Are managers of not-for-profit organisations second-class citizens when compared to their high-flying corporate cousins? Less skilled? Naive? Incompetent?
No! Nonprofit managers are often more effective than those in the corporate world. They deal daily with all kinds of complex situations, give advice to and accept advice from a range of people in the community, and generally keep the machinery running on the smell of an oily rag.
A survey by The Nonprofit Quarterly showed that, in 14 out of 17 leadership dimensions, not-for-profit managers outscored their corporate counterparts! (Interestingly, nonprofit managers tended to rate themselves lower than their peers rated them, while for-profit executives tended to rate themselves more highly than their peers.)
The survey included the following categories. Why not rate yourself alongside them?
1. Persuasiveness
2. Risk-taking
3. Demonstration of effectiveness
4. Vision
Why do you think managers in this sector fare better? Love to know your comments here or on the People First Facebook page
Martin - Interesting article, thanks for sharing it. Can you be more specific about what survey you're referencing here? I'm not sure if it's spelled out anywhere and I'd love to be able to share the source. Thanks - Robert from VolunteerMatch
ReplyDeleteThanks Robert from Volunteer Match for your comment. The study info can be found here: http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=253:study-finds-nonprofit-leaders-more-effective-than-corporate-heads&catid=57:press-releases&Itemid=316
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