NFP People Blog

How co-designing your values can improve your organisation’s culture

co-design of values

Collaboration isn’t just a buzzword – getting input and buy-in from your people can have huge benefits for a project and for staff too.  Yet many organisations still rely exclusively on their HR function to establish their organisational values. Organisational values, by definition, affect every single person in the organisation, so it actually makes little […]

Read more

Could greater autonomy be the secret to growing your impact and improving staff engagement?

empowering staff

The introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) has been a catalyst for high levels of change in Australia’s NFP workforce.

With greater empowerment and choice for NDIS participants has come greater demands on service providers and their staff.

In turn, old workplace structures, processes and practices have sometimes struggled to keep up with new demands for flexibility, responsiveness and client-centred approaches.

One innovative solution lies in equipping staff with the autonomy to make their own decisions.

Read more

Five things you can do to make work less stressful for your staff – and yourself

Workplace stress

Stress. It’s normal. Every one will feel it at some point, and individuals have their own stress triggers.

At the same time, workplaces have a duty of care to ensure they offer their staff a physically and mentally safe and healthy space in which to work in.

So what could you be doing to ensure that there’s a little less stress in the day for your team, and for yourself?

Read more

Working four-day weeks for five days’ pay? Research shows it pays off

Employees at a New Zealand company behind an innovative trial of a four-day working week have declared it a resounding success, with 78% saying they were better able to manage their work-life balance.

An analysis shows that the employees working four-day weeks felt better about their job, were more engaged, and generally reported greater work-life balance and less stress – all while maintaining the same level of productivity.

Read more

How to hire a fantastic fundraiser for your NFP

A great fundraiser is (almost literally!) worth their weight in gold. That’s also why they’re notoriously difficult to recruit.

From face-to-face fundraisers to corporate partnership managers and every job in between, many NFPs rely heavily on the donations and grants brought in by their fundraisers.

So what can your organisation do to get on the front foot when it comes to hiring great staff in this field where demand far outstrips supply of experienced staff?

Read more

Inquiry into workplace sexual harrassment launched by the Human Rights Commission

Spurred into action by the global #MeToo movement, the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has announced a national inquiry into sexual harassment in Australian workplaces.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins says the global conversation about sexual harassment and the #MeToo movement has exposed the true prevalence of the problem and the harm it causes to individuals, workplaces and society.

Read more

Confucius has a message for leaders who want to succeed: reflect

One of the most admirable and arguably underrated qualities of leadership is the capacity for reflection. Confucius called it the most noble way to learn wisdom.

But when we talk about what makes someone a successful leader, we typically describe attributes like the ability to innovate, make strategic decisions or manage uncertainty. We rarely mention reflection among the core traits of a great leader.

But the ability to reflect is actually among the most important traits that will determine a leader’s success.

Read more

What Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, has to teach NFP leaders about high standards

“High standards are contagious. Bring a new person onto a high standards team, and they’ll quickly adapt. The opposite is also true. If low standards prevail, those too will quickly spread. And though exposure works well to teach high standards, I believe you can accelerate that rate of learning by articulating a few core principles of high standards.”

That’s Jeff Bezos – founder and CEO of Amazon, and also the wealthiest person in the world.

While you might wonder about how much a billionaire has to teach leaders in Australia’s NFP sector, the lessons from Bezos’ annual letter to his shareholders are hugely relevant for leaders in any organisation, of any size.

Read more