It is no secret that many nonprofit organizations struggle to stay afloat, using all available resources to fulfill their mandate, with the majority of funds usually going toward services and programs. These groups may feel it is neither feasible nor realistic to direct money into their organization. After all, they are in business to help others, not themselves. However, nonprofits that invest in their own organizations, particularly in the area of employee development and training, find that they are stronger and better equipped to carry out their mission.
Boosting confidence makes all the difference
As one of Canada’s largest nonprofit conservation organizations, the Canadian Wildlife Federation has worked for 40 years to protect Canadian wildlife and their habitats. Despite the large scope of their work, Sandi McQuillan, manager of purchasing and human resources, says the organization has always allocated funds to assist in staff development. “With things forever changing, employees approach their managers about available training on an on-demand basis. If there is something out there pertaining to their job, what is new and going on, they are certainly able to do that.” She says it is important for organizations to make their employees aware of the fact that they are willing to cooperate financially when it comes to professional development.
Offering training not only allows staff to keep abreast of changes and advances in their field, McQuillan says they benefit in other ways as well. “Certainly for the employee, it gives them a feeling of being up to date and I think it reduces stress. In a lot of cases people worry too much about [keeping current] and sometimes it just takes that first step, to take a course and find out that they are not as far behind as they thought they were.” This boost in staff confidence and morale can go a long way in an organization, and as McQuillan notes, can also positively affect employee retention rates.
Liz Hong-Farrell, associate executive director with Volunteer Canada, agrees that staff development can make all the difference. “It certainly does raise morale when staff know that we are willing to invest in their learning. They come back after their training ready and eager to put the course into action.” She says one of the biggest challenges of offering training is the cost. “Private training courses are very expensive and you don’t normally get a “bulk” training rate unless several people from the same office want to take part in the course. It becomes difficult then to schedule training time that will accommodate all those involved, while not completely shutting down the office while training goes on.”
Going high-tech may be the answer for some
The Victorian Order of Nurses found an efficient way to offer accessible and consistent employee training to all of its members by turning to online learning. It is currently in the process of launching its third course on management in the nonprofit sector, covering topics ranging from how a charitable organization operates, to developing and delivering programs and services. “We have branches from Newfoundland to BC and we wanted to give a national perspective on things and bring people together,” says human resources advisor Kimberley Gunn-Brousseau. “We also want to increase the technical savvy of our people and get everyone to the same level.” She admits that not everyone was keen about online learning when the organization introduced it a year and a half ago, but support is offered to help people through the process and the response has grown more favourable in the last six months.
Online learning benefits VON employees in terms of the information provided but also because of its flexibility. “It gives them the opportunity to learn when they want, as opposed to going to a classroom at a specific time,” Gunn-Brousseau explains. It also benefits VON Canada because online learning is more cost-effective than offering formalized courses, but she says you can’t totally eliminate the face-to-face aspect of training. Her advice to other organizations looking to the Internet for employee development: “You need to inform people that [the tools] are there and how to access them. Communication is very important when you launch something like this and having a support system, a live body they can talk to, is also very important.”
Making staff development a priority
Judi Piggott, director of training and human resource development for the Alliance for Arts and Culture, understands very well the need for staff development. As an umbrella arts service organization, one of their tasks is to help members become more effective in their jobs, by providing training initiative programs that address the needs of cultural workers. The alliance also leads by example. “Our resources are very slim, but even so, part of our budgeting process is to make sure there is money set aside for professional development of our staff,” Piggott says. “We do performance reviews to find out what people feel they need in order to do their jobs better, to grow, to keep interested, or to keep up with technology. People need to have some control over that.”
As a human resources professional, Piggott knows from experience that sometimes investing in employee development means staff may leave to pursue other opportunities, but she doesn’t necessarily view that as a negative. “Some of these things have more of a long term effect and anyone who is focused on the short term won’t always see the payoff,” she says. “Even if people leave you because they have outgrown the job you have for them, and leave on good terms, then you have an ambassador somewhere else.”
For more information about the Canadian Wildlife Federation, visit: www.cwf-fcf.org/ and for more information about Volunteer Canada, go to: www.volunteer.ca. To learn more about the Victorian Order of Nurses, visit: www.von.ca/, and for more information about the Alliance for Arts and Culture, visit: www.allianceforarts.com/.
