Transcript Leadership, Management and Supervision

Managing People
in Nonprofit Organizations:
Part II
Thomas P. Holland, Ph.D.
Institute for Nonprofit Organizations
University of Georgia
THIS IS PART II OF THE
TRAINING UNIT ON
LEADERSHIP AND
MANAGEMENT OF
NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.
THIS PART FOCUSES ON
MANAGING PEOPLE.
Managing People includes
• Writing job descriptions
• Preparing personnel
policies
• Hiring
• Delegating
• Problem solving
• Motivating
•
•
•
•
Communicating
Managing meetings
Making presentations
Appraising
performance
• Developing staff
• Dealing with conflicts
• Firing
Defining a New Job Role
• Recognize need through problems in completing
work assignments or
• Anticipate need when planning for new service or
program
• Specify tasks and competencies through examination
of current job roles and gaps
• Identify how new role fits with organizational
structure, work flow
• Write job description
• Estimate costs, including salary, benefits, taxes
Writing Job Descriptions
• Define the tasks, functions, responsibilities
expected of the position
• Specify to whom person reports
• Identify the knowledge, skills, experience, and
qualifications needed to do the job
• Describe the criteria and means for assessing
work performance
• Set salary and benefits
Competencies
• Competencies are sets of behaviors that include
skills, knowledge, abilities, and personal attributes
that are critical to successful work accomplishment.
• Identifying competencies needed to accomplish
organizational goals serves to
– describe the ideal workforce
– inform management decisions about feasible
objectives
– guide employee behaviors and expectations
– provide basis for job descriptions, hiring, and for
staff training and development
– Identify work tasks that should be outsourced
Personnel Policies
• Set forth the guidelines and rules governing
behavior as a member of the organization,
including
– Classifications
– Requirements
– Prohibitions
– Procedures, regulations
• Ensure consistency in personnel decisions
• Minimize staff dissatisfaction, grievances
Typical Components
• 1. Job classifications
• 2. Terms and conditions
of employment
• 3. Affirmative action
• 4. Recruitment
procedures
• 5. Compensation
• 6. Benefits
• 7 Work schedules
• 8. Attendance and leaves
• 9. Holiday schedules
• 10. Leaves of absence
• 11. Vacation time
• 12. Confidentiality
• 13. Conflicts of interest
• 14. Harassment & substance
abuse rules
• 15. Safety regulations
• 16. Performance reviews
• 17. Staff development
• 18. Termination
• 19. Appeals, grievances
• 20. Work products and
files
• 21. Forms for
– Time off
– Expense reimbursement
– Annual reviews
Generating Applications
•
•
•
•
Prepare job description
Decide if role is to be staff or volunteer
Advertise the position, starting internally
Provide sufficient information for reader to do selfscreening
– Title and general responsibilities
– Required skills, experience, education, limitations
– Closing date for consideration
– Identify application forms and supporting
documents required (ie. resume, recommendation
letters, references)
– Contact information
Screening Applications
•
•
•
•
Examine applicant’s career objectives
Work history, jobs, dates, gaps
Competencies match those needed by organization?
On best candidates, gather and evaluate reference
letters
• Get others’ views of applications
• Select a few finalists for further investigation
Interviewing Applicants
• Contact those on final list to set interview times, location,
expectations
• Prepare interview questions and follow them consistently in
every interview
• Questions must focus on performing the duties of the job, not
about characteristics unrelated to job (ie. age, marital status,
religion, handicapping conditions)
• Consider open-ended questions, such as
– “Why do you thing your skills are appropriate for this position?”
– “What was your biggest challenge in past job and how did you handle
it?”
