We know that employees’ needs have changed significantly over time, making intentionality critical when it comes to building teams and relationships with direct reports. One employment trend that has emerged is how often we change roles¹ – which research shows we do now more than ever. What happens when we openly acknowledge this and start having intentional conversations with employees around their intended tenure on our teams? Or when we ask about their career aspirations beyond their current role? How do we have these conversations and what are the benefits?  

Having a candid conversation around career aspirations with direct reports has been a game changer in my relationships with them and their sense of ownership of their professional development, as well as organizational succession planning. Some team members have had a clear sense of where they’re headed, and others were still figuring out what they want long-term. Either way, the conversations have always been meaningful and positively impacted our working relationships and strategy for the team as a whole.  

What happens when we openly acknowledge this and start having intentional conversations with employees around their intended tenure on our teams? Or when we ask about their career aspirations beyond their current role? How do we have these conversations and what are the benefits?  

I have found it most beneficial to start these conversations early and to come back to them often. During onboarding, I’ll ask a new direct report what their career goals are, what they’re hoping to learn in this new role, and where the two align. I often ask what their career goals are during the interview process, so we usually already have a starting place to build on during onboarding conversations. I aim to get a sense of whether they hope to stay and grow within the organization and provide transparency about what current and future growth opportunities might be. Of course, our goals and desires evolve over time, which is why I continue to have these conversations at touchpoints over the course of our time working together. 

These conversations can support your organization-wide succession planning while also normalizing conversations around current and future opportunities and areas for professional growth. Additionally, they may give you a better sense of when an employee may be considering departing the organization. Nonprofits engage in such essential, life-changing work that having a critical position vacant even for a short amount of time can at best slow the work down and at worst, have a significant impact on your team and the groups your nonprofit serves. Not to mention, an unplanned departure adds stress to teammates who absorb additional work due to the vacancy, which could negatively affect their experience at work, influencing satisfaction, retention, culture, and overall team dynamics.  

Nonprofits engage in such essential, life-changing work that having a critical position vacant even for a short amount of time can at best slow the work down and at worst, have a significant impact on your team and the groups your nonprofit serves.

These conversations about a direct report’s career aspirations and how their current role on your team fits into their bigger picture can also help you create more enjoyable work experiences for them. It helps normalize conversations around strengths and areas for improvement, connect their personal career goals into their current position, and potentially create greater commitment to the work and your working relationship. Establishing this kind of communication can also ultimately bring more authenticity and transparency into the workplace. As a leader, you may find that better understanding each individual’s intended tenure timeline on your team helps you more effectively and strategically build pipelines and succession plan.  

Relationships and job satisfaction are things that employees stick around for, and this is arguably one of the greatest benefits of having honest career trajectory conversations early and often. Investing in your team’s growth and planning for their departure are just two things that can help you build the stronger, more sustainable organizations that our present and future workforce demands. And while you’re at it – don’t forget to think about your career trajectory, too. Showing yourself the same consideration and engaging in thoughtful planning around your own role will help ensure that the workplace culture you’re building is working for you, too.

¹https://peoplepath.com/blog/employment-trends-by-generation-how-often-do-people-change-jobs/

Connect with us to inquire further or learn more about how Campbell & Company can help your organization with succession planning. Your questions are welcomed, and we look forward to collaborating with you.

About the Author

Sarah Beraki is currently Vice President at Campbell & Company, an award-winning firm of trusted advisors focused on equitable searches and transformational leadership. Her approach is human-centered, results-oriented, and she specializes in boosting individual and organizational performance through strategy and leadership development. She is a consultant, coach, and leader in executive search – placing top talent in the nation’s most vibrant, ever-evolving, mission-driven organizations.

The post How Onboarding & Succession Planning Build Sustainable Organizations appeared first on Campbell & Company.

You asked. Our experts answered.

Q: Do you have any ideas or practices for scoring interactions not in a CRM? For example, we occasionally learn that a faculty member works closely with an alum. Those interactions never hit our CRM but are often very important/meaningful. 

A: There is a lot to unpack here! Generally, our recommendation is to track all meaningful interactions in the CRM. Tracking faculty relationships is critically important to growing prospect engagement (the same is true of doctor/patient connections in healthcare!); we’d recommend tracking them with their own solicitor type, such as “natural partner.” Whether it’s through a regular quarterly meeting or more ad hoc conversations, consider establishing that practice. And of course, data related to majors, graduation years, and perhaps even data from the registrar can help you to make educated guesses. Once the relationship is coded, it is important to enter relevant contact reports into the system. We would not typically see faculty doing this directly, but Advancement staff should seek to establish relationships with Deans and faculty whereby they meet periodically to review the list of individuals for whom they are a natural partner and receive a “download” at that time. Support staff for those faculty partners can also be invaluable resources in this work.  

Q: In scoring, how might you incorporate the quality of experiences/interactions? Is an individual’s negative experience the same score as an individual’s positive experience?    

A: It is important that the engagement score is considered alongside other data to determine a prospect strategy.  We don’t recommend adding a means of tracking the quality of their experience; rather, we assume that if a visit goes poorly, the constituent would be marked as disqualified in the system (with an appropriate, but not too detailed, summary of the rationale). We also don’t anticipate that a single negative experience would have a major impact on their score. That said, not all “negative feedback” is an indicator that a prospect shouldn’t be prioritized for continued development – sometimes a negative survey response after an event can provide a productive opportunity for conversation.  Someone who cares enough to provide feedback, even if negative, is demonstrating strong engagement. 

