TSB 017: How to Know If Your Nonprofit's Org Culture Needs Work

Read Time: 2 minutes

This week's tip: Three non-obvious ways to know your nonprofit organizational culture needs work, and what to do about it.

Here are a few observations you might make:

1.  It’s difficult to find people within your organization to promote into senior roles.
   
   This suggests junior leaders are not being developed or the career path is not clear.

2.  Very few junior leaders want to take on senior roles.
   
   This suggests the senior leaders are not visibly supported and junior leaders don’t want to be in the hot seat without cover.

3.  Your star employees keep leaving to get a(nother) degree.
   
   This suggests they were looking for more and couldn’t find it within the organization. For some, going back to school and creating a “reset” is easier than looking for a similar job which may land them in a similar situation.

If you notice these trends within your organization, you can address them head on.

•  Create clearly defined career paths from the frontline to management and from management to the executive suite.
  
  You can add statements about the competencies that must be demonstrated, the desired behavioral and cognitive characteristics, as well as the need for a funded vacancy.

•  Assess how senior leaders feel about their job and how they communicate with junior leaders about their role.
  
  Since positive statements are remembered less often than negative communications, help senior leaders give good vibes about their work with much greater frequency. This will help junior leaders step up when vacancies occur.
•  Encourage employees to participate in shaping the culture and give them a voice in decision-making. This can help create a sense of ownership and commitment to the culture.
  
  Junior leaders are less likely to look around for other options if they feel ownership within the existing organization.
   

See you again next Saturday.

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