Insights
Are You Paid What You Are Worth? Non-Profit Compensation Statistics
Looking to find out what Executive Directors and CEOs of top non-profits earn? You’ve come to the right place. The Batten Group places non-profit executives in positions all over the United States. Typically, those in [...]
4 Critical Compensation Parameters Non-Profits Must Know in 2017
Maintain an Independent Compensation Committee on the Board Running a large non-profit is complex. Due to that complexity, The Batten Group, believes you have to pay fair market value in order to get the best [...]
7 Key Drivers of Sustainability in Non-Profits
Money! Without money, there is no mission and there is no team. Fundraising and development have to be run by the best and the brightest team members. Fundraising activities should also be viewed as [...]
The Best Leadership Advice I Ever Received for Non-Profits
I’ve collected a lot of wisdom over the decades spent in executive leadership for non-profits and now near a decade in placing high-level talent for executive positions in non-profits. One of the best pieces of [...]
3 Technology Platforms Non-Profits Need For The Future
Peer to Peer (P2P) Digital Fundraising Platforms If non-profits want to maximize the impact of their very best constituents and fundraising teams, they must enable them with their own fundraising microsite. These landing page websites [...]
Making the Right Hire: Assessing a Candidate’s Fit With Your Organization
The process of ensuring that a candidate will be a good cultural fit for your organization can be roughly divided into three steps. Ideally, the first two steps should be completed before you even start [...]
9 Ways to Improve Your Hiring Process
One of the most important ongoing tasks you'll have as a business leader is hiring. It's not easy, it's a time-consuming process with monetary and reputational consequences if you make a bad hire. Taking the [...]
3 Ways to Perform Better Under Pressure
How to Prepare Yourself to Give the Performance of Your Life It's a Mental Game -- What separates good athletes from extraordinary athletes is often their ability to perform in high pressure situations. "The key difference [...]
Mistakes aren’t the issue. What you do with them is.
We ask this question to every candidate we are vetting for our clients: "Tell me about a time when you made a big mistake." Then we wait to see what they say. True, confident leaders [...]
How to Lose Your Best Employees in 10 Easy Steps
What could be more essential to organizational success and the bottom line than talent? Yet many of the people in our employ continue to be marginalized and neglected, oftent taking a backseat to the various [...]
Become A Leader People Want To Work For: 5 Key Traits
Are you a great leader? There are five key traits to a great leader: 1. Vision 2. Passion 3. Decision Making Abilities 4. Team Building Skills 5. Character Key Trait #1: You must have a [...]
Counter Offer — Just Don’t Take It!
Counteroffer - Road to Career Ruin Picture this scenario: After working several years for your current company, you feel your job has become stagnant. The working conditions have declined, or were never what you expected, [...]
Effective Delegation in Three Simple Steps
Effective Delegation in Three Simple Steps Delegation isn’t a do-it and forget-it action. “Very rarely can you have one conversation and hand somebody a project, and then boom, it magically appears exactly as you expected,” [...]
“Plan A” For Growing Future Leaders
"Plan A" For Growing Future Leaders: A Five Step Process While resource constraints are one challenge most nonprofits face, the biggest obstacle to improved leadership development may be the behavior of leaders. Many nonprofit leaders [...]
Seven Traits of Great Leaders
Seven Traits of Great Leaders Great leaders identify, cultivate, and inspire enthusiastic followers. Some people are successful but are not leaders. They work best on their own and enrich themselves. Great leaders enlist the cooperation, [...]
5 Hiring Lessons From March Madness
Evaluate candidates using these basketball analogies: Initial Cuts: Teams are cut form the tournament because of their record. When screening applicants, hold the same philosophy. We advise our clients to have one or two deal breakers [...]
25 Ways To Spot A Leader You Can Trust
Before everything else, determine if people are trustworthy. But, what if time is short and schedules full? How can you quickly spot someone you can trust? Leaders you can trust: Acknowledge they don't know. Treat waiters [...]
What will 2014 bring and what should organizations and individuals expect from the continued digital revolution?
Forbes Magazine contributor, Ekaterina Walter interviewed 26 marketing gurus for their thought-provoking expert opinions. Here are 3 opinions. Click here to read all 26. What Is Really Important To Me? With the rise of social media, there has [...]
Ten Technologies Used by Charitable Organizations in Innovative Ways:
Technology for Good identifies ten technologies being used by charitable organizations in innovative ways. The report briefly introduces each technology and provides examples of how those technologies are being used. In determining the top ten trends, we chose [...]
Decision-making is one of your greatest leadership challenges.
Chances are you'll flounder until you make the two decision that enable you to start right and end well. These decisions come before the others. Starting right. Kouzes and Posner said, "Everything you will ever [...]
The best anglers not only know how to fish…they know where to fish.
Smart anglers know that you just don't walk out the door with a stick, some twine, a hook, and old bait and expect to land the big one. The great ones, like The Batten Group know that [...]
Back to Basics Gets Results
The most successful executive search consultants are part salesman, career counselor, consultant, advisor, fact finder, archaeologist, and psychiatrist. They are balanced in their advice. They present both sides of the story, ask candidates a multitude [...]
Employers Say Bad Hires Negatively Affected Business Last Year
New research reveals that 66 percent of U.S. employers experience losses in business last year due to bad hires. But according to the survey of more than 6,000 hiring professionals worldwide, bad hires - individuals who [...]
March Madness Leadership Lessons
"March Madness" is upon us. Over a few weeks, millions will watch the nation's top college basketball teams compete to become the 2013 NCAA champion. As you watch the tournament this year, consider the way [...]
The Secret of Leadership in 5 Letters
The Secret of leadership in five letters: S E R V E (from Ken Blanchard and Mark Miller) S is for See the future: envision and communication a compelling picture of a preferred future. What do I want to be [...]