Q: What would be the actions you would recommend if seeing, for example, a particular relationship manager (RM) has much lower engagement in their pool?  

A: Prospect engagement can shift rapidly, which underscores the value of an automated dashboard like the Level 3 example we shared in the webinar. The best prospects will demonstrate high capacity and high engagement, and so portfolios should be regularly reviewed with both criteria in mind. If there are unassigned prospects with higher engagement than the current portfolio, careful thought should be given to rebalancing the portfolio. It is also helpful to look at the scores for particular categories of engagement – for example, if an RM’s portfolio scores high on Help but low in other categories, this might suggest that visiting with prospects at volunteer events is a particularly good use of the RM’s time.  

Q: Do you find value in utilizing both descriptive scoring methods and predictive models together? I find that leadership and gift officers are more comfortable with the descriptive, as they have more control and can more easily understand how it adds up. I’ve been trying to incorporate both in our analyses in hopes it gets them more comfortable and accepting of predictive modeling.   

A: Absolutely! In building a predictive model we sometimes start with something descriptive to get a basic level of understanding of what we are seeing before we go deeper. It’s smart to think about your audience and what they will understand and trust. And vice versa – occasionally, we start with a predictive model to figure out what those key variables are and then build out additional descriptive models. 

The post Webinar Q&A: The Case for an Engagement-Forward Approach to Prospecting appeared first on Campbell & Company.

And when you’re deeply engaged in the everyday details of working to make the world a better place, how can you be confident that your nonprofit’s signal is breaking through that noise? The natural reset of a new number on the calendar is a great time to stop and ask yourself, your colleagues, your Board, and your supporters to reflect on your signal strength and think about how you might be able to give it a boost.  

Let’s start at the core:

• Are your mission, vision, and values clear, concrete, and active? Are they serving as compass and guide for the decisions you’re making at both micro and macro levels? 
• Do you know who you’re talking to when you’re talking to your different stakeholder communities? Is your messaging clear, specific, and tailored to those you serve? And are you meeting these folks – especially your donors – where they are, which is, benchmarking shows, increasingly online?  
• Does your team have the support and resources they need to be innovative and proactive stewards of your mission? Or are your front-line staff existing in a constant, reactive, survival mode?  
• When did you last examine your policies and practices to make sure they are practical for how the work of your organization gets done in the real world rather than an ideal world?  

If the 2020s have taught us anything so far, it’s that we must cultivate the kind of agility that makes us resilient enough to navigate the unexpected challenges that will inevitably come our way. There is comfort in the familiar – but so much of “how we’ve always done it” is no longer effective. How can we cultivate comfort within that inevitable change – how can we use our curiosity about our work and the world to become more adaptable, better able to take in the new information the world is giving us at light-speed so that we can separate what’s relevant and important – the signal – from what’s just noise? 

When you pause and really tune in your signal – your mission, vision, and values – it can serve as the north star that guides every decision you make, from how you allocate your resources to how you raise more resources from your communities to how you share the vital importance of your work with the world. 

It can be hard to carve out time in the everyday rush of the nonprofit sector to pause and consider these bigger questions – but the time you spend setting or re-setting your course allows you to go faster and further once your organizational wheels hit the road. And sometimes, when you’re so deeply in the weeds, it takes calling in a partner who believes in the work as strongly as you do and can help you ask and answer questions like these to find that breathing room. That’s what we do and love doing every day. If you’re having trouble finding your signal in the first moments of this very noisy new year, remember that you can always give us a call. We’re here to help. 

Since 1976, Campbell & Company has partnered with nonprofits across the country to advance their missions. In every service we provide—including campaign planning, analytics, communications, executive search, annual giving counsel, and more—Campbell & Company’s fundraising consulting philosophy centers on your community’s needs, interests, and values to help you create and maintain meaningful philanthropic relationships. Learn more at www.campbellcompany.com or call 877-957-0000 to start a conversation today. 

About the AuthorS

Julia McGuire and Kate Roosevelt lead Campbell & Company as Co-Presidents. As they consider the year ahead to 2024, Kate is looking forward to celebrating the opening of the Seattle Aquarium’s Ocean Pavilion on the Seattle waterfront this summer – the culmination of years of planning, persistence, generosity, and vision for our one ocean and our ocean planet. Julia will be visiting colleges and universities with her daughter this year, and looks forward to helping her find “her place” for the next phase in her life journey.  

The post Navigating the Noise: A Nonprofit’s Guide to Boost Your Signal in a Busy Year appeared first on Campbell & Company.

From the Top Down

You’ve probably heard the saying, “a fish rots from the head.” Well, the reverse is also true: when leadership is committed and actively engages in initiatives that enhance the organization, positive outcomes can flow from the top down. In the realm of DEIA, this commitment must come from the C-suite. At Campbell & Company, we believe that for DEIA to truly take root, leaders must not just endorse it but visibly champion it through authentic actions. It’s about more than lip service; it’s about making DEIA an integral part of our organizational identity. 

We’ve come to understand that DEIA isn’t a luxury or a side project to attend to when time permits. To realize the transformative benefits of a truly diverse and inclusive organization, organizations must invest time and effort consistently. Some questions organizations can ask themselves include: are DEIA goals deeply embedded in our overarching measures of success? If not, how can we seamlessly integrate them? How can we incorporate principles that drive DEIA into the daily activities of our staff? Setting realistic expectations, providing robust support during onboarding, and ensuring leadership accountability and ongoing training are pivotal for recruitment and retention of diverse leaders. Much like maintaining a healthy lifestyle requires consistent actions every day, turning DEIA efforts from sporadic initiatives into ingrained norms is essential for sustainable change. DEIA should seamlessly weave into standard operating procedures, reflecting the organization’s mission, vision, and values. 

