Managing Up, How does it work?

Have you ever known a boss or a person in management who just seemed to be there by luck, not by skill or management ability?

Have you ever known a nonprofit leader who didn’t know about nonprofits, but wasn’t aware of how much they didn’t know?

Have you ever heard of the term managing up?

Where does this term, managing up, come from?

Do you know about the Dunning-Kruger effect?

Kruger and Dunning proposed that, for a given skill, incompetent people will:

tend to overestimate their own level of skill;
fail to recognize genuine skill in others;
fail to recognize the extremity of their inadequacy;
recognize and acknowledge their own previous lack of skill, if they can be trained to substantially improve.
(from the wikipedia page.)

This relates to Peter’s Corollary.

“Peter’s Corollary states that “in time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out their duties” and adds that “work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence”. “Managing upward” is the concept of a subordinate finding ways to subtly “manage” superiors in order to limit the damage that they end up doing.”

How can you manage up?

Well, let’s assume your boss is a prime example of the kruger-dunning effect, and they don’t know what they don’t know, or worse, they assume that they know more about your job than you do, when in reality, they know nothing.

So, if this is the case, how do you get the message across?

First, set boundaries and expectations in your interview, straight out. And if it’s too late for that, then in your next meeting. Say, “Here is how you should measure what I’m doing.”

1. Measure fundraising not just in dollars raised, but in number of people touched.
2. Measure how well you’re doing your job by rebranding and polling community members about what they think of your nonprofit.
3. Measure how many grants out the door, not just which grants you won.
4. Measure the engagement of old and new volunteers and board members. Have you been having more meetings? What new initiatives are you planning?

If you can succeed in turning the conversation from “Where is the money” to “How can we get everyone to take responsibility for fundraising” then you will have succeeded in getting more help and managing up.

Any other tips for managing up? Please leave a comment!

(Also, if you are in a situation where you just want to tear your hair out because of a boss or coworker, we are about to make an app to help Stop Workplace Bullying and you can totally get to the bottom of that problem.)

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Are you managing up? Where does that come from? originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on September 2, 2011.

My little brother’s story

Let me tell you about one of my little brothers. He graduated college a couple of years ago, and has since bounced from job to job, trying to find his place in the world. He worked in a supermarket, at the fish counter. He works mowing lawns and trimming hedges. In the winter he works snowplowing the roads. He is selling cars right now and looking for another job. His boss canceled all of his days off so that he could be on the lot for 3 weeks in a row, trying to sell cars in one of the worst economies this country has ever seen. He never complains. I have never known a more hardworking person. He is living with my parents and has lived with them since he graduated, because he can’t afford his own place.

I never talk about him, because I feel so sad and helpless to do anything for him. I see him suffering and want to help him find his place in the world. I want to help him find fulfillment, a job with true security, and direction. But with the world the way it is, I doubt he will find any of this.

Let’s talk about context. I want to talk with you about three lies, and three truths.

Lie: All our lives, if we are American, we are taught that interdependence is weak.

Lie:We are taught that we have to go out and be the lone hero.

Lie: Our culture has taught us that consuming goods will solve our problems and ease our pain. It even implies that without consumer goods, we have nothing and therefore we are nothing.

So if you’re a new graduate, and you don’t want to live with your parents, but get out and be the lone hero and buy lots of stuff, you may feel pretty low right now. Why are you losing?

Change gears for a second. Have you heard about the protests in London and how they are spreading to the rest of England? Then you’ve probably heard about the riots in Egypt, in Spain, in Denmark, in Greece, in France, and other places too. What’s the deal? A whole bunch of people, graduates without a future, rising up? We could see them as thugs and violent anarchists, but what’s the greater context behind the protests?

Um, hello? The austerity measures that the EU is trying to put into place are basically helping millions of people fall off the poverty cliff, and I am not down with that.

People in Europe are protesting enforced austerity measures which mean that they are going to have to pay more for college, that their social services programs are being cut, that they are going to have much poorer lives while the bankers who ruined the economy, and the biggest corporations who don’t have to pay taxes get off SCOT FREE.

Dr. Cornell West and Tavis Smiley on the Poverty Tour

And now here we are, in America, with the same austerity measures, poverty of graduates with no future. Luckily Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornell West are on tour exposing poverty in America.

Paul Mason of the BBC talks about “A new sociological type: The graduate with no future.” in his article, “Twenty reasons why it’s kicking off everywhere.”

