Association Executive - September/October 2007 - (Page 15)

new skills, and have new opportunities to grow and learn. Swain contends that the key to providing the right content, recognition, compensation, and opportunities for employees is in knowing them as individuals. In her consulting work, she coaches managers to become more able to manage each individual in his/her organization with better results and great success. Donna Panton, senior associate for Curriculum & Resource Development at the Association of Junior League International, noted the importance of culture and how it contributes to whether an organization retains staff or not. The questions to ask include: Is your organization really a place in which people want to be employed for a long time? Does your organization have a culture that clearly indicates to employees that the employer cares about their work experience? The significance of a worker-oriented organization is becoming more and more critical. Using Google, Starbucks, Genentech, and Boeing as star examples of companies that have won awards as being good places to work, Panton emphasized the need for not-for-profit executives to create places of work that are staff-oriented. Equally as important, she noted, is the need for organizations to design jobs to maximize employee productivity and well-being. Panton urged not-for-profit executives to read the websites of the companies she discussed for a look at cultures that work successfully to retain staff. Matt DiLauri, managing director and CEO of People and Systems Solutions, concluded the panel with a discussion on the critical importance of adding a consistent process that allows employees to rely on. Not only does a strong and clear process allow an organization to manage the quality of its services but it also promotes the ability to manage employees more effectively. A published process takes all the guesswork out of how to do a job and allows for more productive evaluations of an individual’s work. If the process is clear, then an employee either is right for the job or not. According to Dilauri, people are not your best asset—the right people are. Employees don’t leave organizations, they leave managers, he concluded. One of the best ways to retain staff is to pay them well. Nothing is more discouraging to staff than to receive low compensation for the hard work they do. It also allows organizations, which compete for the best talent in the marketplace, to entice staff to leave lower paying organizations for better compensation elsewhere. Gayel A. Brandel is president of Professionals for Nonprofits, 515 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10022; 212-546-9091; gbrandel@nonprofitstaffing.com. Staffing questions can be directed to her or to participants in the Winning the War for Talent panel: Madelein Swain, swaingroup@verizon.net; Donna Panton, rillbrook@rcn.com; Matt DiLauri, matt@peopleandsystems.com. 330229_ShowStore.indd 1 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2007 AS SOC I A TI ON E X7/27/07 E 1:25:06 PM E C U TI V 15

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Association Executive - September/October 2007

Contents From the CEO The Executive's Role in Internship Programs 12 Weeks to Sink or Swim Book Beat Inside NYSAE Winning the War for Talent The Not-for-Profit Edge: Recruiting & Retaining Generation X Burnout Busters: 10 Ways to Cope When Work Gets Overwhelming Meeting in Atlantic City Save the Dates Index of Advertisers

Association Executive - September/October 2007

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