Albert Einstein famously said, “whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters.” And that’s why I wholeheartedly support the coming together of a nonprofit awards program that reveals the truths of workers and a consultancy serving nonprofits that examines that truth and builds on it to achieve important gains.
Back in 2019, I pivoted from a career as an executive with a series of large public organizations to a small not for profit that supported immigrant women. I wanted to “give back” and empowering women has always been a personal cause close to my heart. The organization I joined was in the grips of a crisis. The agency had barely survived a fire that had shut its doors for months and staff had survived tumultuous changes in leadership that had propelled them to unionize.
My first task was to speak with every staff member to learn their perspective. The news was bad. But I wanted verification – an independent view. I turned to the Canadian Nonprofit Employer of Choice Award or NEOC. NEOC is the only designation that recognises the best employers in the not-for-profit sector in Canada. It has two tiers – one, for agencies with fewer than 50 employees and a second for agencies with 50+ employees. Critically, for our organization, 50% of NEOC’s scoring is based on the findings of a staff survey.
We enrolled.
When it was time to hear the results, I took a deep breath, poured a glass of wine and placed a phone call to NEOC President and founder Jeff Doran and Program Manager Mary Singleton. I was expecting to hear the unfiltered truth from staff and they did not disappoint. Poor compensation and benefits. Poor orientation for new recruits. Little support for staff development. No donor support. Heck, we had a benign approach to fundraising.
Undaunted, I thanked them for the survey. It gave us a benchmark and inspiration for a corrective plan of action. I also recognized hope in the results around staff commitment to the work. Jeff and Mary talked me through the feedback and put me in touch with NEOC winners who had best practices to share. Importantly, they provided encouragement. And there were days when I would phone Jeff from the roadside enroute home.
In the ensuing year, with the support of the Board, we found a way to increase wages and used a broker to enhance benefits. We introduced an employee awards program, an Employee Engagement committee and created morale-building activities during the pandemic – including a virtual magic show. We over-achieved ambitious fund development targets. Most importantly, our leadership team—the Board and myself—genuinely believed in our staff and tried to demonstrate that in everything we said and did.
The next year, the agency won a Nonprofit Employer of Choice Award. Jeff called the improvement “almost unprecedented” and “extremely significant.”
NEOC offers an agency or organization a path for continuous improvement. Its staff survey gives voice to those on the front lines to identify the issues to be addressed. Now and going forward, a new collaboration with Osborne Group principals will provide additional feedback to those nonprofits who request support to validate and tackle the critical issues needed to achieve transformational change.
Our principals may recommend focus in many areas, including employee engagement, leadership development, performance management, coaching, board governance, policymaking or pay equity. This is an added benefit for a nonprofit aspiring to make a difference with its most important resource – its staff.
Judy Fantham is a principal with The Osborne Group who relishes turnaround projects and interim executive roles with nonprofit organizations. Judy can be reached at jfantham@osborne-group.com.
