Health Leads on actively navigating talent through strategic shifts
Alexandra Quinn, CEO of Health Leads, which works to enable healthcare, community and government organizations to share resources and work together, shared a poignant moment when, “during one of our strategic shifts, a staff member said, ‘You hired me as a ballerina and now want me to become a basketball player.’”
If social ventures are staying true to mission and embracing what they are learning along the way, they will no doubt make a series of strategic shifts and pivots throughout their journeys. However, what happens when your staff is well-positioned for one strategy, but not the next? As Quinn mentioned in her quote, Health Leads has experienced when some staff are able to make the shift—but others cannot because of the new skills and experience required and/or the emotional toll of shifting away from a model in which they are deeply invested. As a result, the organization has continuously worked hard to ensure that staff are managed through transitions, necessitating many conversations, clear communications and mentoring. For those who are not able to make the transition, the organization endeavors to create a positive and dignified exit.
Key Takeaway: Actively plan to manage staff through strategic transitions and create a positive exit process.
Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator on creating infrastructure to support talent
CEO Maryana Iskander of Harambee, a nonprofit social enterprise that works to solve youth unemployment said, “Is your ‘people function’—some call it HR—a side function where managers dump performance problems? If so, then it becomes about compliance. You need to ensure that your people function is also embedded in the priorities of your leadership team so that senior managers feel as accountable for people as they do for strategy and execution.” Even with the best people and partners in place, you will need organizational structures and systems to manage and empower talent and help them succeed. Whose role is it to manage talent? Regardless of the size of your HR team, recruiting and managing people must be seen as a shared responsibility across the whole organization.
Key Takeaway: Create shared responsibility for your human capital across the organization to ensure it is a priority.
CAMFED on empowering a growing movement of volunteers
Lucy Lake, CEO of CAMFED, which is a nonprofit dedicated to eradicating poverty in Africa through female education, spoke of the way the organization views key members of its team: “Within CAMFED we are challenged with the term ‘volunteer.’ The individuals we work with are stakeholders within the process and impact they want to see in their own communities.” Many social enterprises rely upon individuals, who are not salaried by the organization, to contribute regularly to a particular program or initiative. Sometimes, achieving impact at scale is contingent upon expanding the number and/or scope of these individuals. For CAMFED, alumni of its program fill key programmatic roles because, as alumni, they are motivated to give back to their communities and are effective in driving programs given their own experiences. CAMFED provides ongoing learning, networking and professional development opportunities for these women—which not only aligns with CAMFED’s mission, but also helps to empower and retain these shareholders.
Key Takeaway: Ensure close alignment between your volunteers and your mission and treat these individuals as the integral parts of the solution that they are.
