6 Steps To Handling Office Romances

The laws of attraction dictate that, whether you like it or not, office romances will occur under your watch. Time to panic, right? On the contrary, the only way disaster will come of this is if you or your human resources department have the attitude that “It can’t happen here” or “It won’t be allowed to happen here.”

During a recent Risk Management & Finance Summit for Nonprofits, Woods Bowman, an emeritus professor at DePaul University and an observer of nonprofits, spoke about how to best handle workplace relationships. He stated that the reason they can cause problems is because effective management depends on clear role relationships, which can be disrupted by office romance.

Yet it's almost inevitable that there will be those in your organization who are attracted to each other. Bowman shared the following advice if this does end up happening:

• Establish policy before the fact.
• Encourage reporting. Have anonymous and trustworthy reporting systems. Nonprofits must comply with the whistle-blower protections of Sarbanes-Oxley
• Investigate all allegations.
• Enforce policies evenhandedly. Policies and punishments should be universal, from the CEO on down, and gender-neutral.
• Monitor results and amend policies as needed.
• Don’t overlook outside relationships. Relationships between an employee and the spouse (or significant other) of another employee are more common than one might think. Think also of vendors and competitors.

The First Day Employee Checklist

The first day at a new job is a little bit like the first day of school. Feelings of loneliness, confusion, and an overwhelming sense of anxiety are common for new hires on Day 1 and, unfortunately, sometimes busy supervisors can contribute to these feelings.

Nonprofit managers must do everything in their power to be available when a new employee starts work. While all first day hires need help acclimating to their new environment, it is even more imperative to be present when the worker is new to the job market or is working in the nonprofit sector for the first time.

In "The Big Book of HR," authors Barbara Mitchell and Cornelia Gamlem created a checklist that managers should follow on Day 1 of any new employee. The checklist offers some items that might seem like no-brainers, yet it's exactly these items that are critical to ensuring that Day 1 is successful for all parties.

• Does security know the new hire is coming?
• Does the employee know where and when to report on Day 1?
• Is the work area ready: computer and phone – hooked up and ready to go? Are there supplies, welcoming items?
• Does staff know when the new hire is arriving?
• Is there a plan for the first day and beyond?
• Does the manager’s schedule include time for the new hire?
• Does the new hire have a copy of his/her job description?
• Does the new hire have a copy of the organization’s strategic plan and mission statement?
• Does the new hire know what to do in case of emergency?

Employer-Employee Relations At Nonprofit Jobs

Success at any nonprofit job is often predicated by a good relationship between the employees and the employer. Unfortunately, this doesn't always go according to plan; there are many arguments and miscommunications that threatens to get in the way of a successful relationship.

The key, then, is for managers to navigate their way through these difficulties.

In the book “Five Good Ideas,” Dave McKechnie wrote that a good manager communicates with employees in a way that is fair and clear. While there is no checklist to guide you through every issue that arises, there are some rules of thumb that can help improve your ability and manage your relationships with employees.

Some of those rules are:

• X Doesn’t Actually Mark Anything: There is no map that shows you where the treasure chest of good management resides. In employee relations, ‘X’ is a moving target and you can only get close to it by constantly focusing your goals.
• Walk the Floor: You cannot manage and you cannot lead from behind closed doors. If you want to have good employee relations, you have to be available.
• Constant Chatter and Reinforcement: Engage with your employees regularly, and help them troubleshoot as they go about their work.
• Meaningful Recognition: Take some time to think about your particular organization, and the occasions that you can use to provide meaningful recognition of the work your staff does.
• Listen, Investigate, Respond: Good managers are separated from bad ones by how they handle issues when they arise. When they do crop up, respond to them immediately -- for the sake of your organization and the well-being of your employees.

Are You Ready To Be A Nonprofit CFO?

Without sufficient revenue streams, a business will be hard-pressed to achieve its goals. That's why an excellent Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is a must-have for any successful organization. Yet being a nonprofit CFO requires a slightly different skill-set than one in a for-profit corporation.

In just the past month, we have had 12 CFO positions posted to our career center, and even more financial-related jobs. There is a great deal of competition for these roles, so you need to be sure you have what it takes. The Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit resource based in Boston, Mass., released a short quiz that well test whether you are ready to become a nonprofit CFO.

The quiz consists of the following seven questions:

• Are you good at doing puzzles? An good CFO will spend a lot of time trying to figure how to book things one way or another.
• Are you comfortable managing a subsidy business and a triple bottom line? The most common "subsidy business" is fundraising, and the success of a nonprofit is never measured solely on financial results.
• Do you have nerves of steel...and an imagination that can make cash elastic? Being able so stretch cash is a key skill for the nonprofit CFO, as is creativity in solving problems.
• Are you able to tell the finance story in program terms, and the program story in finance terms? The CFO is often the only person in the organization with any formal training in accounting or finance.
• Can you explain and address capital structure issues? While the mission of a nonprofit might be clear, what is often not is its underlying business model.
• Are you good at consensus-building? A big part of building trust in nonprofits involves creating consensus with disparate staff, volunteers, and board members.
• Do you have a big heart? This is an essential attribute of a successful nonprofit Chief Financial Officer. It is difficult to work at a mission-driven organization without being passionate about the mission.