Hire Slow.....Fire Fast

Did you know that the median nonprofit spends 73% of it's budget on personnel?   Yep, three quarters of the cost of doing business is your people.  It's another reason why having the right talent in place means more than the right strategic plan or the right social media buzz.

But our experience is that nonprofit leaders (especially in human services or education) are reluctant to do what's best and cut underperforming employees loose.   Oh, there are the toxic employees, but were not talking about those.  It is the ones we like personally...the ones who work hard, get along with others, display all the emotional intelligence called for by management experts.....and yet they're not getting the job done.

In this two minute clip, Ken Schiller, co-founder of Texas restaurants Rudy's and Mighty Fine Burgers, provides an excellent example of well liked and respected employee who was an excellent manager when the company was small but did not grow as the company grew.  Becasue Schiller really liked the guy and appreciated all he had done in the early days, there was severe hesitancy to make the move.  But Schiller learned from this and his advice to us all is Hire Slow, Fire Fast

Firing The Executive Director.....how much do you tell the public?

Being volunteers, it is hard when a Board of Directors has to make the decision to fire an Executive Director.  But the real tricky part is how you explain it to the public.  Because most people don't like airing their dirty laundry in public, most cases are handled privately, with either 'no comment' or 'they left to spend more time with the family' type reasons provided.  This I believe to be extraordinarily misguided strategy.  If you are to keep the trust of donors, media and collaborators then transparency and openness is required.....even if it requires you to share exceedingly bad and embarrassing details about your nonprofit.

A case I've been following out of my old stomping grounds in Bozeman, Montana illustrates this point.  Following the abrupt 'resignation' of the Executive Director, the Board chose a policy to not discussing the issue in public.  Information vacuums are generally filled by innuendo, rumor and suspicon....which is what happened in this case.  "I can't believe I had to call and beg you to answer ourquestions," shouted one volunteer at a subsequnet meeting Board members held with their donors.  A fiasco ensued when the Board remained tight lipped and provided nothing but sterile bureacratic answers.

It will take years for Heart of The Valley Animal Shelter to recover...as well as leave lingering clouds over the career of former Executive Director Traci Weller.  Openness and transparency would have prevented this...