The 3 stages of giving Deference, arrogance and inquiry

The 3 stages of giving Deference, arrogance and inquiryThe 3 stages of giving Deference, arrogance and inquiryIf you had US $1 million to give to charities aiming to eradicate poverty, how would you do it?Would you support a soup kitchen? A financial literacy program? Educational scholarships? Organizations pressing for policy changes?Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreI worked for ohne gewinnerzielungsabsichts for many years before realizing the way I approached solving social harte nusss said more about me than it did about the problem I wanted to solve. If I really wanted to make a difference, I had to think about how I was thinking about the problem. And, if I wanted to make a difference at a broader level, I had to help donors and nonprofit leaders think about how they think.Nonprofit fundraisers consider many demographic characteristics to explain and predict charitable givin g, such as age, gender, income, and marital and parental status. As far as I could tell, no scholars had considered how people think as a category worth considering.My quest led me to obtain my Ph.D. and learn to analyze how an individuals thinking changes over time. Along the way, I found that how people construct their ideas influences their philanthropic choices, and that how donors think is as important as what they think.How donors thinkHuman beings develop increasingly complex ways of making sense of the world over the course of a lifetime. To a large extent, this is intuitive you probably expect a 20-year-old to think about many things differently than a 50-year-old. How people think, however, is largely unconscious. People are rarely aware of how they are thinking in the moment.Yet how individuals think influences how they interpret the world, how they feel and how they behave. And, as I explain in a recent article in Nonprofit Management Leadership, how donors think also influences how they choose to give.Through a series of two in-depth interviews, I interviewed 11 philanthropists about wherbeie and how they give, and I assessed the complexity with which they approached their giving. This pilot study amassed preliminary evidence linking how people think to their ideas about charitable giving.Early stagesOne of the people I interviewed is a woman Ill call Paula. Shes an executive who currently manages a sizable foundation. Prior to this, she owned her own business. She has about seven years of experience in philanthropy and she spends a lot of time working with nonprofits. Paula did two things throughout her interviews She hesitated when asked to speak her mind and she frequently deferred to other peoples opinions. Despite her decades of professional experience, she still leaned on the ideas of others to make sense of the world.Developmental theorists scholars of how people grow and change over time like Robert Kegan and William Torbert would desc ribe this as an early stage of development, by which they mean being unable to separate your own ideas from what others think. Therefore, Paula leans on others ideas, experience and feelings to decide what to do.Middle stagesJoseph is a businessman with decades of experience donating to nonprofits, working on nonprofit boards and serving as a nonprofit executive director. He feels confident that hes learned a thing or two about how nonprofits should be managed. When I asked what he wanted other philanthropists to know, he said most nonprofits should probably close down.While they are passion-rich, theyre strategy-poor, he said. They are sopping up resources dollars and board members for organizations that will never become sustainable or scaled.On the surface, his quote may seem like the counsel of a confident person who has been there, done that. What strikes me, however, is that Joseph is doing something Paula is not expressing his own opinion, based on his experience and expert ise.Developmental theorists would describe this as a middle stage of development, in which people draw from a variety of experiences, knowledge and perspectives to come up with their own original ideas.You might notice one other thing Joseph doesnt question his own opinion. He argues that the only reason to run a nonprofit is to make a big impact on the problems addressed by its mission. He does not wonder if there might be other valid reasons, such as developing community-based relationships, addressing local needs or providing services to populations not served by larger programs. The ability to question your own assumptions marks the transition from middle to later stages of development.Later stagesPhyllis is another successful executive and a longtime philanthropist. She once took part in a nonprofit evaluation conference just for the sake of learning. There, she attended a session on a new way for donors to evaluate the causes they support.She noticed audience members hanging their heads, perhaps lamenting that their old ways of doing evaluation were insufficient and they needed to learn yet another new technique to do it right. Phyllis had a different perspective We have to find new ways of talking about impact and evaluating impact, and none of the evaluation methods is going to be the answer.She proceeded to consider that philanthropists and foundations needed to change how they were thinking about evaluation the answer wasnt a new technique, but an evaluation of why evaluation was done in the first place.Thinking about the purpose of evaluation, she reasoned, would free leaders and donors from overly rigid approaches.Here, Phyllis is demonstrating a subtle but important shift from focusing on what to think to focusing on how to think, and specifically to questioning the assumptions behind how and why nonprofits evaluate their programs. In thinking about how to think about evaluation, Phyllis opens up new possibilities for unterstellung groups and th eir donors.Experts would describe this as a movement toward a later stage of development, in which people question and deconstruct the assumptions behind their ideas. It is very rare and most people dont get to the point where they do this regularly or without effort, according to developmental theorists.How donors giveThe dollars Phyllis gives away are no better or more important than Paulas or Josephs. However, if any of them want to solve the complex problems facing humanity today, I believe that they must each think about how they think about these problems.For example, I observed that donors in earlier stages of development spoke often of what could be described as reactive giving donations that address what feels like urgent, immediate needs, like feeding the homeless right away.Donors in middle stages of development preferred to make strategic gifts that resulted in outcomes they considered to be important, such as increasing the number of low-income students who go to colle ge.Donors in later stages of development talked about long-term impact. Their discussions interwove the short- and medium-term activities into a long-term, often generational perspective. They often funded educational opportunities that improved staffs ability to do their job, to build the capacity of the organizations they chose to support.There is no one right way to give. Each of these perspectives adds value.While this was a pilot study, my findings are consistent with what developmental scholars have found How people think the structure of their thoughts informs their thoughts and actions. And this, I believe, is worth thinking about. Especially if philanthropists want to solve complex problems.Jennifer A. Jones, Assistant Professor of Nonprofit Management and Leadership, University of FloridaThis article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you ha ppyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