Red and Green Flags in Talent Recruitment

Reflecting on recent leadership placements we’ve completed across the US, common themes emerge: top candidates seek organizations that genuinely embrace inclusivity and equity. They aspire to work for organizations that value and respect them, regardless of their background. Red flags for candidates include a lack of diversity in leadership roles, reports of discrimination, or a company culture that neglects equal opportunities for growth. Positive indicators include robust diversity training, employee resource groups, mentorship opportunities, and a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination. Candidates want transparent hiring processes, equitable compensation practices, and clear pathways for career growth. 

However, it’s crucial to recognize that organizational communication must align with and reflect employees’ lived experience. Platforms like Glassdoor and LinkedIn provide employees a space to share their experiences of company culture. Nonprofit leaders must ensure that DEIA efforts are authentically and consistently practiced where all levels of the workforce can see, feel, and participate in them.  

Diverse Teams Takes a Focus on Talent Retention

Once a team member from a historically marginalized community joins an organization, the focus naturally shifts to retention. Organizations must invest in the growth and development of all staff members for talent retention. This involves actively seeking and addressing employees’ specific needs and providing genuine opportunities for professional advancement in line with individual aspirations and organizational needs. Offering a comprehensive benefits package, evaluating compensation equity, and implementing professional development programs, especially for folks from historically marginalized groups, contribute to a thriving and inclusive organizational culture. 

Considering the diversity of decision-makers extends beyond staff to include the Board of Directors. Many organizations are increasingly recognizing the advantages of diverse boards, leading to improved decision-making, governance, and innovation. While progress varies, setting specific diversity goals for boards is common. These goals often focus on achieving a particular percentage of board members from diverse backgrounds, ensuring representation from different professional spheres. Achieving these goals involves building authentic relationships within and beyond established networks, and making board membership accessible to those who may not have previously served in such capacities. 

DEIA is a fundamental aspect of successful nonprofit leadership. C-suite commitment, daily integration, transparent communication, and diversity across decision-makers are pillars supporting the cultivation of welcoming, equitable, and inclusive organizational cultures where staff want to stick around. For executive directors and Board members, embracing these principles isn’t just about doing what’s right; it’s about ensuring the long-term success and sustainability of your organization. 

Connect with us to inquire further or learn more about how Campbell & Company can help your organization align with your DEIA goals. Your questions are welcomed, and we look forward to collaborating with you.

About the Author

Kris McFeely is the Managing Director of Campbell & Company’s Executive Search practice, leading a team of executive search experts who are committed to elevating the nonprofit sector by matching talented leaders with the right opportunity. Kris has successfully partnered with over 500 clients and thousands of talented candidates. She enjoys taking special care to understand an organization’s needs, taking into account an organization’s culture, environment, and plans for the future. 

The post From the Top Down: Cultivating DEIA Advancement Through C-Suite Commitment appeared first on Campbell & Company.

What is the Search Committee’s ultimate role in selecting the next leader? 

Executive Search Consultant Angèle Bubna: Every organization has its own set of bylaws that establish governance policies and offer guidance when it comes to hiring a leader who reports to the Board. Often, an organization’s bylaws will require that a Search Committee should be formed without providing too many specifics. That Committee will be responsible for interviewing and evaluating candidates and bringing their recommended finalist(s) to the full Board for consideration, deliberation, and the ultimate hiring decision. The Committee sets the organization up for success by running a smooth, equitable, and collaborative process that aligns with the organization’s values. This is where a search partner like Campbell & Company can serve as a trusted advisor in guiding your Committee to execute the search process in a streamlined, efficient manner aligned with leading practices.  

How large should the Search Committee be?

Executive Search Senior Consultant Emily Miller: While there isn’t one magic number, there are a few good guidelines to keep in mind. We would caution against Search Committees getting too large. A five- to seven-person Committee tends to work best, as it allows room for plenty of diverse perspectives while remaining small enough to communicate that every member’s voice and input is valuable. Larger groups can encourage “groupthink,” where people may feel they should just fall in line if they see a consensus forming. We also like odd numbers because you don’t run the risk of tie votes! 

Should the Board Chair be on the Search Committee? If so, should the Board Chair be the Search Committee Chair?

Executive Search Associate Consultant Kole Farrise: While the Board Chair will absolutely have a vote in the final hiring decision and may be part of the process of forming the Committee and selecting a Committee Chair (if the bylaws allow), we recommend that they refrain from serving on the Committee. This helps the Search Committee to act as an independent body leading the search process and tasked with making a recommendation to the Board of Directors. Additionally, serving on a Search Committee, let alone leading it, is a big job, and asking someone already engaged in a major governance role is rarely best for the person or the organization. The power dynamics at play are also something to consider: it’s easy to defer to the Board Chair and their opinion of a candidate if they are present during the process. Giving space for the Search Committee to work independently can be more empowering and ultimately lead to a better outcome. 

Should the outgoing ED or CEO be on the Search Committee??

