News & Events

By Chris Arringdale, Co-Founder/VP of Marketing at ReviewSNAP

With the aging population and an ever increasing pool of nonprofit employees approaching or reaching retirement, it is becoming more critical than ever to develop younger talent that can replace these knowledgeable and experienced retirees. One of the deficiencies found in a number of nonprofit organizations is the lack of focus on establishing a framework for managing the performance and succession of employees. This can lead to a lack of viable successors as the more experienced employees retire.

Talent continuity, a term often used to describe how well an organization maintains a pipeline of skilled, productive and accountable employees, represents an objective that all nonprofits should strive to achieve. Helping a significant percentage of your employees achieve high levels of performance on a consistent basis such that it becomes habitual is possible only when enough attention is paid to performance. Too often organizations simply allow performance to just happen. When that approach is taken, a “soft” workforce evolves and overall performance of the organization deteriorates.

A major factor in developing talent that can succeed retiring workers is the degree to which solid and accurate feedback about performance is provided. Employees should have personal goals that align with organizational goals and they should clearly understand what expectations you have for them. In combination, these form the basis for measuring performance.

Once this foundation is in place, there need to be mechanisms in place to encourage routine recording of performance “events”, both positive and negative. This serves multiple purposes; 1) it allows for a clear written description of exactly what occurred so the feedback to the employee is accurate, 2) it provides documentation should it be needed for disciplinary reasons down the road and 3) it serves as a performance journal that can be referred to when it is time to conduct formal performance reviews.

Regular feedback by the manager to the employee about performance is a way to reinforce positive progress in meeting or exceeding expectations and goals. Employees need feedback in order to modify their “work behavior” as needed to ensure their performance and skills advance as needed over time. Having accurate documentation of performance gives managers a far better foundation for coaching employees. If employees feel the manager is delivering inaccurate feedback, credibility for future conversations and coaching sessions can be compromised.

Another key element in helping ready employees to take on more responsibility over their tenure with the organization is the formal performance review. While ongoing feedback is critical to coaching and development for all employees, that feedback needs to be reinforced with regular comprehensive reviews of overall performance and progress toward meeting goals.

Too many organizations view these reviews as an exercise rather than an opportunity. Performance reviews really are an opportunity for the manager to bring everything together and present a thorough review of what has gone well and what may need more work. The cycle of feedback and review from year-to-year is critical to developing talent continuity because employees who are not provided with the necessary feedback and coaching tend to wander in their performance and progress. This cycle keeps them on track and allows the manager and employee to really connect from a communication perspective allowing for more open and honest dialogue.

Many managers complain that they need more automation to support this process. Manual or quasi-automated systems are too cumbersome, confusing and time consuming and managers and employees tend to drift away from being committed to the cycle of quality feedback and review.

There are automated tools available that enable organizations the opportunity to put in place an excellent performance management infrastructure. Web-based systems can bring nonprofit organizations a user-friendly solution that gives them a robust method of easily journaling and documenting performance and a complete automated performance review solution that encourages managers and employees to make the most out of their coaching and review opportunities.

The important thing to keep in mind is that achieving talent continuity is not difficult. But it does take a certain level of commitment from all involved starting at the top of the organization. Commit to excellence in how employees are communicated with in terms of their performance and watch your employees thrive.