Lessons From Nonprofits

Can we business executives and consultants learning anything from nonprofit executives? Yes.

I have had the opportunity to work with some very competent nonprofit executives. I just read an article in this month’s “Chief Learning Officer” magazine that reminded me that successful nonprofit executives are a source of ideas for us profit-oriented types.

In the article, the authors (Strauss, Rosenheck, D’Aurelio, & Rosenheim) shared Sarah Clark’s “seven daunting challenges” as director of outreach and training at Amnesty International. Most, if not all, of her “challenges” face business executives as well.


Long-Term Vs. Short-Term

Nonprofits tend to have a long-term focus since they are not judged on a quarterly basis (although this has been changing for some nonprofits). This has allowed nonprofits to “incorporate capacity-building initiatives” that often “span years or decades.” Learning and development (L&D) officers at for-profit companies should look at these nonprofit programs.


Volunteers

Nonprofits rely heavily on volunteers. Nonprofits cannot demand that volunteers participate in training. Nonprofits have learned how to motivate volunteers to learn. We can certainly take advantage of this knowledge.


Training on a “Shoestring”

Nonprofit executives have learned how to provide training on very tight budgets. E-learning and technology is used of course, but these nonprofit execs have also learned how to take advantage of a wide range of training possibilities. Here again for-profit L&D officers can learn from their counterparts in the nonprofit sector.


My Suggestion

What am I suggesting? I am suggesting that you take an executive from your favorite nonprofit to lunch and discuss training issues.


To learn more about organizational learning and other organizational effectiveness topics use the Search function on my blog or read my book, “Strategic Organizational Learning” (available at Amazon.com or my website www.mikebeitler.com).