• Introduce them to others in organization
• Ask about salary expectations and when person could begin
work
Compensation
• A systematic approach to providing monetary value
to employees in exchange for work performed
• Forms
– Base pay
– Commissions
– Overtime
– Merit pay
– Travel, meals, housing allowances
– benefits
Candidate Selection
• Get impressions of everyone who saw applicants,
starting with interviewer(s)
– Ask which they prefer and why
– Ask about perceived gaps, problems
• Look for one with most positive recommendations
• Take recommendation to final decision-maker
• Inform finalist by telephone and letter
Orienting Newcomer
• Go over in greater detail the position, expectations,
limitations, policies and procedures, resources,
questions
• Take to office and provide keys, supplies, important
documents, and individual copy of personnel manual
• Tour facility and introduce staff, including executive,
supervisor, mentor
• Invite group to meet for lunch, encourage other
social interactions
• Schedule any needed training
• Meet with person regularly to resolve questions
about position, performance expectations and
reviews, common challenges
Make use of Volunteers
• Traditional “busy-work” not interesting or motivating
to most people
• Begin with workforce needs and identify tasks at all
levels that may be done by volunteers
• Must engage staff in planning
• Follow similar steps of preparing job description,
recruitment, screening, orienting, training,
supervising, firing
• Monitor performance and satisfactions, make
adjustments to retain good volunteers
• Recognition and appreciation are essential for
retention
Delegation
• Assign responsibility for accomplishing a goal
or objective to a member of the staff
• Allow that person to formulate activities
needed to accomplish assignment
– Builds motivation
– Increases competencies
• Risk of assuming “Why bother? I could do the
work in much less time.”
Steps of delegation
 Give whole tasks to individuals/ teams
 Select the right person/team for tasks, matching skills
and interests with tasks
 Clearly specify results expected, not the methods for
accomplishing them
 Make sure recipient understands and agrees with
assignment
 Agree on criteria for monitoring progress, times for
reporting & feedback
 Maintain open lines of two-way communication
 Set up means for addressing problems/ barriers
 Evaluate and reward successful performance
Problem Solving
• Problems inevitably arise when people try to work together
• Impulse is to react in ways that have been used before
• Satisficing: looking close to familiar solutions, selecting easiest
one (fewest demands) to apply
• Instead, seek to understand why you and others think there is
a problem
• Ask what do we see, where, how occurring, when, with
whom, why, own role in it?
• Seek to frame the issue in ways different from past
• Engage others in examining definitions and potential solutions
• Set priorities in addressing components
Further steps in problem-solving
• Examine potential causes for the problem; ask
for views and advice from staff, peers,
managers, outsiders
• Brainstorm to identify creative alternative
approaches to solving it in long term,
including asking others views, opinions
• Screen alternatives for feasibility, likelihood of
long-term resolution, risks and benefits,
potential consequences
Staff Motivation
• Motivating others starts with motivating yourself. Enthusiasm
is contagious. What energizes you?
• Find out what motivates other individuals (ask, listen,
observe, recognize differences, honor them)
• Note important distinction between satisfiers and hygiene
factors
• Link assignments and rewards with individual motivations,
and keep fresh on this as work and people change over time
• Align tasks with mission and goals of organizations, and help
others stay clear of those links. “Here’s why you and your skills
are so essential for our success.”
• While positive relationships are important, make sure policies,
assignments, and procedures are clear and fair to everyone
• Recognize and celebrate successes in variety of ways
Communications
• Everyone should submit periodic progress reports to
supervisors; each is crucial audience for other
• Hold regular meetings with staff to discuss progress on
assignments, with individual/team summaries, open feedback
• Learn to listen actively; ask for clarification, check to see if you
and others understand one another’s points
• Demonstrate practices of open communications, asking for
and giving feedback
• Encourage staff to initiate discussions when tasks
accomplished or barriers encountered
• Solicit views of ways to deal with barriers; invite others to
help solve problems.
• Spread news of successes; show appreciation for others
Managing Meetings I
• Meetings are costly in staff time, so must be productive
• Decide specifically what should be accomplished with
meeting
• Identify who should attend, based on purpose of meeting
• Decide on meeting agenda and work plan (structure, format)
• Make sure agenda engages participants early and actively.
What do you want them to do and why?
