TALENT MANAGEMENT

BUILDING TALENT WHEN NO LUCRATIVE EXTRINSIC REWARDS TO OFFER:

AN NGO EXPERIENCE

The answer to What Is It for Me (WIIFM) in a talent development initiative within a business setting may
be obvious; promotion, increase in pay, performance reward and the list can go on. What will be the
situation if the setting does not have those in the offering? Those are the challenges you will face in an
NGO settings.

I am spearheading a project in Leadership development coined as M.K.I. Talent Development program. It

is a comprehensive and integrated leadership development program and into it sixth years with 105
NGOs activists have graduated from it. The settings and dynamics are very much different compared to
the business world; one of the biggest challenge is how do you motivate the activists of whom mostly
are volunteers and with no tangible reward to dangle? I found the following approach helpful (though
applicable to business world but the slant will be very different)

1. Emphasis on the “big picture”: The big picture for the activists will be intrinsic; it answers the
big why of their life journey, which include extending “Mercy” (rahmah) to humankind, creating
a sense of purpose beyond the materialistic reward and sense of accomplishment in life.
2. In-built continuous learning: Activists are generally adventurous people, open opportunities for
them to participate in multiple projects which will allow them to exercise their creativities
3. Empower them: Activists are self-empowering people, provide plenty of spaces for them to
decide and create
4. Generate network : facilitate the networking and enhance using technologies
5. Enhance the mentoring process: Put in place a strong mentoring program and activists will
appreciate that because they are passionate about learning people who have created success in
their field