{"id":586537,"date":"2017-05-31T15:57:02","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T19:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joangarry.com\/?p=586537"},"modified":"2022-06-27T10:29:01","modified_gmt":"2022-06-27T14:29:01","slug":"right-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joangarry.com\/right-people\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Keep the Right People On Your Bus"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

I love working with schools. One of my favorite types of clients.<\/p>\n

First, it happens that I like kids. Though \u2013 as an aside \u2013 the folks who work in management at schools tend not to actually deal with the kids all that often.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s another reason I enjoy it so much. It\u2019s because they do extremely important work, but there\u2019s a structural issue that comes up over and over and makes things deliciously messy.<\/p>\n

And you know I like to help clean up nonprofit messes!<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the structural issue? It\u2019s that when teachers get promoted to become department heads, often they have never really been taught how to be good managers. They get promoted because they were rock stars at teaching. But that\u2019s not the same thing.<\/p>\n

Sometimes a young teacher-rock-star-turned-department-head with no experience managing now has former department heads reporting to her! Messy.<\/p>\n

So in the spirit of school, I\u2019m going to turn to one of our favorite metaphors in the nonprofit world\u2026 the bus.<\/p>\n

I am not sure why the nonprofit sector uses the \u2018bus\u2019 as a metaphor so often. We have to \u2018get the right people on the bus.\u2019 We have to have a plan in case the executive director gets \u201chit by a bus.\u201d<\/p>\n

I blame Jim Collins for popularizing the term \u201con the bus\u201d in his book, Good to Great<\/em><\/a>. But it probably goes back further than that.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that we all love buses so much. School bus rides were loud, and without shock absorbers, nauseating. And then there are commuter buses and the bus drivers who seemed to have learned that the goal was to make the ride more miserable by hitting the brakes as hard and as often as they could.<\/p>\n

The only people that ever seemed to have a lot of fun on a bus were the members of The Partridge Family. (And if not for copyright issues, that would be the image for this post).<\/p>\n

But for whatever reason, we seem to be stuck with the bus. So let\u2019s play the hand we seem to have been dealt.<\/p>\n

Have you ever felt like you\u2019re surrounded by a whole bunch of incompetent \u201cdo-nothings\u201d and you always have to do everything yourself. At least if you want it done well? Maybe you don’t have the right people.<\/p>\n

Board members don\u2019t typically get performance evaluations and neither do volunteers. For staff, I do hope you do something that is constructive with each person each year.<\/p>\n

But now I want you to throw all these people together on your bus. Metaphorically. Regardless of category.<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m going to show you:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. That your bus may be\u00a0way better than you think<\/li>\n
  2. A quick and easy way to assess the folks on your bus<\/li>\n
  3. Actionable steps to make your bus a whole lot stronger and make sure you keep the right people in their seats.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    OK, watch your step boarding the bus. Let\u2019s do this.<\/p>\n

    STEP 1: WHERE IS EVERYONE?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

    Everyone has taken a seat. Where are they? Divide them into three groups and let\u2019s give them grades.<\/p>\n

    You\u2019ve got the folks in the back of the bus (in high school these were the trouble maker do-nothings.) They get a \u201cC\u201d. I call these folks the \u201cdead weight (or worse)\u201d. You would engage in some sort of unattractive happy dance if they got off at the next sop. You really want to ask them to get the hell off your bus but there are a ga-zillion reasons why you feel you can\u2019t.<\/p>\n

    There are folks in the front of the bus. For this exercise let\u2019s assume these are your highest performers. \u201cA\u201d students! These are your rock stars. Your initiators. The RIGHT people. You\u2019re THRILLED they are here and you\u2019d weep if they asked to get off at the next stop.<\/p>\n

    And then you\u2019ve got the folks that are kind of in the middle because they are kind of in the middle. These are your \u201cB\u2019s\u201d. The jury is out. They don\u2019t drive you mad but they could be doing so much more. Sometimes it just seems like they are along for a ride and sometimes if you ask them to do something, they do a good job. You\u2019re not sure why that is.<\/p>\n

    STEP 2: TAKE A SHORT QUIZ<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

    Which of these groups should be your primary focus?<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. The A\u2019s: They\u2019re your rock stars. You can count on them. So give them your focus and ignore the rest.<\/li>\n
    2. The B\u2019s: With some focus, maybe you can get them step up?<\/li>\n
    3. The C\u2019s: Kick them off your bus as quickly as you can!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Correct Answer IMHO: The B\u2019s.<\/p>\n

      You have to invest a bit of time to understand what this group is \u2013 it\u2019s a mixed bag. Often a \u201cB\u201d is a person who doesn\u2019t initiate \u2013 maybe she\u2019s not sure what to offer to do, maybe a bit busy, and not a good time manager. Or maybe she\u2019s just shy.<\/p>\n

      STEP 3: DIVIDE AND CONQUER<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

      Wow. This is starting to sound less like a bus ride and more like math class.<\/p>\n

      Take all your B\u2019s and subdivide as follows.<\/p>\n

      B+:<\/strong> These are folks that follow through on tasks when asked but they rarely initiate. They do a good job. They are not screw-ups. They are generally reliable.<\/p>\n

      B-<\/strong>: You were on the fence about these folks because, well, you just don\u2019t know. They don\u2019t deserve the term \u201cdead weight\u201d \u2013 at least you don\u2019t think<\/em> so.<\/p>\n

      STEP 4: INVEST IN YOUR B+ GROUP<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

      I\u2019m not suggesting you ignore everyone else. I\u2019m suggesting you put extra emphasis on this group. Identify finite high impact projects for the folks in this category. Ask them to help \u2013 tell them how important it is for the organization and to you personally.<\/p>\n

      Appreciate the hoo-hah out of them. And you know what happens?<\/p>\n

      Et Voila!<\/strong><\/p>\n