Chapter 15. Becoming an Effective Manager | Community Tool Box

 

• What is a management plan?

• Why does your organization need a management plan?

• How do you develop a management plan?

• How do you evaluate and adjust a management plan?

Whether your organization is a one-person volunteer operation or a multi-program giant with dozens of staff, it needs a management plan to make sure that it operates smoothly and gets everything done. The plan for a tiny organization can obviously be a lot simpler than that for a huge one, but the intent in both cases is still the same: to carry out the mission of the organization and the day-to-day tasks needed to support that mission and keep the organization running as effectively as possible.

What is a management plan?

A management plan is a blueprint for the way your organization is run, both day-to-day and over the long term. It includes the standard methods for doing various things -- handling money, dealing with the actual work of the organization, addressing the way people in the organization do their jobs -- and the overall philosophical and intellectual framework in which these methods operate.

The management plan for your particular organization depends on a number of factors:

• What is the organization trying to accomplish? A neighborhood initiative that exists to achieve a single goal -- keep a historic building from being torn down, preserve a piece of open space, build a playground -- has very different management needs than, say, a health clinic that plans to serve the community for years. Issues that are both important and ongoing for the clinic (staff pay and benefits, for instance) may simply not exist for the other organization.
• What actually needs to get done day-to-day to keep the organization running? The actual tasks that keep the organization alive, maintain its standing with funders and the community, and allow it to accomplish its goals, need to be carried out efficiently and on time. Who's responsible for that, how many people will it take, and what are the mechanisms that will allow it to happen for your particular organization?
• What degree of freedom do people at all levels of the organization need in order to do their jobs well? If nothing can get done without going through several layers of management, the organization isn't going to be very effective.
• What are the resources available for carrying out a management plan? How many administrators could the organization support, given its finances? If the answer is one (or one part-time), your management plan will look very different than it would if the answer were three.
• How does the management plan fit in with the mission and philosophy of the organization? It's important, both for the internal workings of the organization and for the way it's viewed in the community, that there be consistency between what the organization says about itself and the way it runs. If an organization claims to be democratic, but keeps its staff totally powerless, it is not only violating its own principles -- and thereby making it less likely it will accomplish its goals -- but also compromising its reputation.

Why does your organization need a management plan?

Granted, a lot of work goes into keeping an organization going. Why can't it just get taken care of as it comes up? Why go to the trouble of creating an actual plan for just doing what needs to be done?

Except for the last, the points below all apply to organizations with a number of staff members. But even a one-person organization needs some management planning. When do bills get paid? How do you relate to other organizations and entities? Will you have a bank account? These are all management issues. If you are a really small organization, you may not need a formal plan, but it's still important to do some planning.

The general answer here is that your organization is too important for you to leave things to chance. If there's no plan, everyday tasks may fall through the cracks, emergencies may arise with which no one knows how to cope, responsibilities may not be clear, and--the bottom line--the work of the organization may not be done well or at all. A good management plan helps you accomplish your goals in a number of ways:

• It clarifies the roles and responsibilities of everyone in the organization so that everyone knows what they and everyone else is supposed to do. Staff members know who they need to go to for information, consultation, supervision, etc. They also know what the boundaries of their own positions are -- when they can do something without checking with someone else, and when they can't.
• It divides the work of the organization in reasonable and equitable ways, so that everyone's job is not only defined, but feasible.
• It increases accountability, both internally (when something doesn't get done, it's obvious whose responsibility it was) and externally (the better the management of the organization, the better it will serve the community).
• It ensures that necessary tasks are assigned to the appropriate staff members, and creates a time schedule to get them accomplished. Bills get paid on time, staff members are where they're supposed to be to provide the organization's services, funding proposals get written and submitted, problems are dealt with, and the organization functions smoothly as a result.
• It helps the organization define itself. By developing a plan that's consistent with its mission and philosophy, an organization can be clear on what it believes in and communicate this with clarity to its staff, its priority population, and the community as a whole.

This is the second reference in this section to consistency between the organization's philosophy and its management plan, and it won't be the last. This issue has been the downfall of many an organization. Some organizations that are inconsistent on this matter simply fall apart amidst wrangling among staff, director, and board. Many more change to become exactly what they initially hoped never to be: dictatorial, or more concerned with income than with the services or support they provide to their priority populations and the community.

For an organization, as for an individual, living your principles is not a small matter. It is what defines you as either a respected and admired member of the community, or as a hypocrite who isn't worthy of attention. You simply cannot give too much thought to how your management structure mirrors the principles of your organization: it could be a matter of life and death for the organization.

How do you develop a management plan?

In this part of the section, we'll go step by step through the formation of a management plan.

Decide on a management model (or determine what you already have)

The management philosophy of your organization defines how you view management and how you want your organization to function. What will work best for, and best reflect the character of, your organization? If the organization is very small -- one or two people -- this may simply not be an issue. But if it's larger, what do you need and want? Is it important that the organization be extremely efficient, and that decisions can be made at the drop of a hat? Is it important that the organization be open, and that staff and others feel valued? You need to think carefully about what kind of model will get you what you want, and not get you what you don't want.

Some common management models are:

• Classic hierarchy: Authority is top-down, typically from the director or board chair. As in the military -- a textbook example of a hierarchy -- there is a "chain of command." Everyone knows exactly where they are in that chain, from whom they take orders, and to whom they can give them. In general, people can act only in a very limited sphere without instructions or express permission from above.
• Democratic hierarchy: Final authority still resides at the top, but managers and administrators at all levels confer with those affected before making decisions. Many nonprofits and some corporations operate in this way, with decisions made at the level of those who actually do the work and see the results. This model generally allows people the authority to oversee their own work, and encourages incentive.
• Collaborative management: The whole group -- which usually includes all staff and may include participants as well -- takes part in major decisions, and everyone takes part in decisions which affect them directly. At the same time, everyone has enough authority to fulfill their own responsibility and do their job effectively. The collaborative model allows everyone to feel a sense of ownership in the organization. (A food co-op or other cooperative business often functions in this way, with everyone having a vote in major decisions.)

A community-based literacy program with several sites was in danger of losing a large amount of funding because of state budget cuts. The organization convened a meeting to which all interested stakeholders, staff, students, board, and supporters were invited. The group discussed the situation and decided that the bottom line was that no sites should be closed, and that any cutbacks should reflect this thinking. The board and director took this decision as organizational policy, and made contingency plans accordingly. Even those staff members who were in danger of being laid off as a result of the cuts felt good about the decision because they knew it had been arrived at through careful discussion involving elements of every part of the organization, including themselves. (Funding ultimately came through, and no program cuts were necessary.) This is how collaborative management can work.

• Collective management: Everyone takes part in all decisions, and the organization is jointly "owned" by the whole collective as a unit. Usually, as a result, consensus (universal agreement) rather than a majority vote, is needed for a decision to be made.

If you're a new organization, and just forming, you'll need to make some serious choices. If you're designing a plan for an organization that's already operating, your choices may be easy or they may be even more difficult. Does your current model work for you? If the answer is "Not as well as we'd like," then you might consider making some changes. But how much can you change, and how fast?

Before you make changes, it's important to negotiate them with those who'll be affected. If they don't agree to a new set of rules, you'll have a difficult time putting those rules in place. Try to look at change as a process that occurs over time. If you want to change the style or philosophical structure of your organization's management -- especially if you want to change it drastically -- you may have to start with small elements and work toward a larger change. That may seem frustratingly slow, but it may lead to better results in the long run.

Although the number of management models described in this section is limited, there are, in fact, infinite varieties combining aspects of two or more. The issue here is not what box you can fit into, but what you think will work for your organization, given the people involved and the work that needs to be done. You might want to be collaborative in some areas and not in others. Your board may set some, but not all, policy. Try to consider what results particular aspects of a model will have, and don't be afraid to try something new.

Define the roles and relationships among the board, director, and staff

Roles and relationships are crucial to the smooth operation of the organization. There are a number of questions you need to ask as you define these in a way that suits your organization and gives you the management results you want:

• Where are the limits of everyone's authority?

A classic problem in nonprofit organizations of all sorts is the struggle for power between the director and the board. Such struggles are not inevitable -- in fact, many, perhaps most, organizations never experience them -- but they are common enough that avoiding them should be a priority. Good directors are usually strong individuals, and good boards are usually made up of strong individuals. If they all work together, they can create a powerful organization; if they wrestle for control, they can handicap, or even destroy, an organization. Therefore, clearly describing the scope and limits of everyone's authority is extremely important.

• How and when are they expected to work together?
• On which, if any, issues is decision-making a shared process? Shared by whom?
• What are the lines of communication among them? (Can the board give instructions directly to staff, for instance? Can staff contact the board directly about issues in the organization? Or does all communication go through the director or some other specific person?)
• How will disputes among them be resolved?
• Do board, director and staff agree about how the organization is run? Conflict in this area can quickly cripple an organization.

A young organization that was essentially a collaborative had a board chair who had had considerable experience on the boards of other, more traditional, organizations. She viewed her role, and that of the board in general, as "The Boss," and felt that it was her and their prerogative to dictate policy without discussion. The director, on the other hand, was passionate about the collaborative nature of the program, and saw the board as only one element of many in the governance structure. Although they were personally quite fond of each other, the clashes between board chair and director were monumental and often public. The conflict was difficult for everyone, and wasn't effectively resolved until the board chair's term ended, and she was replaced by someone much more sympathetic to the collaborative model. It was only at that point that the organization actually jelled, and was able to plan its future development.

Spelling out the answers to these questions in job descriptions, board information, employee handbooks, etc. is one way to address this area of concern. Another is to be extremely careful to describe the roles and relationships when hiring a director or staff person, or when taking on new board members. Most important is to try to hire people who share the organization's concept of how it should operate.

Prepare carefully to hire the right people for management positions

If you hire an authoritarian as the director of a collaborative organization, you will have serious difficulties (no "may" or "might" here). By the same token, if you hire someone who doesn't clearly understand what kind of management philosophy you have in mind, or who isn't capable of fostering the relationships necessary to make your model work, it won't work. Hiring the right people is probably the most important thing you can do to make sure that the management plan you've devised is successfully carried out.

An alternative to choosing and developing a particular management structure is to hire the person you're sure you want and go with their management preferences. This works best if the organization (and the staff) has no passionate philosophical leaning toward one model or another. Hiring a terrific person who's a bad fit with the organization is often worse than hiring someone far less competent who's a good fit with the organization.

The right person, on the other hand, can -- with charisma, excellent interpersonal skills, and effective management -- bring a resistant organization around to a new way of thinking. It's a tough call, especially since it's seldom possible to get a complete picture of the person you're hiring from a resume, some references, and one or two interviews.

How can you be sure that the people you hire will do the job you want them to do? The short answer is that you never have an absolute guarantee, but there are a number of things you can do to increase your chances.

• Explain the organization's management model as precisely as possible, so no job applicant will have any question about what they're walking into, and won't find any surprises (beyond the inevitable ones that go with every job) if they take the position.
• Try to structure the interview so it mirrors as closely as possible the management model you have in mind. In this way, you can get a sense of the applicant's comfort with the situation, and of their skill in handling it. This information should be helpful when you make your choice.
• Ask questions and use probes that really get at the applicant's philosophy of management. What does their past experience tell you? What would they be willing, and not willing, to do as a manager or administrator?
• Use the applicant's references well. Ask their former employers and colleagues about their management style, their relationships with others in the organization, the ways in which they might solve a particular problem, etc.
• Listen to your instincts. If someone makes you uncomfortable or feels "wrong," that's significant: don't ignore it, no matter how great their resume looks. If you have a sense of the people you're looking for, you'll know at least some of them when you see them.

Examine what needs to be managed

Whatever the management looks like, there is usually some agreement about what in an organization needs to be managed. The broad categories are people; money; supplies and equipment; activities; and relationships with the outside world (funders, the media, the community, priority population, etc.) Each of these categories should have a set of policies and procedures that addresses whatever you can think of that might come up in that area.

Another, and extremely important, responsibility of management is to pursue the goals of the organization. In general, these goals are subsumed in the five areas mentioned. If a goal, for instance, is the acceptance of the organization in the community, that goal becomes part of relating to the outside world. If a goal is to provide ever-improving service to a particular population, that goal becomes part of the management of the organization's activities. The reality is that you should never lose sight of your organizational goals, because they define all five of these categories of management for your organization.

Not all of these management areas have to be addressed by the same person, although in small organizations they probably will be. In larger organizations, there are often assistant directors or program directors who oversee one area or another. If the organization is large enough, the director may delegate much of this work.

As with the rest of this section, considering each of these management categories has to be done with an eye toward the mission and philosophy of the organization. There is plenty of room here for making policy that's inconsistent with what you say you believe in, so it's important to ask yourself how what you're developing will fit in with your mission statement. If you're an empowerment organization, a restrictive and punitive personnel policy doesn't make sense, for instance. If one of your goals is to help people with lower incomes learn how to manage money, your own money management should be as organized and efficient and frugal as possible (no fancy furniture or expensive offices). You need to practice what you preach, or the lesson is lost.

People: personnel management

People are the most valuable part of any organization, and often the most difficult to manage. Personnel management encompasses a number of areas:

• How, and how well, staff members do their jobs.
• Relationships among people in the organization.
• Supervision: who supervises whom and how often, what supervision means for the organization, what kinds of records are kept, what is done with them, and who has access to them.
• Quality-of life issues: staff compensation and benefits, work hours, leave policy, etc.
• Staff training and ongoing professional development.
• Hiring, firing, appeal, and grievance procedures.
• Legal or other regulations involving personnel, such as ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), funders' requirements, non-discrimination in hiring, etc.

Money: fiscal management

Although you may hate the thought of it, your organization is, in many ways, a business, and you have to manage your finances just as any other business does if you're going to continue to operate. Fiscal management includes:

• Day-to-day management of the money you actually have: taking care of payroll, paying bills, billing others, handling cash flow, deciding where and when to make purchases of materials, supplies, and equipment.
• Accounting: keeping the books.
• Financial planning: finding new resources, tying financial planning to organizational goals, looking for sources of income to replace others that may be drying up, deciding what to do if money is short.
• Fundraising.
• Banking, investment, and capital development: taking care of the money you have, dealing with a surplus, and handling money specifically meant to be used for the long-term health and development of the organization.

Goods and services

Just buying what you need for your organization to run isn't the end of the story.

• Equipment maintenance and repair: keeping track of regular service schedules for copiers and other office equipment, as well as specialized machinery your particular organization may use to do its job (medical devices, for instance, or vehicles); getting equipment fixed or replaced when it breaks down.
• Training and updates for those who need to use particular equipment, whether computers and software or something more complicated.
• Ordering materials and supplies when needed, with an eye toward the total amount of money available for them.
• Keeping track of the price and quality of goods and services, and changing suppliers when necessary.
• Establishing and maintaining relationships with the companies and individuals from whom the organization buys goods and services.
• Defining who gets what when: who has access to what equipment, how much does each staff member get to spend for supplies for their position, etc.

Activities

What your organization actually does is usually the reason it exists. Keeping careful track of what goes on and how is therefore fundamental to the success of the organization. Among the management necessities here are:

• Making sure that the organization's activities are carried out in the way they're meant to be.
• Tracking the results of what you do, and attempting to find ways to improve your effectiveness, even if it's already high.
• Evaluating the organization's activities, with input from staff, the priority population, and, if appropriate, the community at large.
• Planning for change and improvement, based on evaluations and assessment of results.
• Continually reassessing the needs of the priority population, the field, or whatever is appropriate, to make sure that what you're doing is, in fact, aimed at accomplishing what's necessary.
• Keeping up to date on best practices and processes, so that you can take advantage of new and proven ideas, methods, and techniques.
• Updating staff training as the organization's activities or methods expand or change.

Relations with the outside world

If your organization aims to serve the community in some way (or is dependent on the community for resources or good will) then your management plan better include some ways for the organization to become recognized as part of the community. If your organization gets funding from state agencies, foundations, or other funders, it's important to establish and maintain good relationships with both the individuals who oversee that funding and with the funding institutions as a whole.

In reality, organizations don't deal with other organizations or communities: people deal with other people. The positive personal relationships that your organization's director, board, and staff members establish go a long way toward strengthening your organization's credibility and standing with funders and the community. A management plan that addresses this issue might include:

• Encouraging the director or other staff to be members of community and/or other organizations, and to assume positions of responsibility in those organizations where appropriate.
• Establishing, where possible, collaborative relationships with other groups and agencies (e.g. referring participants back and forth, sharing staff and equipment, or writing joint proposals, funding for which would benefit both organizations).
• Keeping a high profile in the community.

