July 4, 2023 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Managing People Well

How micro-accommodations can fight back against discrimination

Discrimination is a complex phenomenon, involving a mix of big and small, intentional and unthinking, acts. Sexism or racism can be a large “not welcome” sign, but it can also be a series of micro-aggressions that leave women or racial minorities feeling marginalised, stigmatised or emotionally exhausted from repeated attempts to claim their rightful place on the team or at the table.

In the guest post, Professor Rosalind Dixon from the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law offers some valuable advice for managers to help employees thrive, rather than just survive, at work.

September 30, 2021 Culture and Values, Managing People Well

How to foster psychological safety in your team

Finding the secret to building high performing teams is every NFP manager’s dream but it’s a tricky business.

While there’s no perfect formula for the composition of a great team, the highest performing teams do have one key ingredient in common – psychological safety.

September 15, 2021 Managing People Well, Organisational Strategy, Productivity

Are your organisation’s teams too big?

What are the most important things to consider when building an effective team? Experience? Communication skills? Resilience? The ability to play well with others? All important.

But there’s another potentially make-or-break measure that could have just as much impact on the success of your team – size.

July 29, 2021 Culture and Values, Health & Wellbeing, Managing People Well

How to build a more resilient team

The unprecedented challenges of the pandemic have tested many NFP employees to their limits. So why have some been able to bounce back and carry on while others have struggled?

The answer may be resilience – a characteristic that gives teams the capacity to survive and even thrive in the face of adversity.

And the good news is it’s not an innate trait. It can be developed.

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.

May 26, 2021 Human Resources, Managing People Well, Recruitment

What is a “growth mindset” and why is it so important for your staff?

Stanford psychology professor Carol Dweck has spent her life studying human motivation. She’s undertaken decades of painstaking research to understand why people succeed (or don’t) and what’s within our control when it comes to success and failure.

Typically skills and experience are high on the list of priorities during a recruitment process. But Dweck’s theory suggests that mindset may be an even more powerful determinant of both professional effectiveness and leadership potential.

May 17, 2021 Health & Wellbeing, Managing People Well

How to help your team get more sleep

Lack of sleep may be triggering the next workplace health crisis: almost four in ten Australians admitting they aren’t getting a good night’s rest.

Educating managers about sleep and its benefits is crucial to ensuring they can manage teams to deliver maximum impact to your organisation – and your clients who depend on them.

March 24, 2021 Culture and Values, Leadership, Managing People Well

How to build a culture of trust in your organisation

Employees who trust their organisation are more loyal, engaged, committed, and will advocate for their workplace – so how can leaders build an organisation-wide culture of trust?

If you’d like to build greater trust in your NFP’s workplace, here are 5 key ways trust can be built and improved.

March 16, 2021 Health & Wellbeing, Managing People Well

How to have a conversation with a colleague who doesn’t seem like their usual self

Have you noticed a workmate behaving differently? Do they not seem their usual self?

Many people will be hesitant to start a conversation but this may be pivotal in them getting the help and support that they need to get and stay well.

Here are some tips for having that conversation.

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”.