HR Resources
In this section you can link through to a variety of resources on human resources. If you would like to add a link please email nfpn@nfpn.com.au
Trends, Statistics & Perspectives
Enabling the disabled is a fine way to do business - (Michael Duffy in the Sydney Morning Herald) Occasionally you come across something you didn't know about in this city that lifts your spirits. And no, I'm not talking about a new BMW dealership or an exotic degustation menu. Cumberland Industries is an unusual welfare organisation that has improved the lives of hundreds of people with a fresh approach. It buys ordinary small businesses and then expands them to create new jobs. The twist is that these jobs are given to people with mild disabilities, and Cumberland now employs 500 such people. They've taken the idea of the sheltered workshop and turned it on its head…read more
Keeping an Eye on Things in the Year Ahead - By Susan J. - What is percolating in our field as this new year of 2005 starts? As always, my crystal ball is not necessarily more accurate than anyone else’s, so I shy away from making actual predictions. But I’m willing to peer into the future and share the things that I plan to watch carefully in the coming months – sort of the “trends in the making” from my perspective. The following list is not in order of importance, but does include some possibly big issues and some tiny items of note that might, like the proverbial butterfly flapping its wings on the other side of the earth, evolve into something unexpectedly important…read more
Trends and Issues in Volunteering - OZVPM website
Volunteering in Australia – Philanthropy Australia Fact Sheet
Articles - General
Disability Services - Efficient, Standardised, Impersonal - By Peter Gibilisco. The dominant ideas about economic policy owe much to the influence of the Public Choice school of thought, and to the general neoclassical belief that competitive market forces, driven by individual self-interest, are capable of running the most efficient and socially fair economy. Self-interest is thus altruistic... read more.
Benefits of Policies - By Linda L. Graff, from the Energize Inc. website – Many organizations simply have not had the time to attend to defining the values and policies within which volunteering takes place. Given the current situation wherein everyone is trying to do more and more with less and less, this is understandable. Yet, this is an area must be attended to. This is not to say that policies will resolve all problems and eliminate all hazards. However, policy development and implementation will go a long way to reduce the dangers and risks which currently exist in the field of volunteering…read more
How can you tell whether your organisation has a stress infection? - By Chutisa Bowman - Organisational stress is a dangerous infection affecting the majority of businesses and organisations today. When cutbacks are combined with unrealistic expectations and reduced autonomy, the workplace environment becomes psycho toxic and dangerous. Ignoring this infection could lead to devastating consequences, affecting the very survival of the organisation…read more
Human Resources? I'm Too Busy! - by Barry Chapman and Ron Guest - When you ask association executives what business issue literally keeps them awake at night, they usually say one or more of the following: increasing membership; finding the resources to enhance member services; building stronger relations with stakeholders; determining true member needs; etc…read more
Time for a Retreat? - by Claire Crittenden, Association Meetings - When your association needs to gain perspective on a situation and initiate change, a retreat is the way to go. Unlike a typical board meeting, where the business of running the association is the priority - the retreat has loftier goals. The following 10 steps will help you to design and implement an effective retreat …read more
How to Lead Clever People. According to Professor Rob Goffee, an expert in organisational behaviour from London Business School, clever people in organisations need a special type of leadership. Speaking recently at a lecture in the Australian School of Business, Professor Goffee presented research on culture and leadership and what it takes to effectively lead this generation of ‘clever people’... read more.
Perfect Leadership Storm Looming(Craig Donaldson) More than 75 per cent of HR executives are concerned with their ability to develop future leaders, and given the explosive growth in emerging markets and the retirement of experienced personnel in more mature economies, companies are placing their growth strategies at risk if they cannot identify and develop the next generation of leaders…read more.