One program director made it a point never to turn down an opportunity to speak to a community group or to publicly support other agencies (delivering a keynote to United Way major donors, participating in a Big Brother/Big Sister fundraising event, turning out at a rally for a shelter for people experiencing homelessness, etc.). He tried to make sure that the organization's name appeared in the newspaper on a regular basis, if only in public service announcements about program activities. As a result, most people in the community were aware of the program and the services it offered, and thought of it in a positive way.

• Making it a matter of policy to assist other community groups and agencies whenever possible.
• Making sure that the director and staff establish and maintain personal relationships with directors and staff of other organizations.
• Establishing and maintaining personal relationships with the appropriate people at funding agencies.
• Cooperating with funders by getting paperwork in on time, conforming to rules if you have agreed to do so, and generally trying to make their work easier.
• Establishing and maintaining relationships with representatives of the media (reporters, editors, station managers, etc.).

Write policies and procedures for each management area

Policies are the official rules, structures, and philosophical principles that guide an organization. Procedures are the actual ways in which policies and the work of the organization are carried out. (Equal opportunity in hiring, particularly with regard to candidates from underrepresented groups, might be a policy of an organization. Advertising in urban newspapers, adding "Candidates from underrepresented groups encouraged to apply" to all job ads and postings, and specifically searching out possible candidates from underrepresented groups are procedures that carry out this policy.) It makes life in an organization much easier for everyone -- and much less subject to legal and other challenges -- if policies and procedures for every aspect of its functioning are spelled out as clearly as possible, and everyone has access to them.

Not every organization needs a formal set of policies and procedures. If you're a small group with very little budget and few staff or rotating volunteers, you may be able to operate perfectly well with an informal set of norms and methods. As you grow, you can institute policies and procedures as they become necessary. Sometimes it's hard to tell when that moment comes: often you realize it only when there's a problem because you don't have the appropriate structure to cover something that's already happened.

The best way to assure that policies and procedures in the various areas make sense and are workable is to draft them with the participation of those who will be subject to them and who will carry them out. As has been mentioned several times in this section, it is essential that everyone in the organization feel some ownership of the management plan if it is to work reasonably well. In this instance, it simply makes sense to include those who will be affected by particular policies and procedures, because they are best qualified to understand what will work in those areas and what won't. (For the same reason, it makes sense to hire the director and other administrators before you develop policies and procedures.)

Once again, when you're finished, consider how the policies and procedures you've generated match your philosophy and mission, and reexamine any that don't.

With the writing of your policies and procedures, your management plan is done, except for one element: a plan for evaluating and improving it.

How do you evaluate and adjust a management plan?

No plan of any sort is complete without a mechanism for evaluating and improving on it. This is especially true for a management plan, which may be the foundation for an organization's success or failure. If a management plan works well in practice, then it's likely that staff will be reasonably happy and the organization's work will get done well. If the plan doesn't work well, then the reasons for that need to be understood, and management needs to be changed accordingly.

There are both formal and informal ways of telling whether a management plan is working, and both can be used as part of an evaluation plan. An informal assessment of the plan might include answers to the following questions, among others:

• Do time-sensitive tasks -- funding proposals, reports, etc. -- seem to be completed on time?
• Are there any staff grievances?
• Is there a significant number of -- and that might mean any -- complaints from the community or from funders about the organization or what it does?
• Are participants dropping out of programs or services in large numbers?
• Is the organizational atmosphere one of calm, or one of chaos? Do staff and participants seem excited or contented, or stressed and unhappy?

Staff discontent, apparent inefficiency, significant participant or community dissatisfaction, widespread stress -- these can all be warning signs that all is not right with the organization. You should take them seriously and search for their causes, so they can be addressed.

An informal evaluation is not enough, however. It's important to evaluate your organization's management just as you evaluate its work on a regular basis (typically once a year). Once again, the format and basis of your evaluation and adjustment strategy should be consistent with the philosophy and mission of your organization. Some formal ways to accomplish an evaluation could include:

• Some form of structured feedback from all constituents of the organization -- staff, board, participants, volunteers -- as well as from managers and administrators themselves.
• An organizational self-assessment, through which the organization develops a list of desired results, and checks itself against the list on a regular schedule (e.g. annually).
• The use of someone outside the organization -- a consultant, the director of another organization -- to evaluate the management function and suggest refinements or changes. (This could be part of a larger evaluation of the organization as a whole.)
• Regularly comparing policies and procedures to what really happens in the organization in the circumstances they cover. If there is not general agreement between what happens and what is supposed to happen, then something needs to be done. (That"something" could be changing policies and procedures to match practice, or vice-versa, or some other solution that might involve elements of both.)

However you choose to do it, creating a regular process for evaluating and adjusting your management plan should be an integral part of the plan itself. Once you've nailed down that process, your management plan should be complete, and it's time to get to work and put it into practice.

In Summary

The management of your organization is too important to be left to chance. Having a management plan will allow you to shape the organization the way you want to, and will make it much more likely that your work -- the reason for the organization's existence -- will be effective.

To develop a management plan that works for your organization, you should think carefully about what's consistent with your mission and philosophy (and what your organization says about itself). Then, with that in mind:

• Consciously choose or design a management model that will comfortably fit the organization and will accomplish your purposes.
• Define the relationships among director, board, staff, and volunteers to conform to the needs of effectively operating the management structure you've chosen.
• Develop, with appropriate input from those affected, a comprehensive set of policies and procedures to cover the five essential management areas: people; money; supplies and equipment; activities; and relations with the outside world.
• Design a regular system and schedule for evaluating and adjusting your management plan, so that it will continue to function successfully.

When you have a management plan that seems right for your organization, you've completed a necessary step on the road to effective action.

You understand what a management plan is:

___A blueprint of how organizations run

You understand that a management plan should cover the following topics:

___The organization's goals

___A plan to keeping organization running

___Information about how people will do their jobs

___List of available resources

You understand why a management plan is needed:

___To clarify role and responsibilities

___To divide work

___To increase accountability

___To help the organization define itself

You understand that when hiring, you should:

___Explain the management model in detail

___Structure the interview to fit model

___Ask good questions

___Use the applicant's references well

___Listen to your instincts

You understand the types of management models:

___Classic hierarchy

___Democratic hierarchy

___Collaborative management

Tool 1: Management Models
 

In order to construct a management plan that's right for your organization, you need to decide exactly what management means to you. There are a number of philosophical models that management can take. Those most widely used in non-profit organizations are probably the following:

Classic hierarchy

In this model, all leadership and control comes from the top (typically, in the case of a non-profit organization, from a director or Board chair). In general, there are layers in the organization, and each layer is responsible to the one above it and in charge of the one below it.

There are advantages and disadvantages to all management systems, but in most cases, especially for grass roots and community-based organizations, this is the least appropriate. The top-down nature of the structure often means that the creativity and ideas of those at lower levels are lost. It also encourages protecting one's position and real or imagined privileges, and discourages initiative (people, except at the highest management levels, are unlikely to try anything new for fear of doing something wrong). The effectiveness, vision, and functioning of the organization depend almost entirely on the individual in charge: if she is unimaginative, rigid, a bully, opposed to all change, or simply a less-than-ideal leader, the organization probably won't flourish.

A hierarchical structure carries the added disadvantage of being inconsistent with the ideals of most grass-roots and community based organizations. These organizations generally exist to help people gain more power over their lives, or to foster positive social change -- concepts unthinkable in classical hierarchies -- which thrive on power-based relationships and lack of change.

Democratic hierarchy

Management still comes from the top in this model, but managers at all levels consult with those affected before making decisions. Everyone's opinion is asked for, and ideas are expected to come from all levels of the organization. There is an attempt to give everyone the power necessary to control the things she's responsible for, and to do her job as effectively as possible.

All staff in a democratic hierarchy, from director to receptionist, usually treat one another as equals. Staff friendships often cross management lines (unusual in a traditional hierarchical organization) and, while people have different responsibilities, that doesn't necessarily translate to differences in status within the organization.

Democratic hierarchies are far more common in non-profit especially community based and grass-roots organizations than they are in business or government. They allow for more initiative, make it easier and more pleasant for people to do their jobs, and are more likely to reflect the principles of the organization. They are probably somewhat less efficient than traditional hierarchies, in that decisions may take longer to make, and there is usually more discussion about nearly everything. What they lack in efficiency, however, democratic hierarchies often make up in staff satisfaction (which leads to increased effectiveness), innovation, idealism, and a general sense of shared organizational vision and purpose.

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management structure that bears some similarity to both classic and democratic hierarchies. TQM as a whole is not necessarily a good system for a community-based or grass-roots organization, but it has many features that can be useful in thinking about non-profit management.

Collaborative management

In this arrangement, while people still occupy different positions in the organizational structure, management is a result of collaboration. Major decisions, often including those determining such matters as salary levels, are made jointly by all staff. The organizational vision and mission is often also worked out among all staff, and may be under constant discussion and revision. In a collaborative organization, everyone has a say in the direction of the organization.

Collaborative management is difficult to put into operation. As with a democratic hierarchy, everyone must have the authority necessary to carry out his job; but that also has to be balanced with the need for input when a decision affects the organization as a whole, or concerns its basic philosophy. Effective collaborative management calls for everyone being well informed about issues affecting the workings of the organization, and calls also for a large commitment on the part of those whose jobs are not administrative to try to understand and stay current on administrative issues. Perhaps, most important, collaboration demands that people check their egos at the door, and base their deliberations on the good of the organization and the advancement of its mission.

On the other hand, when it works well, a collaborative management system provides a very high sense of ownership among staff, spreads responsibility for the success of the organization over a broad range of people (thus increasing the total amount of attention being paid to making sure that things go well), and actually reflects the principles of an organization that supports empowerment.

Collective management

Collective management is extremely difficult to operate successfully. Collectives can work in different ways, but the essential idea is that the collective as a whole owns the organization, and therefore everyone has an equal voice in everything having to do with the organization. Decisions are often made by consensus, which means everyone (and "everyone" may refer to all staff, or to all staff and participants, or even to some larger group) has to agree before anything can be acted upon. Administrative roles may revolve among several or all members of the collective, or may simply not exist, in which case everyone shares in completing administrative tasks as they come up.

There are many successful collectives, and the collective philosophy is one that rightly appeals to organizations that are concerned with empowerment and equality. But there are enormous barriers to collective success, the largest of which is that everyone in the organization has to be totally dedicated to collective ideals, and must be willing to subordinate his own needs to the good of the organization. One stubborn, self-centered individual can make consensus a joke either by holding out until everyone agrees with him out of exhaustion or frustration, or by making it impossible to make decisions at all. One person who doesn't do her job can make life miserable for everyone else, and it's difficult in a collective to create philosophically consistent mechanisms for dealing with such a situation. Effective collective management is by no means impossible, but it takes so much unselfishness and such careful planning, and it's so hard to sustain, that the author would recommend that an organization just developing a management plan look at it as something to evolve toward, rather than a place to start.

Tool 2: Roles and Relationships

How your organization sees the roles of director and Board, and their relationships with each other and with the rest of the staff, are crucial to any management plan. When everyone works well together, and understands and respects the boundaries of their own and everyone else's roles, the organization is probably going to function well regardless of the management structure. But if there is confusion or conflict over who has what authority, the organization is less likely to accomplish its goals effectively, and life within it will be difficult.

Role of the director

There are several possible definitions of the director's role in an organization. While a collaborative organization obviously needs a collaborative director, the other definitions could really apply to any management model that includes a director.

The terms "strong," "weak," and "collaborative" in the following descriptions of directors and Boards don't refer to personal characteristics: they are simply ways of describing how the director's and Board's positions are viewed in different circumstances.

• A strong director truly runs the organization. The Board and others (the CFO, or Chief Financial Officer, for instance, or even staff members) may have a consulting or oversight role, but the strong director makes most of the decisions for the organization. She doesn't have to look over her shoulder to make sure that everyone approves of what she does (although she may choose to).
• A weak director is merely the arm of the Board of Directors. The Board makes all important decisions, and the weak director carries them out and performs whatever administrative tasks are necessary to keep the organization running.
• A collaborative director works in concert with the Board and staff. He may be responsible for the day-to-day running and overall management of the organization, but he participates in collaborative decision-making and isn't necessarily the final authority in all situations.
• Some organizations may choose to have joint directors, perhaps an executive director, who are in charge of the fiscal and administrative aspects of management, and a program director, who oversees the actual work the program (providing services, advocacy, etc.). These directors may be strong, weak, or collaborative, depending upon how the organization functions. In any case, they must be able to work together well, and their positions and responsibilities must be clearly defined so that there's no conflict over who's in charge of what.

In any of these cases, depending both upon how the organization operates and upon the preferences of the director, she may do most management chores herself, or may delegate much of the work to others.

Probably as important as the role the director plays in an organization is her personal management style. Is she a leader, with the vision and the passion to motivate staff and move the organization ahead? Is she a boss, who sees herself as the person who's in control and who must tell everyone else what to do? Is she a friend, who builds personal relationships with everyone on the staff, and cares about them as individuals (but who, as a result, may have some difficulty dealing with a staff member who isn't doing his job well)? Is she collaborative and inclusive, trying to involve everyone in decision-making and paying attention to others' ideas and concerns? Is she secretive and private, never sharing information, problems, or decision-making?

Most directors probably combine some or all of these styles, or employ them at different times. While a certain amount of management style depends on personality, those who are uncomfortable with others are unlikely to build strong relationships with everyone on staff; it can also be the result of conscious choice on the director's part. Organizations can choose as well, making sure by careful hiring and clear communication that they get the kinds of directors they want.

Role of the Board of Directors

Boards of Directors may act as advisors, may make organizational policy, or may actually run the organization.

• Strong Boards essentially run their organizations. They make most decisions, and Board members often do much of the work of the organization. The director, if one exists, simply carries out the will of the Board and performs whatever tasks are necessary to keep the organization functioning.
• Policy-making Boards may or may not be strong Boards as well. They set general policy for the organization, and determine, or help to determine, its mission and goals. In most cases, they don't involve themselves directly in the day-to-day operation of the organization.
• Engaged Boards, common in non-profits, share some responsibility for the running of the organization with the director. They are usually policy-makers, and have to approve major decisions. The Board chair and/or committee members meet regularly with the director and other staff, and may oversee at least part of the actual work of the organization.
• Weak Boards exist largely to rubber-stamp the decisions of the director (or collaborative).They may also function in an advisory capacity, but take little initiative or responsibility for the oversight of the organization.
• Advisory Boards usually have no power, but exist to help provide information and perspective to the organization and its director and staff. Their voices may be listened to and highly respected, or they may be a façade, depending upon the organization.

Most non-profit Boards have other functions besides their part in the management of the organization. They often engage in fundraising, public and community relations efforts, advocacy, and other activities. Thus, some weak Boards may be weak only in the sense of their control over the organization: they may, in fact, be extremely successful and dynamic in their fundraising or other abilities, and may be of tremendous value to the organization. The role of a Board in a particular situation depends upon both the personalities involved and the needs of the organization.

Relationships among Board, director, and staff

Given the many possible roles for directors and Boards, and the many possible combinations they represent, relationships among directors, Boards, and staff can be complex and confusing. If those relationships aren't well-defined and appropriate for the organization, they can cause enormous problems, and even wreck the organization.

It is not unusual for directors and Boards to have different views about where the power should lie. Good directors, after all, are usually forceful and confident people, and good Boards are also made up of forceful and confident people. Director and Board may engage in a long-term wrestling match to determine who will actually guide the organization. Unfortunately, such a struggle usually detracts from the effectiveness of the organization, and creates tension that filters down to everyone. It's vital that organizations define the relationship between director and Board clearly; otherwise, they're asking for trouble.

Exactly what that relationship should be depends, first of all, on how the organization views itself. Does it want one strong leader who will set the direction and tone of the organization, or does it want more voices to be heard? Does it want a collaborative arrangement between Board and director? Does it want a "flat" structure where everyone (staff and participants as well) has a say in the running of the organization?

For organizations which are not collaboratives, the most common arrangement is one in which the director has the authority to run the organization day-to-day, and the Board sets policy. The Board must therefore be consulted before the director commits the organization to a course of action that is substantively different from what it's done before. This type of management structure gives the director the power he needs to do his job, and at the same time provides a check on that power to prevent him from committing the organization to something inconsistent with its mission, or to something it doesn't have the resources to do.

For collaboratives, the question of relationships is much trickier. If the Board makes policy, it needs to consult not only with the director, but with staff. The staff's and director's roles are not as distinct as in hierarchies, and authority or power (and the two are not always the same thing) can get muddy. In a collaborative situation, it is absolutely crucial that the organization defines the boundaries for everyone, and that policies and procedures describe clearly who has what responsibilities and authority. It is also crucial that everyone in the organization be dedicated to the same goals, and be willing (at least some of the time) to compromise or to back down in order to keep the organization running smoothly.

