Staff are an organization’s greatest asset, and building their leadership and effectiveness contributes directly to mission impact.
Supervising well, creating clear roles and responsibilities, compensating equitably, developing relationships deliberately, communicating inclusively, and adaptively managing performance are the types of systems that help organizations stay true to their principles, encourage employees to do their best work, and operationalize their values. This is the framework we use in our own human resources practices and with our fiscally sponsored organizations and employees across the country.
At TSNE, we place a high value on skilled, intentional, and strategic supervision. Such supervision creates a culture of mutual respect and trust – one in which employees and supervisors communicate regularly and clearly about job-related expectations, tasks, and overall performance. We believe that strong supervision is an integral part of a learning organization and contributes to mission effectiveness, organizational success, and employee satisfaction. Successful supervisors, whether they are new to the role or have a wealth of experience, tap into self-awareness, are adaptive, and leverage a range of interpersonal skills.
In our Effective Supervision training, as part of the Better Nonprofit Management series, facilitators Joanne Horgan and Lyn Freundlich help nonprofit professionals like yourself to bolster these skills.
In these trainings, you will find:
- Years of experience leading human resources functions
We have worked in organizations and experienced the challenges and successes that often come with being a manager as well as first-hand experience of being “middle” in an organization. This experience grounds our stories and our approach to working with supervisors.
- Passion for training adult learners
You have valuable experience to leverage. As trainers, we have experience of our own, as well as tools and models to offer – but we don’t necessarily claim to have all of the answers. Rather, we will build on the knowledge and expertise that participants bring, so that we can learn from one another. To that effect, the success of this training largely depends on authentic participant engagement. We seek to create a useful and enjoyable opportunity to join peers to consider one of the most important aspects of nonprofit management.
- An equity lens throughout our sessions
We integrate a range of related approaches including developing shared language to ensure all stakeholders are on the same page. We often use storytelling as a way for people to reflect, build empathy and understanding, and identify organizational barriers to achieving equity and inclusion. Our systemic and structural analysis of equity and inclusion deepens change beyond the interpersonal level. Additionally, we help focus attention on organizational culture by looking at assumptions and their impact on values and norms. We work with our clients to take real and meaningful action.
Find all of TSNE’s upcoming Better Nonprofit Management trainings, including Effective Supervision, at tsne.org/events.