Staff Excellence

Staff are valued through:

• compensation
• relevant, timely performance reviews
• ongoing review and adjustment to staff programs (AFP, Travel plan, etc.)
• Recruitment
• Staff Training and Development

Photo: Rainbow Weinstock

The Goal
NOLS attracts and develops excellent staff who are motivated to support and provide exceptional student experiences. To meet future needs, our focus will be both on retention and development of current staff while recruiting additional staff to meet our future needs. To achieve this, NOLS will raise faculty and staff compensation to a level that is comparable to nonprofit peers in outdoor education and closer to other nonprofit organizations of similar size and complexity. Nominal aggregate salary spending will be increased by 10% in calendar year 2008 and again in 2009; 6% in 2010; and at a rate roughly parallel to inflation in 2011 to 2013.

Additional investment will be made in recruitment; initial and continuing instructor training; communications with staff and instructors; analysis and refinement of staff travel plans; and career mentoring, development, and planning.

These compensation and spending increases will depend on the simultaneous achievement of the school’s goals for annual net asset gains as a percentage of revenues (3%), the conclusion by the board of trustees and executive director team that they will be sustainable, and the continuing achievement of NOLS’ other primary organizational goals.

Context
NOLS strives to attract, recruit, and retain the best intown and instructional staff in the outdoor education industry. Exceptional faculty and staff are the lifeblood of the NOLS educational experience. We have a 40-year history of benefiting from the passion and dedication of our staff to implement our mission. The school, out of necessity, also has a long history of compensating below nonprofit market rates—relying on passion and dedication to retain and motivate our staff. We believe that NOLS has grown to a scale of operations and philanthropic support that allow us to increase our compensation spending.

Implementation
Over the term of this plan, a leading budget priority will be the achievement of this faculty and staff retention-related goal. Dedication, passion, and the quality of our mission, values, program, students, and community will, however, remain the primary motivators for our faculty and staff. Thus, the achievement of this plan in its totality is meant to strengthen those bonds and improve staff recruitment and retention.

Clear communication with faculty and staff will continue to be a priority for the term of this plan and thereafter. Through staff meetings, individual assessments, and feedback discussions, faculty and staff should understand how their work is perceived, what additional training is available, how their careers with NOLS can be expected to evolve, and what opportunities for additional work and advancement will realistically be available to them.

Recognizing that many NOLS staff will inevitably move into new careers, more attention will also be directed in each annual plan toward the development of career counseling and networking services to assist employees as they further their career at NOLS or assist them in their pursuit of different career opportunities. As staff transition away from NOLS, we will encourage ongoing relationships as volunteers, alumni supporters, and part-time instructors.

Further Goals and Tactics
1. Staff are valued for their contributions to outstanding student experiences and educational outcomes.

a. Compensation
Targeted overall increases of 10%, 10%, and 6% respectively for calendar ’08–’10 (28.3% overall) provided that:

i. the planned increases are sustainable;
ii. NOLS achieves its financial goals including, without limitation, annual net asset gains of 3% or greater; and,
iii. NOLS continues to achieve organizational success.

Budgeted increases from ’11–’13 will roughly parallel inflation rates as NOLS addresses other strategic priorities. This also relies on such increases being sustainable.

b. Travel expenses: Review effectiveness of travel plan and make adjustments as appropriate and affordable.

c. Performance appraisal: All employees receive at least one comprehensive performance appraisal annually that provides growth-oriented positive and constructive feedback.

d. Staff advisory work groups: Staff advisory work groups (intown, field staff, and WMI instructors) inform decision-making on compensation and other issues.

e. Review effectiveness of faculty programs such as Annual Field Program (AFP), WMI Annual Position (WAP), Instructor Development Fund (IDF), and Recognition of Professional Experience (ROPE) and make adjustments as appropriate.

2. NOLS recruits excellent staff.

a. Compensation goal referenced in 1(a) above has focus, in part, on entry-level compensation for intown staff and WMI and NOLS faculty ensuring that NOLS attracts the best new staff.

b. Instructor Course (IC) enrollment equals at least 25% of the projected number of field staff for the year.

c. IC scholarships represent 50% of overall IC tuition.

d. Establish merit-based scholarship programs with four partnership colleges/universities. Scholarship will cover the full tuition for an IC.

e. Publications: Opportunities for working at NOLS as intown staff and faculty featured in various NOLS publications, e-news, and web media.

f. We will increase numbers of WMI/NOLS field instructor crossover staff.

g. Grow our WMI faculty to meet future needs.

h. Staffing office expands its resources to include recruitment/mentorship position.

i. Initiate and offer yearly New Zealand Instructor Course until sufficient local New Zealand and Australian staff needs are met.

j. Achieve our staff diversity goals as outlined in the diversity strategic goal.

3. NOLS develops its best staff.

a. Development: NOLS will offer its staff comprehensive career development from the hiring process forward, including ongoing mentoring, coaching, and a dynamic staff seminar program to both enable staff to grow and NOLS to meet staffing needs.

b. Opportunities/succession: Supervisors will collaborate with our best staff to identify appropriate new opportunities for staff to remain challenged and invested in the NOLS mission, to ensure a system of effective succession, and to provide rewarding career opportunities.

c. Annual field staff meeting: We will continue to organize a WMI annual staff meeting and we will also initiate an annual field staff meeting with a strong emphasis on Annual Field Program staff attending as a means of providing continuing education for all field staff.

d. New employee orientation: Human resources will offer new employee orientation on a seasonal basis.