Organisational Culture: What Is it and why is it important?

“Organisational culture” is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot, but what does it actually mean? Intangible and difficult to define, organisational culture means different things to different people. We define is as ‘the set of values, ethics, and beliefs that define the day-to-day operations and the atmosphere at an organisation.’

In a nutshell, it’s your charity’s personality.

Why is it important?

Often seen as a ‘nice-to-have’ frippery, organisational culture is a vital component in keeping employees happy, motivated, and engaged. In fact, as research by HR platform Achievers found, it’s one of the top indicators of employee satisfaction and one of the main reasons that almost two-thirds (65%) of employees stay at an organisation.

It’s also a top priority for job seekers. A whopping 77% consider an organisation’s culture before applying for a role, and almost half of employees would leave their current job for a lower-paying opportunity at an organisation with a better culture.

Not convinced? Here’s one more stat for you. Organisations with happy employees outperform their competition by as much as 20%.  Yes, it can have a direct effect your bottom line … if this doesn’t convince you, we don’t know what will.

How to build an effective organisational culture

Organisations that nail their culture have exceptional rates of staff retention and productivity. It’s the secret sauce that takes their teams from good to exceptional. But what makes a winning organisational culture?

Here are three (of many) components that contribute to an awesome culture. We’ve also thrown in some examples of ways charities are putting them into practice.

Define and live your core values

Building shared values, and living those values, is the bedrock of a great organisational culture. They steer the way your people behave, treat one another, and go about their day-to-day work.

Take Mencap’s, for example.

• We are passionate about making the world a better place

• We are inclusive of everyone

• We are brave we challenge and try new things

• We are positive in our work and with each other

• We are kind to everyone

These core values paint a clear picture of who Mencap are, what they look for from their staff and how they approach their work.

Tip: Rather than create top-down values, give your team the opportunity to co-create them. After all, your values should be living, dynamic ideals that the whole team believe in. 

Foster strong relationships between employees

Work relationships are key to employee well-being. They can positively or negatively affect employees’ stress levels, productivity and happiness. So, if you want a happy, healthy, and united workforce, it pays to support and encourage social connections among staff.

Thirtyone:eight prioritises this with a number of initiatives, including:

• A dedicated games room for staff to use at break times, with a television, table-tennis table and table football. They run two table-tennis leagues, one for beginners and one for those who “want to get serious.

• Regular all-staff lunches, funded by the charity.

• Barbecues in the car park, cooked by the chief executive.

Prioritise employee wellbeing & work-life balance

A survey by Monster found that two in five (60%) of respondents ranked ‘well-being’ as their top or second preference when choosing an employer, with a third (34%) ranking it as their top priority.

It matters to jobseekers so it should matter to you. Ingraining it in your organisational culture is a way to show potential employees it’s a priority.

In its broadest sense, wellbeing is impacted by a number of elements, such as mental and physical health, a positive work environment, financial well-being, and healthy lifestyle choices.

Royal Holloway Students' Union ticks all these boxes with their wellbeing initiatives which include:

• Half-days on Fridays during July and August

• Birthdays off work and first-day-of-school leave for parents

• Wellbeing walks during working hours

• Staff netball, rounders and other sports focus on socialising and health

• Financial bonuses for exceptional performance

Recognise employee’s achievements

Another key component of a strong organisational culture? Making your employees feel appreciated. It may sound obvious, but a global study by the O.C. Tanner Learning Group found that 79% of people who quit their jobs cite “lack of appreciation” as their reason for leaving.

The lesson? Make gratitude part of your organisational culture.

There are loads of ways to do this. Over and above grand gestures like pay rises, bonuses, and promotions, thank you notes, gifts for staff members who go above and beyond, and acknowledging individual achievements in team meetings can go a long way to making staff feel valued.

Thirtyone:eight excels in this area too:

• As part of their appraisal process, staff who have achieved over and above expectation in a given year are given a cash bonus

• Staff receive gift vouchers and cards on their birthdays, signed by the chair of trustees, along with a note of thanks for their dedication

Final Word

Organisational fit is an important aspect of the recruitment process. If you want some help/advice on hiring the right people for your team, give us a call on 020 3750 3111

Four online tools to help you get ahead in your job search

Job hunting is hard work, isn’t it? Between writing cover letters, and customising your CV, to researching organisations and preparing for interviews, it’s time consuming, stressful, and requires a lot of effort.

