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Hire Well, Promote From Within

Can you identify top performers in your association? Are you investing in their growth and development despite the slow economy? If you answered "yes" to both questions, consider yourself one step ahead of the curve in your hiring and succession planning process. If you answered "no" to either question, read on for tips on getting to yes.

Hire well

Hiring the right person, the first time, is a challenging but imperative task, as the success of your organization begins with hiring the best-matched people for your available positions. To do this, it's important to know the specific job competencies for each position you plan to fill and to use hiring techniques that will attract and retain top talent. Following are ideas for getting the right people into your organization from the beginning.

1. Use behavioral and competency-based interviewing. Behavioral interviewing focuses interviewees on past performance, as that is generally a key indicator of future performance. Competency-based interviewing defines observable and specific behaviors that exemplify excellent performance in a particular work context (e.g., a specific role or group of jobs).

2. Shape and develop desired competencies for all jobs. Competency-based job descriptions communicate job requirements and performance expectations to internal and external candidates. This exercise may lead to developing core competencies for the organization.

3. Involve other staff in the selection and interviewing process to obtain objective feedback.

Promote from within

Investing resources, management, time, and energy in your perfect hires makes good business sense. Investing in your best talent enables you to promote from within the organization, and it sends a clear message to new and existing employees that the organization values growth and expects excellence. Use the following tips to move the right people into the right jobs.

1. Develop leaders at every level of the organization, from receptionist to executive-level management, based on the organization's vision.

2. Invest in your best talent and their future with the organization through professional development, special assignments, cross training, coaching, and mentoring programs.

3. Develop staff organizational knowledge through an "ask the coaches" forum to give employees an opportunity to access organizational knowledge from coworkers and senior management.

4. Give staff tools to invest in and have accountability for their individual development, such as educational benefits and training.

5. Make proactive career development choices with employees by suggesting learning opportunities and offering resources as part of your overall performance management process.

6. Make it a priority for employees to learn new skills that will help them in their current jobs or prepare them for new positions.

7. Promote a workplace that talks openly about career growth, opportunities, and promotions.

Plan for succession

Succession planning is a key component for an organization meeting its strategic goals, reducing turnover, and creating a learning culture that values growth. Here are a few tips to help you shape this ongoing process.

1. Review the needs of the organization.

2. List key positions and the next time they might be open.

3. Analyze the competencies and performance requirements for key positions.

4. Assess whether existing employees currently have the leadership skills for key positions, or decide who could be groomed for them.

5. Develop and coach employees to move into new roles.

6. Provide career development specific to job competencies.

7. Develop employees for leadership by training them to be coaches and mentors.

8. Communicate your succession planning process to all employees, and describe how they will be involved.

Patty Hampton is a senior consultant with Nonprofit HR Solutions, Bowie, Maryland. E-mail: phampton@nonprofithr.com.

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