
Do you have suggestions on what type of HR training supervisors can engage in to be sure we’re supporting and advocating for our staff effectively?
Context: We are a small, grant-funded, non-profit, social services organization with no HR department. All traditional HR job duties are distributed amongst fiscal or management staff, which often leads to confusion and frustration for all parties.
📣 Stephanie Slysz, Human Resources Manager @ RepresentUs:
Have you or your management team made a case for a dedicated HR hire? In my experience, smaller organizations – especially nonprofits – often lack HR infrastructure, and it significantly impacts both culture and workload. As you’ve noted, it also creates frustration for managers and operations staff. I come from a nonprofit that waited too long to hire its first internal HR person and prioritize HR, and that delay ultimately harmed our culture.
Without an internal HR role, there’s also a lack of consistency in employee experience, which can fuel distrust and perceptions of favoritism within the organization. It’s simply bad business not to prioritize a People role, even in smaller organizations.
If hiring a full-time HR person isn’t feasible at the moment, consider working together with leaders to develop key management principles for the organization, ideally aligned with your values. From there, you could explore a fractional or part-time role, or hire a consultant to help develop the processes and policies that are currently missing. They should also train managers on these practices. However, the worst thing about a training is not reinforcing it. It should be someone’s (not everyone’s) responsibility to reinforce that training and onboard new managers.
That said, I still believe a permanent HR role will pay for itself in the long run, and I’d recommend advocating for it. Best of luck!
📣Jeanine Mowbray, Director of Employee Experience @ Rippleworks:
There are definitely ways to support your team even without a dedicated HR person (yet!). One option is to outsource training specifically tailored for your people managers. Start by asking yourself: What are the essential skills we need managers to build? Is it effective 1:1s, equitable performance management, moving from a manager to IC? Then look for training programs that align with those needs and fit your budget.
Some of my favorite manager training resources are:
Lifelabs Learning – Great for bite-sized, practical training.
Hone – Offers engaging, live online classes with a bunch focused on managers.
The Management Center – Absolutely fantastic for nonprofit management training, especially if you’re navigating social service or grant-funded work.
Hope this helps!
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How can I develop a more mature HR persona? It’s been 1.5 years at my current organization as a People & Ops associate. I want to be seen as a reliable, mature, HR team member who can support tactful/critical situations.
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Context: Global affiliate of an international nonprofit think tank, less than 20 members in my team, sole HR team member, individual contributor
📣 Lisa Van Lenner, VP, Operations, People & Culture @ Mythical Entertainment:
First, become the person you want to be! I have a vision of an ideal HR exec in my head – an amalgamation of a few leaders I’ve worked with or been inspired by on this very platform. When an issue comes up I think of how this ideal exec would handle it and then I judge against my own instinct.
Once you’ve started aligning with the person you want to be, the next step is to own it and put it out there. Find opportunities to speak on behalf of the department or the leadership (with their support, of course). Practice using impeccable language and saying it with confidence. The more you act the part, the more you’ll be the part.
📣 Erik Bates, Compensation Analyst @ St. Luke’s Hospital:
Take inventory of what you know and what you don’t know, and what, from your 1.5 years in the role, the rest of the organization wants you to know. Fill in those gaps through professional development opportunities while confidently offering insight and expertise on the areas you are most comfortable in.
In my experience, the most mature team members and leaders are the ones who know that it’s perfectly fine to say, “I don’t know.”
In the end, I think maturity is a healthy mix of confidence and strategic risk.
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