Angèle: It’s understandable to want to include your outgoing leader on your Search Committee. After all, they’ve been your organization’s champion and caretaker, possess important organizational knowledge and insight, and have likely been a lynchpin in the organization’s success. However, there are several reasons that we recommend against including an outgoing executive leader on a Search Committee. First, it can be challenging to be imaginative about the future when your former leader is in the room. You may not feel able to candidly name where they had weaknesses, where the organization has struggled, or even how to move the organization in any new direction – strategically or culturally. Including your outgoing leader on the Search Committee can also undermine your organization’s goals toward diversity, equity, and inclusion by (even subconsciously) creating the temptation to hire someone who most closely resembles the previous leader, as opposed to being open to a candidate with different strengths, experience, or characteristics. 

Better areas to consider leaning on your outgoing leader’s expertise include site visits with Committee members and a search partner, creating a plan for onboarding, and ensuring that institutional knowledge that sits with the leader is documented and/or transferred to other staff or the new hire themself. 

Should we include staff on the Search Committee?

Emily: As workplace culture, structure, and the way that power dynamics manifest within an organization have taken center stage in the past few years, we’ve definitely seen including staff on Search Committees trending up – and we suspect this trend is here to stay. Many organizations bring staff into the process in order to navigate equity initiatives and answer demands for greater transparency around hiring processes. This is one way to create a more inclusive process, but there are also other ways to involve the staff without appointing them as voting members of the Search Committee. At Campbell & Company, we often utilize staff surveys to elicit feedback on the position profile and invite staff to meet finalists and provide feedback during interviews. The key here is that they are providing valuable input to the Search Committee and/or its partner search firm, whether that means including them in the vote or finding another meaningful way for your full team to contribute. 

What is my commitment as a Search Committee member?

Kole: Your presence and input as a Search Committee member are instrumental in cultivating thoughtful discussion around the profile of the organization’s next leader, interviewing and evaluating prospective candidates, and finalizing the Committee’s recommendation to the full Board. You can expect to connect, either in-person or virtually, with the full Committee for at least one hour every two weeks. Once a search enters its final stages, interviews with finalists will increase the time commitment of each Search Committee member, and full days may be required. Additionally, be prepared to travel to an on-site location for finalist interviews and remember that these interviews are an opportunity for Search Committee members not only to interview the candidates but also make it clear why they should want to join the organization. 

Search Committee chairs should be prepared to provide flexible options for engagement to Committee members. By maintaining a high-touch search process, Search Committee chairs can ensure that Committee members can serve the process well, while also working with and around their schedules, and bring forth a high-quality hiring recommendation to an organization’s Board of Directors. 

Serving an organization as part of a Search Committee is a big responsibility – but hopefully these tips help make this important role feel less daunting. It also helps to have a partner who knows the ropes walking alongside you during a process like this. Campbell & Company has served as that partner for hundreds of nonprofits, and we would be delighted to share more about our experience and process with you. Contact us with questions or to start a conversation about a future partnership. 

About the Author

Angèle Bubna is a Consultant with Campbell & Company’s Executive Search practice, based in Chicago, IL. Angèle loves the storytelling that happens in Executive Search work: the perfect match is found when the context and story of an organization as well as the background and narrative of a prospective candidate are all taken into consideration. 

 

About the Author

Emily Miller is a Senior Consultant with Campbell & Company’s Executive Search practice, based out of Chicago, IL. She loves advocating for candidates and making them feel comfortable so they can show themselves in their best light; that includes preparing clients to provide a seamless and welcoming candidate experience. 

 

About the Author

Kole Farrise is an Associate Consultant with Campbell & Company’s Executive Search practice, based out of Seattle, WA. His favorite aspect of Executive Search identifying and recruiting exceptional leaders to nonprofits so they can amplify and expand their missions. 

 

The post Understanding the Role of a Search Committee: Your Guide to Leadership Selection appeared first on Campbell & Company.

At Campbell & Company (C&C), we know Executive Search and have been fortunate to partner with trusted experts in the nonprofit sector. We recently asked three of our candidate and client partners to share how working with an Executive Search firm was beneficial:

• Ivanetta Davis-Samuels is General Counsel at Meharry Medical College, where C&C has placed multiple senior members of the College’s development team
• Jodi Gibson, President and CEO of Zoological Society of Milwaukee, partnered with C&C to place a new Chief Revenue Officer
• Tehvon Fowler-Chapman met C&C as a candidate and was successfully placed at LA Opera as Vice President, Connects

Here’s what they had to say:

“It is not a part of our core business. We recognize that this is not our strong suit,” said Ms. Davis-Samuels. “You need professionals to handle this [executive search]. The same is true for attorneys: for us it’s about having an informed partner for this endeavor.” Ms. Gibson agrees: “Not only can a search firm lead the process from end-to-end, but it can actively seek out the best qualified candidates, including ones who may not be looking for a new position, through its extensive professional network.”

Writing a thorough and compelling position description and posting it on any of the myriad job sites is time-consuming, especially when you and your team are doing that work on top of your regular daily tasks. And hiring is no Field of Dreams: even if you build it, the right person might not come to your posting on their own. A dedicated team of search professionals can become your advocates in the job market, actively building a slate of interested and qualified candidates you might otherwise never meet.

“A firm can also help organizations understand the current hiring environment and competition,” shared Ms. Gibson. Keeping up with the latest sector-specific salary benchmarks, benefit package features, and nuances of workplace culture expectations can be a full-time job, but it doesn’t have to become yours or your search chair’s when you partner with an experienced search firm. Ms. Davis-Samuels reflected that Campbell & Company “felt like an extension of [Meharry’s] team,” (precisely the feeling our Executive Search consultants aim for in each collaboration). When people take the time to understand your existing and aspirant organizational culture, that level of trust and alignment can make a challenging process much less stressful.

