HR office hours

We provide regularly scheduled time for staff, supervisors, and organizational leaders to have access to expert employee relations and human resources coaching, consulting, and support.

For many small businesses and nonprofits, the person responsible for human resources wears multiple hats as Business Owner, Executive Director, CFO, Director of Administration, or any number of other roles. Rarely do they have a background in HR or employee relations. And most often in these situations the HR function is largely administrative and transactional in nature.

As a result, supervisors and employees are often left to their own devices when it comes to addressing routine or extraordinary challenges. No one wants to go to the ED or other senior staff member for help thinking through minor issues. This isn’t about a lack of trust in leadership. It is about not wanting to “bother” already overburdened leaders with something seemingly trivial. There is also a perception that elevating an issue to that level inherently elevates the issue itself. And when the rare but significant issue arises, organizational and small business leaders often feel out of their element and uncertain about how to proceed.

How we can help:
We provide employee relations and human resources coaching, consulting and support for staff, supervisors, and organizational leaders. During regularly scheduled weekly or monthly time blocks we work with staff to develop skills and address specific challenges.

One of our highly trained and experienced consultants will help supervisors and employees:

  • Strengthen supervisory skills and address performance issues
  • Develop a strong culture of supervision
  • Work with staff around establishing and attaining professional development and career goals
  • Help individuals and teams practice excellent communication and provide meaningful feedback
  • Craft clear job descriptions and goals
  • Deliver useful performance evaluations

We also provide human resources consultation to organizational leaders around sensitive personnel issues, policy development and implementation, and other matters.

Philosophy:
In the nonprofit sector, we often shy away from hierarchical terminology -- words like supervisor and boss makes us cringe. Yet is most organizations, managers must act like bosses; they must hire, orient, and train staff. They need to set goals, monitor performance and address personnel issues. Everyone is more successful when:

  • Communication is clear and consistent
  • We find meaning in our work
  • We recognize and actively address implicit bias and racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia and other discriminatory beliefs and behaviors at the individual, interpersonal and systemic level
  • We intentionally build mutually respectful, supportive relationships between supervisors and staff, and also among peers
  • Supervisors adapt their approach to meet the unique needs of each staff member
  • We trust one another’s good intentions but take responsibility for the impact our words or actions have