Nothing left to lose
His article explains that when people graduate and there are no jobs for them, they decide to get connected and go and protest. I don’t agree with everything that he says, specifically when he says;

“This evaporation of a promise is compounded in the more repressive societies and emerging markets because – even where you get rapid economic growth – it cannot absorb the demographic bulge of young people fast enough to deliver rising living standards for enough of them.”

Londoners seem to think that there are root causes people like Paul are overlooking. I think we could all have better standards of living with better corporate taxation and better funding of NGOs, nonprofits and charities from the government. And as I understand it, the protests in Tottenham Court in London happened in part because youth clubs were shut down and youth had no place to go. A case for funding more social services and more charities if I ever heard one!

Diane Abbott, on Tottenham Court riots

According to “This Can’t be Happening”The slashing of social service funding, particularly for youth related matters from education to recreation, by Britain’s Conservative led coalition government, has accelerated the conversion of Tottenham into a “tinder box waiting to explode,” declares Diane Abbott, the first black women ever elected to Britain’s Parliament. Abbott represents a district adjacent to Tottenham.

When people protest, and break shop windows and set fire to cars, as they did in London a few nights ago, it’s because they have nothing left to lose. They are galvanized enough to demand change. You may not like their methods, but they may feel they have no other choice, that no one will listen unless they resort to violence.

Egypt Protests

Social Media aids protests
Paul goes on: “6. Horizontalism has become endemic because technology makes it easy: it kills vertical hierarchies spontaneously, whereas before – and the quintessential experience of the 20th century – was the killing of dissent within movements, the channeling of movements and their bureaucratization.”

The methods employed by many protesters in Egypt, England, and France include social media, which allows for people to act more like the Apaches, who resisted against American “manifest destiny” for years because they were decentralized and everyone could be a leader, communicate with each other and then drop back into the scenery and be an ordinary citizen again.

We’ve got protests by graduates with no future. they are in debt for school, and they are struggling to find work, or giving it up and just getting mad at the system, and deciding a brick through a window is better than sitting at home just feeling depressed. They call up their friends, and learn to do things together to express what’s happening.

They are illustrating interdependence, expressing their dissatisfaction with the state of the world. I am not advocating violence. I am advocating acknowledging our interdependence, and thinking about collective power.

Truth: Interdependence makes us all stronger. We are better together than we are apart.

Truth:The lone hero is capitalist propaganda. We are all in this together. This is what fundraising keeps reminding people. We are all in this together, so let’s do our bit.

Truth: Consuming goods is neither good nor bad. Obviously, buying fair-trade and local is important, but apart from that, consuming is as apolitical as brushing your teeth. No one really cares if you don’t drive a Ferarri. No one really cares that your clothes don’t come from the most expensive shop in town. Your life is worth just as much if you have a million dollars or one dollar. When we help donors care about our causes, we are encouraging them to step out of a dream of consumerism, and into one where we can help make people who are economically disadvantaged matter more.

Greece Protests

When I see those protests in London, Paris or Greece, I think, “My little brother, if he was a bit more politically aware, could be there. He could be allying with people who have nothing left to lose. He could be attempting to make change.”

How does this apply to us, here, now? What can we do, where we are, in this moment?

We need to be helping new graduates ally with our nonprofits and help them see that they can help make a better world without violence.

We need to depend on each other, to recognize the strength in building networks of friends, colleagues, and family members. To build coalitions and alliances with other sister nonprofits so that we can set the example for others, save money, save time, and get more things done.

No matter what your political inclination, you must admit that the world economic system is pretty broken. We all need to work together now.

Can you make a commitment to reaching out to a nonprofit with a similar cause to yours this week? Even if you feel like your plate is full, can you lend a hand to someone for an hour?

Fundraising can be a lonely job. The more we communicate with each other, the more we can depend on each other, create relationships not just with donors but with other fundraisers, and share our knowledge, our expertise, and our time to help lift everyone up.

And yes, I’m walking my talk. I’m reaching out this week, and I will reach out next week too. If you want to chat, I’m here. This is my phone number. 512-763-5161. Go for it.

Do you know a Graduate with no future? What is up with these protests? originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on August 16, 2011.

Free webinar tomorrow! that’s Thursday, April 14th, 1:00-1:30pm CST. Signup here

Or, if you would rather PAY for a webinar, I have that option available also.

See below.

So, do you need help getting your board to fundraise?

If so, we are going to learn some tactics to getting the team together that you need.

Often boards complain about too much information, not enough information, or that it’s unclear what they are expected to do. In this webinar we’ll have a dynamic question and answer session where I can help you go over what your board’s objections are, and what you can say in return.