The benefits of hiring an executive search firm also extend to candidates: having a dedicated party leading the process can help you ensure that the candidates’ experience is positive. “Of all of my experiences in applying for jobs, the job I acquired through an executive search firm is the job in which I see the most potential,” shared Mr. Fowler-Chapman. “Working with individuals who try to understand you and your place within an organization makes all the difference.” A search firm can take care of every candidate during the process, with check-ins and preparatory conversations at each stage that ensure everyone feels their time and talents are being respected and valued by the hiring organization. “Whereas a hiring manager can just be seeking to fill a role, it feels more like working with advocates who help you put your best foot forward, who are walking the path with you to success,” Fowler-Chapman said.

This open communication benefits the hiring organization, too. As Ms. Gibson observed, “a search firm can play a critical role as a liaison between the organization and candidates to foster more open dialogue with and assessment of candidates.” That assessment can help make sure the candidates you move forward are right for right now and the next five, ten, or more years of your organization.

“It’s a mistake to assume that the cost is prohibitive,” Ms. Davis-Samuels shared. “The value-add of having experienced eyes and ears in recruitment is high, and the return on investment is well worth it.” She also counsels future search committee members to center the voices and viewpoints of everyone on the search team, including the consultants guiding the effort: “If every member is engaged, every voice counts, and every voice valued – then you end up with an efficient search process that can bring a lot of value.”

When asked to share advice she would give to future search committee leaders, Ms. Gibson spoke of the importance of considering all the skills a leader will need to successfully guide an organization: “It will be easy to identify the necessary hard-skills, such as qualifications and experience needed,” she said. “But it may be harder to articulate the soft skills, such as cultural fit and leadership style.” This is where having a partner walking alongside you, co-creating the job parameters, position guide, and messaging around the opportunity can be especially important.

If you see a leadership change in your organization’s future – whether due to an impending departure or because you’re engaged in long-term succession planning – Campbell & Company is ready to partner. With a team of experienced nonprofit professionals and a web of national networks cultivated across our firm, we are ready to be see you through important moments of transformation. Learn more about our process here, or get in touch with us today.

The post The Importance of Executive Search appeared first on Campbell & Company.

Campbell & Company has a few strategic suggestions for how your organization can leverage its LinkedIn presence to find, engage, and ultimately attract the right candidate for your organization:

Showcase your company culture and job opportunities

LinkedIn has 950M+ users on its platform[1]. That’s almost one billion prospective job seekers for you to connect with and leave a lasting impression. Potential candidates often seek out a sense of what it’s like to work for your organization well before they submit a resume. By highlighting activities like social gatherings, client visits, external engagements, and events, your organization can humanize its brand and convey the genuine experiences of your employees. Leverage LinkedIn’s publishing features to communicate your organization’s core values, mission, and vision, and your commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), career development opportunities, and workplace benefits. Ultimately, presenting a vibrant and thriving culture can help you not only attract top talent, but also stand out in the competitive recruitment landscape.

When it comes to job opportunities, use LinkedIn’s job posting feature to make the positions easily discoverable. Craft a compelling position guide that lists the responsibilities, qualifications, compensation, benefits, working preference, and the excitement and growth potential associated with the role.

When posted, your opportunity will show up in both the Jobs tab of your organization’s page and as an opening in the LinkedIn Job search engine, increasing the likelihood of your role being discovered by the 61 million people using LinkedIn to search for jobs each week[2]. Engage with candidates by responding promptly to their inquiries, thereby expanding your organization’s channel, and strengthening its presence in the LinkedIn professional community.

Increase your brand visibility

Your organization can increase its brand visibility on LinkedIn by leveraging the platform’s unique features to attract and recruit new talent. Make sure you craft a compelling and up-to-date company description, using high-quality visuals. Regularly post engaging content that showcases your culture, values, and accomplishments. From original videos to reshared industry-leading articles, take pride in the work that you’re doing and the expertise your organization has built. Share content that is authentic, aligned with your brand, and representative of your values.

In addition to building organic engagement, your organization can leverage LinkedIn’s paid advertising options to target specific demographics of potential talent. Sponsored content and InMail campaigns allow for precise targeting based on job titles, skills, and other criteria. These targeted ads can effectively reach professionals on LinkedIn who may not be actively looking for a new role but could be enticed by a compelling opportunity. Take it one step further by encouraging your employees to engage with industry-related news and emerging trends to amplify your organization’s presence within your industry.

Show off your talent and expertise

Thought leadership allows you to disseminate the expertise and innovative ideas of your employees through avenues such as blogs, webinars, conference presentations, and other public-facing mediums. Sharing this kind of content will help establish your industry authority and magnetize top talent. Thought leadership bolsters the trust and credibility of your organization, signifying its investment in generating and sharing useful and reliable information. By showcasing your employees and their industry-leading work, you can create a compelling narrative about your organization that appeals to potential talent. Expert content also allows your organization to articulate its vision, mission, and values in a way that resonates with individuals with similar aspirations.

Know your numbers

You don’t know what your impact is unless you measure it. Monitor your LinkedIn performance using LinkedIn Analytics or other social media tools and adapt your approach as needed. Be sure to keep tabs on key metrics such as engagement rates, follower expansion, and content reach. Learn from this data to optimize your content strategy, continuously improving your LinkedIn presence to attract top talent.

Cultivating a strong LinkedIn presence can significantly build trust and credibility, increasing your ability to recruit your next exceptional leader. Remember that attracting top talent isn’t solely about identifying the right individuals; it is also about leaving an impression that entices them to become integral contributors to your organization’s journey.