In any circumstances, organizations almost always work best when everyone, from the maintenance person to the director, feels that she has a reasonable amount of control over her own job, and that she has a chance to be heard about decisions that affect her. If people are part of a decision, it becomes their decision, and they are much more likely to accept and carry it out. They are also more likely to feel that they "own" the organization, and to do their best work in order to make sure it flourishes. Wherever the power in the organization lies, it makes sense to include staff members in at least some of the decisions that affect their working lives.

Tool 3: Policies and Procedures

Areas for which your organization might need policies and procedures:

• Management strategy: who participates in decisions, where the lines of authority reside, etc.
• Relationships among director, staff, Board, and participants
• Personnel: pay schedules and benefits; working hours and conditions; leave policy; staff orientation and training; boundaries of, and relationships among, positions and individuals; communication; hiring and firing; supervision; evaluation of performance; grievance and appeal procedures; legal issues, etc.
• Fiscal management
• Day-to-day concerns: who can use which equipment and when, procedures for opening and closing the office, computer security, etc.
• The actual work of the organization: what methods are to be used, if there are specific requirements; scope of the work (who gets served, what issues will be addressed ); limits to numbers of participants who can be served; ethical issues (personal relationships between therapists and clients in a mental health center, for example); how particular circumstances should be handled (racist remarks, e.g.); etc.
• Record keeping and confidentiality
• Emergency procedures, for everything from fire to violence to counseling and political issues
• Security and personal safety for everyone involved with the organization
• Insurance and organizational liability, indemnification of staff and Board
• Office procedures: what gets filed where, which files are confidential, who does what, checking in and out, phone issues, etc.
• The ordering and management of goods and services
• Non-discrimination, ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), etc.
• Relationships with the media
• Relationships with other agencies, funders, and the community

A Power Point presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

• What is providing supervision for staff and volunteers?

• Why should you supervise staff and volunteers?

• When should you provide supervision?

• How do you supervise staff and volunteers?

Pilar, who had once been a teenager experiencing homelessness, was a counselor for children experiencing homelessness. She was trying to understand why she couldn’t seem to connect with one particular adolescent girl, a girl who seemed a lot like Pilar herself had been at that age. She brought up the issue in her biweekly meeting with her supervisor. They discussed the girl, her own feelings about the relationship, what she had tried so far. The supervisor suggested some techniques for using body language and other non-verbal signals to tell the girl that Pilar cared about her needs and was on her side. They also talked about Pilar’s own experiences, and about how her work with this girl might be bringing up things that were difficult for Pilar to deal with At the next meeting, Pilar told her supervisor that she had tried several of the techniques they had discussed, and that she had also begun to better understand how her own feelings played into her counseling. All in all, she felt things had improved, and would continue to.

Alejandro had been at the housing office for nearly a year, but he was still struggling to learn his job. He couldn’t seem to keep paperwork straight, and he had, as a result, made life difficult for a number of people trying to find affordable housing whose lives were difficult enough already. Furthermore, rather than apologizing when he made mistakes, he treated clients as if his errors were their fault.  He and his supervisor had talked about the situation once before, and now the supervisor called him in again. “Your work has been unsatisfactory, and this is the second time I’ve had to tell you so,” the supervisor said. “If it continues this way, you could lose your job.”  Before Alejandro could protest, the supervisor continued, “Let’s look at what you’re having problems with.  We should be able to come up with some ways that you can improve your performance and do your job well, and I’ll try to help however I can. But we’ve already had this conversation twice; if we have it again, that will probably be the last time.”

Both of these scenarios are examples of supervision. In this section, we’ll discuss what supervision means, and how to go developing good supervision for staff and volunteers.

What is providing supervision for staff and volunteers?

When you hear the word “supervision,” you may picture a large, mean person looking over your shoulder trying to find fault with everything you do. There may be some supervisors who fit that description, but, in health and community service organizations, supervision is usually the opposite.  It’s helpful, and often welcomed by supervisers as a source of advice, information, and emotional support for work that can be demanding and difficult.  At the same time, supervisors are responsible for making sure that the people they supervise are doing a good job – that they’re where they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be there, and that the work they do is of high quality.

There are really two kinds of supervision, often both practiced by the same person, sometimes at the same time.  One puts the supervisor in a teacher/counselor/mentor role, providing helpful and constructive feedback, developing a good relationship with the supervisee, and working with them to continually improve their understanding of and competence in their job. The other casts the supervisor in their role in the organizational chart, as an administrator responsible for making sure that those in their department do their jobs. The two are not necessarily contradictory, but they do occasionally place supervisors in an uncomfortable position, as the case of Alejandro above illustrates.

The duties of a supervisor may include training new workers, supporting and mentoring supervisees, providing professional development, assigning and creating projects, making sure plans are being carried out effectively, providing support, assisting with projects or activities, and identifying and addressing unsatisfactory performance. All of these duties have the same goal: to help those supervised do the best job they can, and continue to learn and improve.

Each of the paid staff members in your organization probably has (and should have) a job description laying out their responsibilities. Many volunteer programs also provide job descriptions for volunteers, but staff supervision and volunteer supervision are different. Staff members are expected, perhaps after some initial training, to be professionals who know their jobs and can function independently. They understand the workings of the organization, know the field, and often are expected to make complex decisions about their actions without consulting with a supervisor.

Volunteers, on the other hand, are unpaid, and have chosen to help the organization for their own reasons – usually because they believe in what it’s doing, and want to have a role in it in some way. They are generally not professionals in the field, don’t necessarily know the workings of the organization (they may spend as little as an hour or two a week on their volunteer assignments), and may need a lot of ongoing guidance from a supervisor in order to perform well.  A supervisor of volunteers may also have to pay more attention to logistics – scheduling, making sure everyone knows about meetings or changes, checking with people to ensure they fulfill their commitments, etc. – because volunteers aren’t tied to the organizational schedule in the same way employees are.

Both staff members and volunteers should meet regularly with their supervisor. Depending on the position and the size and resources of the organization, these supervision meetings may always be individual, or may often be in a group.  In the latter case, the group can often be helpful in identifying and working out problems or making suggestions about resolving difficult situations.  Whatever the situation, supervisors should have a chance to meet with supervisees individually at least a few times a year to review performance, call attention to problem areas, and provide support or – where necessary – explain and try to help improve unsatisfactory work.

Here’s where supervision becomes difficult. The supervisor should be an important source of comfort and help to anyone they supervise. At the same time, it usually falls to them to be the bearer of bad news when a supervisee’s job performance is, or has become, unsatisfactory. The supervisor is expected to – and should – provide as much support as possible in that situation, helping the staff member or volunteer to bring their efforts in line with the standards of the organization. Neither the supervisor nor their supervisee can ignore the fact, however, that they may be the person who decides that – despite repeated warnings and efforts to correct the problem – performance has simply become or continued to be unacceptable, and the employee or staff member must be asked to leave.

As must be obvious by now, supervision – which is considered an afterthought in many organizations – is both an important and a difficult job, one that requires a lot of thought and effort.  That’s perhaps the most important point of this section: don’t take supervision for granted. It can be the difference between an organization that functions smoothly and one that’s continually in crisis.

Why should you supervise staff and volunteers?

Good supervision benefits both the individuals supervised and the organization:

• Supervision geared toward helping staff members and volunteers gain competency makes them feel supported and valued, and makes the organization more competent and effective as well.
• Supervision can explain the requirements and responsibilities of staff members’ and volunteers’ positions, the methods they’re expected to use, and the organizational norms and culture, so that expectations are clear from the beginning.  This can prevent problems later, or if they arise, provide a standard against which performance, behavior, and relationships can be measured.
• Poor performance by staff or volunteers reflects poorly in the community and with fundraisers. Proper supervision can not only catch poor performance, but prevent it, by identifying areas of concern and working on them with staff and volunteers.
• Adequate supervision can help to recognize and address potential problems, such as staff burnout, before they become actual problems.
• Good supervision keeps staff and volunteers with the organization..  It makes them feel that someone cares whether or not they do a good job, and that there’s a solid structure supporting them if they run into problems. These are factors that keep people happy with their jobs, and encourage them to stay.
• Good supervision models the type of relationship that should exist throughout the organization. Supervisors who understand their job treat all employees and volunteers with respect, focus on the professional and personal needs and development of those they supervise, and inspire enthusiasm for the work and loyalty to the organization’s vision and mission.
• Supervision, coupled with constructive feedback, can result in better employees who feel they are a more fully integrated part of the group. Again, the end result of this is a stronger, more effective organization.

When should you provide supervision?

Supervision for new staff members and volunteers should begin as soon as they join the organization, and should continue on a regular basis throughout their stay.   Regular supervision provides the opportunity for staff and volunteers to work out problems, to get to know the organization well, and to establish a good and productive relationship with their supervisor.  By the same token, it allows the supervisor to get a clear picture of supervisees’ strengths and needs, to let them know how they’re doing, to help them work on areas where they’re not as strong, and to praise them for what they do well.

In situations where supervision is largely supportive and professional – counseling and psychotherapy, health, etc. – the ideal is that staff members, should meet with supervisors, either in a group or individually, once a week, or once every other week.  (The staffs of some medical facilities, particularly teaching hospitals, may conduct a short group supervision session every day.)  With volunteers in somewhat similar positions – school or adult literacy tutors, peer counselors, hotline staffers – the same might be true.  For staff members and volunteers whose work may not be directly with participants, but whose supervision is geared more toward making sure they understand and can do their jobs, sessions may be less frequent – monthly or quarterly.  Frequency may also depend on the number of staff or volunteers a supervisor is responsible for, the flexibility of people’s schedules, and the resources of the organization.

How do you supervise staff and volunteers?

Although staff and volunteers both need support, the differences in their jobs, as we’ve discussed, imply differences in the ways and the frequency with which they’re supervised.  In order to ensure good supervision, it’s important to identify the right people to provide it and then train them, so that they have a clear understanding of what supervision is, the aspects of it that they should attend to, and the interpersonal skills they’ll need to practice in order to do it well.

Who should supervise staff members and volunteers?

In general, staff members should be supervised by whoever is ultimately responsible for the work they do.  If your organization is large enough to have a number of departments, for instance, then the people in each department may be supervised by the head of that department, or the members of each team within the department may be supervised by that team’s leader.  In smaller organizations, the director may supervise everyone else, or may share supervision duties with (or delegate them to) an assistant director and/or one or more program directors.

Having the person in charge be the supervisor isn’t always the best plan, however.  Remember, we explained earlier that there are two kinds of supervision.  The teacher/counselor/mentor version, which is really about professional development, requires a supervisor who has direct and successful experience in the field. Where staff members have responsibilities that involve specific professional skills – counseling or psychotherapy, teaching, medicine, wellness promotion, occupational therapy, etc. – a supervisor with knowledge of the field can help them examine what they’re doing, spot and deal with areas of potential concern, and suggest alternatives based on experience.  (You wouldn’t, for instance, want a hospital administrator with a degree in business supervising the clinical practice of doctors. )

If your organization promotes people from within, or specifically hires administrators and managers with experience in the field, this may not be an issue for you.  If not, you’ll have to decide how to provide good professional supervision.  One possibility, if administrators don’t have field experience, is peer supervision, usually in a group.  In this circumstance, there’s no question of one person or another being in charge.  Group members might rotate facilitating meetings, or might appoint one person to facilitate because they’re particularly good at it.

For most people who exercise it, supervision is only one aspect of their jobs.  It’s an important enough aspect, however, that they should receive both initial and ongoing training in it.  In many fields where supervision duties are assumed – particularly counseling and clinical psychology – there are graduate courses in supervision that virtually all practitioners are expected to have taken.

What should supervision training cover?

Some topics that might be included in a supervision training:

• How to involve all volunteers and staff members effectively
• How to enhance the value of volunteers to a program and to the paid employees
• How to include all volunteers and staff members in program planning and decision making
• How to evaluate performance
• How to provide performance feedback to volunteers and staff
• How to hold volunteers and staff members accountable for job performance
• How to help workers avoid burnout
• How to create a climate in which volunteers and staff will be most productive
• How to build teams that include both volunteers and paid employees
• How to minimize tension between paid staff and volunteers
• The difference between formative (helping the supervisee to improve and develop professionally through discussion, advice, and occasional counseling) and summative (judging employee performance) supervision.  This might include some discussion – and perhaps role play – about what’s appropriate when, and how to combine the two if both are part of the supervisory role in the organization.

Practical supervision

The standard view of the supervisory relationship, as we’ve mentioned, is often negative.  Supervisors are seen as overseeing and criticizing – perhaps in a hostile manner – the work of those they supervise.  The reality is that effective supervision is a partnership.  The supervisor provides professional and emotional support, information, advice, and a connection to the larger organization (passing on concerns, helping to obtain supplies and equipment, etc.), and supervisor and supervisee work on and solve problems together.  For health and community service organizations, this type of supervision makes sense not only practically, but philosophically. The supportive, partnership supervisory relationship reflects the democratic and humanistic ideals of most organizations of this type, and models and promotes the sort of relationship that staff and volunteers should develop with one another and with program participants.

At the same time, supervisors in most organizations have responsibilities that go beyond support and advice. They’re responsible for making sure their supervisees have the knowledge, materials, space, etc. they need to do a good job, and they’re responsible as well for making sure work gets done well and on time. That’s the practical side of supervision, and it can determine whether or not the organization reaches its goals.  What does good practical supervision consist of?

Welcome new staff or volunteers and distribute basic information

As soon as someone makes the commitment to work for your organization, whether as a staff member or volunteer, hey should receive a job description that clearly delineates their responsibilities, their place in the organizational chart, whom they will be supervised by and whom they will supervise, etc. New staff members might be sent or given a card or note signed by all staff welcoming them to the organization; volunteers might get a similar card thanking them for joining the organization.

Meet with new supervisees as soon as possible

Supervisors should meet with a new staff member on their first day on the job, if possible – both to get acquainted and to get staff member’s most pressing questions answered. Part of the supervisor’s responsibility here might be to take them around and introduce them to other staff members, to show them the site’s facilities and procedures, and to make sure they have what they need to start work. One of the most important functions of this meeting is to give the new staff member an “anchor” – a person they feel they know and can go to for help or information in those first few nervous days on a new job.

First days for new volunteers might be different, since they’re likely to be supervised by whatever professional or staff member they’re working with, instead of, or in addition to, a volunteer coordinator.  A new volunteer’s initial meeting is more likely to be with the supervising staff member, to get acquainted and to go over what the volunteer will actually do.

Orient new supervisees

People new to the organization should receive an orientation, either individually or in a group. Because of the ways they’re recruited, it’s probably more likely that a new staff orientation will be individual (perhaps part of the initial meeting with the supervisor) and a new volunteer orientation will be in a group.  Orientation should include:

• The background of the organization
• Projects the organization is currently involved in
• A brief introduction to other staff and volunteers, and their general responsibilities
• Location of supplies, equipment, and facilities
• Organizational culture – whether people tend to eat lunch together, for instance, how staff and volunteers interact with one another and with participants, how serious work time is expected to be, how people dress for work, etc.
• What kinds of decisions staff and volunteers are expected to make for themselves and what they should discuss first with supervisors

Train staff and volunteers

There should be both initial and ongoing training for staff and volunteers. Good training makes both staff and volunteers more confident and more competent, and helps keep the organization moving forward.  Training should cover such areas as:

• Methods or techniques that the organization uses in its work
• General information about the field – essential theory, new discoveries, current work, etc. This might include visits to or from people from other organizations engaged in similar efforts.
• Information about the population or issue the organization is concerned with
• Interpersonal skills – communication, conflict resolution, problem solving, cultural sensitivity, etc.

Monitor supervisees

Once new staff and volunteers have received their initial orientation and training, a large part of their supervisor’s job is to remain aware of what they’re engaged in, whether they’re having difficulties with it, whether they need more training in particular areas, and whether they’re actually doing what their job descriptions and the norms of the organization demand. A staff member may be struggling with one aspect of a particular project, or have a hard time relating to a particular participant. A volunteer may do a great job when they’re there, but may not always show up when they’re scheduled. These are practical supervisory concerns, and supervisors have to keep on top of them and intervene when necessary to make sure that the staff member or volunteer keeps doing their job.

You can monitor supervisees in a number of ways:

• Keep a file for every staff member or volunteer which includes:
  • Progress on their assigned projects, tasks, or duties
  • A job description (the staff member or volunteer should also have a copy)
  • A record of volunteer hours
  • Any written performance evaluations
  • Records of conversations about the staff member’s or volunteer’s performance
  • Records of any grievances filed by the volunteer or staff member
  • Records or copies of any awards, commendations, letters of praise, etc., received by the staff member or volunteer, or by the organization on behalf of work that staff member or volunteer has done.
  • Records of individual professional development – courses, continuing education units, conferences, etc. – by the staff member or volunteer.
  • Copies of any contracts between the supervisee and the organization.

