Widening vacancies in leadership positions

Overseas trends
The United States Bridgespan Group report, Finding Leaders for America’s Nonprofits, was published from a survey of 433 executive directors of NFP organisations with revenues exceeding $US1 million, aiming to “offer perspective on organisations’ hiring needs and plans, what they find most valuable in candidates for senior leadership positions, and more.”

According to the US survey results, 22 per cent of the positions filled in 2008 were newly created, largely based on growth over previous years and increasing organisational complexity. Furthermore, “as of January 2009, respondents projected that their need for senior talent to join their organisations would continue in the next 12 months, anticipating job openings for 24,000 more senior managers.”

So, while NFPs widen their search for qualified candidates, and place greater value on for-profit expertise and business skills, it appears there are not enough skilled workers to meet the demand.

Trends in Australia
Commenting on the Bridgespan report and similar trends within this country, the Australian Human Resources Institute National President Peter Wilson says that the need for more people within leadership roles is also increasing in Australia.

“The NFP sector is growing strongly here for a range of reasons – government policy is supporting the growth of specific purpose, community interest delivery agencies outside of the public sector, to give more funding flexibility and stronger customer savvy.”

The study goes on to say that such sector growth could potentially benefit individuals “hoping to transition from a for-profit management role into the nonprofit sector. Studies show that about half of trailing-edge [baby] boomers – today’s 44 to 50 year-olds – are interested in moving into the social sector.”

Within Australia too, “baby boomers see not-for-profit organisations as a useful to transition their career post retirement, from full time – and often very stressful roles – into more of a mentoring and delivery mode within socially important organisations in their community,” Wilson says.

A 2006 report on the Australian NFP sector from Challenge Consulting found that, after volunteering roles, positions in fundraising were the second most difficult for organisations to fill, and administration/secretarial positions the third most difficult. The Bridgespan results support this finding, showing that many of those surveyed cited a need to fill roles such as finance and fundraising amid increasing management complexity.

The Bridgespan study further showed that, in light of this, NFP organisations are putting increasing value on management experience and skills from outside the sector. Seventy-three per cent of survey respondents affirmed that they valued private sector skills. Furthermore, 42 per cent of the CEOs surveyed said that they themselves had significant for-profit management experience, and 21 per cent of those hired between June 2007 and December 2008 were people transitioning into the sector for the first time – as opposed to 15 per cent of people transitioning in the opposite direction.

Wilson says “NFPs themselves are looking to acquire people with skills in commercial marketing, operations and business development, because the market in which NFPs operate is getting tougher when it comes to both successful execution of objectives, and also continued public or private funding.”

Another evident sign of this increasing outsourcing and competition to fill such roles, he says, is “that now approximately 25 per cent of NFP boards pay their directors a commercial board fee, given the need to compete for higher value governance and commercial skills at a non-executive level.”

Wilson concludes that “these major trends will undoubtedly continue, because the forces behind them are highly likely to be sustained through this decade and beyond.”

Michelle Perl

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