Talent Management & Succession Planning
While the success of development leaders is easy to measure in dollars, what is not often measured is the success of development leaders in creating a culture and staff devoted to the long-term growth of development for the institution. Often times we get caught up in the short-term goal of reaching a campaign, which can often times invite our ignoring what is best for building long-term relationships with donors and prospects.
One of the reasons this happens is that development officers often times have limited loyalty to the institutions they serve, and approximately every 3-5 years they change employers, often in concert with a campaign ending. For those of us with extensive fundraising experience and success, we know that donors in fact do build significant relationships with the development officers who help them make gifts to the institutions they admire. Therefore, it should be a priority for development leaders to retain development officers who have built excellent relationships, but often times that takes a back seat
Additionally, because effective development officers are rarely in their offices – they are with donors and prospects – the internal dynamics of a development shop are much different than those of other units in an organization. Quite frankly, they are much more demanding because so much needs to get done when development officers are in the office, trying to wrap up work from demanding road warrior work and simultaneously planning for the next trip. This results in significant stress among staff in the office.
Meliora Group LLC leaders have excelled in fundraising success because of their commitment to making sure they have the right staff in the right positions, and then they support them to realize their goals, one of which is being a good colleague.
Meliora Group staff workw to establish a flexible succession plan to assure success for the long-run prosperity for the organization and career path for individuals.
We do this in these ways:
New employees develop and implement a transition plan to orient themselves on the campus and with their most important prospects.
Employees have individualized professional development plans to assure their growth and cement their loyalty to their institutions.
Employees understand the path for succession and have opportunities for professional growth.
Why send staff to random CASE or other workshops when you can build a thoughtful, individualized, progressive plan that introduces them to the content they need, facilitates their collaboration with peers at other institutions and provides a certificate program with potential college credit to recognize their success?
For more information on how the Meliora Group LLC can assist you in talent management contact Dr. Carol Wittmeyer at 716.474.6833 or carol@melioragroup.com