Performance evaluations should be conducted once or twice a year. They are important for a number of reasons. Good ones are formative, helping the staff member or volunteer to do the best job they can. They provide a record of the supervisee’s progress in their job – their professional development, what they’ve learned, and what they do particularly well. They let them know that the organization cares about the job they’re doing, and that it’s important. On the other hand, if a staff member’s work is unsatisfactory, they provide a basis for firing them.

In the U.S., at least, it’s fairly difficult to fire someone unless you have good cause. If that cause is well documented – the nature of the problem, the number of warnings, the number and nature of attempts to correct the problem, etc. – then there’s much less threat of a lawsuit or other action by the employee.

• Supervisors should at least occasionally observe supervisees’ work, if that’s appropriate.

It generally isn’t appropriate for a supervisor to observe a counseling or therapy session, for instance, unless the supervisee is new to the field and still training.  Even then, most supervision depends on audiotape, and informed participant permission is necessary even for that.  Some teaching and counseling may be observed unannounced through a one-way mirror or on videotape, but, again, a blanket permission from particpants is necessary.

Other observations – of doctors and nurses, for example – take place as a  matter of course.  In many health and human service situations, personal observation is relatively uncomplicated, and takes place regularly.  Some workplaces allow for almost constant observation, since supervisors and supervisees may occupy the same working space, or do the same work at the same time.

• Revisit the supervisee’s job description with her on a regular basis, to make sure that it accurately reflects her actual work. If not, depending on the circumstances, either the work should be adjusted to more closely adhere to the job description, or the job description should be rewritten to better describe the real character of the job.
• Talk with the supervisee’s co-workers – or in the case of volunteers, the staff members they work with – to catch problems before they become major, and to gather praise to offer as well.

Supporting those you supervise

In addition to knowing what your staff and volunteers are doing, you should be working with them as well. This includes giving them new responsibilities, and keeping communication with them open. The following tips will all help make your supervision more effective and your organization more productive.

Build new leadership

Constantly challenge workers to try new things and accept new responsibility. Delegate responsibility whenever you can. By encouraging professional growth, you will encourage staff members and volunteers to fully buy into your organization, and that is what can help your agency take off.

Make sure that the lines of communication are wide open

This is absolutely necessary to ensure satisfied, dependable staff and volunteers who get the job done and make your organization successful.

To ensure effective communication:

• Make sure you are an active listener – focus all your attention on the speaker, making sure there are no distractions, and that you are concentrating on the message the speaker is trying to get across.
• Try to keep those you are talking to from taking the defensive. A great way to do this is by using "I" instead of "you" to start sentences. For example, "I'm not sure I understand the approach you're taking on the media campaign. Could you explain it to me?" is likely to get a clearer, more open response than "You aren't getting anywhere on the media project, are you?"
• Make sure communication is complete; never assume that staff members or volunteers know what is supposed to be done or how you feel about a certain issue.

Provide regular feedback both formally and informally to those you supervise

Formal feedback may take place on an annual, biannual, or quarterly written evaluation forms. Informal feedback may not be much more than aa simple "Hey! That looks great! Have you thought about adding this?" when going by someone's desk.

When providing formal feedback (either oral or written), you should strive to:

• Describe a worker's behavior instead of judging it
• Always appraise workers on how they are meeting or exceeding clear, predetermined standards
• Praise, praise, praise, the worker for strong or increased performance
• Decide whether other forms of feedback, such as self-assessment or peer review, would be appropriate at your organization to complement supervisory feedback

Informal feedback shouldn’t be a sometime thing. There’s the offhand comment described above, but informal feedback can and should include regular meetings to discuss the job, the staff member’s or volunteer’s feelings about it, whatever questions they have, what they’d like to add to their responsibilities (or get rid of), etc. In many situations, it’s also important to help supervisees sort out the personal issues they bring to their work (remember the example about Pilar), and how those issues affect what they do.

This kind of supervision, as we discussed earlier, should take the form of a partnership. Supervisor and supervisee work together to find the best ways for the supervisee to learn and practice new skills, solve problems, resolve conflicts, and continue to improve in their job. This partner relationship should be the basis for all supervision, and even when the supervisee is being held accountable for poor performance or unprofessional behavior, supervision shouldn’t feel like a power play, but rather like an interchange between equals with different responsibilities.

If there is a problem, intervene

Sometimes, even in the best of agencies, a staff member or volunteer isn't working up to potential or is causing interpersonal or other problems. In either situation, it’s the supervisor’s job to intervene, with sensitivity to everyone’s needs – the person in question, the other staff and volunteers affected, and the needs of the organization:

• Cool off first. Words spoken in the heat of the moment often become personal criticism instead of an objective comment on the problem.
• Seek privacy. Don't confront the employee or volunteer in public or in a degrading manner.  (And don’t make it obvious to everyone that you’re about to confront them – no “I want to see you in my office NOW!”)
• Be as supportive as possible: this is a chance to find out why they are not working as well as you might like, or why they’re disruptive. You may be able to find out what’s behind the problem,  and in doing so, find a way to help them transform into a real asset to the organization.

Holding supervisees accountable

Occasions do arise that require a supervisor to step in and deal with a problem. You should have set guidelines to cope with any problem that may surface.

If the problem is poor job performance, you should:

• Clearly state what it is that you find deficient. Give specific examples. "You're not working hard enough," isn't as helpful as, "You often don't have the newsletter articles written by the weekly deadline." It's also harder for the employee to refute.
• Give the employee the opportunity to describe their perspective, and really listen to what they have to say. It may well be there are reasons for the problem that you aren't aware of.
• Note the requirements to fix the problem; then solicit employee ideas on corrective measures.
• Notify the employee of the consequences of continuing problems.
• Monitor the employee's progress and explain (and apply) the consequences of failing to correct the problem.

If the problem is a policy violation, you should:

• Listen. Give the employee the chance to explain their actions. You may want to deal very differently with problems that occurred for different reasons. For example, the employee who took a four-hour lunch because his three year old broke her arm and he forgot to call might elicit more of your sympathy than the employee who took a four-hour lunch for that great sale at the clothing store.
• Act objectively. Concentrate on dealing with the problem, rather than the personalities involved.
• Assume responsibility. Do not hide behind the rules or apologize for what you are doing. Your job is to enforce the rules.
• Give a clear warning that defines what will happen if such behavior happens again. Be sympathetic, but also be firm.
• The second time something of a similar nature happens, the consequences defined earlier should be carried out in an immediate, consistent, and impersonal manner.

Role of the supervisee

The supervisors are not the only ones in your group who have responsibilities to the group. The following are some of the responsibilities of a good employee or volunteer.

• Be open and honest with other members of the organization regarding intent, goals, needs, and skills
• Understand the duties and time requirements of assignments before accepting them, and fulfill the commitment to the best of your ability
• Work to deserve being treated as a recognized and respected member of the team
• Take the commitment seriously enough to participate in planning and evaluating the program and in training and learning opportunities
• Share ideas with others
• View other staff members and volunteers as allies that you can learn from
• Respect the confidentiality of the organization and its clients
• Seek, accept, and use honest feedback on performance
• Serve as goodwill ambassadors for your organization and its services to the community
• Be informed of change when it is needed

You understand that to provide supervision for employees, you must:

___Choose someone to supervise the staff and volunteers

___Ensure that He/she has had adequate training in supervisory skills

You understand that to direct those you supervise, it is important that:

___You have given the volunteer/employee a written explanation of their responsibilities and expectations

___You have given the volunteer/employee an orientation program

___You have made sure that training was thorough and clear

___The worker has a clear understanding of their responsibilities and available help

___You keep a file for every staff member and volunteer

You understand that to support those you supervise, it is important that:

___You constantly challenge your workers to try new things and accept new responsibilities

___The "lines of communication" are wide open

___You provide regular feedback to those you supervise

___The employee/volunteer clearly understands his/her role in your organization

You understand that to discipline those that you supervise, it is important that:

___You are capable of handling general problems

___You have specific guidelines for poor job performance

___You have specific guidelines for a policy violation

Tool: Employee Evaluation Form
 

This is an evaluation form to be used to provide feedback to employees and volunteers.

Employee Evaluation Form

 

Employee Name__________________________

Date___________________________________

Date Started_____________________________

Date Last Evaluated_______________________

Job Title________________________________

On a scale of one to five (one being best), I rate the above employee as follows:

He/She is conscientious about coming in on time, working scheduled hours, and about notifying others in advance about time off.

1            2           3           4           5

He/She performs all job duties quickly and completely.

1            2           3          4            5

He/She produces high quality work.

1           2            3          4            5

He/She is pleasant and courteous to coworkers and clients.

1           2            3          4            5

Additional comments (please use the back of this paper as necessary)

 

Supervisor's Signature____________________________________Date______________

Employee's Name_______________________________________Date______________

A Power Point presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

• What is support?

• Why should you give support to staff and volunteers?

• When give support to staff and volunteers?

• How do you provide support for staff and volunteers?

What is support?

The most important part of building a house is getting the foundation right, because a house needs proper support to maintain its structure. Proper support maintains the staff members and volunteers of groups and organizations as well, keeping them focused and determined over time and through difficulties. Support for volunteers and staff helps workers to do their jobs more quickly, effectively, and comfortably.

In the previous section, we discussed the importance of supervising staff and volunteers. Supervision is one form of support, but support goes beyond just that. It can take a variety of forms – physical, professional, emotional, intellectual, and financial. Supporting staff and volunteers mean providing them with the right training, backing them up, rewarding them for their work, supervising them properly and regularly, keeping their morale high, and making sure they have whatever they need to do their jobs successfully.

Why should you give support to staff and volunteers?

There are as many reasons to support the people that work with you as there are reasons to care about them. When your staff and volunteers feel they're being supported, they’ll work better and more efficiently, care more about their jobs, and want to do their best because the organization treats them well..

Other reasons to provide support include:

• To maintain a high level of morale within your group
• To prevent burnout
• To show appreciation
• To keep lines of communication open
• To make your organization appealing to potential members
• To keep quality staff members, and by doing so, maintain and improve the quality of the service you provide

When should you provide support?

There is never a time you shouldn't give support to your staff and volunteers. Skilled, contented workers are what makes an organization effective and worthwhile, and a great amount of care should be taken to see that talented people remain with your agency or community group.

However, at certain times, workers will need or appreciate more support than usual. These times include:

• When they are new. Almost everyone feels uncertain when they begin a new job, whether it is paid or volunteer. Show workers right from the start that they are an integral part of your agency, and bend over backward to ensure that they get what they need to do the best job they can.
• When they are going through difficulties or change in their personal life (such as a divorce or the death of a loved one). Make sure your employees or staff members know you care about them as people, not just as a set of hands, and that you are concerned about what happens to them.
• On special occasions such as birthdays and graduations. Again, it's important that you and the organization demonstrate its concern for staff members and volunteers as people as well as workers, and that they see administrators and board members as fellow human beings, not just “the boss.”
• When the organization is experiencing difficulties. When you’re in a financial crunch, when you’ve received – rightly or wrongly – bad publicity, when people opposing your goals seem to be winning, staff and volunteers can get discouraged and question their commitment to the work.  It’s important that they feel that they’re not alone, that the organizationj is not about to give up on them or on its issue, and that they’re supported in what they do.

How do you provide support for staff and volunteers?

As support can mean many things, it makes sense that there are various ways you can provide it. In providing support for volunteers and staff, consider the issue from these different angles:

• A supportive work environment
• Support for the work done by the staff member/volunteer
• Support for the worker in their personal life

Create a supportive physical environment

We all know how the environment affects us, especially our work environment. The stress of working in an uncomfortable, unhealthy, or unsafe space can not only make workers less productive, but also leave them feeling that nobody cares about their well being. Acknowledging the need for windows, healthy air and clean surroundings is critical to any kind of work. First and foremost, make sure the physical environment is safe.

A comfortable work environment has to be comfortable psychologically as well as physically. That means that there should be plenty of light to work by. (Natural light from windows is best; when that’s not possible, make sure there’s plenty of light to work by and brighten up the space.)  Any supplies that people need should be easily accessible. Everyone should have enough room to move around, and enough private space to feel that they can organize, store, and find whatever they need for their job. Furniture needn’t be new and expensive, but it should be comfortable (and movable, so that people can change it around as they need to for meetings, conversation, and collaboration.) Having coffee, tea, water, and snacks available – whether the organization supplies them or staff and volunteers share the cost – relaxes the atmosphere, as can a casual dress code and informal, democratic office culture.

Your space shouldn’t suffer from “sick building syndrome,” often caused by fumes given off by new carpeting, paneling, glues, and other materials containing volatile organic compounds (VOC’s.)  If possible, choose space that’s light, airy, and has windows that open. If tap water isn’t drinkable, try to have bottled water on hand, and keep the space reasonably clean (particularly rest rooms.)  Encourage staff members and volunteers (and participants) to stay home and recover if they’re ill, and do the same yourself, to avoid spreading sickness through the organization. A healthy workplace is also one where relationships are healthy – where people don’t resolve conflict by yelling, where there’s a good deal of humor, and where people actively enjoy spending time.

To create a safe workplace, you have to consider the possibility of accidents, emergencies, and crime. You should regularly check the space for exposed wiring (that might either shock or be tripped over), electrical problems, loose carpeting, protruding nails, broken furniture, etc., and problems corrected. Any safety issues that might affect people with disabilities need to be dealt with to the extent that the organization can afford.

The organization should develop and make sure that everyone is familiar with emergency procedures for fire, electrical outage, storms, flooding, chemical spills – whatever might be a possibility in the area where you work. You should also make sure that there’s plenty of light in corridors and parking lots and on the street outside, and that there’s emergency lighting available if it’s needed (this could be anything from candles or flashlights to automatic lighting that runs off an emergency generator.

Depending on the kind of work you do, or the neighborhood where your space is located, you may also want to establish clear guidelines about locked storage for particular materials or equipment (drugs, for example), and about people not working or leaving alone. Emergency numbers – police fire, ambulance, hospital – should be posted or readily available, and policies made for how to deal with real or threatened violence.

Support the work itself

No environment is supportive enough if we are not supported in the work we do. Show your staff and volunteers that you support them in their tasks. For instance, involve volunteers and staff members in all decisions that will affect them. This way, you can help foster a sense of ownership that will enhance their connection to the work and to the organization.

Another way to support the work of your staff is to put aside funds to send them to out-of-office seminars, conferences, and other events. Attending these activities will lead to a greater sense of purpose, and tell them that they are an important part of the organization.

Even a small step, such as matching people with tasks and situations that relate to their interests, will make a big impression on your staff and volunteers once they recognize you care about them and about their interests. This way, you can also keep a record of volunteer activities that the volunteer participated in. Your volunteer will be able to use that for a resume, eventually.

Here are some other steps you can take to show support for staff and volunteer work:

• Train workers thoroughly, including a clear explanation of:
  • Their job duties
  • Expected standards of performance
  • What the agency does and why
  • The people they’ll be working with
  • The nature of the community
  • Problems they might encounter in their work, and what to do about them
  • Any particular techniques or methods they need to use
  • Policies and procedures – use of phones, computers, Internet; where supplies are; who has access to what; when and how they get paid; benefits, and how to claim them; grievance procedure; dress code, if any
  • Organizational culture – how people relate to one another and to participants, the unspoken “rules” about how the organization functions day to day
• Foster personal initiative. When someone suggests trying a different procedure, for instance, encourage them to experiment with it. If it works well, recognize the owner of the idea. Don't let staff or volunteers feel like their ideas are never accepted, or taken without credit.
• Apply organizational policies equally to everyone.
• Involve volunteers and staff in major agency decisions and problem-solving sessions. Schedule regular meetings when staff and volunteers can raise issues of concern to them.
• Be sure your organization allows for advancement of volunteers as well as paid staff to help foster a sense of pride and self-worth, and to recognize the fact that experience helps people improve their work.
• Have a mechanism to give regular feedback to volunteers and staff regarding their work.This may include oral or written feedback such as regular evaluations.
• Make sure that everyone in the organization gets regular helpful supervision.
• Give the staff and volunteers a chance to evaluate their supervisor and the agency, either personally or anonymously.
• Criticize privately and praise publicly.
• Recognize work that is well done. This may be done in a variety of ways, including:
  • A "Volunteer of the Week" column in a local newspaper
  • A plaque with an agency "Worker of the Month"
  • Nominations for awards
  • Thank you notes
• Assign tasks that will challenge staff and volunteers, and allow them to shine.

Support the person doing the work

Personal support is always welcome. Only computers work well without some praising once in a while and without any human warmth. People enjoy feedback and it won't take much of your time to praise your staff for something they did well, or to offer help when they’re struggling. Make sure staff and volunteers know that you are approachable and willing to listen to personal problems as well as work-related problems.