The good news is, there are a wealth of free, online tools you can utilise to save time and optimise your chances of success.

Let’s get into it.

1.      Grammarly

During the initial screening process, recruiters spend an average of just 6-8 seconds scanning CV’s.  

This means you have precious seconds to make a solid first impression.

If your CV is poorly written, unfocused, or littered with spelling and grammar mistakes, it could cost you the job before you’ve made it past the first hurdle.

But don’t fret. If your English skills aren’t up to scratch, help is at hand.

Enter Grammarly.

Grammarly is an AI-powered writing assistant that flags potential issues with grammar, spelling, punctuation, clarity, tone, and writing style.

As you write, it underlines issues, suggests alternatives, and explains how the corrections will improve your writing.

The basic version is free to use. You can either download the app (doing this will ensure Grammarly checks everything you write automatically), or cut and paste your text into the programme online.

2.      Word cloud generator

With the rise of applicant tracking systems, it's more important than ever to include the right keywords in your CV.

For the unfamiliar, keywords are ideas/topics that define what a piece of copy is about. They're the words and phrases people type into search engines to discover content.

Applicant tracking systems (ATS) qualify candidates by scanning CVs online for keywords provided by the hirer. If you use the right words to describe your skills and experience in your CV, the ATS will spot it and forward your details on to the hiring manager.

How do you know which keywords to incorporate?

This is where a word cloud generator can come in handy.

To figure out your keywords, take three job listings for positions you want to apply for and paste them into the generator. The resulting image will show you which words occur most frequently in those listings.

These are the terms you should highlight in your CV to get past the hiring bots.

Tip: The bigger the word, the more important it is.

3.      Yoodli Speech Coach

Do you fall apart in interviews? Do presentations make your knees quake? Get some coaching from Yoodli!

This clever AI-enabled communication coach can help you hone your speaking skills without the pressure of an interview panel.

How does it work?

You can either upload a pre-recorded clip of your presentation/interview answers to the app or record them in real-time. You then click a button, and the software analyses your delivery.

It will point out filler words (such as “um” or “ah”), repetitive phrases, hedging words (like, “you know”), non-inclusive words (such as saying “guys” instead of “folks”) and whether you’re talking too fast or too hesitantly.

At the end, the app will give you a confidence score, along with tips for improvement.

There are also a series of fun games to help you improve your impromptu speaking and manage your public speaking anxiety. For example, one of the games will challenge you to see how long you can talk without, um, saying a filler word. While another will feed you seemingly random words to work into a real-time conversation.

Tip: This video gives you the lowdown on how to use it.

4. LinkedIn interview prep tool

You probably use LinkedIn to search and apply for jobs. The likelihood is you use it to research organisations you’re interviewing with. But did you it can help you ace your interview?

LinkedIn’s interview preparation tool gives you access to a long list of commonly asked interview questions, such as ‘what is your greatest strength’ along with sample answers from professionals, and video tips from hiring managers on how to best answer them.

While the questions aren’t specific to the fundraising sector, the tool will give you a good idea of the sort of information to include in your own answers.

You can also practice your responses to interview questions by recording them on video. Your answers will only be visible to you and can be reviewed at any time.

Tip: You can view some of the content as a basic member, but to make the most of the feature, you need to be a premium member. Check out how you can try Premium for free.

Final Word

Ready to find your next fundraising role? Why not take advantage of these tools to get ahead?

If you’d prefer some good old fashioned face-to-face interview coaching, we can help. Give us a call on 020 3750 3111 or email info@bamboofundraising.co.uk to get started.

Introducing Microlink

The disability employment gap in the UK currently stands at 29.8%, which means more than two million talented people are missing out on job opportunities.

As staunch disability advocates, we believe that disability shouldn’t stop anyone from having a fulfilling work life and we champion organisations that feel the same way in our blog.

In this post, we’re focusing on Microlink.

What is Microlink?

The UK’s leading provider of assistive technology, workplace adjustments and accessibility solutions, Microlink has been revolutionising accessibility in the workplace since 1992. 

They provide tools, technology, training and support to ensure organisations and education providers to ensure they meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010, and are properly equipped to accommodate disabled employees.

Microlink’s services

Microlink offer a wide range of services – (you can see the full list here), but in this blog post, we’re going to focus on three of their key offerings.

