Putting together the team for a new organization is a creative process. There is magic as much as craft, instinct as well as care, and a sense of wonder as the team gels.
I have done this several times in my life, and I have some experiences and lessons to share. There is no formula, but I do have one clear message: This about human connection and AI is not the answer.
“I am coming to work for you” Lerato (not her real name) kept phoning me in the early days (around 1990) of the Centre for Health Policy that I co-founded and co-directed at Wits Medical School in Johannesburg. She was a nurse in the public service and she wanted to work with us. We just didn’t have a job for a nurse. “One day you will”, she always said. Eventually we created a junior researcher position and hired her. She was brilliant, stayed some years, and then moved on.
Despite some extreme hardships she now has a PhD and two honorary doctorates, and is recognized across the African continent as a leading (and highly spiritual) figure in aspects of traditional health.
Five years later I was recruiting the first employees for a nonprofit company that financed build contractors. – a collaboration between the new democratic government and one of the largest foundations in the world. Into my life walked Noxolo (not her real name), larger than life, unparalleled networker with expertise and experience that I certainly didn’t have. For the next five years, as deputy CEO she set the standard for ambition, imagination AND accountability. She moved on to an extremely successful business career, while continuing to support small business development.
She could have worked anywhere. Once, when I asked her why she came to us, she just said: “I wanted to work with you”. I never got any other explanation.
I used to think I had great leadership development capacities. I can name ten or more people who worked in organizations I founded, and then moved on to the very highest levels of government, academia and the private sector. I must have had something to do with that, right? I recognize now that they contributed more to the success of the organizations I led than anything I may have contributed to their success.
Let me describe what I have learnt about putting together the special team you need to do special things.
The right people will find you
This is an unexplained mystery. Of course you will advertise and interview and have protections against nepotism. In my experience, if you are doing something worthwhile, many of the best colleagues, like the two above, just walk through the door (or kick it down) or get referred to you by the network that wants you to succeed. They will work with you for a while then go on to do other wonderful things.
The real skill lies in recognizing them when they arrive. I can’t tell you how to do it, but here are some guidelines
First look for energy
People can learn new skills – but if someone comes to talk about work and doesn’t show you their energy, just walk away, however skilled they are. Building something new requires energy above all else. This doesn’t have to be “set the place on fire” energy that bubbles and lights up the room. It can be a quiet determination that says “This is my thing and I am going to get it done. I don’t want to be doing anything else right now.” You will know it when you see it.
Be open to the unexpected (or unplanned)
At the Centre for Health Policy we found ourselves with a Women’s Health Programme and Mental Health Policy programme which were not part of the plan. The right people came with the right energy and ideas, and the new initiatives flourished and contributed to the richness of the work of the centre. Your plan derives from the best ideas you had at the time. True leadership requires that you are open to the excellent ideas of others.
Trust your gut, and never settle
You know what you need in new team members – and you will recognize the skills and energy you are looking for. Sometimes a long unsuccessful search, or pressure from (say) the Board to fill an important position leads to employing someone who you know instinctively, is just not the right fit. If you have to make a temporary appointment do it. But the wrong appointment leads to incalculable costs in morale, wasted energy and settlement payments. Just don’t do it.
Build the team and set them free
Your job is to find the right people (or let them find you); ensure that the mission, strategy and plan is clear, create the team spirit and then let go – you have plenty of other things to do. This is not about neglect. But if you chose the best people, then let them get to work with within an established framework of trust, support and accountability.
If someone resigns, let them go
I have regretted it every time I have talked someone out of leaving. They want to go for a reason. More money or your power of persuasion won’t change that. The push factor remains. AND, when you persuade someone not to leave it puts enormous power in their hands – because if you have asked them to stay once, you will do it again, and they know you will tread carefully around them. And their colleagues will watch with suspicion that they are getting special treatment because you are desperate to keep them.
Final Word
Sometimes the nonprofit sector seems buried in tools and templates and frameworks and reporting requirements and job descriptions. Before you get to them, you need to have the right people in the right place. Finding and building that team is an intensely personal and human process. Nothing else works as well as it should if you do not get that first bit right.
It is (literally) magic when it works.