The great divide, as it is often thought of in non-profit workplaces, is the disconnect that can exist between employees providing direct service and those working in administrative roles or on a development team. I spent much of my career working in an organization where the program staff were located in the community and the …
How many of you work for small or mid-sized non-profits that don’t employ a human resource professional? For a great deal of organizations, the size of the team and the size of the budget either don’t warrant or don’t allow for the employment of a qualified HR staff member. Although it is may be unreasonable …
I recently shared a post on my social media channels about a generally accepted operational definition of “capacity building”, which I think is a bit of mystery to many, including those who you use the term regularly. That got me thinking – are there other phrases and buzzwords that we throw around in our sector …
Before transitioning into a career as a consultant, I spent almost 15 years working in mostly mid-size social service agencies in Detroit, New York and Chicago. In all that time, I had a male boss for approximately four months. I worked for women at all levels – my boss’ boss and probably even higher than …
Something I always struggled with when working full-time (and who are we kidding, it was way more than full time) at a social service agency was my desire to volunteer or give back outside of the work I did for a paycheck.I have always felt strongly everyone should volunteer their time in some capacity, at …
Although I don’t feel equipped or even inspired to offer any real solutions here (this is more of a venting session), I wanted to write a post about this topic because the oft ambiguous role of an operations manager/director is a phenomenon I’ve experienced personally in my journey as a non-profit manager. I’ve also worked …
What does an operations manager do? Everything, right? Read More »
Without a doubt, silos in the workplace permeate all industries, both for profit and not. However, after more than a year of spending significant time working with an assortment of non-profits, I’m left wondering if perhaps the problem is more commonplace in these organizations. And if not more common, then are workplace silos more difficult …
Are workplace silos worse in non-profits, particularly social services? Read More »
What does it really mean anyway? Well, according to dictionary.com it means: to build a successful working relationship with a superior, manager, or employer. Others have defined the practice as a way to work towards the mutual benefit of both the employee and manager. Fine, those things are important. And they ARE key to an …
I spent many years in the throes of a middle management position (also often known as senior management, program director, leadership team etc.) and though I mostly loved it, there were some challenges that I wonder if other folks in similar roles have also experienced. My favorite part of being in a management role was …
I started to write this just as I was transitioning out of about a dozen years of direct service work. Emotions raw, I was elated at the prospects ahead of me and the freedom I felt in leaving behind the world of weekly on-call rotations, client mental health crises and unrealistic funder demands. The first …