MiCase

Microlink’s core offering is MiCase – a one-stop, made-to-measure workplace adjustment service.

The service comprises of four components:

Assessment: Microlink advisors visit the workplace and carry out an assessment to identify obstacles and barriers (this covers both the physical and digital environments).

Consultation: They produce a report recommending cost-effective solutions (i.e., technology/software/products), along with a proposed timeline of implementation. 

Training: Solutions are delivered, and training is provided to staff.

Monitoring: Productivity is measured to demonstrate ROI.

The service costs circa. £750 and the entire process takes around 20 days.

Accessibility recruitment service

Microlink’s accessibility recruitment service ensures organisations’ recruitment practices are inclusive and accessible, to enable them to reach the broadest pool of talent.

They do this by providing audits on every stage of the recruitment process, from job descriptions and advertising to interviews and onboarding.

They then highlight potential obstacles, recommend solutions (often in the form of assistive technology), and work with organisations to implement them.

Coaching

Microlink also offer a series of coaching programmes.

Workplace strategy Coaching

 They work 1:1 with disabled employees to help them find practical solutions to challenges, and develop sustainable strategies for their condition.

Manager Coaching

In these sessions, Microlink experts advise managers on how to best support their employees. After eight hours of coaching, coaches are given an ILM certification (as evidence of CPD).

Co-coaching

These sessions explore the difficulties faced by employers and their colleagues and helps them find new ways to communicate and work together more effectively.

Group Coaching

Group coaching encourages disabled employees to share strategies, while making contacts through peer support. The sessions cover concentration, working memory, time management, organisation, communication, wellbeing, and any other topics the group feel they would benefit from.

Each participant receives a brief individualised report detailing their personal strategies and strengths that can be shared with their employer.

Want to find out how Microlink can help you make your workplace more accessible? Reach out to them at wpa@microlinkpc.com or give them a call on 02380 240 300 to get started.

How to use LinkedIn for fundraising

If you read our creatively named ‘social media fundraising part one’ post, you’ll know that over the coming months, we’re going to be dedicating some blog space to digital fundraising, and more specifically, how you can utilise the various social media platforms to boost your fundraising income.

First up is LinkedIn.

From growing your professional network, to using the platform's tools to support your fundraising efforts, get ready for some LinkedIn learning, Bamboo-style.

Let’s dive in.

LinkedIn by numbers

LinkedIn is the largest professional networking site in the world. Launched in 2003 and bought by Microsoft in 2016, it boasts more than 875 million users across 200 countries.

In terms of demographics, 52% of users identify as male, and 42.8% as female. Around 60% are aged 25-34, closely followed by 18-24 year-olds.

Different from the rest

While other social media platforms focus on social networking, LinkedIn specialises in business networking. Its less about what you did last weekend and more about how you sealed then deal with your latest corporate partner.

In addition to schmoozing, you can use LinkedIn to advertise jobs, share content, promote events, and be a voice in relevant conversations.

It’s worth noting that, unlike other social media platforms, you cannot accept donations on LinkedIn, but it’s the perfect platform to identify prospective corporate donors/HNWI’s and cultivate relationships with them.

How can you use LinkedIn to fundraise?

Now you know what LinkedIn is and who uses it, let’s look at how charities like yours can make the most of the platform's huge user base.

1.    Find and engage with new donors

When it comes to raising awareness, expanding the reach of your fundraising efforts, and connecting with potential donors, LinkedIn is the place to be.

Research shows that 98% of LinkedIn users donate to good causes at least once a year, with a third donating every month, and one in five donating on a weekly basis. Those are good odds, right?

The platform’s search function makes it easy to find and reach out to relevant organisations, individuals and groups.

Tip: Going in cold is frowned upon, so be sure to nurture new relationships before hitting them with an ask.

2.    Share engaging and relevant content

Amazingly, only 1% of LinkedIn users share content weekly. This means a whole lot of charities are missing out on a prime opportunity to engage with potential donors.

However, this means you have a prime opportunity to stand out. Share content that inspires people to take action, whether its interviews with beneficiaries, event footage, impact stats, or research papers that highlight the need for your work.

One charity that does content creation well is Save the Children International. Why? They post regularly, using striking imagery, short emotive videos, and minimal text – ideal fodder for time pressed businesspeople.

