This presentation is based on a book, “The NPO Dilemma”.  The book itself is based on 25 years of HR, Organization and management consulting to NPO’s.  It is a set of ‘dispatches from the front lines’, providing a compilation of both theory (how NPO’s should be managing their Human Resources) and practice (how NPO’s actually manage their Human Resources function in real life).

Out of this comes a series of nine HR dilemma’s faced by NPO senior management every day.  A dilemma is a problem offering only two possibilities, neither of which is practically acceptable. (We all know of course, that there are always ‘way more’ than two choices.) The dilemmas we discuss are:

1. CEO vs. COO?  Where does the Executive Director best spend their time?
2. Do You Have the Right Jobs in Your Organization?  How do you know?
3. Will the People You Hire Stay? Why?
4. Public Sector or Private Sector?  Which are you?
5. Are You Paying Properly?
a) Are you being fair?  Do you know what ‘fair’ is?
b) What is your market position?  Can you compete?  Against who?
c) How can you afford key hot skills?
d) Do you pay for performance?  Should you?
e) Internal communications?  Who knows what, when?

Tim McConnell is the Managing Partner of McConnell HR Consulting Inc.  He is presenting ‘The NPO Dilemma” on Monday, October 8 at 11:45 a.m. during the 2012 Nonprofit Human Resources Conference.

If we asked the first five employees who walk by your office door to tell us “what business are you in?” would they all give us the same answer?  If your business was a Roman galley, would all the ‘oars people’ be rowing in the same direction?  Or would your ship be going around in circles?

We have seen organizations where employees do not know the core corporate objectives — because management never told them.  We have seen places where the organization charts are confidential and not shared with staff.

Our advice:  You need a business plan (as any banker will tell you).  You need a corporate strategy.  You need an organizational model which depicts your work structure and is aligned to your business plan.  All of these need to be regularly updated and communicated to all levels of staff.

We once heard a company CEO, in a business where there were no job descriptions, glibly state that ‘if my staff don’t know what their job is, they have a problem’.  Our (tactfully unstated) response was “No, if your employees don’t know what they are supposed to be doing, YOU have a problem”.  This is not bureaucracy, this is good business.

Job Descriptions are the bedrock of any HR program.  They spell out how the business and programs of the organization will be accomplished.  They are invaluable tools in recruiting (job ads), new employee orientation, training, compensation and performance management.

Our advice: Write them.  They don’t have to be long.  Spell out the job title, reporting relationship, summary overview of the role, a list of tasks and responsibilities, and the required skills and qualifications.