Articles - Organisational Culture
Building a knowledge sharing culture - By Jerry Ash - A review of a workshop held in March 2000 for members of the Florida Society of Association Executives (FSAE)…read more
Change – What’s Needed? Answer: More Leadership, Less Management - By Robert Harris in Canadian Association - John Kotter, one of the renowned change experts of our time, talked about the need for more leadership and less management in his excellent book, Leading Change. What did Kotter mean by this? Management has always been regarded as a good thing; in fact, many high profile universities stake their reputations on their business and management studies program … read more
Delight Members and Build a Smarter Staff - By Paul Ward - Everyone loves lots of information. And association members demand it as a part of membership. But providing that information has proven to be a big challenge for organizations of all kinds. It's hard to keep up with demand. One association colleague of mine reported, "One of my subordinates manages approximately 33 committees.... Yesterday she had 600 emails in her in-box that had to be acted upon."…read more
Personal Qualities of Effective Chief Executives - Boardsource…read more
Improving Your Knowledge-sharing Culture - By Michael Robins - When firms invest thousands of dollars in their knowledge management infrastructure and do not see the returns months later, managers begin to panic. When there are no signs of problems with the applications being used in the department, managers must examine the entire department. To be accurate, managers must assess the knowledge-sharing culture within their company…read more
Articles - Employees
Tips to Avoid Wasting Valuable Talent. Many organisations fail to get the most out of their employees because of senior management indifference, line management lack of effort and silo mentalities. Read the findings of a recent international survey conducted by management consultant firm McKinsey and gain some valuable tips.
Employee retention strategies for associations - Tim McConnell, Association Magazine - Susan, the Manager of Member Programs, walks into your office at 4:00 p.m. appearing a little nervous. She tells you she is resigning, and has found a job with another association. You didn't see it coming. Susan is your best performer. Worse, your annual conference is in six weeks and Susan is the lead organizer. What happened?...read more
Need better trained staff? - by Travis Latter in Association Management (June 05)
The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave - By Leigh Branham, Executive Update - Employees don't leave a company so much as get shoved out the door. The keys to keeping and engaging employees are no big mystery, yet so many managers just don't see it. As a career transition coach for more than 20 years, I heard hundreds of departing employees emotionally describe the sources of their dissatisfaction with, and disengagement from, their former employers. That's why I was not particularly surprised to read a report that 75 percent of U.S. employees are disengaged…read more
The Right People – The Common Sense Approach - By Philip Mayers - Many Managers say: "Our people are our greatest asset", and then proceed to treat them as though they were their greatest liability! Salaries are usually the major part of an Association's expense budget, yet unless managers are able to manage their human resources correctly, they are probably wasting a good percentage of their available funds. I want to help you to encourage your people to develop the best in themselves; so that you can get the best performance out of them…read more.
What's with their attitude? - by Karen Schmidt in Association Management (June 05)
Articles – Volunteers
Bounce-Back of episodic volunteers: What makes episodic volunteers return? - (CPNS Working Paper) According to recent research, episodic environmental volunteers differ from traditional volunteers suggesting that alternative retention strategies and approaches may be necessary in order to facilitate volunteer ‘bounce-back’ or return to the organisation. As statistics indicate the growing popularity of episodic volunteering, this research addresses a timely and relevant issue for volunteer involving organisations. When considering the vital contribution volunteers make to nonprofit and government organisations, the ability of an organisation to retain its volunteer force becomes paramount…read more
Powerful Possibilities - By Jeffrey B. Cufaude, Executive Update. - The volunteer-staff relationship in many associations perpetuates, even rewards and celebrates less than stellar results. Re-examine how you recruit, appoint, reward and partner with volunteers to achieve better results…read more
Corporate volunteering, from charity to profit-nonprofit partnerships - by Lucas Cpm Meijs and Judith M Van Der Voort in Association Management (August 04)
Encouraging volunteers - by John Pfahlert in Association Management (April 05)
Lack of Time Main Obstacle to Volunteering - World Volunteer Web - Research carried out by KPMG/YouGov in the UK has found that 45 per cent of those who do not volunteer blame lack of time, not apathy, for preventing them getting involved in volunteering activities. The findings did highlight a desire among many to become more involved in socially responsible activities with 22 per cent of employed people stating that they would like their employers to offer volunteering schemes, recycling programmes and payroll giving. Fifteen per cent of employed people are already actively involved in these activities…read more
