business and HR leaders surveyed, incredibly just 10 percent believed that their performance management processes were a good use of time. The great news from the survey, however, is that more organisations are changing their approach to performance management, with fantastic results.

Indeed, 75 percent of respondents recognised that performance management an “important” or “very important” issue overall – it just needs to change. So where is it all going wrong?

July 10, 2017 Giving Feedback, Managing People Well

How to communicate compassionately

Why do some teams succeed and ‘flow’ while for others, every day seems like a struggle?

Tthe success or failure of teams often comes down to communication. Not just good communication, but great communication.

But what does great communication look like?

March 11, 2021 Giving Feedback, Human Resources, Managing People Well, Meetings

A simple, powerful tool to embed continuous learning in your NFP

Agile is a framework for working that’s transformed and revolutionised technology development over the last couple of decades.

At the heart of Agile are ideas about experimenting, learning quickly from successes and failures, gathering feedback and iterating.

Perhaps the most widely relevant and useful practice to come out of Agile – and one of the easiest to implement – is the “retrospective”.

June 24, 2021 Culture and Values, Giving Feedback, Managing People Well

How to celebrate success in your team – and why you need to do this more

Saying “great job!” is one of the simplest but most valuable things any leader can say.

What you choose to celebrate tells your team what is important to your organisation and helps them focus their energy on more impactful work.

Here’s how to better celebrate success in your NFP workplace to build a stronger, more motivated team.

August 8, 2016 Giving Feedback, Managing People Well, Volunteer Management

Giving feedback can be tough. These assumptions make it even tougher

Giving tough feedback to your team members is an inevitable part of managing staff or volunteers in any NFP, but can be incredibly challenging for a manager. But according to Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman of US-based leadership development consultancy Zenger/Folkman, these conversations are often harder than they need to be.

April 24, 2017 Culture and Values, Giving Feedback, Managing People Well

Can you build a culture of candid feedback in your team? Here’s how to start

Build a culture of giving candid feedback

In a sector devoted to making the world a better place, creating a culture where everyone feels happy is an important priority for many NFP managers and leaders.

But could you be being too nice?

If you’re withholding feedback from your team because you’re afraid that being candid with staff would conflict with being nice, respectful and warm, the effect could in fact be that your team doesn’t perform at their best, and they miss out on opportunities to improve themselves and the organisation’s overall impact.

So if you’re keen develop a culture of candour and feedback in your team, here are seven steps you should follow.

January 25, 2016 Giving Feedback, Leadership, Managing People Well, Organisational Strategy

NFP managers: Do you struggle to have difficult conversations? These three things can change that

Having a difficult conversation in the workplace can be, well, difficult. Giving criticism is hard – and so is receiving it. As a result, the conversations that need to be had the most often go unspoken, leaving problems and grievances unaddressed and ultimately causing issues like reduced productivity and low morale.

August 11, 2020 Giving Feedback, Managing People Well, Performance Reviews, Remote Work

How to conduct an effective performance review remotely

For most in the NFP sector, 2020 has brought new experiences of working remotely. That means all sorts of processes will need to be adapted for those staff who work remotely – including performance reviews.

So what does an effective performance review look like, done remotely in the middle of a pandemic?

Here are some essential elements to consider as you plan performance reviews for your staff working remotely.

July 22, 2019 Giving Feedback, Recruitment

What do you tell unsuccessful job applicants? Five ways to improve your game

What do you tell unsuccessful job applicants? If you’re like most organisations, the answer is probably: nothing. You might not even be emailing them to let them know they’re unsuccessful.

But consider that many of the candidates that you’re rejecting could be potential candidates for similar roles in the future! Communicating well with candidates through every step of the recruitment process will not only help your organisation’s “employer brand”, it can lead to higher quality applicants in the long term.

Here are five things to consider to make giving unsuccessful candidates feedback an easy and valuable process.