Highest Paying Government Jobs

Highest Paying Government JobsHighest Paying Government Jobs The federal government has a vast variety of jobs available within it, but one thing they have in common is the potential for good pay. In 2017 , the average annual base salary for federal government workers was $84,913, and mora than 95 percent were covered for retirement through the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) or Civil Service Retirement.The federal government is rather regimented in its approach to salaries and salary data collection. Jobs are typically paid according to 15 different pay grades , which each have 10 salary steps within them. This means the lowest paying job is grade 1, step 1, which pays $19,048 yearly, and the highest paying job is grade 15, step 10, which pays $138,572 per year, with small variations. The fruchtwein-staffed agency is the Department of Defense, which accounts for 35 percent of the federal workforce, followed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, which accounts for around 18 percent of federal workers.Believe it or not, the federal government is the largest employer in the United States, providing employment to more than 2 million civilian workers. Careers in the federal government run the gamut from engineering to nursing to budget analysis. If youre considering a job in the private sector, its worth looking into opportunities for the same job within the government. Federal jobs typically offer substantial benefits, the opportunity for pensions and retirement help, and on top of that all, a good salary. Here weve compiled a list of highly paying jobs within the government.Glassdoor Salary sortiment $45,000 $183,000Air besucherzahlen controllers manage the flow of airplanes into and out of the airspace around an airport. They ensure that aircraft take off, land and travel through the skies safely, and in a timely manner. They also help guide pilots during landing and takeoff. Being an aircraft controller requires the ability t o concentrate intensely for long periods of time, and to make quick, clear, decisive actions. There are a variety of paths that lead to becoming an air traffic controller, and not all of them require a college education. If you have air traffic controlling experience in the military, or if you attend an air traffic collegiate training initiative or have at least three years of progressively responsible work experience in the field - and then pass the Federal Aviation Administration pre-employment test and an interview - you can still become an air traffic controller.Glassdoor Salary Range $60,000 $117,000Civil engineers design, construct and implement infrastructure projects in the public and private sector. The projects that civil engineers typically work on include roads, dams, bridges, building, airports and waste treatment facilities. Becoming a civil engineer requires at least a bachelors degree in the subject. While technically after this you can apply for professional eng ineer (PE) certification, typically civil engineers go on to complete a masters degree in the subject, or in some cases a Ph.D. Many states also require civil engineers to gain Engineer in Training (EIT) status before becoming employed or working as an intern.Glassdoor Salary Range $47,000 $87,000Budget analysts develop, execute and analyze budgets. They also make future forecasts for the budget needs of organizations, and create reports on the past effectiveness of an organizations budgets. Typically, budget analysts go into the profession with a bachelors degree, and sometimes a masters degree, in finance, accounting, economics or business.Glassdoor Salary Range $42,000 $87,000Human resources, or HR, managers are the administrative brains of an organization. They often take care of recruiting, interviewing and hiring new staff. They also work as a liaison between employees and an organizations management, and make sure that employees are listened to and taken care of. HR manag ers may not require a college degree, but typical fields to major in for HR managers are communications, psychology, business management and information technology.Glassdoor Salary Range $75,000 $154,000Computer scientist is a broad term that covers many job functions relating to programming software and using technology to solve problems. Computer scientists may have varying levels of education, ranging from a bachelors to a masters to a Ph.D. Although it is more uncommon, some computer scientists are self-taught.Glassdoor Salary Range $40,000 $77,000Accountants collect, analyze, organize and make use of the financial records of their clients. They help file taxes, create budgets, analyze past and future financial performance of an organization, and keep accounting records. Becoming an accountant typically requires a bachelors degree, and sometimes a masters degree, in accounting, as well as gaining licensure as a certified public accountant (CPA).Glassdoor Salary Range $43,0 00 $79,000An auditor reviews and analyzes the financial records and taxes of individuals, companies, organizations and government agencies. They check for errors, evaluate the organizations financial performance, check for proper documentation and ensure that financial statements and taxes are accurate. Becoming an auditor requires a bachelors degree in a relevant field, as well as certification.Glassdoor Salary Range $78,000 $206,000Many United States Government departments and agencies employ physicians, from the Department of Veterans Affairs to the Central Intelligence Agency. The duties of a physician may vary widely depending on which department or agency he or she is working for. Becoming a physician is one of the most education-intensive career paths, requiring a bachelors degree, at least four years of medical school, successful completion of the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) and between three and seven years of residency training.Glassdoor Salary Ra nge $57,000 $105,000Mechanical engineers are the brains behind the design, construction, implementation and continued use of machines such as electric generators, engines, steam and gas turbines, and the gamut of machines that we use and interact with on a daily basis. Mechanical engineers are employed in many different government agencies and departments, from the Army Corp of Engineers to the Environmental Protection Agency. Becoming a mechanical engineer requires a bachelors degree in the subject. While technically, after this, you can apply for professional engineer (PE) certification, often mechanical engineers go on to complete a masters degree in the subject, or in some cases a Ph.D. Some states also require mechanical engineers to gain Engineer in Training (EIT) status before becoming employed or working as an intern.There are many different types of jobs available in the federal government, depending on what youve studied and where your experience and interests lay. Once you gain employment within the federal government, tenure is typically rather long the average length of employment for full-time federal employees is 13.51 years. Careers in government can be rewarding because there is ample opportunity for advancement, and at the end of it all, generous retirement packages available. Government jobs can be found both on Glassdoor and on the government resource usajobs.gov .