Also:

• Make an effort to know more about the worker than just their name and agency duties: try to learn about them as a person: their family, interests, ideas, history, etc. On the flip side, be sensitive to and respecting people’s desire for privacy.
• Send birthday cards, remember holidays, etc.
• Remember workers in times of crisis. If your agency is facing problems, make sure that everyone has accurate and up-to-date information on the situation, and knows how it might affect them and others.
• Reimburse work-related expenses, such as travel or formal lunches
• Recommend staff members and volunteers to potential employers

In Summary

To provide support is fundamental if you want to have productive and satisfied staff members and volunteers. Staff members and volunteers are key to successful community efforts. The people that work in your organization should be treated as assets, with respect and caring. There are many ways of showing and providing support. You can support the people who do the work, you can support the work they do, and you can create a supportive work environment. There are occasions in which support is fundamental, but there's no right time to do it. Whatever you do, remember that assisting your volunteers, and providing your staff with the support they need, will make your job much easier in the long run.

___You understand what support is

___You know why you should give support to staff and volunteers

___You know when you should give support to staff and volunteers

___You understand how to provide support for staff and volunteers

Tool: Evaluating staff

One way to support your staff members is providing them with feedback and evaluations for their work. Here we provide an evaluation model. The specific items under each category are to give you an idea of what would fall under each heading. Feel free to note specific areas on which you are basing your rating. Be specific on your comments and suggestions. They'll be very important to give feedback to your staff members.

Employee Evaluation Form

This is an evaluation of _______________________(name) for ________________(time period). Please rate your satisfaction with this staff member in each category and the importance you place on each category. If you give a rating of one or two, please provide specific comments. Feel free to comment on other items as well. The values for the rating scale follow:

1 - Poor    2 - Fair    3 - Average    4 - Good   5 - Excellent
 

Skill	How satisfied are you with the staff person's performance?	How important is it to you that the staff person show competence in this area?
Timeliness: The staff person is conscientious about working scheduled hours and is consistent in notifying others in advance regarding time off.	1    2    3    4    5	1    2    3    4    5
General Office Skills and Knowledge: The staff person is familiar with and competent in using the computer system and software. The staff person is knowledgeable about the location of materials in the office.	1    2    3    4    5	1    2    3    4    5
Productivity: The staff person is productive in his/her day-to-day work. He/she accomplishes reasonable amounts of work quickly and efficiently.	1    2    3    4    5	1    2    3    4    5
Quality: The staff person produces high quality work and returns documents with all expected work completed.	1    2    3    4    5	1    2    3    4    5
Self-Initiative: The staff person needs minimal supervision. The staff person works conscientiously on his/her own.	1    2    3    4    5	1    2    3    4    5
Responsiveness: The staff person responds to requests for assistance in a pleasant and professional manner. He/she provides the assistance or makes sure the request is taken care of in a reasonable amount of time.	1    2    3    4    5	1    2    3    4    5
Interpersonal skills: The staff person has a good working relationship with all other staff members and is pleasant to those who call or visit.	1    2    3    4    5	1    2    3    4    5
Overall: Taking all aspects of the positions and requirements into account, how is the staff person doing overall?	1    2    3    4    5	1    2    3    4    5
(If applicable) Please comment on improvement since the last evaluation:	1    2    3    4    5	1    2    3    4    5
Have earlier improvements been maintained?	1    2    3    4    5	1    2    3    4    5
Please provide any additional comments and/or suggestions that you feel should be incorporated into the staff person's evaluation:

 

A Power Point presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

• What is internal communication?

• Why promote internal communication?

• How do you promote internal communication?

• How do you monitor and improve internal communication?

Worst-case scenario: It's 3:45 p.m., and your organization has scheduled a rally in favor of the new Youth Center at 4:00. The press is there, the folks pushing the Youth Center are there, the politicians are there...where are all the people from your organization? In a panic, you call the office to ask where the rest of the staff is. "Rally? What rally? Nobody told us about it," they say."We're not prepared for any rally."

Even-worse-case scenario: You're the director of a community health clinic, and you're about to open on Monday morning. Suddenly, all the clinic's nurses are lined up in front of you. "Working conditions at this place are terrible. We've experienced harm and exploitation long enough! We're all handing in our resignations...right now!" You stammer, "But you never told me you were unhappy. Let's discuss it!" Then you realize that you're talking to the slamming door.

Each of these situations results from poor communication within an organization. They're particularly awful examples, it's true, but poor internal communication has plagued many grassroots and community-based organizations, and has been the downfall of quite a few. It's tremendously important that your organization foster an atmosphere of openness and create systems that will lead to the freest flow possible of, not only information, but ideas, feelings, and a sense of shared purpose.

A lot of the information and suggestions in this section assume a staff of at least five or six members, which is the number at which sustaining internal communication can become particularly difficult. This is not meant to imply that smaller organizations don't have internal communication needs, or that the need for good internal communication is any less in an organization with three staff members than in one with 30. If your staff is larger than one, internal communication is an issue that you can't afford to ignore. Most of the material that follows is relevant to small organizations as well as large ones. This section will help you establish an atmosphere and set up systems that will lead to good internal communication and to the effectiveness of your organization.

What is internal communication?

In its simplest terms, internal communication is communication within an organization. It encompasses both "official" communication -- memos, guidelines, policies and procedures, etc. -- and the unofficial communication that goes on among and between the staff members of all organizations -- the exchange of ideas and opinions, the development of personal relationships, and the proverbial conversation around the water cooler. It goes in all directions among line staff (those who do the specific work of the organization and work directly with the priority population), administrators, supervisors, clerical and support staff, volunteers, and, perhaps, even the Board of Directors.

Internal communication is a lot more than people talking to one another, however. It's the life blood of any organization, the way in which everyone gets the information they needs. It means that anyone can easily get their question answered, as well as that no one gets left out when there's a birthday celebration for a staff member.

Good internal communication can:

• Provide people the information they need to do their jobs effectively
• Make sure they know about anything that concerns them
• Provide people with clear standards and expectations for their work
• Give people feedback on their own performance
• Provide them emotional support for difficult work
• Suggest new ideas about both their work and their lives
• Allow them to take the pulse of the organization and understand its overall situation
• Help them maintain a shared vision and a sense of ownership in the organization

In many ways, internal communication is the glue that holds an organization together. Without it, you're just a collection of disconnected individuals each working individually at their own job. With it, you're a unit with power far beyond the sum of your parts.

Communication, in general, is the process of transmitting ideas, thoughts, information, emotions, etc. between and among people. Regardless of the context in which this transmission occurs, there are certain basic ideas about communication which always apply, and which should be understood when reading this section.

• Communication is not one-sided. You can blanket the organization with information, but if that information isn't understood, or isn't understood in the way you meant it, you might as well not have bothered. Any good communicator has to empathize with the audience and try to anticipate what they will think and how they will feel about a message they receive.
• Communication involves more than words. It can include body language, facial expression, and tone of voice, as well as the attitude and general tone that are projected in speech, writing, or actions. The condescending or hostile message sent by someone's tone or stance may be stronger than the supportive message sent by their words.
• Communication can either be direct (i.e. go directly from the source to the recipient of the message) or indirect (i.e. either go through a third -- or fourth or fifth -- party). While indirect communication is often necessary, it always carries the possibility that its message will be distorted as it goes through the network between the source and the recipient, and it also eliminates the source's non-verbal communication. (E-mail and memos do the same.)
• Different individuals and groups communicate using different styles and assumptions. People's personal experience, gender, racial and cultural background, education, and perception of who has power all influence how they send, receive, and interpret communication.
• All communication has three aspects: its content; the tone in which it's delivered; and the structure through which it's delivered. All of these together contribute to what the communication's actual message is, how well the communication is understood, what effect it has on the person or group to whom it's directed, and what its ultimate result will be.

To communicate effectively, organizations and individuals have to take all of these ideas into account.

Why should you promote internal communication?

So good internal communication is a good thing. But there's so much to do. Why spend a lot of time on this stuff? Can't the organization do just fine by leaving people alone to do their jobs and let internal communication take care of itself?

The short answer to that last question is "No." Unless you're a one-person organization, communication is one of the most important aspects of managing what you do. What can internal communication do for you? Here's a short list:

• It can improve the effectiveness of the organization. The more information people have, the more quickly they get it, and the better connections they have with others in the organization, the better the work of the organization gets done, and the better jobs individuals do. The better jobs they do, the better they feel about their jobs and about the organization. The ultimate beneficiaries of all this are the priority population, the community, and the organization, which finds itself with committed and efficient staff members, satisfied participants, and community respect.
• It keeps everyone informed of what's going on in the organization. No one gets any unpleasant surprises, and everyone has the chance to deal with changes, good news, and bad news together.
• It allows the organization to respond quickly and efficiently to change, emergencies, etc.
• It makes problem-solving easier by providing a channel for everyone's ideas and opinions. Solutions can come from unexpected directions, but only if there's the possibility that they'll be heard.
• It creates a climate of openness within the organization. If everyone feels they have access to whatever information they need or want, and can talk to anyone in the organization about anything, it encourages good relations among people, promotes trust, and forestalls jealousy and turf issues.

Turf issues arise when people feel insecure and believe they have to defend their "turf," their own little piece of the organization. That can translate into their hoarding information or materials, or becoming jealous of (or hostile to) anyone else who tries to do any of what they do, even in attempts to help them. Defending turf can poison the atmosphere of an organization, ruin the relationships among staff, and make it harder for the organization to do its work. The more secure everyone feels -- and knowing that communication is open is a big part of security -- the less likely turf issues are to arise.

• It promotes an atmosphere of collegiality, and makes the organization a pleasant place to work. Good internal communication means that problems among people get resolved and the workplace is generally a pleasant place to be. This, in turn, leads to job satisfaction and organizational stability (people will be less likely to leave their jobs if they're happy in their work and working conditions).
• It gives people more of a sense of ownership of the organization, and more of a feeling that everyone is working together toward the same goal. The combination of openness and the easy flow of communication to everyone combine to make people feel like part of a coherent whole, and to feel that their ideas and opinions are listened to and valued.
• It promotes fairness and equity within the organization. If everyone has equal access to information and to everyone else, it's harder for anyone to feel that they're particularly privileged, or that they're being left out of the loop. It ultimately should lead to everyone feeling they're part of a team of equals, all of whom are treated similarly.
• It shows respect for everyone in the organization, by assuming that everyone's ideas and information are valuable.
• It gets problems and potential problems out in the open, rather than letting them fester and turn into something far harder to deal with. You can't deal with a problem if you don't know it's there; exposing it is the first -- and often the hardest -- step toward resolving it.

The director of a small organization was constantly being told "in confidence" about problems among other staff members or issues that staff members had with the way he was doing things. The informants, who wanted to avoid conflict, would explain that he couldn't act on any of their information, because that would expose them as informants: they just "thought he ought to know." After a short time, he made clear that he would no longer consider himself bound by confidentiality, since their information was worse than useless if it meant he couldn't act on it. It simply made him feel totally powerless, and made them powerless as well, because the issues they raised continued and worsened.

He raised the issues he had been told about at a staff meeting, and groups were formed to deal with each. The groups arrived at resolutions that everyone could live with, and that both reduced tension among staff and greatly increased the effectiveness of the organization. The director had proven his point: open communication about problems does far more to relieve anxiety than avoiding conflict does.

• It forestalls the spread of rumors by making sure that accurate information is constantly being communicated to everyone.
• It improves the work of the organization by increasing the likelihood that ineffective practices, problems, etc. Can be identified by those closest to them, and replaced or resolved by things that work better.

How do you promote internal communication?

There are three interrelated issues that an organization needs to address in promoting internal communication. The first involves the organizational climate and culture. The organization has to be a place where open communication is accepted and encouraged. The second concerns establishing clear definitions of what needs to be communicated, and by whom. If you assume that everyone always needs to know about absolutely everything, the staff would spend all its time merely receiving and passing on information. There need to be guidelines about what and how information gets passed. The last issue is that of the systems that the organization creates to get its work done and to enable internal communication. Are they structured to encourage communication in all directions, or to discourage or channel it in particular ways?

Organizational climate and culture

To foster internal communication, the first and most important step is to establish a climate of openness that encourages the free flow of communication and information in all directions. This means that the organizational culture has to embrace internal communication, and that individuals -- particularly key individuals, who might be the director and other administrators, or who might simply be the people that others respect and listen to -- have to feel comfortable with, and model communicating regularly and clearly with, anyone and everyone else in the organization.

The culture of an organization consists of accepted and traditional ways of doing things, particular relationship structures, how people dress, how they act toward one another, etc. People get used to that culture, and, just as in a society, changing it can be difficult. If the culture of an organization has encouraged hoarding information and lack of contact among staff, switching to a culture of openness and free exchange may take time and a lot of tact. Whether you're a director, and want to initiate change from above, or you're a staff member frustrated with the ways people relate to one another in your organization, you need to be patient and celebrate small victories. It won't happen all at once, unless everyone's ripe for change.

The suggestions below about creating an appropriate climate for communication apply to everyone in an organization, but are particularly applicable to directors and managers. No matter how democratic an organization is or claims to be, people still tend to look for leadership to those with the most responsibility. Especially if the establishment of internal communication involves a real change in organizational culture, leaders have to set a very high standard of real openness and respect if they expect others to follow.

Ultimately, the organizational climate becomes the organizational culture.

Creating a climate that fosters internal communication includes:

• Practice what you preach, i.e. listen to others, and act quickly and appropriately on their questions, complaints, suggestions, issues, etc. This is probably the most important aspect of developing an atmosphere of openness. People have to be consistently treated as if they and their ideas and opinions matter. If that doesn't happen, you might as well forget the rest of this section.

Don't assume anything is trivial if someone is concerned enough to talk to you about it. On the other hand, there are people in the world who like to see conflict, or who feel it's their right to complain about everything, whether their complaints are justified or not. If there's one on the staff of your organization, you and everyone else will know it soon enough. You need to be respectful in any case, but you can also use some judgment in how you respond without compromising the atmosphere of the organization.

• Treat everyone similarly, regardless of what job they have in the organization, or of how you feel about them personally.
• Be sensitive to your -- and others' -- style of communication. Ideally, the people on both ends of a communication are partners. Being open and offensive or condescending is probably worse than not being open at all. Many people are apparently born expert communicators; others need to be trained to communicate appropriately (see the description of "Staff training" below); and still others simply need to be informed that -- often because of differences in age or gender -- their style of communication is bothering others. Again, leaders need to set a clear example here, but part of good internal communication is the willingness of people to speak out when they feel uncomfortable or offended. Often, that can be enough to solve the problem.
• Be culturally sensitive. This encompasses a large area, and runs both ways. The people on both sides of a cultural divide -- whether it's a divide of race, ethnicity, religion, or something else -- need to be sensitive to the assumptions and needs of the other. Something as simple as how far apart they stand can create tension, and the use of some terms that seem innocent on the part of one -- "you people" is a prime example -- can cause anger and lasting bad feelings on the part of the other.
• Make sure information flows in all directions. The organization should ensure that people learn immediately about things that interest or affect them, and should set up systems to make sure that happens, as well as mechanisms to make sure that less timely information gets passed around (see "Systems" below). Information flow might include -- in larger organizations -- an internal newsletter or bulletin that contains interesting or important information (this could be circulated as either print or e-mail).

Clear definitions of what needs to be communicated and by whom

Much of the information an individual gets is directly related only to them or their job. They obviously can't relay all of it to everyone else. What does need to be communicated to others, and who is responsible for doing it? The answers to those questions will vary from organization to organization, but here are some broad guidelines:

• Any information that anyone needs to do his job or to better understand the context of the work should be communicated to him immediately by whoever has the information. Some possibilities here include information from another staff member about a participant that both are working with; information from another staff member about a situation that they are about to encounter as part of their job; or new rules, regulations, guidelines, etc. that affect their work (from the director or their supervisor if they are internal; from whoever learned about them if they are external, e.g. federal laws).

People often forget that, in order to do their jobs, receptionists or others who may take messages for them need to know such things as when they're available, where they're going to be, and when they'll be back.

• Anything that directly affects the work, employment status, working conditions, or working relationships of an individual should be immediately communicated to them. A potential layoff, a raise in pay, a change in job conditions, a promotion -- all of these fall into this category. Under most circumstances, the communication should take place before the situation is set in stone, so that they, and perhaps others as well, can be part of a discussion about what's going to happen. They should never hear about this type of situation from rumor or from anyone other than the director or their supervisor (depending upon the management structure of the organization). And they should hear about it first -- as soon as the director knows about it, and before anyone who's not affected.
• Any problem or issue with someone's job performance should be communicated to them as soon as it becomes apparent. Rather than "You're messing up. You better get your act together," it should take the form of a supervisory session. The staff member should be informed by their supervisor of exactly what the problem is, and the two should work together -- with others if appropriate -- to find ways to solve it, and to improve on performance. If the problem is serious enough to be a potential reason for dismissal, the staff member should be told that, and the procedure by which he might be fired explained to them. (This procedure should be part of the personnel policy, if the organization has one.) The assumption should be that the situation will improve, but if it gets worse, neither the seriousness of it nor the consequences should come as a surprise.

