ProInspire Managing for Success Featured in Standard Social Innovation Review

ProInspire and our partners are highlighted in the latest post in Stanford Social Innovation Review’s Talent Matters series. Talent Matters (co-curated by ProInspire and Net Impact) recently launched its third phase, focused on how social sector organizations are putting talent development into practice in meaningful ways. In the latest post, Maggie Davies, Chief Strategy and Talent Officer at Net Impact, shares how Net Impact and other organizations have taken steps to address the manager development gap in the nonprofit sector. Maggie emphasizes that creating better “people managers” yields higher staff satisfaction, engagement, development, and retention. She also underscores the important downstream effects: better results from the precious (and costly) resource of people, and ultimately greater organizational impact.

The post features the manager development efforts of ProInspire partners, including College Summit, Global Giving, Net Impact, and Year Up. It also highlights the experience of ProInspire alum Ellie Canter, Director of Programs for Turning the Page, and how her participation in our Managing for Success program has helped her better manage people, programs, and her career.

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How to Build Better Bosses
Four steps organizations can take to strengthen their approach.
By Maggie Davies

Ellie Canter spent four months building her management skills through an intensive leadership development program. Since then, she has been promoted, has taken on more direct reports, and is helping the education nonprofit she works for expand to new cities. For Ellie, regular trainings and a support system has been essential to her success in managing teams and building sustainable programs. She says that the support has given her confidence to lead and allowed her “to question [her] management and leadership processes and expand [her] arsenal of management strategies.”

Like Canter, most nonprofit leaders see the value that prioritizing talent recruitment, development, and support can bring to the social sector. Without sufficient investment in talent, the sector will fail to meet its full potential. One of the best ways to strengthen talent, especially for a growing organization, is to focus on managers. Creating better bosses—ones that empower, support, and hold people accountable for results—consistently yields higher staff satisfaction, engagement, development, and retention. Even more important are the downstream effects: better results from the precious (and costly) resource of people, and ultimately greater organizational impact.

Read more here.