Managing and Leading Nonprofit Organizations

6Performance Management and Employee Engagement

In this chapter we continue the journey to help build a framework for successful nonprofit management and leadership by exploring the impact of effective employee engagement and employee management and, through this, organizational innovation. The hope is that you will use this chapter to support your efforts to be effective as a leader and manager by realizing the power of employee engagement to leverage the important contribution employees make to the success of the organization. This chapter builds on what we have explored by adding important engagement strategies in order to develop the employees that comprise the heart and soul of your nonprofit organization.

There are three interrelated elements that comprise effective employee management that are explored in depth. Each element is important to consider fully as you strive to work successfully with employees. None of the elements can stand on its own, and understanding their interconnectedness is critical to advancing the employees' capacity to connect positively with the organization and to support the pursuit of the organization's mission, as well as the development of innovative capacity throughout the agency.

The three elements are employee engagement, performance management, and supervision. Each area has its own lens for advancing the employees' capacity to contribute to the organization's mission and the agency's ability to achieve success with the people that the ...