• By each agenda item, indicate the type of action sought
(decision, vote, brainstorming, assignment) and time
estimates for each item
• Conclude with brief evaluation of meeting
Managing Meetings II
• Invite participants, providing clear statement of meeting
purpose and expectations for participants
• Make sure that agenda and background materials are
distributed to participants well in advance of meeting
• Open meeting with summary of purposes, making sure
everyone understands expectations and goals
• Clarify ground rules (such as participate actively, stay focused
on topic, maintain momentum, get to closure)
• Make sure someone takes notes and distributes them
• Clarify own role in meeting; model the behavior you want
others to follow
Managing Meetings III
• Manage the time carefully, keep the process moving
• Make sure that extraverts don’t crowd out the introverts by
calling on silent ones and reminding those who have spoken
• Ask participants to help you keep track of time
• If time gets out of hand, ask participants for input on
resolution
• Do periodic checks on satisfaction, suggestions
• Check your conclusions with group on conclusions and
delegated tasks
• Leave 10-15 minutes at end for open evaluation
• Try to end on time and on positive note
Presentations
• Identify the goals and purposes of your presentation, what
you want to accomplish with this audience
• State clearly the top 2-3 things you want these listeners to
hear and take away.
• Start presentation with brief overview of the purposes and
plan of the session, why topic is important for them.
• Maintain positive tone, engagement with audience, use
humor when possible, give examples of key points
• Make sure that handouts or slides address key points, use
consistent format. Check out computer in advance. DO NOT
read slides or handouts.
• Maintain eye contact, talk a bit louder and slower than usual
in conversations, stand still, use gestures, smile
• Invite questions and feedback.
• Conclude with restatement of the major things you want
audience to take away.
Performance Appraisals
 Provide informal feedback on performance when first
noted in work. Don’t allow negative build-up.
 Design formal appraisal method based on job
description, assignments, and expectations
 Use standardized forms, available to everyone in
advance (many are available on Internet)
 Include closed-ended ratings and space for comments
 Announce schedule to everyone, then stick to it
 Remind individuals of scheduled reviews
 Invite individuals to offer changes to job description
and to evaluation forms
More on Performance Appraisals
• Record accomplishments, exhibited strengths and limitations,
recommendations for improvement
• Use observed behaviors of that employee, not hearsay or
rumor
• Invite employee’s input, self-assessments, accomplishments,
needs for improvement
• Provide honest, constructive feedback based on own
observations
• Disagreements are acceptable; note them
• Nothing should be surprising if you have given informal
feedback as work has proceeded
• Allow employee to add own statement at end of form
• Conclude with next steps for improving performance,
resources, and expectations for demonstrating change
Many Ways of Staff Development
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
On-the-job experience
Formal or informal learning
Apprenticeships, internships
Career counseling
Coaching, mentoring
Continuing education
Professional conferences
Job rotations, cross-training
Peer learning, feedback
Forms of Learning for Individuals
• Training: helping person learn specific knowledge or skills.
• Coaching: guidance on mastering skills or solving interpersonal problems
(using, for example, 360 assessments, Johari’s window, Myers-Briggs,
stress management techniques)
• Goal setting: helping people formulate goals and priorities for improving
their own effectiveness
• Performance appraisal: modifying ways of assessing employee
performance more carefully and using feedback to improve.
• Job descriptions: useful when job duties are ambiguous and expected
results unclear.
• Cross-training: rotating individual to other positions in organization
• Career planning: for individuals who have outgrown their roles and want
new skills and challenges.
• Procedures manual: formalizing the approved methods for handing
common problems in work.
• Process improvement: steps to improve the effectiveness of ways people
do their work and interact.
Andragogy vs Pedagogy
• Addresses current, realworld problem
• Person highly motivated to
solve current problem
• Involves actual applying
new ideas and materials
• Exchange ongoing feedback
about trial experiences
• Self-directed, learner
centered
• Based on competence and
trust
• Addresses pre-formulated
problems
• External motivations by
rewards and penalties
• Involves applying ideas
already provided
• Periodic feedback via tests
• Learner is dependent on the
teacher
• Based on power and control
Requirements of Adult Learners
• Must be willing to grow, take risks, face new
experiences
• Openness to ongoing feedback from trials of
new ideas
• Trust instincts, engage in self-directed learning
• Requires high internal motivation to pursue
growth, mastery of new skills, selfimprovement
Requirements of Supervisors
• Include learners in development planning to
build engagement and ownership
• Schedule regular times to discuss progress and
concerns
• Provide ongoing feedback and support
• Maximize opportunities for feedback focused
on successful applications of new ideas
How Supervisors Help Staff Learn
• Help person identify needed improvements in performance
• Encourage person to see knowledge as contextual, created
together
• Create partnership via learning contract
• Foster atmosphere of trust, openness
• Offer ideas about inquiry, critical thinking, making decisions,
personal choice, self-assessment
• Recognize individual learning styles
• Use job experiences as opportunities to learn
• Promote learning networks, learning exchanges
Roles of Coach and Mentor
• Coaching focuses on a
specific job skill
• Agenda set by supervisor
• Short-term engagement
• Provides specific feedback
to improve skill
–
–
–
–
Tell person how to do task
Watch as she tries
Give feedback to fine-tune
Person tries until she gets it
right
• Mentoring focuses on
overall career development
• Agenda set by mentee
• Long-term engagement
• Provides more general, nondirective interactions
– Explore work issues together
– Discuss options, possible
consequences
– Offer suggestions, support,
encouragement
Styles of Learning
• People have different approaches to learning, such as
– Visual, auditory, tactile
– Reflective, experiential
• Explore the differences by searching the Internet for
“learning style.”
