1. Career and Transition Consulting
Working For Love Attracting and supporting the career development of professional staff in the Not-for-Profit sector. For The Association of Community Access Broadcasters Conference 17th October 2009
Career and Transition Consulting

2. Covered in this presentation
Working for Love – what does this mean?
The NFP as an Employer
Employee alignment and retention and the
importance of your organisational Mission
Work engagement - what you can do
Career motivation – why work for less?
Career development - a little career theory
Career and Performance management - What you can do
The Employer – Employee Psychological Contract
The Future World of Work
Career and Transition Consulting

3. Career and Transition Consulting
Working for Love? A.A.A
Affiliation
Alignment
Altruism
Because you and the community love them
Because they love the work they do
Because they love to serve community
Career and Transition Consulting

4. Some perceptions about attraction to work NFP sector
Have values alignment with organisation’s mission
Want to give something ‘back’ to community
Have chosen not to fit, or don’t fit into mainstream work cultures
Cannot get work in mainstream workforce
Identifies personally with stakeholders
Career and Transition Consulting

5. Career and Transition Consulting
The NFP sector
The voluntary and not-for-profit sector accounts for an important and growing proportion of employment in the OECD countries.
In NZ we have more than 97,000 NFPs
Contributing 2.6% to our GDP
Non-profits have over 105,000 paid employees
but only 10% of all non-profit organisations employ paid staff
90% rely entirely on volunteers
Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector website
Career and Transition Consulting

6. Career and Transition Consulting
NFPs as employers
Rates of pay being relatively low, necessitates
non-financial means of eliciting employee
motivation and commitment.
Organisation needs to tap into the intrinsic commitment to
the job held by employees
Risks involved - competing commitments and ambivalence
towards organisation, existing power structures and group dynamics – employee asks “why do I do this?”
Meeting the unexpressed expectations coming from idealism can be a challenge.
Career and Transition Consulting

7. Research – Mission Attraction
Non-profit organisations rely on the mission to attract resources and guide decision making. Increasingly, mission statements are recognized as a strong management tool that can motivate employees and keep them focused on the organization’s purpose.
In general, the employees (in the study) expressed positive attitudes toward the organization’s mission, and those attitudes were related to employee satisfaction and intentions to remain with the organization.
William A. Brown and Carlton F, Yoshioka
Career and Transition Consulting

8. Evoking a Powerful Mission
Career and Transition Consulting

9. Career and Transition Consulting
Organisation’s
Structures
External
Organisational brand
Customer perception and experience
Systems/ processes
Resources
Known and expressed expectations and performance
Govt legislation / policy
Compliance
External Structures
Employee’s
Personal brand
Personality/ character
Observed Skills and competencies
Interpersonal confidence and style
Internal
Interests
Career drivers / motivation
Values and core beliefs about self and other
Personal circumstances and family expectations
Aspirations and personal goals
Informal Culture
Predominant cultural ethos
Interpersonal dynamics
Stage of business development
How power is used
Business drivers
Mission
Career and Transition Consulting

10. Career and Transition Consulting
Employee Motivators
Knowledge – Learning and developing new skills
Career - Enhancing one’s career prospects through experience
Value – expressive - Making a difference
Social – adjustive - Desire for acceptance
Ego-defensive – Need to escape personal inadequacies
Esteem enhancement – Growth and self-actualisation needs
Career and Transition Consulting

11. Career and Transition Consulting
Employee Needs
Career and Transition Consulting

12. Intellectual “I think” goals
Time Management
Knowledge
View of Reality
Goals
Commitment to activities
Discipline
Planning
Intellectual “I think”
goals
Emotional
“I Feel”
Self-monitoring
Confidence
Enthusiasm
Passion
Energy
Optimism
Steadiness
Context of meaning
Context of meaning
Creative/Unconscious
“Identity”
Individual potential to self-actualise
Values
Conviction about service
View of abilities
Feelings of worthiness
Achievement drive
Self Image
Life programming
View of Possibilities
Serving attitude (relationship with authority)
Career and Transition Consulting

13. Career and Transition Consulting
Employee Engagement
“Dissatisfaction with pay tended to override employee’s mission attachment as explanation of why they may leave the organization.” B & Y
14% Fully Engaged
62% Moderately Engaged
24% actively disengaged
Career and Transition Consulting

14. Employee considerations for leaving?
Personal /Career Factors
They are not clear about their role and how their contribution matters
There is a lack of alignment between organisational mission and person’s values
There is lack of challenge or stretch on the job
Employee / manager relationships are wanting – lack of trust etc
They don’t feel included – or have a sense of belonging
relationships are not well formed
High stress and work / life balance is compromised
Situational / Environmental Factors
Current employment market
Current business / economic confidence
Personal security needs
Career and Transition Consulting

15. Career and Transition Consulting
In the ZONE
High
Mission Alignment and Challenge
Engagement
High
Low
Skills, Support and Trust
Career and Transition Consulting

16. Understanding Strengths and Interests
Potential stressors or
de-motivators
Strengths
Skills
Development Potential
Low relevance
I n t e r e s t s
Career and Transition Consulting

17. The risk of people not enjoying what they do…!
The doom loop
Enjoy Don’t Enjoy
Skilled
Don’t enjoy/not
good at
Enjoy/good at
Don’t enjoy/No longer good at
Unskilled
Enjoy/not good at
DOOM!!
Career and Transition Consulting

