Talented managers in the nonprofit sector are in short supply — or so they tell me. Yet I talk daily to people with excellent qualities, abilities and education who are interested in nonprofit careers.

What’s really going on here?

On the one hand, the demand for well-qualified professionals who can come into an organization and produce results quickly has exploded. So has the complexity of issues facing charity fundraisers in the last decade. The stunning growth of organizations such as the Canadian Association of Gift Planners and the Association of Fundraising Professionals reflects the demand for increased knowledge and professionalism in the sector. As charities and other nonprofits mature and grow, their increasingly ambitious fundraising targets and the public’s escalating demand for transparency are fueling a push for a higher calibre of managerial talent.

On the other hand, a whole new stream of young — and not-so-young — talent is choosing to work in the nonprofit sector, either as a first-choice career or following stints in the for-profit arena. At the same time, retention has developed as an issue, with our best and brightest seemingly ready to switch jobs the way they switch restaurants. And, as the shift in importance from financial to intellectual capital in the marketplace is reflected in civil society, would-be recruits are increasingly calling the shots: where they’re willing to work, what perks they’re seeking, their salary expectations, the desire for instant status and platinum parachutes.

Nonprofits that have a plan to attract, develop and retain top talent will see a dramatic boost in organizational performance. In fact, this is the key challenge facing any nonprofit manager: strengthen your organization’s talent pool dramatically to meet current and future demands…or wither, become irrelevant, cease to be a player.

Most nonprofits have developed vision and mission statements. They have dragged their boards off to strategic planning sessions. They have discussed budgets ad nauseam. But many don’t know how to attract, grow and nurture the golden boys and girls who will bring them success.

Position your organization to attract talent

Ed Michaels, Helen Handfield-Jones and Beth Axelrod, authors of The War for Talent (Harvard Business School Press), recently surveyed 13,000 managers and identified five imperatives that companies need to act on to win the war for managerial talent.

1. Embrace a talent mindset. To deliver the best services, raise more money and more effectively fulfill your community role, you have to set the tone at the top. Make all the leaders of your organization part of the talent sourcing, recruiting and engaging process. And remember that the process never stops. Always be on the lookout for talented people and always be ready to incorporate them into the organization, not just when you have a vacant position to fill.

2. Craft a winning employee value proposition. According to McKinsey & Company’s War for Talent 2000 Survey, the critical items that middle and senior managers look for when deciding whether to join a for-profit and/or nonprofit appear to be identical.

These are:

• Interesting, challenging work
• Work they feel passionate about
• Career advancement opportunities
• Long-term commitment by the organization
• Ability to build skills to boost their careers
• Commitment by senior mangers
• Promotion of high performers
• A well-managed company/organization
• Good relations with the boss
• Culture and values that they believe in
• Trust of senior management
• A boss they admire
• Compensation commensurate with ability/market

Countless hours are often put into mission and vision statements, but most organizations have not crafted a winning employee value proposition. This should express the sum of everything people experience in your organization: environment, leadership, compensation, training and development plans. In short, it’s a statement of how your nonprofit meets people’s needs and expectations and even helps them fulfill their dreams. It should answer the question, “Why would anyone want to work here?”

3. Rebuild your recruitment strategy. Does your organization really hunt for talented people? You may need to re-examine your past recruiting patterns in the current war for talent. For example, smart organizations see a “slow economy” as an opportunity to capture top-notch talent that, at other times, may be more elusive. It used to be that when you needed to fill a position, you developed a specific job description and then went looking. Now, however, you should be constantly seeking excellent people and hiring when they become available. What if the position they will eventually fill is not open? Try giving them a special project.

At first glance, this may not appear feasible, given most nonprofits’ tight budgets. But talented people can often be hired on a contractual basis so that you can assess their work and they can get to know the organization.

Remember, recruitment is no longer the exclusive sphere of the human resources department. It’s now everyone’s job. Ask those already working for your nonprofit to scout potential employees at conferences, courses and association meetings.

4. Integrate staff development into your organizational plan. Today, you must not only be recruiting all the time, but you must also learn to sell your organization to attract the best candidates. One way to do this is through staff development. Citing lack of budget and time, many nonprofits do next to nothing to develop their employees. Yet one of the key questions candidates ask recruiters is about training and advancement opportunities. And many talented managers leave positions if the feel they are not growing.

To attract and retain top-notch people, nonprofits should take a page from their corporate cousins, who have devised innovative ways to offer top performers more challenging opportunities and have developed coaching and mentoring systems. There probably wouldn’t be so much movement in the nonprofit world if managers took more time to mentor employees.

There are two elements to this: 1) training senior managers to coach and mentor effectively, give candid feedback and coach staff on their strengths and weaknesses; and, 2) allocating enough funds to staff development so that employees at all levels can take courses. This will also help to address a common failing: the placement of candidates in senior staff positions without ensuring they have mastered the basics — finance, operations, marketing and human resources.

5. Differentiate and affirm your people. Who is really doing a top-notch job in your organization? What does your performance contract look like for individual managers and teams? How do you know who your high and low performers are? When was the last time you conducted candid, written performance reviews? How do you reward, really reward, your top performers?

Many nonprofit organizations prefer to see themselves as egalitarian and non-judgmental. But only if you differentiate employees and identify top performers can you take steps to retain and develop these gems. You should also be seeking out, assisting and developing second-level performers so that they can reach their potential, and acting decisively on the lowest performers. Jack Welch, retired CEO of General Electric, noted that it is a kindness to help those who are nonperformers leave the company and find situations where their talents can flourish.

This article previously appeared on www.crawfordconnect.com/mappingthejourney.html and is reprinted with permission.

As the new president of crawfordconnect Deborah connects nonprofit organizations with executives and senior fundraisers. In her 24 years in nonprofit, Deborah has consulted with charities throughout Canada and the USA. She is an active volunteer and currently serves as a board member with the Association of Fundraising Professionals Golden Horseshoe Chapter. You can contact her today at deborah@crawfordconnect.com.