Besides its benefits to both the organization and the individual, there is another, more pragmatic, reason for clear communication here. It is actually very difficult to fire an employee for not doing their job. In order to avoid a lawsuit or an adverse ruling from the Labor Relations Board, an organization needs to have, and to follow, a clear procedure for recording unacceptable performance over time, informing the employee of the problem, and giving them a number of chances to improve. Thus, an organization's ability to dismiss an ineffective employee may hinge on its communication.

• Any problems that arise between or among staff members should be addressed immediately. As discussed above, the ideal is that all parties would be capable of simply dealing with the issue in person. If they can't or aren't willing to, there should be an organizational procedure by which the situation can be mediated by someone trusted by everyone involved. In either case, it's vital that the situation be identified by at least one of the parties involved as quickly as possible, so that it can be addressed and resolved before it affects the work of the organization.

Training has a role here. If staff members have tools with which to communicate (conflict resolution skills, I-messages, etc.), they are more likely to be willing to address problems or conflicts directly than if all they can envision is a screaming match.

"I-messages" are just that: a way of explaining things by referring to one's own feelings and perceptions about what has happened, rather than a more general -- and blaming -- pronouncement. It is easier for someone to hear and respond to "I felt hurt when you said that," than to "You never think about anyone but yourself."

• Any problems between staff and the organization as a whole, or general staff dissatisfaction with any aspect of their situation ( pay, working conditions, the running of the organization, etc.) needs to be communicated reasonably and quickly to the director or other person designated to handle those issues. (In a large organization, there may actually be a human resource director or other administrator who deals specifically with personnel issues. In smaller organizations, the director may be the only administrator, and may do everything that line staff don't.)
• Any information important to the working of the organization as a whole -- a funding cut or increase, a visit by a celebrity, a staff resignation, a new program possibility, etc. -- should be communicated to everyone, usually by the director. (In the case of a resignation, the staff member may want to write a general note or tell others herself at a meeting or individually.)
• Positive information, praise, etc. should be communicated as often as possible by anyone who has it to give, but especially by directors or supervisors. People in grassroots and community-based organizations too often deal with bad news. They need to hear good news and get credit for what they do. In situations where an individual is being praised for a job well done, they should be praised twice: once privately by their supervisor or the director, and then again publicly (at a staff meeting or awards presentation). And every opportunity should be taken to pass around that kind of praise.

Systems

Just about every organization sets up systems of different kinds to make it easier or more effective to complete some parts of its task. Internal communication can be stifled by your organization's systems, or it can be promoted and strengthened through both existing systems and new ones you create for the purpose. It helps both to understand what you can do, and what you'd be better off not doing. Some ways that systems that can be used to promote and strengthen internal communication:

Hiring

You may already have a plan for hiring staff members. It can easily include making clear to all applicants -- for every job in the organization -- that communication is absolutely necessary to what goes on in the organization, and that openness is part of the organizational culture. Your hiring plan can also include searching for people with the qualities that foster openness and communication -- comfort with oneself, friendliness, a sense of humor, a relaxed attitude, among many others. You may be able to devise questions and structure the interview situation to find those qualities. An important piece of this process is to be sure that your communication with applicants, including the interview itself, models what you're seeking in the working of the organization.

A good way to make sure that you don't hire the wrong person is to put candidates through an experience of anxiety and harassment. That will demonstrate to them that the organizational culture is high tension, survival-of-the-fittest. The person who looks best in that kind of situation is probably exactly the wrong person to help establish an atmosphere that encourages internal communication.

Staff training

As with hiring, you may already have a staff training plan or program. You can adapt it for promoting internal communication by adding or enhancing training in the communication needs of the organization and individuals:

• Some explanation of what ideal internal communication for the organization might look like.

A caution here: the ideal of openness in communication should be balanced with the necessities of getting the organization's work done. It doesn't make sense for a staff member to communicate an issue straight to the director if the person who'll have to handle it gets bypassed by that communication. It should be made clear in training, and in general discussion, who has responsibility for what, and people should be encouraged to direct their communication to the individuals with the appropriate areas of responsibility.

• Listening skills. More than just asking people to listen to others, training here might include specific instruction and practice in active listening.

Active listening is a process by which you learn to temporarily turn off the voices in your own head and simply pay close attention to what another person is saying. Most of us "listen" by preparing our reply to what someone else has said, a reply that usually concerns our own experience. By learning to concentrate on the whole of what the other person is saying, we can learn a great deal not only about what they really mean (often lost as we listen to our own thoughts), but also about its importance to them. This makes it far more likely that we'll respond in a meaningful way that opens up communication, rather than closing it off.

The simplest and most common active listening exercise is one where several people hold a conversation with certain rules. It's often a more powerful learning experience if the topic is one on which people disagree. No one can interrupt anyone else, everyone gets a chance to speak, and each person must correctly summarize what the last speaker has said (according to that speaker) before they can offer their own thoughts. Knowing you must summarize the last person's message encourages real concentration, and a much more controlled and profound conversation than if everyone is simply fighting to state their own opinion.

• An assessment of the trainee's own communication style. (Please see Tool # 1 for one way of doing this.)
• Cultural sensitivity. As discussed above, cultural differences can be a difficult obstacle in communication. This is not only an issue of place of birth, but of race, ethnicity, religion, class, sexual orientation, gender, disability...each of these brings with it its own set of cultural norms and values, and it's important to be aware of them. Training here can and should involve as diverse a group as possible from the organization, should draw on trainees' and others' own experiences, and should include asking questions when you don't understand why something is happening or being said. Role playing is an essential part of training in this area, as is the understanding that good will, and admitting when you don't know. A willingness to learn will usually go a long way toward eliminating discomfort on all sides.

Some things need to be mentioned here. One is that true cultural sensitivity demands a certain level of personal development. In a small Massachusetts town, the high school mascot was a harmful stereotype of a Native American person. A Native American group was brought in by a student to explain why the mascot was offensive to them, and why it might be appropriate to change it. The town's reaction was that the mascot was fine, and Native Americans had no right to be offended by it. Most citizens were simply incapable of understanding that anyone could be offended by something they weren't offended by, and that there could be differing opinions or feelings about something. Some staff members may simply not understand the issue of cultural sensitivity, and may need time -- a long time...in some cases, forever -- to get to a point where they can understand it.

Another important point is that cultural sensitivity needs to be considered from both sides. When it's not a question of offense (If someone is seriously offended by particular words or actions, that is generally -- although not always -- enough reason for everyone else to avoid them.), there needs to be the potential for compromise on both sides. If one person's culture involves speaking loudly and another's speaking softly, the way to accommodation may be for both to speak in a moderate voice.

Finally, it's important for everyone to understand that offensive or inappropriate communication is seldom intentional, and is therefore not likely to stop unless someone calls attention to it. Just as the offender must take responsibility for changing their behavior, the offended must take responsibility for speaking up in a reasonable way. And both must at least start with the assumption that the other is not a bad person.

• Examples of appropriate and inappropriate communication, and of the kinds of things that need to be communicated.
• Some instruction in conflict resolution. When there are problems among staff members, it is always preferable that the participants settle them in person. It is easier and more constructive for someone to approach a person with whom they have an issue if they also have a set of skills for dealing with face-to-face conflict. If everyone on the staff is trained in conflict resolution, it both makes for better communication and reduces the amount of mediation that administrators or others have to do.
• Lots of opportunities to practice different styles and kinds of communication through role play, and lots of supportive, but honest, feedback.

Training, like every other aspect of the organization, should reflect the values you want to communicate. If all training is lecture, or is passed down as "truth " by an authority figure, it is unlikely that trainees will feel that the organizational culture is one of openness, or that their opinions matter. If people are encouraged to share their own experiences, to discuss any information given, to challenge the trainer if they disagree, not only will the training be more valuable, but new staff members will learn what the organization wants and expects from them. In short, the form and the content of the training have to go together.

Supervision

The form that supervision takes in an organization can easily either foster or stifle internal communication. If supervision is seen as intrusive and punitive (like looking over people's shoulders and trying to catch them doing something wrong) internal communication, particularly among supervisors and supervisees, probably won't benefit. If supervision is seen -- and practiced -- as supportive and helpful, a way to continually enhance the quality of one's work, then internal communication is more likely to flourish. Another role that supervision plays here is that it can help staff and volunteers to examine and improve their own communication, and thus improve communication within the organization.

Regular meetings

A staff of any size, particularly one that operates out of a variety of places (different communities, for instance), should meet regularly, ideally every week. Such meetings are often slighted because they appear to take time away from the work of the organization, or because most people dislike them. But they are, in fact, vital to the work of the organization, allowing people the chance to share ideas (and thus improve their own work by applying what they've heard ), hear what's going on in the organization as a whole (and confirm their commitment to the work), and renew relationships with one another (making it easier to work together).

When people dislike attending staff meetings, it's often because the meetings feel like they're imposed by the administrator who runs them. They may not deal with issues that are important to most of the staff, and, all too often, they consist of only one person talking -- the administrator. A meeting that takes this form sends exactly the wrong message in an organization that's trying to foster open communication.

If you want to make meetings more conducive to real communication, you can try one or some combination of the following ways to make them more interesting and enjoyable:

• Add food. Make them breakfast or lunch meetings; ask different people to bring special, perhaps ethnic, food each time; provide, or encourage people to bring, coffee and snacks. Food changes the whole tone of a meeting: breaking bread together breaks down barriers as well, and turns a meeting into something more congenial.
• Rotate the responsibility for running the meeting among all staff members. This way, it doesn't have to be seen as the director's or administrator's meeting, but as one that reflects the concerns of everyone on staff.
• Make sure the agenda is open to everyone. Anyone should be able to put items on the agenda, and have them attended to with the same priority as any other items. The person running the meeting could check with everyone beforehand, asking for agenda items.

At a large mental health center, with over 100 employees, The Superintendent took it upon himself to call a General Staff Meeting once a month. At those meetings, the Superintendent would make some opening announcements and share some general news, but the bulk of the meeting was set aside for any staff member to ask any question or raise any issue at all. The meetings were open to anyone who worked there, from Chief Psychiatrist to groundskeeper. Everyone was encouraged to attend and speak, and many did. These meetings were almost always lively and sometimes controversial; but more often than not, they were also productive. Unfortunately, when the Superintendent left his position, the tradition of the General Staff Meeting left along with him.

- Contributed by Bill Berkowitz

• Build in a mechanism for everyone to get a chance to talk about what they're doing and what's currently exciting about the job for them. This makes it possible for people to feel that their experience is valued, and for others to pick up ideas that they can use in their own work.
• Keep meetings informal. Don't be afraid to use humor, or to make at least occasional fun part of the organizational culture.

At a community college, the Dean of Students was famous for running long, boring staff meetings. One staff member took it on himself -- with the unacknowledged cooperation of the Dean -- to be the court jester at these meetings. He would make jokes at the expense of the agenda, tease the Dean about his clothes, and concoct terrible puns based on the meeting's information. The point of this was to keep people interested...and it worked. Years later, both the Dean and others told the "jester" that one of the things that kept people alert during meetings was wondering what he would come up with next, and whether the Dean would get angry.

• Hold meetings in places that have nothing to do with the organization. Meetings can be held outdoors in good weather, in cafes, in people's homes, or in other institutional spaces (a library or college, for instance). Sometimes getting out of the office can help to change perspective and give birth to new ways of looking at things as well.
• In organizations where there's a distinction, line staff might have regular meetings without administrators or supervisors present. They could freely discuss their particular concerns and raise issues about, say, working conditions, which could then be brought up with the appropriate administrators later.

Other avenues of communication

An organizational newsletter -- either printed or e-mailed -- can be a way of getting large amounts of information to people so they don't feel left out, and at the same time give them the choice of how much of that information they want to digest. That and any other communication (bulletins, memos, etc.) should embody in their style and the method of their distribution the same principles of openness and general respect as the rest of the organization's functioning.

Everyone should have easy and direct access to the means of communication, i.e. mailboxes, phone and voice mail, phone numbers, e-mail addresses for everyone else in the organization, and both electronic and actual bulletin boards and newsletters.

E-mail is a particularly effective method of internal communication. It's possible to create an internal list-serv, so that everyone can receive e-mails sent by any other person in the organization. There should be guidelines for using list-servs, so that messages meant only for a particular person and non-work-related messages are not sent over them.

In addition, people may ask to be put on specialized lists that cover their area of work (counseling, grant information, new medical developments, etc.).

Procedures and clear lines of communication for dealing with out-of-the-ordinary situations

When problems arise, communication is made easier - and more likely - if there are systems that help people understand exactly what to do to deal with the situation. Some of the more common instances:

Problems among staff. Unresolved conflicts in an organization make life harder and more tense for everyone. The ideal here is always that a staff member at least tries to resolve issues by approaching the person with whom they have difficulties. If that's not possible, a well-drawn procedure for addressing the conflict (First, tell X, who will try to mediate. If X is involved in the issue, go to Y. Etc.) makes it more likely that it will be brought out in the open and that it will be resolved.

Problems, or potential problems, in the organization that need to be discussed and addressed. As in the story about the director who was told about organizational problems "in confidence," issues unacknowledged are issues unresolved. It's possible to create procedures for flagging problems that take the responsibility off the reporter, and outline clear, inclusive steps for dealing with the situation. One possibility, for instance, would be to refer issues to a small group which could then come up with one or more potential solutions to be discussed by the whole staff. In order for problems to be dealt with effectively, or, even better, nipped in the bud, people have to believe that:

• Problems can be resolved, but only if they're identified and acknowledged
• There are no organizational repercussions or blame for identifying a problem
• There are organizational systems that work for addressing problems quickly and resolving them fairly and effectively
• These systems require the participation of everyone in the organization
• Conflict can lead to organizational and personal growth if it's faced squarely and resolved in reasonable ways

Some ways to ensure that conflicts and problems in an organization don't get communicated or resolved:

• Make sure that all problems are resolved by orders issued by an administrator or someone else in authority, without consulting anyone else
• Call in the person(s) at the core of the problem, yell at them, and record the scolding in their personnel files
• Call an emergency staff meeting and blame everyone for what's going on
• Encourage people to flag problems in the organization, but deny it or don't do anything about it when they do
• Blame the person making the report for starting trouble

Emergencies. These can take many forms, from an attack on the organization in the press to an injury on the job to a security problem that results in a rape. There need to be clear lines of communication for reporting the situation, and the person to whom it's reported needs to know exactly how to respond, both to the reporter -- who may be injured, terrified, or shaken up -- and to the situation.

Accessibility of everyone in the organization

This is a fairly simple concept that is sometimes difficult to effect. In essence, it means that anyone should be able to speak to anyone else in the organization without permission from anyone else (a common example is a staff member needing permission to attend a Board meeting or to speak to a member of the Board).

All too often, the opposite of "good internal communication" is the "chain of command." This metaphor, borrowed from the military, lines out who can speak to whom in an organization, and defines the scope of each person's authority. In a proper chain, you can contact anyone below you, but only the person immediately above you. If you need to talk to the director, you have to go through your immediate supervisor (who then has to go through their supervisor, etc.) to get permission. This model and its variants are not exactly conducive to free and open communication.

At the same time, it's important to understand when it's appropriate to bring particular issues to an administrator or Board member. If there's been no attempt to resolve the issue at the level on which it exists, for instance, then it shouldn't be going anywhere else until that attempt takes place. That's the reason for creating systems of communication that everyone understands.

Occasional or institutionalized opportunities to socialize, either at work or elsewhere

One way to encourage communication is to set up ways for people to get to know one another well. Many organizations grab any excuse they can find to have a party, a celebration, or just time to relax and talk about things other than work. Some staffs eat lunch together as a regular daily ritual, which can be fostered by the presence of a refrigerator, coffeemaker, and hotplate. Celebrating birthdays, organizational anniversaries, and particular successes is another way to bring people together. The goal is not necessarily to make staff members best friends who spend all their time together out of work, but rather to make people comfortable with one another.

How do you monitor and improve internal communication?

As with so many aspects of organizational management, developing plans, systems, pathways, and a conducive climate for internal communication is only the beginning. The hard part is getting and keeping it going, essentially forever. In order to maintain internal communication and continue to make it better, you have to look at it regularly to see how you're doing. Monitoring it on a regular basis will help you identify where it's working and where it's not, and to keep working toward your communication goals.

Analyzing something as vague as "communication" can be difficult: it often falls into that realm of "I know it when I see it." Sociologists use complicated research strategies to map communication among individuals in a group, but it's unlikely that most organizations have either the resources or the desire to go to those lengths. There are a number of simpler ways to look at your internal communication that will give you at least a general picture of how well it's working.

