For job seekers, what determines if a prospective employer is a good one? Can the job actually be accomplished and does the organization’s culture enable success? For employers, how does a board know if they have something attractive to sell to a high-quality employee?

Experience in this sector tells me that there are some nonprofits who are better employers than others. Issues around comparative compensation levels to the private and public sectors may be the shortcoming some will think of first, however, in my experience there are other reasons why some nonprofit organizations should be avoided as places to work.

Here is a check-list for people to reference as they seek work in a nonprofit. This list will help to evaluate whether there is good potential for a successful employment relationship.

It is also a valuable check-list for boards because the organizations that can answer these questions positively are more likely to attract and retain excellent staff. If not, the list can become an excellent work plan for the board to begin transitioning to becoming an employer of choice in the nonprofit sector.

Culture, history, and constituency

When I did research a number of years ago on executive termination, I was surprised to learn that 25% of people who get fired were working for an organization that has fired staff, with frequency, in the past. Among the issues a prospective employee will want to consider:

• Where is the organization in its evolution? If the board is hiring staff for the first time (previously all work done by volunteers), recognize that there may be resistance by some volunteers to pass work on and give control over to the new executive director.
• Consider as well the nature of the constituency. Professions that thrive on detail may inherit a culture where volunteers are prone to micromanage or drift from governance into an operational focus. Entrepreneurs may be used to running their own operation and always getting their own way, which may lead to some fractious board meetings or conflict with staff on whether to patiently build consensus before moving forward with a new program.

 

Governance

What is the sophistication of governance at the organization? There are some questions a prospective employee may want to ask:

• What board training and orientation occurs, and how frequently? In addition to orientation for newcomers to a board or committee, is there ongoing training and development taking place (e.g., does the board formally discuss its own performance and take time to hone their governance skills)?
• If the job interview is with one or more directors, ask as the potential employee what it means to them to fulfill their fiduciary responsibility. Do volunteers understand they have a duty to look out for the best interests of the organization, or do they see themselves as the voice of an interest group to advocate for a singular agenda?
• Is there scattered accountability in the organization? It is certainly good practice for a board to delegate responsibilities to a committee or to the executive director. But who is held accountable when the work is not done, especially if the delegation has been passed to more than one party (e.g., think of the fundraising event chaired by a member and managed by a committee, but where staff may be held accountable for work they do not do, and cannot control). The organization chart may be a good indicator of these relationships.
• Be attuned to potential volunteer misconduct. This may be very difficult to gauge in a job interview and will be dependent on keen observational skills. Hopefully at a senior staff level the board chair will be involved in the hiring process; as a candidate see if the chair refers to their term of office as “my mandate” or speaks more about the board’s strategy and how it functions as a team and partners with staff.

 

A colleague running a nonprofit organization has a good analogy in explaining his role to the board. “I am the pilot of the plane whom you’ve hired to be responsible for it. Tell me where you want to go and once underway, sit back in the cabin. If I keep taking you to the incorrect destination, it’s time to ask if you need a better pilot. But owning the plane does not qualify you to fly it, and even if you have a pilot license only the designated pilot should have command of the controls.”

Organizational and job outcomes

Does the organization have a strategic plan as well as a consensus on the outcomes that constitute successful performance? Be wary if asked to take responsibility for a journey that has no destination and no map.

• It is telling to ask how a strategic plan has come together, notably whether there has been any consultation with members or stakeholder research on what matters most to those the organization exists to serve. The board or small group of volunteers that in isolation sets the organization’s course puts staff at risk in the future, because the next board (coming to office in a year or two) may believe management has performed well but has been doing all of the wrong things. Plans and activities must have relevance to members.
• It is vital for deliverables to be clear. A good question to answer in a hiring process is, “In one year what must be achieved to earn a salary increase, performance bonus, and above average performance review?”
• Related to deliverables is the presence and use of a performance management system in the organization. Are performance reviews occurring consistently, using objective criteria? The key here is feedback to the employee, evidence-based achievements to the organization’s plan, and career development. It is de-motivating for staff to not be able to measure their progress — people cannot improve if they have no knowledge of how they are performing or the support of their employer to invest in training.

 

With thousands of nonprofit organizations competing for staff, and each organization’s board and constituents expecting outstanding performance on the issues and needs the organization addresses, employers in the sector need to be certain they have the factors in place that will fulfil their objectives. The alternative is to condemn the organization to systemic mediocrity. As one wise sage has said, “If you always do what you’ve always done you will always get what you’ve always got.”

Content is © Jack Shand and is reprinted with permission.

Jack Shand, CMC, CAE, is president of Leader Quest, a management consulting firm providing expert advice to not-for-profit organizations since 1997. Leader Quest specializes in executive search/staff recruitment, strategic planning, governance, and organizational reviews. Jack can be reached at 905-842-3845 and 1-877-929-4473, or jack-at-leaderquest-dot-com.