The Surprising Experience You Gain When You Take Time Off From Work

The Surprising Experience You Gain When You Take Time Off From Work The Surprising Experience You Gain When You Take Time Off From Work Are you nervous about reentering the workforce after what might feel like a lifetime away? Do you feel like you’ve lost touch with your former professional self and are reentering the work world as an entirely empty slate? Do you view your time away as a time capsule of sorts, a period in which you have been completely closed off from any growth that could possibly be relevant and benefit you in a work context? It is understandable if these anxious thoughts are crowding your frontal lobe as you entertain the notion or actively begin the process of reentering the workforce. But, I have some good news for you: These are just your thoughts. They’re not your reality. You have not been in a time warp since you left the formal work world. You did not stop evolving in ways that will benefit you as a professional. On the contrary, you have more to offer than ever before. Regardless of why you left and what you have been doing since that time, there is no question that you have grown and developed new perspectives, attitudes, behaviors, and life skills that will make you an even stronger professional. You just need to allow yourself some time and anxiety-free head space, and to be willing to turn to others (family, friends, an executive coach) to help you gain clarity on what you have learned and how you have grown during your time away. Then, it’s a matter of figuring out how these new (or further honed) skills can best be applied in a work context- and the best ways to share and promote them. To help you get started, below is just a handful of the many ways in which I (your new and hopefully not too presumptuous writer “friend”) expect that you have evolved since you left your last job. All are essential traits of a high performing professional. 1. You are More of a Risk Taker and Have Greater Experience Facing Ambiguity Whether it was a long-planned change or a quick decision, leaving your job was a departure from a way of life to which you were accustomed. Even if you spent innumerable hours in the planning phase, you ultimately took action, one that included a leap of faith and a high level of ambiguity associated with the change. 2. You Have Strengthened Your Communication Skills, Particularly When it Comes to Sharing Sensitive Information Whether your leave was compelled by something wonderful or not so wonderful, it is likely you felt a mix of emotions and anxiety about what to say when sharing your decision and plans with people. The cold hard truth is that there are people who just don’t understand, and in turn think poorly of, people who are willing to put anything in their lives above their professional success in a traditional work environment. Even if you didn’t encounter anyone who falls into this category, you still had to figure out your “script” and find a place of comfort in sharing your reasons and plans with friends, extended family, and others. 3. You are More of a Learner To succeed professionally, it is as essential to be a willing, comfortable learner as it is to be a leader. Whether you left your previous job to stay at home with your children, to care for another loved one, to devote all of your time to a volunteer position, to pursue a non-paying professional passion, or for any other reason, there was a lot of learning involved. You learned new skills and developed a new base of knowledge. You learned more about yourself and how you operate in different contexts and with different types of people. And the list goes on. 4. You Are More Adept at Establishing New Relationships The parents and others you became friends with as a result of having more time to attend your children’s school and extracurricular activities. The new professional relationships you established through your volunteer work. The networking and relationship building you had to do to pursue an alternative career passion or to address a personal problem. Any of the relationships you established or strengthened during your time away from the formal work world strengthened your relationship skills and increased your experience interacting with diverse groups of people. 5. You Have Strengthened Your Capacity for Resilience Simply by stepping away from the traditional work world, you figured out how to adjust to a major change in the lifestyle you have maintained for many years, if not decades. This shows resilience. Did you also encounter and have to generate solutions to any emotional, physical, or situational problems while you were away from the traditional work world? That’s resilience. Did you hit any roadblocks in your plan for how you’d spend your time that required you to shift course at any point? That’s resilience. Did you experience any personal failures that were completely new to you? This is yet another sign of your increased capacity for resilience. You have every reason to be proud of these- and all the other- ways in which you have grown and become more self-actualized during your time away. You also have every reason to highlight these and any other areas you honed while on leave during your job interviews, and to capitalize on them once you re-enter the work world. Read More Need More Experience to Land a Job? Try This Stay-at-Home Parent? How to Kill it on Your Comeback Resume How to Explain Long-Term Unemployment Photo of woman walking to work courtesy of Shutterstock.