Nonprofit Professional Development Back to Basics on We Are For Good Podcast

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Overview

We're closing out our summer Friday Back-to-Basics series with one final conversation about the conversation that grounded every one of these past 11 conversations: professional development. It may not be popular, but we're going for it. And we're talking about why you need to be fighting for your own growth in our sector. Will be pointing you to teachers who can help (some are even free!) then we're going to be dropping the mic on what we've been working on for nearly a year to revolutionize the nonprofit professional development sector - for good.

“We talk about retaining donors all the time on the podcast, but retaining our employees is the same exact conversation.”

— Jonathan McCoy, CFRE, Co-Founder and CEO, We Are For Good

Episode Transcript

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Episode Overview

Embracing a growth mindset (1:40)
Barriers to Professional Development (4:00)
Your greatest asset is your people (6:00)
We Are For Good tips for professional development (8:30)
Taneshia’s experience investing in her staff and the results she saw (13:21)
Launching soon: We Are For Good Pro (14:00)

Powerful quotes

“We are here today to encourage you to fight for professional development.” -Becky

“Growing yourself, your skill set, your heart and your mind is absolutely essential to your success in your career.” -Becky

“What did not change or grow from a couple years ago?” -Jon

“We want you to fight for this. Having this podcast start in the middle of the pandemic is a trip itself. As we are listening, there is such an absence of quality of education in our space.” -Becky

“This could be the highest ROI aspect of your organization. Investing in the people of your organization with the best strategies out there is the best thing you could do.” -Jon

“People feel that someone is trying to create a pathway for them for growth. Retention improves, turnover decreases, people enjoy their jobs more, and all of the benefits to that goes to the individual and the organization.” -Becky

“Your greatest asset is your people.” -Becky

“We talk about retaining donors all the time on the podcast, but retaining our employees is the same exact conversation.” -Jon

“Create space to go and learn and stay up with trends.” -Becky

“Here is the thing, nonprofit training does not have all the answers you are looking for.” -Jon

“Find people that want to speak into your staff in different ways and lean into that.” -Jon

“When someone goes to a conference or a fantastic training, come back and report out to your group. Talk locally about you learn and know.” -Becky

“By improving the employee, it is lifting the sector, and we are all getting better together.” -Jon

“Professional development is not a one-off thing. It has a ripple effect.” -Becky

“You have decisions as a leader when you step into an organization. Looking at Taneshia’s story, we see how much belief and buy-in she received from her staff by choosing to invest in them.” -Jon

“We believe that education is a tool to train and develop this generation of nonprofit leaders. By investing in our learning and our growth, we believe crazy, huge amazing things can happen.” -Jon

“The landscape feels broken. We have felt called to create something different.” -Jon

“We believe education is for everyone. It is time to democratize learning. It doesn’t have to be boring, you don’t have to be a part of an exclusive organization. We want everyone who wants to learn to have access.” -Becky

“After a year of listening to the brightest minds in our sector, we said we have to figure out a way to bring it to more people.” -Becky

“It’s taking those philosophies and applying it to what works today. We want you to be successful

“Pro is reimagining not simply professional development - but guiding you to the disruptive ideas that are shaping movements, powering the most innovative missions AND giving you the frameworks and tools to do it too.” -Becky

“How do you share the fire and framework with your team. Pull up a chair and we are going to teach you the frameworks and give you a guide to step through these ideas as a team or by yourself.” -Jon

“Pro is going to be highly produced, including experts that you need to get to know. This is exactly what professional development should be.” -Becky

“Becky and I never wanted We Are For Good to just be about us talking. The people joining us in this platform are some of the best in the industry. We will be announcing those names and introducing you to them soon.” -Jon

“The best and biggest funders want expertise. And they want CURRENT expertise.” -Becky

“We need to level up our staff. We need to get them armored. I’m fighting for something, and we think this is worthy of your investment and time.” -Becky

“By equipping nonprofit professionals with the right mindsets and tools, we believe we can literally change the world together.” -Becky

Barriers to Professional Development in our Sector

Lack of funding
Belief that turnover is so high that it’s a waste
Many look at professional development as a diversion of donor dollars from essential programs

Ways to Pour Into Professional Development

webinars
workshops
conferences - many are free: Raise More Together Summit
live trainings
podcasts
books or ebooks
blogs

We Are For Good’s Tips for Professional Development

Creating a culture of learning and feeling safe to say, “I don’t know.
Step back and list your cause’s goals for 1, 2, and 3 years from today. Now consider how to get there. Keep this list and roadmap handy and refer to it frequently.
Manager’s play an incredibly important role in prioritizing and encouraging professional development.
- Create a budget.
- Fight for a budget.
Soft skill development is one of the most important and often neglected areas of training.
- working smarter, time management, delegation, personality types, mental health, active listening, communication, conflict management.
Check out for-profit training and widen what you know and who’s training.
Try approaching all your employees individually and create development plans according to their own desired areas of growth and your company’s goals.
Look for mentor or coaching
Find ways to share what you know