Campbell & Company’s Executive Search practice offers a high-touch, human-centered experience for clients and candidates across the nonprofit sector. With six AIRS-Certified Diversity and Inclusion Recruiters on staff, our strategies ensure each candidate pool reflects the range of communities our clients serve. We recruit from extensive national networks and custom outreach, calling on the relationships and reach of our entire firm which, for 47 years, has partnered with nonprofit organizations to advance their missions and deepen their impact. You have a mission; we know the right talent. Visit campbellcompany.com/executive-search or call 877.957.0000 to find your next visionary leader today.

[1] https://news.linkedin.com/about-us#Statistics

[2] https://news.linkedin.com/about-us#Statistics

The post Building a Strong LinkedIn Presence to Attract Top Talent: A Guide for Organizations appeared first on Campbell & Company.

1. The sector is open to and creating change at the ground level, in communities of all types around the country. Discussions in Portland revolved around community-centered conservation, climate resilience, relationships between people and land, and cultural access to lands. The intersectionality of traditional land trust goals spans several community priorities, such as community housing, public health and wellness, and education and youth programs. You can learn more about inclusive movements in the environmental sector here.
2. Many land trusts are exploring new and different kinds of funding strategies beyond traditional philanthropy to access more capital to fund their work. There is a significant amount of federal funding available to conservation organizations with recent federal regulations and appropriations creating new incentives and opportunities to advance environmental justice and leverage tax credits, for example. In addition, impact investing is increasingly in the toolkit. These can take many forms with varying degrees of risk and return but can be particularly helpful to leverage existing funding and provide bridge financing.
3. Land trust professionals and fundraisers are looking for strategies to promote equitable participation. Individual identities influence one’s engagement and organizations are looking for ways to proactively accommodate these differences and bring voices to the table that have been historically underrepresented. Advanced planning and proactive, transparent communication with all participants beforehand is a great first step to ensure the full inclusion of everyone willing to participate in your efforts.

To our clients that attended Rally 2023 – Jefferson Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy (a lead sponsor of Rally 2023), San Juan Preservation Trust, and Wood River Land Trust – we are proud to stand next to you. And to those of you that stopped by our booth at Rally to solve our puzzle, we sure love piecing together solutions with our clients and colleagues, one piece at a time.

For nearly 50 years, the Campbell & Company team has worked with organizations across the environmental sector to build philanthropic support, craft compelling cases for support, leverage donor analytics, and recruit visionary leaders. We’re grateful to play a small part in supporting the growth and effectiveness of the land trust movement. If you find yourself exploring these topics and considering how to increase your reach and impact, we’d love to talk with you! Please reach out to us to schedule a free introductory conversation today.

The post In Dialogue with Land Trust Professionals: Key Takeaways appeared first on Campbell & Company.

Read on to gain more insight from our experts on how organizational culture, work styles, and generational shifts are transforming the future of work as we know it.

The concept of company culture and the value of culture have become bigger factors for individuals in recent years. How do you see this impacting recruitment in the nonprofit sector?

Christian: I started my executive search career in 2015 with hospital and healthcare associations and systems. Only a few times in my five years at that firm was culture fit something people asked about. It was more about what skills, networks, and tenures people had at similar organizations. Now, more and more leaders and professionals are deliberately asking organizations about the culture, work-life balance, and dynamics of key leaders.

Colleen: The pandemic triggered this for a lot of people. People began asking questions about mission, culture, and fulfillment at work. The intersection of mission and culture has become so critically important, even in some cases taking precedence over salary; not always, but I would say they are definitely equivalent for some candidates. I’ve seen some organizations address their culture proactively, with some even reassessing mission work to identify areas where they have the most impact and expertise.

Sarah: In my experience, people have always talked about culture; it may just be the industry I came from – I’ve spent many years in people and talent acquisition-focused work. I agree with Colleen; the pandemic has brought more awareness to organizational culture, and job seekers are more mindful of this as they seek new opportunities. Employers are also sharing more about their company culture, leveraging strong or unique aspects of their culture as an advantage while they recruit, opening the door for more conversation or questions from candidates – which is great. Now more than ever, we can learn a lot about company culture through ratings, reviews, and connecting with current/former employees on LinkedIn for insight.

Dan: Since 2020, people are willing to think beyond a culture fit to a culture add, which is someone who can enrich the work culture in a different way and expand definitions around diversity. What I’ve seen in my work and why we have been so successful, we stay focused on mission fit, especially when organizational cultures are experiencing change. The whole idea of work culture is already shifting with the rise of remote and hybrid work. Having a highly qualified executive who fully aligns with the organization’s mission ensures they will be embraced by the team even if they bring new perspectives and ideas and innovative leadership.

Hybrid and remote work styles have become a critical component that is transforming the workplace environment. How are organizations’ and candidates’ expectations changing the way people work?

Colleen: The push for working remotely or working hybrid had been on the rise well before the pandemic, but the pandemic made the demand for it explode. With clients that do want a hybrid workforce or do want an in-person presence, they need to make a strong case for why. The reasoning can’t just be the organization’s preference or the CEO’s; there need to be justifiable culture-building reasons to support that. If not, candidates are pushing back much harder than we have seen in the past.

