Driving forces: three keys to unlocking the nonprofit workforce challenge.

Nahtahna Cabanes
Aug 26, 2024
4 min read

Updated: Oct 8, 2024

To solve a current crisis, it may serve us to heed words of wisdom from the past.

In Daniel Pink’s popular 2009 TED Talk (at last count it had registered more than 30 million views), the business author and career analyst argued that how we motivate people in the business world is not fit for the purposes of the 21st century. This is because it is built around outdated, external “carrot and stick” motivators like bonuses and incentives and punishments and performance improvement plans.

In his talk, Pink sought to explore an alternative to succeed in business by investigating what motivates individuals as they strive towards success. He distilled this motivation into three main drivers:

1. Autonomy – the freedom of being self-directed.

2. Mastery – the desire to gain knowledge and expertise from the practice of doing.

3. Purpose – wanting to contribute to a greater cause.

I would like to keep his points in focus as I return to the topic of my previous blog.

Last month, I wrote about the nonprofit employee retention crisis.

Briefly put, recent studies have indicated that across the sector nonprofits are facing an employee retention crisis that cannot be ignored and a workforce environment that has significantly changed over the past 10 years.

Since my last post, I've embarked on a journey to explore what we can do as a nonprofit community to address the workforce challenge, and I have developed some further reflections on the matter.

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First, there are a few factors that contribute to the current unmatched moment of workforce instability.

1. A new generation has entered the workforce. This generation, according to many, is prioritizing mental health and work/life balance over job titles and, even sometimes, higher pay.

2. There is a severe cost-of-living crisis. Since 2020, consumer product costs have increased by nearly 21%, and many individuals are grappling with high rents and a shortage of affordable housing.

3. Work has shifted to a post-pandemic remote/hybrid environment. We work more and more in our own personal silos and the sense of belonging to a team community has suffered.

Such factors are likely affecting all businesses, but the effect might be more pronounced for nonprofit organizations due to the inherent vulnerability associated with nonprofit work.

Nonprofits are high burnout job spaces because they struggle to offer competitive salaries due to limited funding and budget restraints; they often employ direct service workers, who can experience the secondary trauma of their clients; and they often have small staff sizes with heavy workloads.

The reality of nonprofit work, coupled with the new nature of the workforce, makes it almost impossible to avoid a retention crisis.

(If, as an organization, you are not struggling with workforce retention, you deserve major acknowledgement and probably should be writing your own best practice blog).

----------------

So what are we to do?

Here is where I turn to Daniel Pink’s drivers of motivation.

Through my research and conversations on best practices for retention the ideas and suggestions that emerged consistently aligned with his three motivators.

Motivator number one: provide AUTONOMY whenever possible.

Best practice examples:

Provide clear job descriptions.

Autonomy relies on clear guidelines and goals so that micromanaging is unnecessary. Workers know what needs to be accomplished and can be self-directed to complete their own work.

Be project-based rather than workday based.

Allowing staff to complete their work on their own time schedules allows them to dictate how and when to accomplish their goals.

Offer childcare.

On-site childcare can enable employees to have greater control over their work-life integration.

Motivator number two: offer MASTERY opportunities.

Best practice examples:

Allow for the pursuit of professional development.

Offering professional certification, providing clinical hours and supervision, and covering the cost of training can equip employees with the skills, experience, and credentials to continue to excel in their field.

Create a pathway for promotion.

Developing a clear and structured pathway for career advancement can help ensure employees identify professional growth within the organization.

Motivator number three: build and communicate PURPOSE.

Best practice examples:

Embed team-building activities into the work culture.

Integrating team-building activities such as team picnics, ice-breaker games, and team outings can foster a sense of community belonging.

Communicate the impact of the work.

Articulating how individual contributions are linked to the overall success of the organization can nurture a deeper understanding of how each employee's work supports the organization's mission and advances the collective progress of their team members.

-----------------

These best practices are by no means an exhaustive list and there are likely some solutions that don’t fit quite as neatly within Daniel Pink’s three top motivators.

But they are a starting point.