3.    Be active on LinkedIn groups

An effective way to create meaningful conversations with prospects is by joining groups related to your cause and adding your voice to the conversation.

Answer people’s questions, offer advice and support, share useful links, and lead them to your website (if relevant). The objective here is to be helpful, not overly promotional.

You can take it a step further by setting up your own group.

4.    Research and connect with potential corporate partners

LinkedIn is the perfect platform for identifying and reaching out to potential corporate partners, as CEOs, Directors, and other key decision-makers are a mere DM away.

You can find out who you need to speak to by using the handy people tab on company profiles.

Once you’ve established who this is, start a conversation. But avoid sending a ‘copy and paste’ message that adds no value. Make it personal. Tailor it to the individual and company you hope to partner with.

5.    Take advantage of LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator allows charities to develop, grow and manage donor and prospect relationships. Using the tool, you can work out the best path to engage prospects, identify mutual connections that can provide warm introductions, and research prospects to personalise your messages.

6.    Apply for a LinkedIn Ad Grant

The Ad Grants programme allows charities to advertise on LinkedIn for free. The programme accepts applications at certain points during the year and is open to charities focused on:

●      Racial and gender equity

●      Economic opportunity for professionals facing barriers

●      Environmental sustainability

Ad Grants can be used for building awareness, supporting large-scale initiatives, hiring fundraising professionals, recruiting volunteers, generating donations, and attracting corporate partners.

7.    Add a custom button to your page

You can add a custom button to your LinkedIn profile that leads to the donation page on your website or a page for an urgent appeal.

Final Word

LinkedIn is a powerful tool for charity fundraising. We’ve shared seven ways that your charity can use the platform to support your fundraising. It’s not an exhaustive list, but it’s a great start, don’t you think?

We suggest that you sign up and start making the most of what LinkedIn can offer your charity. Let us know how you get on.

In the meantime, if you’re looking for a digital expert to help you manage your social media fundraising. Give us a call on 020 3750 3111 or info@bamboofundraising.co.uk to find out more.

The benefits of fixed term-contracts

If you’ve been trawling the job sites for your first fundraising role, you’ve probably noticed a fair number of them are offered on a fixed-term contract (FTC) basis.

For the unfamiliar, a fixed-term contract is a temporary role with a specific end date, (usually somewhere between three months and three years).

Granted, this may sound less attractive than a permanent role, but before you discard FTC’s altogether, consider this: Fixed term contracts offer a ton of advantages that permanent roles don’t.

Here are five reasons to consider a fixed-term contract.

1. They can help you break into the charity sector

If you’re looking to move into the sector (and have relevant, transferable skills), a fixed-term maternity contract could provide you with the perfect opportunity to shine. And if that person decides not to return? You could be in with a good chance of being made permanent.

2. There’s less competition

The temporary nature of fixed-term contracts means they’re not as highly sought after as permanent roles. This can play to your advantage if you’re new to the sector or wanting to gain experience to go for a more senior permanent role.

3. You’ll pick up new skills

No two charities are the same. They use different tools, CRMs, and take different approaches to fundraising and donor care. FTC’s will enable you to pick-up different skills and techniques, enabling you to grow and develop in a way you may not have in a permanent role.

4. You can try out organisations

Maybe you know a career in fundraising is for you, but you don’t know what sort of charity you want to work for. Fixed-term contracts provide a great opportunity to explore options while gaining valuable experience.

The best bit? When you find the cause you’re passionate about, you’ll already have a foot in the door.

5. You may earn more

Fixed term contracts care often paid at higher rates than permanent roles – either because they require specialist skills, the funding comes from a different budget to that of the permanent staff, and/or an allowance is made for the temporary nature of the role.

6. Your contract may be extended

Just because you start on an FTC doesn't mean the contract will end when it’s meant to … the charity may secure more funding for the role and extend your contract, or you might blow the socks off the hiring manager and be offered a permanent contract.

7. You get the same rights as permanent workers

As a contractor, you’ll be entitled to the same rights, benefits, and opportunities as permanent employees. The only difference is your employment will have an end date.

Final Word

Fixed-term contracts come with less job security than permanent roles. For that reason, they won’t be a great fit for everyone. But, if you’re trying to move into the sector, or you want to get some serious experience under your belt,

Want to know what opportunities are out there? Give us a call on 020 3750 3111 to find out.