The Case for Talent Development in Social Change
Due to the very nature of how social change organizations came to existâindividuals supporting others because of a moral or religious compassâprofessionalism hasn't always been seen as necessary. In the past, it was okay to simply help those you thought were in need because you believed it was the right thing to do. Yes, it is still okay to help people because it's the right thing to do; however, the true severity of the need demands more formal organizational structures to make a greater impact in serving vulnerable populations. And let's be honest with ourselves: as we serve others, it is in our human nature to want to do it better. We want to serve more and give more of ourselves. As the social change sector has grown, it has become clear that a moral compass is no longer the only predictor of the right person for the job.
Our society has come to rely on social change organizations to do work traditionally done by the government or through personal networks. Social change organizations have now become integral to the functioning of our society and thus can no longer rely on simply having good intentions. With this continued growth as well as the increase of hybrid organizations, professionalism is becoming even more important. With increased professionalism comes the need for professional development and growth opportunities.
Professionalism and strategic thinking have become prevalent in order to do good more efficiently and effectively. The social change sector has become professionalized through formalized education, professional development, and the formation of infrastructure organizations (O'Neill, 2005). But even with increased education and professionalism, professional development has fallen short. There has been discussion of a potential leadership deficit, and experts have emphasized the importance of training and development in the sector (Light & Light, 2006). What we've found through research and working directly with social change organizations is that professional development alone isn't enough; rather, talent development needs to become a systematic part of all social change organizations.
Organizations need to move away from the mentality of sending an employee to a training and instead integrate training across the entire organization (Ronquillo, Hein, & Carpenter, 2013). Consistently, changemakers are craving learning and growth opportunities in their current positions. Because changemakers often do their work because it is meaningful to them, their need to feel purposeful is greater. A recent report by Net Impact surveyed over 1,700 college students about what they wanted out of a job, and 72 percent of respondents indicated they want a job where they can make an impact (Heldrich, Zukin, & Szeltner, 2012). All the individuals who have taken the Organizational Learning Assessment indicated they believe their work is âextremelyâ meaningful, but they could not see themselves staying in their positions for very long. We can hypothesize about why that might be, but the assessment showed that the same individuals also indicated signs of burnout (for example, no time for learning or reflection, and lack of effective professional development systems in their organizations).
The desire for a meaningful career path, an increase in academic programs for changemakers, and changemakers' need for purposeful work make talent development even more important. Social change organizations can provide an environment for changemakers if they do it with intentionality and make learning and talent development part of the organizational culture. This is where strategic human resources management comes in.
Strategic human resources management is playing âan increasingly important role in enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of [social change] organizations. As employees are viewed as an indispensable resource to achieve the organization's mission, investments in human resource practices that enhance employees skills, participation in decisions, and motivation are seen as a means of coping with the aforementioned challengesâ (Ridder, Piening, & Baluch, 2012). Human resources management is still in the early stages of development in the social change sector, but as organizations grow and professionalize, and more Millennials join the ranks of leadership, human resources management will become more and more important.
Strategic human resources management consists of various components that provide holistic support to staff and volunteers, connecting skills to strategic planning and mission attainment:
- Organizational culture: the collection of values, working norms, habits and beliefs of staff and volunteers in the organization
- Planning for change: support for staff and volunteers to plan for and manage change as the organization's external and internal environments shift
- Training and development: structured learning and skill building for staff and volunteers
- Health and safety: ensuring the workplace meets federal and state safety and health laws and is an environment all can work in without harm
- Recruitment and retention: finding the right talent for the organization's work and keeping them interested and satisfied with their work
- Strategic talent development: ensuring staff and volunteers are in right fit positions
- Policies and procedures: managing legal policies and systems that help staff and volunteers know the rules, follow protocols, and stay safe from potential harm
In this book we focus on two of these major components: strategic talent development systems and training and development. You already know people are important for your long-term sustainability; now is the time to develop systematic functions that show your people are important to your organization.
There have been many efforts to develop systematic forms of talent development for the social change sector. Many organizations have studied the professional development that currently exists in the sector and have explored and tested efforts to fund professional development. In addition, organizations like the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network and Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy have popped up to provide professional development to young professionals. None of the efforts, however, have been holistic. Rusty Stahl, author of the article âTalent Philanthropy: Investing in Nonprofit People to Advance Nonprofit Performanceâ (2013), states that the problem is vast and gives three important reasons for the lack of desired results:
- The flawed âleadership deficitâ premise continues to dominate the discourse.
- Participants have to spend energy arguing for the legitimacy of the problem rather than developing viable solutions.
- It is extremely challenging to identify levers of change for this meta-issue from which many suffer but for which no one is entirely responsible. ( p. 39)
Additionally, research by Genis (2008) stated that most professional development focuses on basic managerial concepts. Researchers argue âthere is a need for training and development that is integrated across many programs and agencies, [and] that is blended and includes the use of technology, and development programs should be structured part-time and âself-authoringâ to be more geared towards the promotion of leadership in adultsâ (Ronquillo, Hein, & Carpenter, 2013, p. 105).
The argument of whether professional development is necessary for changemakers has dominated conversations thus far in the social change sector. However, the process of talent development has to be done one organization at a time. As more and more organizations, like yours, take on strategic human resources and strong talent development systems, the sector will increase its hunger for learning and growth and make talent development solutions much more attainable.
