Building Your Bench

Staff turnover is a fact of life – as much as you might want to use your wishful thinking to make it go away.

Once you have accepted that fact of life – now it is time to prepare for it.  Here are some things you can do to be prepared to successfully navigate the departure of key staff:

*Identify possible successors – internally and externally.  Even if your organization is not large enough to groom successors within your organization, you can keep your eye out for people outside it.  This could include sharp people you get to know within your community who are working elsewhere as well as networking at industry conferences.

*Utilize cross-training within your organization.  In all too many organizations, only one person knows how to do certain tasks or processes.  This is a bad idea for many reasons.  If it takes a long time to replace a staff person you will be pleased that others can pitch in and take over some of those responsibilities.

*Provide professional development opportunities for staff at all levels.  This helps build more resilience within the organization and allows potential successors for top staff to develop themselves. 

It’s a bummer to lose top staff, but it is a fact of life.  And, in a lot of ways, it is a complement to the organization when they can grow and fly on to more responsibilities in other places.  The more prepared you are the better you can successfully transition to a new staff lineup and continue making an effective Mission Impact.

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site at www.SheehanNonprofitConsulting.com   You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.

Thanks for the Feedback (Or Not)

We know that receiving valid feedback for improvement on our performance and then acting on it is a helpful way to continue our professional development.  However, it is all easier said than done.

This is one of the helpful themes of the book Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well (even when it is off base, unfair, poorly delivered, and, frankly, you’re not in the mood).  What a great, though long, title!  This really captures part of the challenge of acting on feedback.

I recommend the book and here are a couple of quick takeaways you can start using today, if you want feedback for improvement:

*Ask people (coworkers, supervisor, direct reports) “What’s just one thing I could work on to improve.  Please make it as practical as you can.”  Ask enough people that you find a theme.  Don’t try to work on everything that people suggest!  Pick just one thing.

*Sometimes people have a hard time identifying something for you to work on.  As a twist on the first suggestion, ask instead “What’s one thing you see me doing that gets in my way?”  Again, look for themes and pick just one thing to work on.

*Finally, when you start to implement a change in behavior according to the feedback, remember that change is hard and give yourself time to change.  Try small experiments with the change and do not expect to be newly perfect all of a sudden. 

We can all improve and continuous improvement is a hallmark of a great leader.  Put take it one thing at a time and build on your improvements.  And make sure to thank people for their feedback – even though, you know, it may not be delivered perfectly.

For more ideas on how you can lead breakthroughs in your organization, follow this blog and check out my web site at www.SheehanNonprofitConsulting.com   You will find free resources you can download, including a Breakthrough Strategy Workbook that you can download at no cost.  You can also check out my book, Mission Impact:  Breakthrough Strategies for Nonprofits, and buy it if you are interested.  And you can follow Sheehan Nonprofit Consulting on Facebook.