Some ways of monitoring internal communication:

• Check staff satisfaction on the level, speed, and inclusiveness of the information and other communication they receive. (Depending upon how formal you want or need to be, this could involve conducting a formal staff survey, written or otherwise.) Do they feel included in the working of the organization? Are they the last to know about things that affect them? Do they always, or almost always, have the information they need to do their jobs as well as possible?
  • If you're afraid they won't answer honestly, you can give people the option of answering anonymously -- less useful information, but better than inaccurate information. On the other hand, if people aren't willing to answer honestly under their own names, or even if you think they aren't, that probably tells you a great deal about the quality of your internal communication.
• Ask for feedback at the end of staff meetings, either on the meeting itself, on the decision-making process, or anything else of concern. You could also, on a regular basis, devote all or part of a staff meeting to a review of internal communication procedures and how well they're working.
• Make internal communication a topic at whatever staff retreats or evaluation sessions you hold to look at the organization as a whole.
• See how long it takes to actually run a piece of information through the organization, and whether it can be done accurately. In other words, play a game of organizational Telephone by putting some information into the network (in this case, the network of all staff members) and see how long it takes to get to everyone, and what it looks like when it gets there. If it's fast and reasonably accurate, congratulations. If it's sluggish and distorted, you still have some work to do.
• Try to determine whether internal problems over the period of time you're assessing (a year, perhaps) have decreased in frequency and/or severity compared to the previous period. If there's a noticeable change for the better, it's likely that at least some of that change is due to improved communication.
• Try to identify and rectify sticking points. These might be individuals, systems, or organizational inertia.
  • Individuals: If particular people seem to be bottlenecks in the flow of communication, you can try to pull them into the network by enlisting them in seeking solutions to the problem; trying to address the issues that keep them from communicating effectively; or, if all else fails, bypass them in some way so that they don't hang everyone else up.
  • Systems: You can work as a staff to modify or change systems to be more responsive to the communication needs of the organization. This may mean changing the form of a staff meeting, as described above; instituting alternative ways for people to get information or have contact with one another; rewriting policies and procedures to include or encourage communication at particular steps; etc.
  • Organizational inertia: the organization as a whole may have made a commitment to a policy of open communication, but if there are attitudes or preconceptions or procedures left over from what the organization was like before, they may work against the new order. Individual staff members and the organization as a whole have to look at these outdated ways of functioning and find ways to change or eliminate them. This kind of change is never easy, and is often slow. It is more apt to happen if everyone works together to understand the ways in which the organization and individuals are working against themselves, and to come up with solutions. In addition to bringing everyone's ideas into the mix, this process has the advantage of people then being able to keep one another honest when someone backslides.

Like all aspects of an organization, communication should be monitored on a regular basis, at least annually.

In Summary

Promoting internal communication is one of the most important things you can do to make sure that your organization runs smoothly and effectively. Good internal communication will flourish if you can create an organizational climate of openness that is conducive to the free flow of communication and information in all directions; adjust your organization's systems or develop new ones to encourage, rather than discourage, internal communication; and create clear definitions of what needs to be communicated and by whom. Monitoring and adjusting your internal communication will help to maintain it at the level you need over the life of your organization.

___You understand what internal communication is

___You understand the advantages of using internal communication and have promoted it

Organizational climate and culture:

___You have practiced what you preach

___You trust everyone similarly

___You made sure information flows in all directions

Clear definitions of what needs to be communicated and by whom:

___You have communicated issues affecting anyone's work conditions or status to the individual or individuals

___You have made sure problems between staff members are addressed immediately

___You have made sure pertinent and important information is communicated to everyone involved

Systems:

___You have used systems to promote internal communication

• Hiring
• Staff Training
• Supervision
• Regular Meetings
• Procedures and clear lines of communication for dealing with out-of-the-ordinary situations
• Accessibility of everyone in the organization
• Occasional or institutionalized opportunities to socialize, either at work or elsewhere

Monitoring and improving internal communication:

___You have checked staff satisfaction with the information they receive

___You have gathered feedback from staff meetings

___You've made internal communication a topic at organization meetings

___You have tested information flow though the organization

Tool: A Quiz for Assessing and Discussing Your Communication Behavior

Adapted from Joining Together by David W. Johnson and Frank P. Johnson

Begin a discussion of communication in groups by answering the following questions as honestly as possible.

1. If I, as a group facilitator, were giving information, and the other group members sat quietly with blank faces, I would

___state the instructions clearly and precisely and then move on.

___encourage members to ask questions until I was sure that everyone understood, and knew what was expected of him.

2. If a group facilitator gave information that I didn't understand, I would

___keep silent and later ask another group member what the facilitator meant.

___immediately ask the facilitator to repeat the instructions and answer my questions until I was sure I understood and knew what was expected.

3. How often do you let others know when you like or approve of something they say or do?

Never                                     Always

  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9

4. How often do you let others know when you are irritated by, impatient with, embarrassed by, or opposed to something they say or do?

Never                                      Always

   1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9

5. How often do you check out what others are feeling and how they are reacting, rather than assuming that you know?

Never                                       Always

    1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9

6. How often do you encourage others to let you know how they are reacting to your speech and actions?

Never                                        Always

   1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9

7. How often do you check to make sure you understand what others mean before agreeing or disagreeing?

Never                                        Always

    1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9

8. How often do you paraphrase or restate what others have said before responding?

Never                                         Always

     1    2    3    4    5     6    7    8    9

9. How often do you keep thoughts, ideas, feelings, and reactions to yourself?

Never                                           Always

      1    2    3    4     5     6    7    8    9

10. How often do you make sure to pass on whatever information you have about the topics of importance or topics under discussion?

Never                                         Always

     1    2    3     4    5    6    7    8    9

The first two questions look at whether your communication is two-way. Questions 3 and 4 focus on your willingness to tell others about the effect of their messages on you; 5 and 6 on your willingness to ask for and receive the same information about your own messages from them. Questions 7 and 8 deal with how you take in others' messages. And 9 and 10 concern how willing you are to give information out.

11. Looking at the whole picture, how would you describe your own communication pattern?

 

 

A Power Point presentation summarizing the major points in the section.

• What does day-to-day maintenance consist of?

• Who's responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of an organization?

• What do you actually have to do to maintain an organization from day to day?

You've been asked to serve on the Board of a local community-based organization, and you're visiting its offices for the first time. You notice that the floor doesn't seem to have been swept in months, and when the receptionist looks for a piece of paper to write down your name, he can't find one. Participants are milling around, apparently, as you hear from their conversation, because a staff member hasn't shown up for their meeting. You realize you haven't heard much about this organization from friends and acquaintances, except for rumors that it's constantly in financial difficulty; you've never seen it represented at any of the numerous community events and meetings you've attended. You've only been in the office for a minute, and you're already wondering whether you want to be associated with it.

Your impression of this organization has been colored by its apparent lack of day-to-day management. Section 1 of this chapter is intended to help you develop a management plan for your organization. But all the plans in the world won't do you any good unless you carry them out efficiently every day. The day-to-day maintenance of an organization - the nitty-gritty tasks that carry its work forward - is what really determines whether it will be successful or not.

These tasks cover not only the obvious details - getting the organization's work done each day, keeping track of money and supplies, cleaning the office - but the larger issue of relationships, both within the organization and between the organization and the community. It's been said that God is in the details, and that's just as true for managing an organization as it is for raising children or running a country. This section will help you think about how to keep those details under control.

What does day-to-day maintenance consist of?

Nearly all areas of management require at least some day-to-day attention.

The work of the organization

Each day, whether your organization runs programs, provides services, or pursues advocacy, you have to make sure that the right people are in the right places at the right times to do the work of the organization. In addition, someone has to carry out the everyday procedures (record keeping, attention to how well particular techniques are working, etc.) that make evaluation possible.

Fiscal management

Someone has to keep track of finances and make sure that the books are kept properly, that employees and bills get paid, that income gets to the bank, and that there's enough money in the checking account to keep operating. Someone also has to keep track of grants and contracts, and be responsible for contact with funders.

Personnel management

Handling problems among staff, keeping current on what everyone's doing, maintaining a positive organizational climate, arranging or overseeing supervision, organizing staff development, evaluating staff performance, and generally making sure that everyone's happy and focused on their job - all of these demand daily attention.

Board maintenance

Maintaining regular contact with the Board and keeping it informed, assisting Board involvement in the organization, and sustaining relationships with individual Board members are all ongoing tasks that need to be addressed regularly.

Relationship with the larger community

The organization's relationship with the community it serves needs to be fostered constantly. You must continually keep the organization's profile high, inform the community of what you do and of the needs of the priority population, make friends and allies, and communicate with the media if you're going to get the community support you need.

General logistics

Somehow, in the midst of everything else, the floors have to get swept, equipment has to be maintained and repaired, paper and other supplies have to be ordered before they run out, errands have to be run...in short, life has to go on for the organization.

The spirit of the organization

An invisible maintenance task is that of maintaining the passion for the work and the belief in the vision and mission that drive most grassroots and community-based organizations. This is almost always the work of the leader, and, though not always conscious, is among the most important of their day-to-day tasks.

Who's responsible for day to day maintenance?

It's beginning to look like the day-to-day maintenance of an organization requires a lot of work. Who's going to do it all? The answer to that question depends on a number of factors: the size of the organization, its structure, its geography (i.e. whether everything happens in one office or space, or whether the organization is spread out over several spaces, or even several towns), and the particular talents of its staff members.

In a smaller organization, or one that doesn't have a large administrative structure, most of the day-to-day management will probably fall on the director or coordinator. If the organization really is small - a couple of staff, one office - that's usually not a problem. If the organization is administratively understaffed, it can become a very large problem, because it can lead to a lot of the work simply not getting done. In a larger organization, or in one where the director simply can't handle everything themself, there are creative ways to ensure that everything necessary is accomplished.

• Delegate work to other administrators. Administrative staff can split up responsibilities for day-to-day management.
• Hire a bookkeeper/accountant. Many organizations have such a person on staff, but others may contract with an independent bookkeeper who works only a few hours a week. That way, they get the money-management services they need without having to pay more than they can afford.
• Split day-to-day management duties among several staff members. Some people on staff may have skills in management areas, or may simply gain satisfaction from particular tasks. This solution may be especially useful in situations where parts of the organization are geographically separated.
• Share some functions among all staff (or staff and Board) in rotation. Serving on community committees, making public presentations, cleaning up at day's end, buying the coffee - these are all tasks that could be handled in turn by many people in the organization.
• Hire a cleaning service or other outside concern to take some of the burden
• Share services with another organization

There are even more creative ways to get the messy stuff done. You can ask everyone to stay late and clean once a month or so, and follow the clean-up with a party. You could even invite families in and buy or chip in for pizza or something similar.

In some community-based organizations, participants help out, either as volunteers or as paid workers. You may even be able, in some circumstances, to pay them out of grant money. Other possibilities are to recruit volunteers particularly to help out with maintenance tasks, or to find a community business that's willing to give you some service in return for a tax write-off or the publicity value. While most maintenance tasks need to be done by staff members, most of the chores that fall under logistics can be delegated to someone else.

Regardless of how you parcel out the work, however, it's important that some individual - usually the director - oversees the day-to-day management. Someone has to understand the overall view of the situation, so they can intervene if there's a problem or a gap, and make sure that the functioning of the organization isn't disturbed or interrupted.

What do you actually need to do to carry out the day-to-day maintenance of an organization, and how do you do it?

Now that you've figured out the areas you need to address and who'll be responsible for each, what do you actually have to do to make sure everything goes smoothly? What exactly do you have to pay attention to daily, or on most days? And how do you make sure that attention gets paid and necessary tasks get done?

In many cases, you can set up systems to make sure that things get done on time. Some may be as simple as deciding that when the last box of copier paper is down to four reams, it's time to order more. Others may be far more complicated, and may need official organizational policies to guide them, along with a policies and procedures manual so that everyone will know what those policies are. Whatever the situation, it makes sense to try to anticipate problems and snags and to set up systems, where possible, to counter them before they become emergencies.

In general, the tasks of maintenance come under eight headings:

• The actual work of the organization
• Financial management
• Personnel management
• Board maintenance
• Community relations
• Logistics
• The spirit of the organization
• The big picture

The work of the organization

There are a number of areas that must be attended to if the everyday work of the organization is to get done effectively.

Making sure the work gets done

In the event of illness, a personal emergency, weather, etc., the right systems can be lifesavers.

• A system for notifying administrators, participants, other staff, and anyone else who needs to know when something is canceled or delayed, or when someone is unable to be where they're supposed to. In addition to specifying to every staff member whom they should call in that situation, some possibilities are:
  • Designated phone callers
  • Staff and/or participant phone or contact chains (a participant without a phone might be contacted by another who lives nearby)
  • E-mail lists
  • Radio and/or TV announcements (for weather cancellations)
• A system for substituting for staff who can't make it. To avoid canceling programs or services when staff members are sick or unavailable, a common strategy is for an off-duty staff member to cover another's hours, and then have the other return the favor later. Many organizations that can afford it include money for substitutes in their budgets. If you lack the resources for this, it may be possible to create a pool of volunteers to cover for absent staff members.

Record Keeping

Most organizations need to keep records, whether for tax purposes, for internal evaluation, for accountability to funders, for external evaluators, or for use in publicity, fundraising, or advocacy. These records can range from simple notations of staff or participant hours to long discussions of activities and achievements. They may include test results, samples or descriptions of participant work, medical reports, etc.

If record keeping is to be accurate, it needs to be timely, with staff members making entries each day they work. Everyone has to know what they are responsible for recording and when, and someone has to make sure that record keeping doesn't fall by the wayside in the crush of other tasks. No one likes to do paperwork, and it's often the first thing to be ignored when work piles up. Once you fall behind in it, however, it's difficult to catch up. If recordkeeping is important for the organization, you have to attend to it in day-to-day management.

Regular staff meetings

Staff meetings - weekly if possible - give staff members and administrators a chance to keep informed about what's happening in the organization, to share ideas and successes, to help one another with problems, and to take on organizational tasks. In order for meetings to be effective and reasonably enjoyable, you have to engage in some preparation.

Someone - it might always be the director, but it could also be someone else, or be a rotating position - needs to take responsibility for leading meetings, and for generating and/or gathering agenda items. That could mean taking calls or e -mails from other staff during the week before the meeting, or posting a paper or electronic agenda sheet where anyone can add to it. It could also mean distributing the agenda in advance of the meeting, or distributing materials that relate to particular agenda items (spreadsheets, letters from other organizations, etc).

If you want food or drink at meetings, someone has to buy it, whether the organization pays for it or staff members take turns providing it. Finally, someone has to take care of any specific preparations: getting an easel and newsprint, for instance, or making sure that staff members have completed assignments from the last meeting. (For more on staff meetings, please see Section 4 of this chapter, Promoting Internal Communication.)

Staff development and information-sharing

No matter what your organization does, staff members will be more effective if they have the chance to learn new ideas and techniques that will help them become better at their jobs and to share experiences and ideas with one another. Offering everyday encouragement here might mean programming some time into staff meeting for discussion of what people are actually doing, what's been working for them, new ideas they've encountered, etc. It might also mean developing an in-house list-serv, specifically for exchanging this type of information. You might start an in-house staff development program, which either brings in presenters or rotates responsibility for staff development presentations among staff members.

In any case, someone - again, whether the director, some other individual, or staff members in rotation - has to take responsibility for polling staff members about their staff development needs and preferences, finding presenters, and scheduling or preparing presentations. This becomes even more of a day-to-day task if staff development meetings are frequent (e.g. weekly or biweekly).

Program development

It's important to realize that no matter how well you do your job, it can always be improved. Good program development (working on ways to improve what you do, planning new initiatives, incorporating new ideas, etc.) is a daily activity. At the same time, it depends on the organization and everyone in it taking a long-term perspective that views the organization as dynamic and subject to constant change.

Program development requires that anyone involved in the work of the organization - particularly program directors, grant writers, and line staff - be ready each day to make suggestions or enter into discussion about new possibilities or changes to make the organization's work more effective. That can be institutionalized through regular meetings or through a written or e-mail discussion system, or both. In any case, it should be part of the day-to-day work of the organization.

Advertising and/or recruitment

The organization might as well not be doing its work if no one knows it's there. A constant task is to make sure that the public and the priority population are aware of the organization's name and work. If you offer programs or services, then part of that task is informing the priority population and recruiting participants. Everyday attention to all this requires:

• Keeping in touch with the local media, placing press releases and stories about organizational activities, writing or renewing advertisements when necessary, holding press conferences, etc.
• Maintaining a presence in the priority community (through the work of line staff, regular contacts with key individuals, street outreach, whatever it takes.)
• Enhancing the organization's image through public speaking, attendance at meetings and forums, service on committees and boards, etc.

