November 11, 2015 Health & Wellbeing

Time to take a sick day: working when ill is bad for you – and your organisation

Feeling ill? Well, staying at home would seem to be the sensible course of action. Yet for many, going to work while sick has become the norm, even a necessity in the face of the pressures placed on us by the organisations which employ us. In many cases, illness is no longer seen as a valid reason for not working; rather, it is considered to be something that people must put up with and get over. Sick days are for wimps. Yet, working while ill – or “presenteeism” – adds to the costs of organisations.

November 2, 2015 Giving Feedback, Leadership, Managing People Well

How to be compassionate in challenging conversations

Do you dread having tricky conversations with colleagues about performance, pay, restructuring or workplace conflict?

Throughout a career, every not-for-profit leader will face these conversations. But for many, they can be the most difficult parts of a job.

October 21, 2015 Conference, Human Resources, Managing People Well, Organisational Strategy

100 percent staff engagement, is it possible? Starlight Children’s Foundation’s Susan Henry says yes

Since Susan Henry joined Starlight Children’s Foundation in 2001, they’ve twice been accredited as an Aon Hewitt Best Employer. With staff engagement currently sitting at a phenomenal 89%, we had a chat with her to try and find out what the secret is.

October 14, 2015 Conference, Managing People Well, Organisational Strategy

How one Dutch NFP is revolutionising community service using self-managing teams – with Yumi Stamet

In the lead-up to her presentation at the 2015 Not-For-Profit People Conference, Yumi Stamet – a Workforce Adviser for the National Disability Services (NDS) – spoke with us about Buurtzorg, a Dutch NFP that has grown from just 4 staff in 2006 to over 8,000 staff today, by pioneering a system of self-managing teams. Buurtzorg has the most satisfied workforce of any Dutch company with more than 1,000 employees.

September 22, 2015 Conference, Health & Wellbeing, Managing People Well

The path to happiness at work, with Dr Timothy Sharp

Dr. Timothy Sharp is the founder & CHO (Chief Happiness Officer) of The Happiness Institute – Australia’s first and now largest organisation devoted solely to enhancing happiness for individuals, families and organisations. In the lead-up to his presentation at the 2015 Not-For-Profit People Conference, Dr. Sharp spoke with us about what happiness at work looks like, why it’s important and how you can help staff to find it.

September 16, 2015 Leadership, Organisational Strategy

Empathetic leaders mean better performing organisations: new research

Compassion. Integrity. Responsibility. Forgiveness. As a not-for-profit professional there’s a good chance you hold these character traits dear. As the leader in your organisation, they may also make you up to five times more effective.

September 9, 2015 Giving Feedback, Managing People Well

Six effective ways to have that difficult conversation at work

Employees want more feedback. Gen Y employees in particular, want constant feedback. Managers however are often reluctant to give feedback if they fear that what starts as a rational conversation may degenerate into an emotional one.

In this guest post, Grace McCarthy provides some simple guidelines to help managers to achieve positive outcomes from these difficult conversations.

September 2, 2015 Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Legal Issues, Managing People Well

Staff with kids? This new website is here to help.

“Higher absenteeism, lower productivity, higher staff turnover… as well as reputational damage”. They’re just a few of the issues arising from an alarming amount of workplace discrimination uncovered by the Australian Human Rights Commission related to pregnancy, parental leave or returning to work from leave. Fortunately, there’s a fantastic new website to address these very issues.

August 17, 2015 Conference, Leadership, Managing People Well, Organisational Strategy, Professional Development

6 steps to improve your staff training – and increase staff retention too

Even with the knowledge that training and development can have a massive impact on your staff and organisation’s performance, being able to invest time and money in it can still be a challenge for many NFP organisations. In this post we explore the big question of “how?” for NFPs that want to take the next steps.

August 10, 2015 Professional Development

3 reasons why investing in staff training will supercharge your organisation’s impact

Six dollars. That’s the huge return to not-for-profit organisations from each dollar they invest in staff training and development, according to a ground-breaking new report from the University of Western Australia’s Centre for Social Impact.

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