Develop My Staff
52 Free Development Opportunities for Nonprofit Staff
Here we offer 52 ways (one for each week!) nonprofit leaders can engage promising staff members in critical skill development for free. Use these suggestions as a checklist, identify which opportunities best fit with your staffs’ development (or your personal development) needs, and put a few into action!
A Good Book’s Role in Professional Development
Youth Villages CEO Patrick Lawler directly applied his appetite for reading and learning to helping his staff develop professionally. Here we share how he uses a reading list to help staff develop in their roles as well as his top ten book recommendations for nonprofit professionals.
Assessment of Bank of America Charitable Foundation Neighborhood Builders Program
This report, based on Bridgespan’s assessment of the Neighborhood Builders® program, highlights the importance of quantifying the effectiveness of leadership development programs. It also emphasizes the positive impact that participating organizations have had on their communities.
Building a Talent Pipeline
Being thoughtful about a nonprofit’s future talent needs can help an organization develop and maintain a steady stream of people to turn to when it’s time to hire. This steady stream—or talent pipeline—not only can help fill critical positions, but also can help them cultivate people who will be able to step into leadership roles—even at the senior management level—successfully down the road.
"Building Future Leaders" Diagnostic Survey
Are you doing what you can to develop your organization’s next generation of leaders? This free Leadership Diagnostic Survey can help you understand where your organization’s strengths are—and what can be improved. Take the survey, see how your organization compares to others, and jumpstart your thinking on what successful leadership development could look like in your organization.
Building Leadership Capacity: Reframing the Succession Challenge
Successful succession planning is a proactive and systematic investment in building a pipeline of leaders within an organization. To better understand what it takes to get that investment right, The Bridgespan Group has launched a long-term research project in which it will explore effective leadership development and succession planning processes. This article shares Bridgespan’s preliminary findings.
Considering and Evaluating Internal Candidates for Senior-Level Nonprofit Positions
Internal candidates surface in nearly one-third of searches for senior nonprofit roles. We offer some practical advice on how to evaluate internal candidates—and what to do if the internal candidate is not the best person for the job.
Data Point: Employee Development a Weakness for Many Nonprofits
Nonprofits feel challenged in their ability to offer development opportunities that would help staff members build critical skills and grow within their roles and organizations.
Helping Internal Hires Succeed in Their New Roles
The transition from staff member to senior leader at the same nonprofit can be a bit tricky. But there are steps organizations can take to make the process go more smoothly.
How to Start a Professional Reading Group
Staying up to date on the latest management tools and techniques or keeping abreast of a quickly changing field seem impossible for busy nonprofit managers. However, those same resources managers don’t have time to read could hold solutions to the very real issues they’re facing. One way to help nonprofit managers gain access to helpful resources is by starting a reading group inside your organization. These five steps can help you get one started.
Nonprofit Job Description Samples
This page offers several sample job descriptions for senior management roles, including both generic job description templates and specific examples of well-written job descriptions shared with permission of the organizations.
On-the-Job Development Opportunities for Nonprofit Staff
Helping nonprofit employees develop the critical skills they need to advance in their careers and their organizations doesn’t have to be costly. In fact, there are plenty of creative on-the-job opportunities for employees to learn new skills without an organization having to spend a dime.
Performance Assessment: Setting the Stage for an Effective Process
Few nonprofits have an effective employee performance assessment process, despite its benefits. This article outlines the challenges of creating an effective process and suggests steps nonprofits can take to build the best process for their own organizations.
Recommended Reading for Nonprofit Leaders
Over the years, Bridgestar has interviewed a number of nonprofit leaders, seeking their advice on myriad nonprofit leadership, recruiting, and career topics. Their thoughtful feedback and advice has proven valuable, so we decided to ask them “What resources have you read that you would recommend to other nonprofit leaders?” We hope you find their recommendations helpful as you consider your reading list in 2012.
Recommended Reading from Our Community Members
The question “What resources have you read that you would recommend to other nonprofit leaders?” sparked discussions from many nonprofit leaders across our LinkedIn communities. In this article we share a number of their comments and a link to our Amazon.com bookstore where you can find a full list of recommended books from this newsletter.
What Is the Most Painful Part of the Performance Review Process?
The Bridgestar LinkedIn Group discusses the most painful part of the performance review process and shares advice on how to conduct a successful one.
What Makes For an Effective Nonprofit Leadership Development Program?
Earlier this year, The Bridgespan Group had the opportunity to conduct an independent assessment of the nation’s largest philanthropic leadership program―Neighborhood Builders®, operated by the Bank of America Charitable Foundation. The findings offer a number of key insights for current executive directors, next generation leaders, and funders on what makes for an effective leadership development program.