Sarah: For roles where this is applicable, there will likely be a bigger push for organizations to focus more on outcomes, and objectives and key results (OKRs) so that people can choose when they work and where. Research has shown us that productivity increases significantly when employees have the option to work remotely; so, if folks are asked to return to a fully in-person work environment, companies must be prepared to see a shift in productivity or find other ways to maintain business and retain employees. The demand for flexibility in how and where people work is high – including an increasing demand to work from international locations.

Dan: Many workers have families and expect more workplace flexibility than ever before. If this is not an option available to them, they will seek work elsewhere. Nonprofits are weakened by continuous turnover. Many nonprofits are not paying strong enough wages for staff, so we’ve seen continuing demands by staff members to be fully hybrid or even remote. There’s a push to have that flexibility embedded into the organization’s structure and culture. That puts a lot of pressure out there for organizations with long office leases, or those requiring a physical staff presence onsite.

Christian: I see the difference when hiring managers are looking to cultivate talent. For the longest time, we have seen people cultivating talent locally for in-person roles. After COVID, that shifted, and a lot of really excellent talent can be found remotely. This shifts expectations for hiring managers because they can now look nationally for talent, which can help raise the bar of excellence for the entire organization. It has resulted in elevated productivity while helping create a more diverse talent pool.

How do you see the workforce changing or shifting to accommodate different generational expectations?

Dan: We are still seeing Baby Boomers take up a significant part of the workforce; the next biggest supply of workers is Gen Z, making up a third of the global population. The demand curve for talent will be impacted. Millennials are pushing things. They want to be very clear about how they will grow; in nonprofits, often there is no clear career pathway. Pay is also a factor. Transitions and tenures of Millennials show that they are using new opportunities to advance their careers. They are leaving much sooner for pay bumps than GenXers and Boomers, who tend to stay longer in roles. We are seeing different pressures impact generations: cost of living is high, home ownership is a factor, inflation is huge, cost of student loans, people having families. It’s not your grandfather’s days anymore. Wealth transfer isn’t happening as much between generations, and less often for generations of color.

Colleen: Generational change has led to a greater push for transparency and equity. There’s also a push for flattening the hierarchy. There has been a shift in how different generations see work. For younger Millennials and Gen Z, there is a desire for more purpose-driven work and setting better boundaries. A phenomenon we saw emerge at the end of the Great Resignation was quiet quitting. There is much more awareness of burnout and what leads to it, and there’s a desire to prevent it. There is much more awareness about mental health, as well, and trying to support that.

Sarah: People change jobs at higher rates than ever before – we just have more choices. For nonprofits, or any organization, this increases the importance of having solid succession planning, retention, and talent pipelines in place while also investigating the needs of younger employees: what is important to them? What are they asking for, and how can you provide that? What happens if you don’t? How do you prepare your organization to meet the needs of generations that haven’t entered the workforce yet, but will soon? So many important questions to ask. The last few years we’ve also noticed organizations being more intentional about participating in conversations around mental health and reminding employees about the mental health benefits they offer like employee assistance programs (EAP) and free or discounted apps that focus on improving mindfulness or physical health.

Christian: We see a significant change in the management and mentoring model within organizations. Far more places are intentionally fostering open lines of communication and professional development from older to younger generations and ensuring they are conducted as thoughtfully as possible. These models are helping to reduce the amount of intellectual property lost to departing individuals and are helping to retain younger talent.

How does executive search play into these trends?

Christian: Our clients are looking for a more consultative aspect. They know that the dynamics of our professional climate are changing at such a rate that consultants in our profession can help digest the breadth of it all. Our partners allocate a significant investment in our expertise, and we take great care in our candor with them. There will always remain something special about the way we understand the dynamics and nuance of how individuals interact with each other.

Colleen: We need to be well-informed on these topics and prepared to advise our clients on all these areas and what it will look like for recruiting candidate pools. If you want to do in-person interviews, or have staff fully in the office, here is what you can anticipate with candidates you will recruit. If you want diverse candidates, you must demonstrate your organization’s commitment to building and supporting a diverse workforce, including having a diverse search committee to lead the hiring process. Even just talking through the generational differences that we see is important. We need to be flexible while still bringing the rigor and thoroughness of our process.

Dan: As an executive search consultant, you decide who you will reach out to and focus on. That was my joy in placing leaders of color these many years. We can change what nonprofit leadership looks like today and make a difference in creating more inclusive organizations.  There is an increasing demand for high performing leaders, and a low supply for these types of leaders. It’s important to be efficient in a search process. Search consultants help keep nonprofits focused on the critical experiences and qualities needed for the role rather than extraneous factors.

Sarah: We are connecting with executives and organizations across the country daily. We have a good pulse on what the needs and demands are for executives who are hiring as well as those considering new leadership opportunities. We are always consulting with our clients based on current trends so they can make the best and most informed decisions.

Campbell & Company is a national consulting firm that helps nonprofit organizations create greater impact through executive search, fundraising, communications, and strategic information services. We have helped place exceptional leaders in all sectors, including human services, arts & culture, education, healthcare, environment, associations and membership organizations, and civic and public affairs.

Underlying all our work is a shared focus on the Campbell & Company mission: to collaborate and innovate with people who change lives through philanthropic vision and action.

Explore campbellcompany.com/executive-search for more information or to engage the Campbell & Company Executive Search team for your organization.

About the Author

Abi is a Certified Diversity Recruiter and regularly implements DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility) practices when sourcing, screening, and partnering with candidates and clients. Abigail is also a member of the firm’s DEIA Council which continues to improve the firm’s inclusive culture and advance the firm’s DEIA initiatives.

 

The post An Interview With Our Experts: Executive Search Trends appeared first on Campbell & Company.

