May 29, 2017 Human Resources, Managing People Well, Organisational Strategy

The case for greater flexibility at your NFP

Dr Clare Allen is on a mission.

As CEO of VisAbility – Guide Dogs Ltd in Western Australia, she knows that work-life balance can be challenging for many people working in the NFP sector – particularly those in more senior roles, and for those in frontline services juggling high client work-loads with admin and/or management responsibilities.

That’s why she wants to spread the word about how organisations can move past a focus on “work-life balance” towards a vision of a much more flexible “work-life harmony” that empowers staff to achieve more powerful and healthier results.

May 24, 2017 Leadership, Making Decisions

How to make tough decisions

Making a tough decision about your team or your organisation’s workforce can be, well…tough.

NFP leaders and managers are called upon to make tough decisions as a matter of course. But what do you do when the decision is really important, and it’s really not clear what course of action you should take?

Harvard Business School professor Joseph L. Badaracco is an expert in making what he calls “grey area” problems – ones that can sometimes be difficult to clearly assess. He suggests five practical questions you should ask yourself that can help you and your team illuminate the “greyest of grey areas”.

May 22, 2017 Human Resources, Interviewing, Recruitment

Five hiring strategies to reduce staff turnover at your NFP

Keeping staff for the long-term is difficult for any organisation, but high turnover is a pain that many not-for-profit organisations know better than others.

The negative effects of high turnover are numerous and well-documented: lower productivity, declining morale and significantly higher costs to train newcomers. Organisations also miss out on the huge benefit of institutional knowledge when key people leave.

So what can your organisation learn from one company that has a 95% staff retention rate?

May 17, 2017 Health & Wellbeing, Managing People Well, Professional Development

Can you ‘teach’ staff to be more emotionally resilient?

You may know someone like this at work: optimistic and resilient, they appear to bounce through challenges drawing on an internal strength that helps them work through problems they encounter at work. Always hopeful and positive about the future, they treat stressful events as a “one-off” situation, appearing to have a built-in buffer that protects them against both ordinary and extraordinary events. Perhaps this is even you.

This sort of emotional resilience is often considered innate. But can it be taught?

May 10, 2017 Health & Wellbeing, Managing People Well

Death and the workplace: a compassionate way forward for your organisation

Like going to work, death, dying and bereavement are things that at some point we all have to face. So it’s high time we started having the conversation about how the workplace responds to death and dying. This guest post by Jessie Williams, Executive Director of The Groundswell Project, might help to start the conversation in your organisation.

May 3, 2017 Change Management, Leadership, Managing People Well

Three positive ways to lead your NFP through uncertain and troubling times

It’s no secret that the not-for-profit sector has faced unprecedented instability in recent years, with uncertainty fast becoming the ‘new normal’.

The drastic drop in donations caused by the GFC, constant fluctuations in government funding and sweeping sector reforms like the NDIS are just three examples of massive change – and that doesn’t even touch on the increasingly volatile political climate both in Australia and overseas.

To start developing skills to help lead teams during these uncertain times, and to prepare for change in the future, here are three important lessons for leaders at all levels of your NFP.

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

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.

April 10, 2017 Human Resources, Legal Issues, Organisational Strategy

Is your NFP doing enough to protect whistleblowers?

NFPs aren’t doing enough to protect whistleblowers.

That’s according to the largest survey ever into the topic, examining policies and procedures around whistleblowing at over 700 organisations in Australia and New Zealand.

Protecting whistleblowers is crucial for stamping out fraud or wrongdoing. This post explains exactly where the problems are, and key areas your organisation should focus on to improve.

April 5, 2017 Health & Wellbeing, Organisational Strategy

Could flexible work be damaging the lives of your staff?

Flexible work is on the rise everywhere – particularly in Australia’s not-for-profit sector. But could working flexible hours have a dark side for employees?

In this guest post, Dr Heejung Chung outlines new research which finds that when it comes to work/life balance, having the freedom to work flexibly might not always be a positive force in the lives of employees.

April 3, 2017 Giving Feedback, Managing People Well, Organisational Strategy

Why justice matters in NFPs – and how to make your workplace fairer for everyone

Have you ever considered how fair or “just” your behaviour at work is?

It matters more than you might think. In fact, research shows that if managers behave fairly their staff are more likely to feel committed to their jobs and perform better overall.

The good news is that justice can be embedded into the culture of your organisation – particularly through the improvement of policies and procedures – which can ultimately improve the impact your not-for-profit organisation is able to make.

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