I've been thinking lately about our focus on "managing" people. I spend a lot of time with front-line supervisors in various capacities and they are obssessed with how to control people's behavior. The discussions are of two basic types--How do you get staff to do the things you want them to do? How do you STOP staff from doing things you DON'T want them to do? There are variations, of... Read more →

One of the big questions I'm frequently asked about using social media is whether or not the tools "work." Depending on the questioner, this can mean a variety of things, but underlying everything is one issue--will my department or organization improve if we use social media? Via Shel Holtz and Workplace Learning Today comes yet another "yes," to that question. Shel cites a brief published by the Aberdeen Group, titled... Read more →

For the past couple of days I've been digesting the latest report on hiring and succession planning in the nonprofit sector, Ready to Lead? Next Generation Leaders Speak Out. Prepared through a partnership of the CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Meyer Foundation and Idealist.org, the report shares the findings of a survey of over 6,000 nonprofit sector employees conducted this past September. It sheds further light... Read more →

LaDonna Coy and I ended up in an interesting email conversation over the weekend that got me thinking about how we set priorities for ourselves, both as individuals and as organizations. We were discussing that working from home gave us more flexibility and time for continuous learning and then LaDonna mentioned that a friend of hers was going to be spending Saturday in the office, "catching up on paperwork." I... Read more →

Katya Andresen has a GREAT post on operating your organization with no excuses. Apparently she recently did a presentation on tweaking your marketing messages, where she was told by her audience that her suggestions weren't possible because: 1. I don’t have the budget to do that. 2. I don’t have the staff to do that. 3. I don’t have the time to do that. 4. I don’t have the internal... Read more →

This is a great video from "Working for the Man" on what often happens in the infamous "brainstorming session." Much of this may seem oddly familiar. Check out the entire post for some other meeting no-nos. A few I'd add to the list: Not reading any of the meeting materials ahead of time, even when they've been supplied well in advance, so that much of the meeting is taken up... Read more →

My worst job ever was the one where they forgot that it was my first day. When your new company can't be bothered to remember that you'll be starting work, it's all kind of downhill from there. I thought of this when I saw that Ray Sims has a great summary post with tips on New Hire Orientations or what they're now calling "onboarding." Can't say that I like the... Read more →

Here's an interesting post from Ray Jimenez on the types of jobs he can see emerging as organizations begin to make greater use of Web 2.0 tools. At a minimum, these seem like functions that should be incorporated into someone's job description. Some of the standouts for me included: PLE Assistants - Personal Learning Environments (PLE) - Downes, Sims and Kareer talk about the need of the connected learners to... Read more →

A few months ago I wrote a post entitled, Note to the Next Generation of Leaders: Don't Wait for Baby Boomers to Hand Over the Reins. In it, I suggested some strategies for Gen X and Y leaders to develop themselves. One of my thoughts was to get "disruptive"--start your own organization to do it better, rather than trying to get your foot in the door of an existing one.... Read more →

An interesting post over at Tactical Philanthropy from Perla Ni, founder of the Stanford Social Innovation Review. She says, Does blogging substitute real action? I get asked about this a lot because I blog. Why are all these people blogging? Why aren’t they out there in the real world doing something? Especially in the nonprofit world – where there’s so much need and most ED’s I know are busy enough... Read more →