• Make use of several of the questionnaires to identify
your own style and to understand those of others.
• Identify the implications of these differences for the
performance of work teams.
• Identify approaches to staff development activities
that would take into account the differences among
participants.
Steps in formal, systematic staff
development
• Assessing what knowledge, skills, abilities are needed
by learners
• Designing the learning activities, including goals and
objectives, methods for implementation, and criteria
for evaluation
• Developing the training methods, materials,
schedule, budget
• Implementing them
• Evaluating whether goals and objectives have been
reached (and may address the quality of the training
itself)
Self vs Other Directed
• Self-directed development: learner decides
about goals, what experiences are to be
sought, and how to do so
• Other-directed: Supervisor responsible for
setting goals, planning activities, applying
criteria.
• Mixes are common.
Planning for Staff Development
• Determine goals, based on assessments, gaps in performance
or job requirements, participants’ interests
• Identify competencies needed, set goals
• Specify knowledge, skills needed to reach goals; formulate
each into learning objectives
• Identify resources, activities, methods, and persons needed to
complete each objective
• Formulate learning activities for learning styles of participants
• Specify criteria and procedures for assessing completion of
each goal and objective
• Set out the sequence steps for implementation, timetable
• Identify the costs for each step; formulate into budget
Times and Ways of Evaluation
• Before training: What evidence is there that
identified methods will really result in participants’
mastery of needed knowledge and skills?
• During implementation (formative): monitor
engagement; collect feedback from participants; use
short tests
• After completion (summative): compare current
skills with prior levels; supervisor observes work
performance; use outside expert evaluators
Handling Conflicts
• Definition: when two or more values or perspectives
are contradictory in nature
• May be internal (within self) or external (between
two or more people).
• Conflicts are problems when they hamper
productivity, lower morale, cause inappropriate
behaviors if poorly handled.
• Conflicts are useful when they
– Raise important but unaddressed problems
– Motivate people to attend to them
– Help people learn how to recognize and benefit
from differences
Things that provoke workplace conflicts
• Poor communications, employees surprised by new decisions,
don’t understand reasons for decisions, come to distrust
supervisors
• Alignment of resources doesn’t match work expectations,
disagreement about who does what
• Personal differences, conflicting values and actions, dislike of
aspects of others (that we don’t like in ourselves)
• Abuses of power, authoritarianism
• Inconsistent or uninformed leadership, passing the buck,
repeated poor handling of an issue, managers don’t
understand the jobs of subordinates.
• Organizational culture of blaming others for problems
Ways People Deal with Conflicts
• Avoid or ignore it. May worsen conflict over time.
• Accommodate: give in to others. May be useful when you
know you will have a better opportunity in the near future.
• Compromise: mutual give-and-take when you want to get
beyond the issue
• Collaborate: seek ways of working together for mutual goals
without trying to solve issue
• Compete: Try to get your way, expressing strong convictions
about your position, seeking to persuade others. May include
efforts to discredit opposition.
• Warfare: polarizing the conflict, using formal and informal
power to undermine opposition and gain control of
organizational resources.
