BUS603: Managing People

It is still up to the nonprofit leader to adapt those practices, to think about best fit as opposed to a generic best practice. They don't need to recreate the wheel - the wheel's already been created - but they need to tailor it for their unique needs.

To do this, a nonprofit leader should consider what his organization's mission is, the kind of leadership and organization needed to achieve it, and the human capital management practices he'll need as a result.

For example, if your organization is doing something highly innovative and unique, your talent strategy will almost certainly be to develop your own talent: you will likely focus on recruiting lots of highly capable entry-level employees with high potential and devoting outsized attention to professional development with a strong focus on succession-driven development. By contrast, if the capabilities you most need at middle and senior leadership positions are readily available, then you have the option to choose to devote more relative attention to hiring at those senior levels.

Performance management can also be tailored. Some organizations need to devote more attention to performance goal achievement. Others weigh achievement of development as most important. And still others are most focused, at a particular time, on aligning behaviors to the organization's culture. How you tailor and use the tool depends on the needs of the organization and the obstacles it faces in realizing its strategic goals.

To do human capital management best, each of the human capital management processes needs to be tailored to your organization's needs, and integrated with all the other ones so that they all work together.