Getting your board to fundraise
A step-by-step guide to getting the attention you deserve for your accomplishments and expertise.

Wednesday April 27th
Start Time: 1:00 PM  End Time: 2:30 PM (Eastern Standard Time)

Only $49.99

Webinar Description
Getting your board to fundraise. This is one of the hardest things to do. But here’s how you can do it. This webinar will help you give the board goals, deadlines, and timely followup and help them take this quiz that will help you know which board members are able to help you in the areas that you need help with.

Get Your Questions Answered:
In order to effectively answer the questions of the participants, this interactive webinar is limited to 35 people. There is also a question-and-answer session at the end of the webinar.

Webinar Outline:
During this 90 minute webinar, in an easy-to-follow process, we’ll cover how to go from being seen as a nag to being the hero team leader of a fabulous development committee. We’ll answer all of these questions and more:

Learn:
1. What’s the one thing you can do right now to start getting potential board members to fundraise?
2. How do you re-engage board members who are absent or burnt out?
3. How do you deal with hyper-critical board members?
4. What can you say when board members say, “I don’t want to fundraise?”
5. How can you create a fundraising update that they will actually read?
6. What stories reach board members the best?
7. How can you recruit new board members?
8. How much should board members be required to raise?
9. What are the three things you should be ready to give your board member to get them working for you right away?
10. BONUS! What to do if you and a board member are not getting along.

NEW! The following bonus materials are included with this webinar:
1. A quiz to help board members find their areas of strength and weakness in fundraising
2. A followup plan for board members so you always know who you need to connect with next.
3. Clear task descriptions and process trees to help board members take over the fundraising tasks you need.

Click the link below to sign up.

April 27th Webinar: How do you get your board to fundraise? originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on April 13, 2011.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be interviewing different nonprofit leaders, asking them questions, and hopefully, getting some answers around what the nonprofit sector leadership is going to look like in the next 20 years.

Larissa DeLuna, of YNPN and the American Heart Association

Who are you?

My name is Larissa De Luna, I am a 29 year-old Austinite working in the non-profit world.

What’s your day job?

I am the Director of Health Equity for the American Heart Association.

What are you passionate about, personally?

Helping others, whether it’s volunteering for a kids cooking class or holding the door open for someone. I like knowing that I help people in some way every day.

That is so noble. Rock on Larissa. What is a career goal that you have?

I would love to one day work in the Community Relations department for a large company and help them develop their strategy for supporting non-profits.

Ah, Corporate Social Responsibility. It seems to be a trend with bigger companies now. Perhaps eventually all marketing departments will be rebranded into social responsibility. What’s a trend that you see for young nonprofit professionals?

I am seeing a lot of non-profits focus on developing college students interest in the non-profit work by offering some great internships. I don’t think entering that non-profit sector is something that college graduates think about doing. I know it’s not what I had planned, but I’ve learned more here then I could have imagined.

I know what you mean, I never though I would be in the nonprofit sector either! That’s the funny thing, we go to college, and we don’t realize the mechanisms behind the college are all nonprofit mechanisms. But I digress. There are a lot of different jobs that people do in nonprofits. Where do you see the sector growing in terms of jobs, and where do you see it shrinking?

I see more non-profits developing more marketing/cause campaigns that support specific
issues online, I think that also helps with the funding side of the business too. Now you can show a sponsor that your funds did this specifically to have an impact of that certain cause. Statistical analysis is clearer.

What I’m hearing you say is that in the future, perhaps people should train themselves to be up on social media ways to measure statistics automatically. If this is what you’re saying, I see that too, and also, I see that people are quick to say things like “Direct Mail” is dead, and social media lives, or the backlash against that, that social media leads to “Slacktivism/Clicktivism” instead of real action and donations. You know, I think it’s important have every tool you possibly can in your toolbox, and use technology to make your job easier as a nonprofit professional, whether it’s measuring results or automating awareness campaigns.

So, what do you wish older generations understood about Gen X and Gen Y?

How much we depend on technology to help with our jobs. I remember early in my career having a superior who didn’t use their outlook calendar and had no desire to learn. The same person didn’t like Excel which made developing budget reports fun!

LOL. I bet that was fun. It’s so frustrating when people around you expect you to just do their tech work for them. I think it brings up a good issue that Gen Y are often asked to do the tech stuff, and it’s assumed they’ll just keep doing them, instead of making older generations learn how to do it themselves.

