Simona Rigoni | HRM Oxfam Italia | 27th October 2016
Human resources are a strategic and yet an extremely complex function in all organisations, with an ability to make the difference both in and out of the organisation. In Italy, we do not reflect enough on the cruciality of this department within the non profit sector, and the importance of reflecting on the tools and challenges it faces. Through the project #Working4HRM the Social Change School wants to pose the question on the human resources, as an organizative function rather than a professional role, at the center of the discussion and dialogue with the HRM of the major organisations to focus on the actual topics and open issues.
This is why we met Simona Rigoni, HRM for Oxfam Italia, for an open discussion on topicsof importance that we should question and individually reflect on.
Simona Rigoni, explained the most interesting elements of the human resources in the non profit, confronting the Italian reality along with the rest of Europe.
- Focus on the transversal competences
Non profit organisations are complex, it is not enough to be a manager with excellent technical competences, but it is extremely necessary to have transversal skills. Over the years, we supported the personal growth movement: not just from the technical point of view (technical competences), but also from the transversal competences part (e.g. team management).
At an international level, a focus change was important: the international networks that deals with training, mainly looked at the managerial aspects (leadership, finding new talents in the group, evaluating people’s paths…). In Italy, the dialogue is open and active, but within our NGOs, there has been little steps taken towards the direction of change.
- The adjustment of the performance and performance management cycle.
Oxfam Italia, implemented and put into practice the tools from the Confederation. We are attaining specific training programmes on performance, with a series of educational stages, both online and face-to-face, tailored to the Oxfam reality. Now, we use the 360 degrees evaluation model, a tool that is already applied by different international NGOs. The use of this technique has been enriching because it has allowed managers to identify specific support paths like coaching on an individual basis.
The questions (born also from the comparison with international realities) about performance are: how much should it influence the retribution? Do we also need to include the scores in the evaluation? These are only some of the issues which we should reflect on, during a dialogue between HRMs of the Italian non profit.
- The resourcing capacity: recruitment and internal resourcing.
It falls into the main activities of the HR, even if a lot depends on the organisation. This process intends to discover people/talents inside (outside) the team, with competences, aspiration, training, that could cover other roles, achieving major positive results and will also promoting the feeling of professional satisfication.
- How to keep the talents in the organisations
This issue is strictly correlated to the internal turn over. Oxfam Italy, does not have a high turnover, it is applicable only to some positions that are naturally less stable. On this note, NGOs are invited to elaborate strategies in order to retain talented individuals.
