Do you know your organization's strategy? Can you describe it (in 50 words or less)? And if you can, what are the chances that your description matches the description of the person who sits next to you?

Yesterday, Ascendant hosted a nonprofit and government networking breakfast that was focused on performance management. Over 80 people confirmed their attendance, and Dr. David Norton, creator of the Balanced Scorecard, gave a keynote address.

Nonprofits, like many other organizations have to manage their hiring process carefully. They especially need to be careful when considering internal candidates. Bridgestar recently wrote an article titled "Considering and evaluating Internal Candidates for Senior-Level Nonprofit Positions." In this article, they suggest several best practice strategies.

Last week the IRS introduced new regulations that increased the salary information that must be disclosed on the Form 990. Are we sure this is the focus that will drive visibility and improved management of nonprofits?

We heard you! We were fortunate to have over 75 of you at our breakfast in July, and we have spoken to many of you about your challenges and goals for performance management. The feedback was resounding: you would like to develop or improve your Balanced Scorecard programs. We also heard that you would like to learn from each other and do so in a cost effective manner. For this reason, we are launching two community-based training sessions on October 14th.

I've worked with many Balanced Scorecard organizations, and when it comes time to think about Learning and Growth (sometimes called the People perspective), leaders inevitably come up with an objective called "Hiring, Developing, and Retaining Talent." The measure can be different for different organizations depending on their strategy, but there is always a discussion about whether "employee turnover" should be the right measure for the organization.