Conflict Management
in increasing order of difficulty
• Recognize that some differences are useful and
always present
• Prevent initiation of conflicts by developing clear
policies and culture of shared responsibility for
solving problems
• Set limits on ways conflict may be expressed
• Help individuals understand triggering factors and
alternative responses
• Help individuals find different ways of coping with
consequences of conflicts
• Resolve basic issues underlying the conflict
Supervisory Actions to Minimize Conflicts
• Keep current on job descriptions, making sure that roles don’t
conflict and no tasks fall into cracks
• Build positive relationships with staff, meet with them
regularly, ask about accomplishments and challenges
• Get regular status reports, including needs and planned next
steps
• Provide staff development opportunities on key aspects of
work
• Develop procedures for handling challenges, drawing upon
employees’ input
• Hold regular meetings to communicate status of projects,
resources and challenges, new initiatives
• Foster culture of shared responsibility and mutual problemsolving
Steps in Managing Conflicts
• Know what you don’t like in yourself, and recognize that we
react negatively to those things in others.
• Stop arguing, move to discussion between adults
• Manage yourself in interactions. Speak calmly even if other
doesn’t. Maintain eye contact.
• Move discussion in private room.
• Allow person time to vent without reacting or interrupting.
• Check to make sure you have heard their concerns correctly.
Ask clarifying questions as appropriate, making no judgments
about responses.
• Clarify where/whether organizational policies touch on issue.
Further Steps
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Identify points where you agree and disagree.
Address the issues, not the person. Rule out personal attacks.
Keep focus on the mission and on the future, not the past
Listen carefully, respectfully
Seek mutual solutions. Ask “what could we do to fix this
problem?” If more complaints, go back to previous steps,
then ask question again.
If possible, identify at least one action that can be done by
one or both of you.
If not, ask for a cooling off period before meeting again.
Could we “agree to disagree?”
Seek advice from manager.
Consider inviting in mediator if appropriate.
Firing
• Should come only after several attempts to change
behavior, with documented feedback and warnings
to employee and based on specific personnel policies
• Take time to talk with supervisors and managers
about step, gathering ideas and suggestions
• Meet with employee promptly and speak clearly,
constructively, avoiding blaming
• Document decision in letter to employee with copy
to personnel file
• Restrict employee’s access to organizational files and
resources
Firing Specifics
See SHRM handout for overview
Issues to consider:
• Last paycheck—no statute in GA regarding
when to provide.
• Last paycheck=last leverage
– Suggest providing last paycheck when you receive
all company-owned property.
Firing Specifics Cont’d
• Vacation and other pay—no GA statute since
no requirement to provide
– Pay per company policy, if any
– If no policy, suggest following company precedent
– If no precedent, suggest using vacation pay as
incentive—e.g. for not being disruptive as they
leave the building.
• COBRA—GA has “mini-COBRA” statute
– Companies with 2-19 employees must cover for
remainder of month plus offer COBRA for another
3 months
Firing Specifics
Severance Pay
• No requirement to provide but can be used as
an incentive similar to vacation pay
“Immediate” Termination
Egregious policy violation or behavior
• Suggest sending employee home for 3 days—
paid. Important “cooling-off” period.
• Gives you time to
– Investigate fully
– Make an informed, rational decision
– Plan termination meeting if needed
Things to Remember
•
•
•
•
•
Firing should not be a surprise
Do not humiliate or disrespect the employee
Do not debate the decision
Do not apologize for the decision
Tell the other employees that:
– The employee is no longer with the organization
– You will not be providing any details
– They should not make any assumptions or
speculate about what happened
Internet Use Policies
• Consider adding to your employee handbook
• The Internet is a double-edged sword
– Can exponentially increase productivity
• Email, research, your organization’s Web presence
– Can exponentially increase goofing off
• Surfing, social media, etc.
– Other dangers
• Illegal downloads
• Viruses and spyware, even if you’re “protected”
• Unauthorized software that conflicts with authorized applications that
are critical to your operation
• Video streaming and gaming that hogs bandwidth and makes the
entire network sluggish
Further Resources
•
•
•
•
•
•
www.managementhelp.org
www.mncn.org/infocentral.htm
www.rileyguide.com
http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/guide/conflict.htm
www.hg.org/employ.html
Search Internet for any of the topics on slide 3