Not-for-profit. Not for Volunteers - Transcript of ABC Radio Program - All around Australia, people are volunteering. In every town, in every suburb of every city, there are millions of volunteers. They contribute around 700-million hours of volunteer work each year. These volunteers run small and large groups and organisations; think of everything from the Orchid Society to Adult Education, Book Clubs, Save the Hospital Committees, Landcare, Young Mothers’ Support Groups. The local mosques and churches, the hockey club, the Country Women’s Association, they’re all run by volunteers on management committees, boards and trusts…read more
Quick Tips: Recruiting, Retaining and Recognizing Volunteers - Community Toolbox - Quick tips for recruiting, retaining and recognising volunteers…read more
Recognising Volunteers - Volunteering Australia Information Sheet - When volunteers are recruited to your organisation it makes the utmost sense to make every effort to retain them. It is a costly proposition to recruit and train replacement volunteers. Moreover, the time lost in recruiting replacement volunteers can result in lengthy periods where an organisation may not be able to deliver the additional quality of service that a volunteer may bring to the organisation…read more
Recruiting and Managing Volunteers - By Terrie Temkin, NonProfit Management Centre - Terrie Temkin, a speaker at INCE, write a regular newsletter for the sector. In this newsletter she talks about the techniques needed to tap into new markets and keep volunteers once you have found them…read more
Seeking volunteers - by Lynda Andrews in Association Management (December 04)
Strengthening our community - by Inga Tracey in Association Management (December 04)
The new unaffiliated volunteers - Mary Merrill in World Volunteer Web - Call them serendipitous, entrepreneurial, spontaneous, unofficial, out of the box, under the radar, independent or unaffiliated. These are the new volunteers that do what they want, when and how they want to do it. They do not feel obligated to do their volunteer work through established channels. They see a need, or something that peaks their interest and they are off and running. I call them the vigilante volunteers. The term vigilante refers to a self-appointed doer of justice. The justice for them is doing “right actions”. These volunteers see themselves as self-appointed doers of good...read more
The Nonprofit Boon from Boomers - By Mandy Salls - Nonprofits often find it difficult to recruit enough volunteer labor to accomplish all of their goals. Susan Moses offers a few words of advice: Wait a couple of years. As 77 million baby boomers are moving ever closer to retirement, they have the potential to provide a tremendous source of paid and non-paid labor for many nonprofits—if you know how to reach them—concludes a recent report…read more
Volunteering - In from the CALD! - By Peter Heyworth & Andy Fryar - We have often heard it said that outside of Israel , Australia has the most multicultural population on earth. That is, Australia has more people from different countries and cultures living in our fair shores than just about anywhere else on this planet! This important group within of our community are often collectively referred to as being from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse backgrounds - or CALD for short, and while certainly not unique to Australia, the topic of how best to involve people from CALD backgrounds is a common theme amongst volunteerism newsgroups and conference attendees the world over...read more
Volunteering in perspective - by Ralph Penning in Association Management (December 04)
Volunteers and Your Partnership - Volunteer Management - Our Community Fact Sheet - If volunteers play an important part in your community business partnership, then you need to have procedures in place to look after them and manage them. Concepts such as a "volunteer management policy" may seem like hard work and not worth worrying about, but this sort of planning is beneficial – especially if your partnership is based primarily around volunteer programs like working bees, or employee or workplace volunteering…read more
Volunteer success is not accidental - by David Zerman in Association Management (December 04)
Volunteers the backbone of a not-for-profit - by Jenny Lambert in Association Management (December 04)
Related Links…
Idealist.org
OzVPM – Range of information and resources on volunteering
Energize (US)
Articles – Professional Development
The panel, Professional development - Association Management (April 05)
Articles – Component Relations & Special Interest Groups
Connecting the World's Smartest People – By Dick Hodgson, Executive Update - What can build community among 52,000 of the smartest people on the globe? Wildly diverse special interest groups and invitation-only management, says American Mensa...read more
The Challenge of the Multi-site Nonprofit - By Sean Silverthorne - Multi-site nonprofit organizations shouldn’t be run like companies that make money, say HBS professors Allen Grossman and V. Kasturi Rangan. The key for nonprofit managers is to embrace a balance between affiliation and autonomy…read more
Tools & Templates
Free E-Book: How to turn your organisation into a volunteer magnet - On the OzVPM Website - OzVPM Director, Andy Fryar along with Fraser Dyer and Rob Jackson from the UK have now released "How to turn your organisation into a volunteer magnet" The e-book features articles from many 'on-the-ground' volunteer managers from across Australia as well as the UK and USA as well as a few articles by better know authors such as Steve McCurley and Rick Lynch…read more