Nonprofit Employee Empowerment

April 25, 2010

Source: Flickr, Lincolnian (Brian)

In a recent blog post by Marshall Goldsmith on the Harvard Business Review (HBR) website, Goldsmith discussed four steps leaders can take in order to empower their employees.  Employee empowerment is nothing new.  It is discussed in many circles and more often then not, empowerment is discussed alongside its antitheses, micro-management.

How many times do you as a non-profit leader encourage and allow empowerment?  Is it difficult to do so because of employee or volunteer competency levels?  Or are you as the leader stifling empowerment through your organization’s culture?

Marshall points out,

there is a critical point that is often missed: It isn’t possible for a leader to “empower” someone to be accountable and make good decisions. People have to empower themselves. Your role is to encourage and support the decision-making environment, and to give employees the tools and knowledge they need to make and act upon their own decisions. By doing this, you help your employees reach an empowered state.

I have learned that the issue with empowerment, micro-management, and employee competency is not with those items at all.  It is almost always related to the culture surrounding the leader.  The atmosphere the leader exudes.   Therefore as leaders and managers, within non-profits or for-profits, we must ensure the organizational and departmental cultures we create are ones that allow employees to breathe.  We must ensure our employees are allowed to make decisions on there own.  AND…when the result of the decision is not the most favorable, we must stick by our employeesand encourage them, coach them, and mentor them so that the next opportunity they have to build confidence in themselves will be a success.  Goldsmith clasifies this as “running interference”.

The greatest empowering force of empowerment is trust.  Employees need to know that their leader has their back.

So what are the four steps Goldsmith suggested?  Following are a few things leaders can do to build an environment that empowers people.

1. Give power to those who have demonstrated the capacity to handle the responsibility.
2. Create a favorable environment in which people are encouraged to grow their skills.
3. Don’t second-guess others’ decisions and ideas unless it’s absolutely necessary. This only undermines their confidence and keeps them from sharing future ideas with you.
4. Give people discretion and autonomy over their tasks and resources.

What then is step five? 

Start today!

Start today by figuring out how you as the leader and you as the manager will set your staff up to succeed.  This could be a full time employee, a volunteer, or even an intern.  How will you empower them?  How will you have their back?  Which of Goldsmith’s four steps are you going to employ right now?  What are you willing to relinquish control of in order that the other person can grow?

How will you inspire those you lead?  Hopefully, it is by giving them the chance to prove they are up to the task.

Portugal 2010

March 21, 2010

As Western Christians we often only view missions trips as evangelical in nature. I personally struggled with this as evangelism, in its typically defined role, has never been a passion of mine and I failed to see why I should be the one to evangelize. It was on a trip to South Africa in 2006, and the resulting relationships thereafter, whereby I learned that conversions are not the only thing missionaries and Christians serving elsewhere in the world need help with. They need help with actions surrounding construction, technology, support processes, and even business.

Over the course of the last 18-24 months God has built a relationship between myself and an organization in Portugal called Teófilos. Teófilos is a provider of online learning and a platform and community for students of the Bible for Portuguese speaking people groups. One of the biggest issues Teófilos faces is the transition it is trying to make from being solely the endeavor of one missionary family to that of a sustainable entity functioning as a non-governmental organization (non-profit) in Portugal, Brazil, and beyond. In Portugal specifically there are many other para-church organizations that desire assistance with their organizational advancement. The areas in which they need help are in business methodologies and processes such as marketing, budgeting, constituent relationship management, and even day-to-day operations.

The third week of May 2010, just a few short weeks away, I will travel to Portugal to meet with leadership of such para-church organizations and to work alongside Teófilos for two weeks. As part of this trip God has arranged for me to provide two different seminars. One, at the Portuguese Baptist Theological Seminary (STB) and another all-day three-session seminar to a conglomerate of missionaries, mission organizations, church leaders, and lay-people.

It has been requested that I specifically speak on topics surrounding marketing, re-visioning, and to provide tools to further their ministries from an organizational development and advancement vantage point. In other words, to assist them in transitioning their work to a sustainable endeavor that won’t falter when their personal support dries up.  The title of the seminar is “Community and Relationship Building for Self-Sustainability in NPOs/NGOs”.

I would like to invite you to pray about how you, your families, your church, and your friends can be of assistance in this outreach. Here are some ways in which you can support this missions trip:

1. Prayer- for safety, finances, preparations, and opportunities of service while in Portugal.
2. Give by check- contact me via the contact page or through email to obtain mailing address.
3. Give Online- Click on the ChipIn! above and make a donation with your debit, credit, or bank transfer through PayPal.
4. Follow the trip via Twitter or Facebook.

Note: A giving receipt can be supplied upon request and 100% of your gift will go towards the cost of this trip.

This trip is in partnership with:

40 Days of Water

February 17, 2010

NPOdev is making a change over the next #40Days.

In short, it’s a way to give clean water to Africa by making water your only beverage for the next #40Days