And from this point, I would like to offer you the autonomy to find your own solution.

Want more on this topic? Check out:

Drive, by Daniel Pink

Fund the People Podcast, hosted by Rusty Stahl

State of Nonprofits 2024: What Funders Need to Know

To solve a current crisis, it may serve us to heed words of wisdom from the past.

In his talk, Pink sought to explore an alternative to succeed in business by investigating what motivates individuals as they strive towards success. He distilled this motivation into three main drivers:

1. Autonomy – the freedom of being self-directed.

2. Mastery – the desire to gain knowledge and expertise from the practice of doing.

3. Purpose – wanting to contribute to a greater cause.

I would like to keep his points in focus as I return to the topic of my previous blog.

Last month, I wrote about the nonprofit employee retention crisis.

Briefly put, recent studies have indicated that across the sector nonprofits are facing an employee retention crisis that cannot be ignored and a workforce environment that has significantly changed over the past 10 years.

Since my last post, I've embarked on a journey to explore what we can do as a nonprofit community to address the workforce challenge, and I have developed some further reflections on the matter.

-------------

First, there are a few factors that contribute to the current unmatched moment of workforce instability.

1. A new generation has entered the workforce. This generation, according to many, is prioritizing mental health and work/life balance over job titles and, even sometimes, higher pay.

2. There is a severe cost-of-living crisis. Since 2020, consumer product costs have increased by nearly 21%, and many individuals are grappling with high rents and a shortage of affordable housing.

3. Work has shifted to a post-pandemic remote/hybrid environment. We work more and more in our own personal silos and the sense of belonging to a team community has suffered.

Such factors are likely affecting all businesses, but the effect might be more pronounced for nonprofit organizations due to the inherent vulnerability associated with nonprofit work.

Nonprofits are high burnout job spaces because they struggle to offer competitive salaries due to limited funding and budget restraints; they often employ direct service workers, who can experience the secondary trauma of their clients; and they often have small staff sizes with heavy workloads.

The reality of nonprofit work, coupled with the new nature of the workforce, makes it almost impossible to avoid a retention crisis.

(If, as an organization, you are not struggling with workforce retention, you deserve major acknowledgement and probably should be writing your own best practice blog).

----------------

So what are we to do?

Here is where I turn to Daniel Pink’s drivers of motivation.

Through my research and conversations on best practices for retention the ideas and suggestions that emerged consistently aligned with his three motivators.

Motivator number one: provide AUTONOMY whenever possible.

Best practice examples:

Provide clear job descriptions.

Autonomy relies on clear guidelines and goals so that micromanaging is unnecessary. Workers know what needs to be accomplished and can be self-directed to complete their own work.

Be project-based rather than workday based.

Allowing staff to complete their work on their own time schedules allows them to dictate how and when to accomplish their goals.

Offer childcare.

On-site childcare can enable employees to have greater control over their work-life integration.

Motivator number two: offer MASTERY opportunities.

Best practice examples:

Allow for the pursuit of professional development.

Offering professional certification, providing clinical hours and supervision, and covering the cost of training can equip employees with the skills, experience, and credentials to continue to excel in their field.

Create a pathway for promotion.

Developing a clear and structured pathway for career advancement can help ensure employees identify professional growth within the organization.

Motivator number three: build and communicate PURPOSE.

Best practice examples:

Embed team-building activities into the work culture.

Integrating team-building activities such as team picnics, ice-breaker games, and team outings can foster a sense of community belonging.

Communicate the impact of the work.

Articulating how individual contributions are linked to the overall success of the organization can nurture a deeper understanding of how each employee's work supports the organization's mission and advances the collective progress of their team members.

-----------------

These best practices are by no means an exhaustive list and there are likely some solutions that don’t fit quite as neatly within Daniel Pink’s three top motivators.

But they are a starting point.

And from this point, I would like to offer you the autonomy to find your own solution.

Want more on this topic? Check out:

Drive, by Daniel Pink

Fund the People Podcast, hosted by Rusty Stahl

State of Nonprofits 2024: What Funders Need to Know

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