18. Building an Engaged Workforce
Get to know your people – who they really are
Build transparency and trust
Find out where they are naturally drawn to contribute
Show appreciation for their contribution
Provide challenges AND give them the support to succeed
Give constructive feedback
Foster a sense of belonging and community – and interdependence
Make the workplace FUN – celebrate together
Grow a culture passionately aligned with your organisational mission
Career and Transition Consulting

19. Psychological Contract
This job will give me security and extra pay potentially
I need you to make the organisation look good
Manager
New Employee
Career and Transition Consulting

20. Career and Transition Consulting
Career conversations
Pride: The employee describes what they are most proud of and recalls what made the experience so motivating and successful.
Passion: Values, beliefs and interests present in that and other experiences are identified .
Purpose: Other possible projects or assignments are explored which might also involve similar interests and values that would bring meaningful focus.
Performance: Develop, in collaboration, work strategies and resources required that will enable similar successes.
Poise: Manage expectations, trust and reinforce the idea
that, with practice, success is achievable.
Career and Transition Consulting

21. Recruit new staff for good ‘fit’
Aligned skills and experience (can do)
Aligned attitude and application (can fit)
An ability to change, be flexible and adaptable (will fit)
Aspiration and values that align with your mission
Competencies that add value to your operation
A commitment to quality
– to doing a good job
Career and Transition Consulting

22. ROI = Open Career Conversations Professional staff
Proactive Decision making
Resourcing Information 
Career planning transparency
Time for open conversations
Productivity
Attrition /Succession
issues 
Employee Satisfaction
Commitment 
Performance
Retention 
Career and Transition Consulting

23. Employer / Employee working together
Social/family environment
Personal goals
INDIVIDUAL
DEVELOPMENT PLAN
PEOPLE
Individual
Open Career Discussions
Job Re-alignment
Work/life in balance
Career development
Personal growth
Employability
Increase job satisfaction
Values alignment
Training needs identified
GOAL SETTING
CAREER/LIFE/
OBJECTIVES
SUCCESSION PLANNING INVOLVEMENT
Development and training
ACTION
PERFORMANCE
Current role
ACTION
Constructive feedback
Organisational plans, mission, vision & values
PROFIT
Organisation
Market/environment
Succession planning
Career and Transition Consulting

24. Career Decision-making?
Career Decision-making
Where do I ultimately want to be in my life?
(What is my dream or life mission)
How should I do it?
How does this fit with my life values and goals?
What are the other considerations I need to take into
account? (family, other commitments etc)
What could be my next step?
How can I prepare for the next change as I do my current work?
What do I want for the world/my community?
Career and Transition Consulting

25. Pro-active (Protean) model for careers
Person is author of their own career
Develops skills in learning how to learn
Recognises the sequential process of change
Seeks new challenges and opportunities
Is open to change and opportunity
Maximises resources
Maintains and develops networks
Diversifies Experience
Douglas T. Hall PhD
Career and Transition Consulting

26. Career and Transition Consulting
Changing work patterns - trends include:
Retraining – broadening / diversifying skills
Valuing and seeking feedback
Doing work-related reading – desire for work to be aligned with interest
On-going learning through tertiary education and specific skill training
Valuing and seeking mentoring and/or coaching
Less upward promotion / more horizontal career development
Increasing part-time employment / portfolio careers / flexi work arrangements
Later entry to the workforce
Working longer (aging workforce)
Diversified career and other interests
More emphasis on work-life balance – family first practices
Career and Transition Consulting

27. 2009 - Reframing the World of work
Community building focus – sharing resources
Business accountability – business ethics
Co-operacy in business practice – learning and doing business together
More reasons for working in the community or Not-For-Profit sectors
Opting into reduced hours (9-day fortnight now mainstream)
Re-emergence of the artisan - creative enterprise
More self-employment and small businesses
Knowledge, rather than physical labour important
Work and life in balance – healthy lifestyle above earning capacity/potential
Career and Transition Consulting

28. Career and Transition Consulting
Society and Values
We live in a world experiencing unprecedented change
In general people are confused – value complexity but want simplicity
There is a need to stimulate, educate and inform public debate and call to account unhelpful attitudes and activities remains vital to improving the state of the world
People and communities have become disconnected from each other – and are driven to change this
Societies and workplaces are becoming more diverse demographically and we need to learn to think through diverse approaches and perspectives
Values-based leadership is becoming more and more essential
Career and Transition Consulting

29. Career and Transition Consulting
Attraction theory is now mainstream – ‘The Secret’ found its ‘right timing’
More people are wanting to make change happen
There is disillusionment with corporate structures and profit making
People want connection and shared values
We are learning that we need communities to thrive rather than survive
We are learning that we must work more collaboratively
Organisations are interested in becoming more transformative
We have an inkling now that we can reframe the our world and the way we do things
Career and Transition Consulting

30. Career and Transition Consulting
Bibliography
Mission Attachment and Satisfaction as Factors in Employee Retention, (2003) William Brown & Carlton Yoshioka
Statistics New Zealand website
Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector website; Facts about the subsectors of the community sector
Caring for The Workers – Paper by Lower Hutt City Council 2008
Human Resources Magazine – Feb/Mar 2009 Issue - Leveraging your workers – Jasbinda Sing
Career Compass, Navigating Your Career in the New Century (2000)Peggy Simonsen.
Integrity Selling; Winning over Negative Emotions, (2003) Ron Willingham
Career and Transition Consulting