BUS603: Managing People

For-profits have been strategically managing their talent for years. Yet, in the nonprofit sector, human capital management is a relatively new concept. Why aren't nonprofits using more human capital management practices? AchieveMission's Mike Markovits and Tom Eddington shed light on why nonprofits are not yet taking full advantage of lessons learned in the for-profit sector and where they see opportunity for nonprofits to do so.

For-profit organizations have been strategically managing their talent for years. Through expensive trial and error, IBM, GE, American Express, and others have developed robust human capital management practices to build talent pipelines and develop leaders to increase their business value. Yet, in the nonprofit sector, human capital management is a relatively new concept. "Even more so than in for-profits, where there are hard assets like plants and equipment, a nonprofit really only has staff who are working towards its mission, which is all the more reason to focus on [human capital management]," says AchieveMission Partner Mike Markovits. So why aren't nonprofits using more human capital management practices?

In this Q&A, Markovits (previously in charge of Leadership globally at IBM, and Leadership and Executive Development at GE) and AchieveMission's Board Chair Tom Eddington (former owner at Hewitt Associates and vice chair at the Taproot Foundation) reflect on their extensive experience in human capital management in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. They shed light on why nonprofits are not yet taking full advantage of lessons learned in the for-profit sector and where they see opportunity for nonprofits to do so.

Source: The Bridgespan Group, https://www.bridgespan.org/insights/library/leadership-development/human-capital-management
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