Key takeaways:
- Personnel controls is one method you can use to help ensure you have the right people on your team and that they are set up to succeed within your organization
- Cultural controls give employees a sense of community and cohesion within your organization
- Both kinds of controls can be a cost-effective way to increase employee motivation and performance Personnel and cultural controls differ from KPIs. KPIs reflect the state of organizational goals based on measured outcomes. Personnel and cultural controls are not necessarily data-driven, focusing on training, policies and procedures, and more. These are performance management tools that can help your employees feel motivated and aligned with company objectives.
Personnel Controls
These controls are important to ensure that the employees or volunteers you are hiring are sufficiently skilled and properly equipped to perform their duties. Personnel controls are a function of Human Resources and begin with the hiring process - you want to ensure that the people on your team share your organizational values and beliefs. For more information on the hiring/recruiting process for NPOs see our article “How to Recruit” in our Tips for New NPOs series.
An example of personnel control would be ensuring roles within your NPO are well defined. This can be extremely important for start-up NPOs. Ensuring that all your positions have clear responsibilities and resources to support them is both a cost and time-effective performance management control.
Cultural Controls
Cultural controls are tools that can be put in place within your organization to promote your desired culture. They build a sense of community that can motivate your team to increase employee performance. An example of this kind of control would be a Volunteer/Employee Code of Conduct. These documents outline shared values and beliefs, and they also highlight responsibilities within the organization and at an individual level. Codes of Conduct can help employees understand the goals of the organization and their role in achieving them.
Overall, personnel and cultural controls can be cost-effective ways to ensure that your employees share your organization’s values and are equipped to perform their best in order to achieve company objectives.
Interested in learning more about how our services can assist your NPO?
Reach out to us at npo.consulting@uwaterloo.ca.