Fiscal management

Perhaps no other aspect of organizational management needs as much day-to-day attention as the financial aspect. Fiscal responsibility requires keeping control of your money in a number of different ways.

Bookkeeping

Whether you do it yourself, have an in-house bookkeeper or accountant, or hire it out, day to day bookkeeping and accounting have to be correct and current. Expense and income journals have to be kept up to date (usually within a few days, ideally daily), and the general ledger - the overall financial record of the organization - has to be updated and balanced regularly. In addition, you have to keep daily or almost-daily track of your budget, so you know just where you are in relation to what you planned for income and expenses. Perhaps most important, you have to manage your cash flow, so you don't run out of operating money; this is also a daily or almost-daily chore.

"Cash flow" refers to the actual flow of money through the organization, as opposed to what's on paper. If you're owed $500.00 by your friend, but he hasn't paid you yet, and you only have $5.00 in the bank, that's a cash flow issue. You can't pay your electric bill with the fact that your friend owes you money.

Organizations deal with this issue all the time. Money from grants and contracts often flows slowly, and fundraising is unpredictable. Bills, on the other hand, come regularly, and salaries have to be paid. How well your organization manages cash flow can make a tremendous difference in its health, financial and otherwise.

Billing/receiving, paying bills, and payroll

There should be a regular payment and billing schedule, so that bills get paid on time, there's a steady flow of income, and cash flow stays relatively healthy. The daily details here seem obvious, but, especially in a large organization, they can easily get lost. You have to ensure that someone gets the mail every day, that the bills get to the right person on time, that checks get deposited quickly, and that bills are paid with a constant eye, not only on the bank account, but also on what's about to come due.

Payroll, in just about all organizations, is handled on a regular schedule, but there need to be ways to address holidays, payment during vacations, and other issues that break the pattern. Some organizations have their payroll taken care of by a payroll service or a bank, which takes the burden off staff members, but may be complicated in a situation like those mentioned. How flexible are you prepared to be about payroll?

Tracking grants and contracts

Each grant or contract that funds the organization brings with it daily responsibilities. You'll need to track each grant or contract separately, so that you can compare it to your budget, and decide whether your original spending plan was adequate, or whether it needs to be changed. The funder expects you to know how much of your funding you've spent at a given time, and in what categories you've spent it. If you're billing on a contract, particularly, you'll have to provide documentation for your spending, which means that you have to copy all receipts, payroll stubs, etc. that pertain to that contract. Much of this tracking and record-keeping requires daily or almost-daily attention.

Ordering and purchasing materials and supplies

Especially where materials and supplies may be crucial - in a community clinic, for instance, or a child nutrition program - the staff members who use or distribute them must have an avenue for making their needs known. In some cases, the responsible staff members may do their own ordering; in others, they may have to submit their requests to someone else. In either case, there should be a system so that materials and supplies are constantly available (i.e. get ordered often enough so that they never run out), at least as long as the money lasts.

An efficient day-to-day ordering process has several elements:

• The person closest to the particular materials or supplies in question has a guideline for when more is needed
• That person first checks with whoever knows whether there is enough money available, and where it will come from
• If there is enough money, depending upon organizational procedures, they either places the order himself, or asks the appropriate person in the organization to do so
• When the order is placed, the cost is conveyed to the bookkeeper or whoever is responsible for making sure that expenses get recorded properly

Many organizations streamline this process by having the bookkeeper or director do the ordering. They will know if the money for ordering is available, and can then record the amount as soon as the order is placed. They might also monitor the use of materials, and ask questions if it seems significantly different from past use.

Banking

The day-to-day issues here include:

• Who goes to the bank when there's money to deposit or other banking to be done.

   Your bank may be able to provide you with a direct deposit option for at least some of your daily banking needs. Thus, funders or purchasers of your service may be able to send checks directly - either through the mail or electronically - to your bank to be deposited in your organization's account. You may be able to arrange for automatic payment of some bills as well. Depending upon how efficient this system is and how accommodating your bank is willing to be, such an arrangement can save large amounts of time and trouble for your organization. 

• Who can actually write checks. In some smaller organizations, both the director and a Board member may have to sign each check, or any check over a certain amount. This can create logistical problems if one of the signers is unavailable at a crucial time. In most organizations, checks are normally signed by one of two or three individuals, with someone having oversight over the whole process.

  If, for instance, both the director and bookkeeper can sign checks, the bookkeeper might pay the bills, but the director will decide which bills should be paid before the bookkeeper gets them. Another standard procedure is one person normally signs all checks, but one or two others are authorized to sign if that person is unavailable.

• Someone needs to keep track of cash flow and make necessary adjustments (e.g. holding up on ordering or waiting to pay certain bills until more cash is available ).
• Guidelines for transferring money between and among accounts (interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing, high and low interest, Certificates of Deposit, etc.) should be developed and followed.

Personnel management

Day-to-day personnel management has to operate on two levels: one is the actual management of both regular and unexpected personnel issues; the other is maintaining an organizational climate conducive to staff job satisfaction and enthusiasm, and - as a result - organizational effectiveness.

Day-to-day management of personnel issues

In order to keep everything running smoothly, someone must oversee:

• Supervision. Making sure that supervision happens for everyone on a regular basis, and that supervisors know for whom and for what they're responsible.
• Awareness of - and attendance to - potential problems before they become more urgent. Such problems might include:
  • Interpersonal problems among staff or among staff and participants or community members
  • Issues of poor staff job performance
  • Issues of job satisfaction, compensation, work hours, supervision, etc. that relate to the enthusiasm of staff members for their jobs and the work at hand
  • Philosophical differences among staff or between staff and administration, staff and Board, administration and Board, etc. about the mission and methods of the organization
• Handling actual personnel problems and crises. For most of these, there should be organizational policies, but policies only outline the actions to be taken. Addressing these issues capably demands tact, interpersonal and listening skills, patience, flexibility, tolerance, fairness, firmness, openness to unusual solutions, and a sense of humor. These issues might include:
  • Official grievances
  • Interpersonal disputes
  • Official warnings or reprimands
  • Firing (for insubordination or poor performance)

Firing a staff member, both because of the organizational disruption it causes, and because of the possibility of a lawsuit, is not something to be entered upon lightly. There should be a clear procedure of warnings, documentation, etc. so that the staff member in question understands exactly what the problem is, what they can do to correct it, what kind of help is available, and what the time limits are.

Maintaining a favorable organizational climate

Organizational climate is the way an organization "feels," both to those who work in it, and to those whom it serves or who have contact with it in other ways. The ideal for most grassroots or community-based groups is an organizational climate that's comfortable, welcoming, and relaxed. In order to establish and preserve such a climate, there are some steps you can take every day:

• Make time every day for informal conversation with staff members, both individually and in groups. You don't have to talk to everyone every day, but lunch, five minutes at the copier, a shared task - all are occasions for human contact. These conversations can strengthen the organization in several ways:
  • Life in the organization will be seen as comfortable and pleasant, and the trust that is built in these interactions can carry a long way in times of trouble. Organizations work better when everyone feels a human connection to others in the organization.
  • You can learn of conditions in people's lives that are affecting their jobs, and that can be eased by adjustments at work - increased time flexibility, a change in title, etc.
  • Professional issues may also surface. Philosophical differences, feelings about work or the organization, new ideas, etc. can turn into productive discussion and organizational growth if they're acknowledged, rather than simmering into resentment and anger if they're ignored or unmentioned.
• Provide opportunities for staff members to socialize and play together. This doesn't have to happen weekly, but an optional social occasion or recreational activity a few times a year can do a lot toward creating a relaxed and friendly climate, and helping people work together.
• Pass around praise and credit freely, both in private and in public. Tell staff members how much you appreciate what they do, and especially single them out for what they do well. If you can give them credit in the community - through newspaper articles, "employee of the month" awards, citations by other organizations - so much the better.
• Set the organizational tone by your own behavior. If you're the director, you can imply the dress code - formal, "business casual," or none - by what you wear. If you want to hear the truth from staff members, you have to be willing to give out the truth in turn, and to deal reasonably with the consequences in both instances. If you want the organization to be a warm and friendly place, you have to be warm and friendly. If you want people to work hard, you have to demonstrate that by your own work ethic.

Slightly different from organizational climate is organizational culture. The organizational climate is the way the organization feels day to day; the organizational culture is the way the organization is. It develops over a long period of time, and consists of the assumptions that the organization makes about itself. The ideas that go into its makeup are those not only of the people who work there, but of all the people who have worked there in the past.

Whether your organization is established or new, you and its current staff are creating its culture from day to day. What kind of organizational culture do you want to foster? Do you want to be known as a great place to work, as one that accomplishes its goals in an atmosphere of harmony and shared enthusiasm? If so, you have to think about that every day, talk about it, make it apparent, and model it, working with others in the organization to achieve a climate and culture that will make the organization what you want it to be.

Board maintenance

Boards are not self-sustaining, but need care and feeding, just as staffs do. There are some everyday things you can do to keep your Board productive and running smoothly.

• Someone, almost always the director, must keep Board members - particularly the officers - informed about the organization and what it's doing. (Board members, in general, don't need to know about day-to-day operation or management, except to understand the organization, but should be informed about any major positive or negative events or conditions that affect the organization as a whole, and about changes in financial matters.)
• The director should meet regularly - often weekly or biweekly - with the Board chair to discuss ongoing issues and projects, to plan meetings, set agendas, etc.
• Meet with individual Board members (perhaps only once or twice a year, but if you have a large Board, this means a meeting every other week or so) to make sure that they have Board work that they enjoy and that matches their talents, that their ideas are being heard, and that they feel satisfaction about being part of the organization.
• Keep track of and plan for Board training needs. Monitoring training needs is especially necessary with Boards that include participants or members of a disadvantaged priority population. They may not have had experience on Boards or committees, or even in meetings, and may need not only training, but support and mentoring in order to feel comfortable as Board members, and in expressing their ideas and opinions.

Community relations

Maintaining good relations and credibility in the community can greatly increase the health and effectiveness of your organization. While a good bit of this task usually falls on the director, larger organizations may split it up among several administrators and staff members. Whoever in the organization engages in community involvement, there are some specific actions they can take in the service of good community relations.

• Attend and participate in meetings of open community groups - economic development coalitions, human service agency councils, health promotion committees, etc. Be willing to take responsibility in these groups if you have the time, and to demonstrate your ability to generate good ideas and to carry them out competently.
• Network, network, network! Try to forge relationships with individual community members and leaders - business people, elected officials, doctors, clergy, educators - so you'll have friends and allies who are respected voices in the community, and who understand what you do and why it's needed.

Having personal relationships can solve a whole host of problems. One organization had outgrown its quarters, and desperately needed inexpensive space. The director called the most important real estate broker in town, whom he knew from United Way and other functions. Through the broker's intervention, the organization found exactly the space it needed at a price it could afford.

• Make and maintain connections with other organizations and agencies, community groups, individuals, etc. to ensure smooth referrals and transitions from one program to another for participants, and to strengthen recruitment. These connections may be at many levels - administrators, line staff, support staff, and volunteers.
• Develop and maintain relationships with the media, and with individual reporters, columnists, and editorial writers. Call them with interesting stories or information, and get their help in composing ads, press releases, etc.
• Be willing to serve on organizational and community boards - human services, hospitals, foundations, etc.
• Speak in public at every opportunity where you can call attention to the work of the organization, or to the needs of the priority population. Possibilities include service clubs (Kiwanis, Lions, etc.), religious organizations, community forums, and public hearings on matters that concern the priority population or the work of the organization.
• Encourage everyone connected to the organization - staff, participants, volunteers, Board members - to participate in the life of the community, both as community members and as representatives of the organization.

Logistics

The daily concerns here are really basic:

• Keeping the office or workspace clean and relatively neat, which may mean doing it yourself; staff, volunteers, or participants (paid or unpaid) or a combination sharing the responsibility; or hiring an individual or cleaning service
• Ensuring that everyone knows who's opening and closing the office or workspace and when
• Dealing with security issues

There should be clear security guidelines, but someone has to handle day-to-day concerns and deal with actual situations - a disappearing key, a participant's abusive ex-husband at the door, a broken car window. Depending upon what's needed, that "someone" might be the director, the person in charge at the time, a large male staff member, etc.

• Paying attention to the condition of equipment - copiers, computers, phones, etc. - and maintaining, repairing, or replacing it when necessary. Everyone should know who's responsible for equipment, and whom to report problems to.

Equipment use may be an issue as well. If computers are at a premium, for instance, everyone should know who gets priority, whether it's participants at certain times of day, or the director when they're writing a grant proposal. There may be times when someone has to referee a conflict or potential conflict over who gets to do what when.

• Monitoring services, from phones to the organization's law firm, to make sure that everything is working properly and getting done when it's supposed to.
• Addressing daily emergencies - not just security, but flooded bathrooms, illness, power failures, bad press...whatever has the potential to seriously inconvenience or harm people or the organization.

The spirit of the organization

Most grassroots and community-based organizations (and many more "establishment " organizations and agencies as well) have a sense of mission and purpose and a belief in what they do that goes far beyond merely liking the work. The success of much health, human service, and community work depends upon a passion that keeps people going even when things look bleak, and keeps them from becoming complacent when things are going well.

It's largely the responsibility of the organization's leader to nurture and support this passion, and to inspire it by example. They have to be endowed with the passion itself, and to communicate that. But they also have to have the courage to uphold their and the organization's principles in the face of opposition, the ethical compass that allows her to choose the route that keeps to the moral high ground, the strength of character to remain optimistic in tough times, the creativity to keep the organization moving forward and improving, and the tenacity and commitment to stay with it for as long as it takes. All of this can be viewed as part of the daily maintenance of the organization.

This is not the sort of thing that can be taught in courses, but it is what keeps an organization going from day to day, week to week, and year to year. In order to sustain an organization in this way, a leader probably needs to do most or all of the following:

• Find a personal outlet of some sort - anything from psychotherapy to weightlifting to a regular informal meeting with other organizational leaders to discuss the trials of organizational leadership. Burn-out is the greatest danger of intense, active leadership.
• Strive constantly to be proactive rather than reactive. Engage in, and engage others in, planning and other forward-looking activities. Maintenance, on some level, must be seen as moving forward: maintaining momentum, rather than just holding place.
• Cultivate and train new leadership, so that the burdens of leadership and the spirit of the enterprise are carried by many, and there are others in the organization capable of filling the leader's shoes if and when they decide to leave.
• Remind people every day about why they're there, and try to continue to provide reasons for them to stay. Maintaining workplace quality of life, and maintaining a shared sense of mission are part of building and sustaining a successful organization.

The big picture

An often-neglected part of management, whether day-to-day or long-term, is monitoring the organization as a whole. All of the day-to-day management items above add up to a whole greater than the sum of its parts. As a manager, you need to be aware of how everyone and everything in the organization works together, and of when something isn't working right. You need to set up feedback systems so that you can understand relationships within the organization, the relationships of the organization with the rest of the world, and how these influence one another. You must have an understanding of the whole as a whole, and be able to see how intervention in one place will affect other areas.

This section presents day to day management as a series of tasks and proven principles, but it's also an art. You have to act on your gut feelings as well as your intellect; if something feels wrong, it probably is. Every organization needs someone - usually the director, but perhaps someone else, especially in a collaborative or collective organization - who is responsible for noticing when something feels wrong and acting to defuse it before there's a crisis...and for noticing when something feels especially right, and following up on it to help the organization develop. An organization, like an ecosystem, must be understood and nurtured as a whole if its parts are to remain healthy.

In Summary

For a management plan - and the organization it sustains - to work properly, its elements have to be carried out every day. It helps to develop systems for day-to-day maintenance, and to make clear who's responsible for what. The general areas that need attention if the organization is to run smoothly include:

• The actual work of the organization
• Finances
• Personnel matters
• Board maintenance
• Community relations
• Logistics
• The spirit of the organization

In order to keep all this together, it's important that someone - usually the director - have an overview of the organization as a whole, and be able to recognize and act to address both potential trouble and potential opportunity. Attending to the big picture in this way is perhaps the most important daily management task of all.

___You know what day-to-day maintenance consists of.

___ You know who is responsible for day-to-day maintenance.

___You have assigned management duties to appropriate staff.

___You have made a plan to deal with everyday work of the organization in an effective manner.

___You have a fiscal management plan that deals with daily financial tasks like bookkeeping, bills, payroll, grants, contracts and supplies

___You can deal with banking issues

___You can manage your day-to-day personnel issues

___You maintain your board updated about current issues

___You organization can manage logical day-to-day issues like neatness, scheduling security, equipment, services and emergencies

___You can effectively monitor your organization as a whole

A Power Point presentation summarizing the major points in the section.