How do we hold ourselves accountable to broad goals like centering racial justice, creating an inclusive internal culture, or engaging with partners who share our vision for a more equitable future? And how do we message our organization’s DEIA commitment without it sounding like a bunch of jargon that doesn’t mean anything?  

These are questions we ask ourselves as two communications consultants serving on Campbell & Company’s internal DEIA Council, a dedicated team leading the conversation around the Firm’s next chapter in its DEIA journey. Campbell is at a turning point, having recently wrapped a plan to implement the activities of a three-year change framework, and is currently undergoing a process to define the priorities, metrics, and tactics for the next three years. 

We’re a far cry from experts, but have been elbows deep in this work for over a year—engaging folks at all levels across our firm, building consensus, and honing our collective DEIA vision and plans—and we have a few lessons that we think are worth sharing.  

Make it personal because DEIA work is personal—for everyone. 

This work is deeply personal for folks from traditionally marginalized backgrounds because existing and belonging in professional spaces that were not designed by or for us is exhausting.  

It’s personal for people who might not think of themselves as marginalized, but at one point have experienced barriers to belonging in their workplace or being able to perform on an equal basis with their peers. Maybe you’re recovering from an injury that’s severely inhibited your ability to do computer work. Maybe you’re dealing with grief from the loss of a loved one and having a hard time focusing on projects. Maybe you’re the youngest and least senior person on your team and are constantly being interrupted or ignored by your colleagues. 

DEIA is personal for everyone, regardless of privilege or advantage, because we each have a role to play in cultivating a culture where everyone is free to show up as their authentic selves. And because it requires vulnerability to confront and make radical change to our individual behaviors and to systems we’re accustomed to operating within.  

Bringing an entire workplace along in DEIA change management is personal and requires a vision with a personal touch. We’re not talking about exploiting testimonials of individual trauma, but we are talking about truthful and jargon-free storytelling.  

So, what are our organization’s values? How does our DEIA work connect to those values? What do employees appreciate most about our organization’s mission and impact? Where are we at in our DEIA journey today, and where do we want to be in the future? 

These questions are a key part of ensuring new policies and standards are followed in day-to-day work—because how can employees be active champions of DEIA if they can’t see themselves in it? 

Connect with both the head and the heart. 

For a lot of organizations, creating an environment that is not only diverse, but equitable, inclusive, and accessible will require deep, fundamental, systemic change—the type of change that will make some people uncomfortable, and require everyone to participate. 

It’s important that every member of an organization knows and understands what this work is about—not just on an intellectual level, but on an emotional level. For those who do not come from traditionally marginalized groups, many may need to be given opportunities to practice empathy and come to understand the experiences of their less-privileged colleagues. Those who come from traditionally marginalized groups may not have trouble understanding the why, but they may very well be skeptical of the DEIA commitments of any organization where they are in the minority. Building bridges of understanding, empathy, trust, and credibility will be essential to getting the whole organization on board with DEIA work. 

It’s very important to set specific goals—but it’s also important that everyone understands the why.  

It’s easy to get caught up in the nuts-and-bolts of policy and procedure. Doing the very detailed, data-driven work of setting and executing specific objectives—the “head” part of the work—is fundamentally important, but without a good grounding in the “heart” of the work, DEIA can become depersonalized and disconnected from the people for whom it is a matter of survival. 

At the same time, words and ideas can only go so far: actions have to back them up. An organization’s DEIA objectives should grow organically out of the underlying values and ideas that sit at the heart of the work. If everyone understands how these two aspects, the “head” and the “heart,” are connected, the journey toward systemic change will be much smoother. 

A bit about Campbell & Company’s journey: 

At Campbell and Company, we engaged in a rigorous learning and listening process grounded in quantitative data, lived experience, and personal storytelling. This included: 

• Reviewing the results of a recent firm-wide employee engagement survey 
• Engaging in candid, confidential one-on-one conversations with people from throughout the firm, which allowed us to go a level deeper than the data into the heart of what people across races, genders, sexualities and socioeconomic backgrounds were thinking and feeling about the firm and its commitment to DEIA  
• Crafting a narrative statement that reflected the feelings and aspirations of the firm—centering the voices of those who typically exist on the margins

This was how we laid the foundation for the detailed change framework, and the objectives, metrics, and tactics that we created for the next three years of Campbell & Company’s DEIA initiatives. 

One of the key lessons we took from this process is that our firm very much feels the need to be vulnerable and accountable in this process. We can’t present ourselves as experts on DEIA, or pretend that we’ve “made it” and figured out how to fix all of our problems.  

We’re closer to the beginning than the end of what will be a very long journey, and we expect to make many mistakes along the way—and, hopefully, take responsibility for those mistakes and find ways to correct them. But we already know one critical key to success going forward—that we move forward by centering the voices and aspirations of those who would otherwise be obligated to do the work anyway, uncompensated and unrecognized, in order to survive. 

In the philanthropic sector, we’re working to make the world better. But we know that this sector is full of blind spots, flaws, and barriers to entry for those who have not historically been welcome here. Advancing DEIA in our organizations will allow us to do our work better than we ever have before—and go a long way toward building a more loving and more connected world. 

Campbell & Company has worked extensively within the nonprofit sector to help organizations advance their fundraising strategies and place visionary leaders to help move their missions forward. Contact us or call 877.957.0000 to launch the Campbell & Company team within your organization today.

The post Why The Stories We Tell About Our DEIA Work Matter appeared first on Campbell & Company.