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In This Edition:
News Update: •Buffet's Philanthropy Push Won't Move The Needle
Tips Section:
•Volunteers …
Is the Pool Half Empty or Half Full? •Management …
5 Strategic Planning Concepts •Human Resources...
Deciding Who is a Low Potential Employee Buffett’s Philanthropy Push Won’t Move The Needle
By Paul Clolery Billionaire Warren Buffett reportedly drives his own Cadillac DTS, doesn’t have a cell phone and doesn’t have a computer on his desk. What an inspiration he is to us all, really. The average American drives a much less expensive car, made by a General Motors division other than Cadillac, uses a cell phone or other personal digital assistant because the work day is now 24 hours long and often has both a desktop computer and a laptop. So it stands to reason that regular donors are going to be inspired to be more like Warren and give away half their estate to charity or some type of philanthropy of their personal choosing. In this economy, that would be half of the barrel people are wearing because they’ve lost everything else in the markets from which Buffett has made his billions. Click Here to Read Complete Article... Volunteers…
Is the pool half empty or half full? Who volunteers? A nonprofit volunteer coordinator might answer: “Not enough people.†A
sociologists might say “everyone†because volunteers come from many backgrounds. There is definitely no one-size-fits-all way of describing volunteers, but Marc A. Musick and John Wilson offer an in-depth look at volunteers and volunteering in their book Volunteers: A Social
Profile. They discuss four personality traits and how they factor into volunteering. • Extroversion. People who are comfortable, even take pleasure in, interacting with a wide range of people are probably more likely to find volunteer work more attractive. • Empathy. Psychologists agree that empathy must be accompanied by a feeling of responsibility for
the welfare of others to motivate volunteer work. • Trust. Ironically, the precise meaning of trust is contented, but it is generally accepted that being a trusting person makes it easier to volunteer. Further, one intriguing possibility is that trusting people
are more likely to volunteer for those types of activities that involve providing services to others in
need but less likely to volunteer for activities involving confrontation with authorities or working to change the system. • Self-efficacy. Definitions of this can vary, but these people are unlikely to waste their time or undertake any project if they have little confidence it will bear fruit. Management …
5 strategic planning concepts Strategic planning is another of those concepts that can give warm and fuzzy feelings. It is also one that is extremely important, but can be undermined badly if not done properly. In their book The Charismatic Organization, Shirley Sagawa and Deborah Jospin offer advice about the strategic planning process. Such a process should involve a broad cross-section of stakeholders and bring a strong mix of information and expertise to the process. In addition, any strategic-planning process should: • Be clear from the beginning about what the process will accomplish and how it will get there. • Be led by a small team, selected from among board members and their staff for their leadership, expertise, creativity, listening skills and strategic sense, who have the respect of the ultimate decision makers. • Allow substantial input that will help the team understand the environment in which the organization works; its strengths and weaknesses, views of staff, board members, volunteers, donors and other stakeholders; potential future scenarios and other data that will help answer key strategic questions facing the organization. • Allow more than one draft, including the opportunity for staff and stakeholders to comment at various points in the process, which allows any problems to surface in time for them to be addressed. • Be consistent with the culture of the organization. Human Resources …
Deciding who is a low potential employee Imagine a happy organization where everybody is motivated, talented, doing a great job. For many nonprofit managers, such a scenario exists only in the imagination. Personnel management can be difficult even in good circumstances, but when employees fail to do their jobs adequately, or at all, the headaches just increase and magnify. In his book You’ve Gotta Have Heart, Cass Wheeler, former CEO of the American Heart Association, offers suggestions about understanding just where the problem lies with what he calls a Low Potential Employee. He poses a series of questions aimed at helping gain that knowledge: • Does this person know how to do the job or task required? Many supervisors think this problem can be solved just with more training. Some problems can be fixed, but Wheeler contends that most cannot. • Does this person clearly understand the results needed to achieve and how to make that happen? Results can be nullified if a trail of arguments, wasted money or angry volunteers accompanies them. • Does this person have a plan with interim benchmarks to get from Point A to Point B? Have you provided the tools and resources necessary to accomplish the job you asked this person to do? • Is this person receiving time and coaching from you as a manager? Sometimes, the problem lies with the way the person is being managed. Update your email address! Simply click here and let us know your new address Make Sure We Move Too!
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