Do you think that Gen X and Gen Y need to be managed differently in the workplace?

Yes, I think so. I think Gen X and Y like to see the big picture of what they are trying to accomplish and as they work towards that they like to get pretty instant feedback. I think that has something to also so with the technology that we use, everything is at our fingertips.

Also, I think Gen X and Y are always looking to where the next step is career wise as opposed to the Baby Boomer who stayed with companies and organization for decades.

I would agree that feedback needs to be real and positive to keep Gen Y engaged. And I think Gen Y has learned that companies are not loyal to them, so why should they be loyal to their companies? All of these at-will employment contracts, GRRRR! But I digress.

Do you see more people of color, sexual minorities, or people from different class backgrounds leading nonprofit organizations, either as executives or board members?

To be honest I don’t. As we see more minorities go on to higher education I hope that changes. As with the diversity of board members, I think that must first start with the grassroots volunteers that help an organization. If you have diverse volunteers who are engaged with an organization then those are the people that you look at when cultivating board members. After all, if they are volunteering four hours of their Saturday to volunteer and an event, then you know they have a true passion for the cause.

I agree with you. We need to focus more on recruitment and engaging and empowering volunteers of different ethnicities and backgrounds to become leaders in our organizations. I think Rosetta Thurman is doing an excellent job of highlighting this in her blog.

What’s a cause you love that you wish got more attention from the media?

I think I would have to go with education for this. I am a first generation college graduate and know how much focus my parents put on me to make sure I was successful in school and college. It’s unsettling to see where Texas schools rank and even more so to see the rates of minorities that actually finish at a four-year university.

I agree. Education needs more attention from people in this country. Especially in terms of how we treat people in a classroom setting. A book I’d recommend on this topic is “A Different Kind of Teacher” by John Taylor Gatto. Thank you so much for this interview Larissa!

Anything this interview brings up for you? Anything you’d agree with? Disagree with? What do you think of Gen Y in the workplace?

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Young Fabulous Nonprofit Leader Interview with Larissa DeLuna! originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on October 8, 2010.

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be interviewing different nonprofit leaders, asking them questions, and hopefully, getting some answers around what the nonprofit sector leadership is going to look like in the next 20 years.

Meredith Maples, Vice President, YNPN Austin Chapter

Who are you?
My name is Meredith Maples and I am the Vice President for the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN) of Austin Board of Directors.

What’s your day job?
I am currently working as the Manager for Learning & Development for the American Cancer Society. I manage all new hire training processes and classroom trainings, e-learning course development, the maintenance and administration of a learning management system and the development of training curricula for a six state territory.

What are you passionate about, personally?
Outside of the nonprofit realm, I can be found either curled up with my dog and a book or chasing Austin wildlife with my camera slung around my neck.

What’s a trend that you see for young nonprofit professionals?
I think that young nonprofit professionals are realizing that they do not necessarily need to sacrifice their personal lives to have a fulfilling and accomplished career. They understand that their jobs will require them to wear numerous hats at once, as many nonprofits have limited staff and resources, and they are more than willing to put in the work necessary to achieve the desired results. That said, they are also allowing themselves to pursue their ideas of a strong work/life balance.

What do you wish older generations understood about Gen X and Gen Y?
Building off my last answer, I think there is a perception from older generations that just because there is a pursuit of work/life balance, that young professionals are not willing to put in their dues. Gen X and Gen Y are both hardworking generations, but they expect a level of balance that many older generations didn’t have the option of achieving.

I believe that people on all sides of the aisle allow stereotypes, whether true or not, to somewhat shape their perceptions of who their fellow co-workers are. While it is good to be aware of generational differences, it’s important to realize that allowing yourself to place any generation into a tidy package will never allow you to truly know the people you are working with.

Do you think that Gen X and Gen Y need to be managed differently in the workplace?
I do believe that there are some characteristics that might require Gen X and Gen Y staff to be managed in a slightly different way. Technology alone has had a huge influence on Gen X and Gen Y and supervisors need to take that into account when managing those employees. Telecommuting, texting, and video conferencing, for example, can all play new and vital roles in managing younger staff. And as mentioned above, work/life balance will need to be accounted for.

Young Nonprofit Professionals Network:Who they are, what they do, why you should join

Q: Why does YNPN exist?
The Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Austin exists primarily to connect a community of passionate and diverse non-profiteers in Central Texas by providing valuable platforms to grow and learn through professional development, service and networking opportunities.

Q: Taking a page from the Onion’s AV Club, how does YNPN Justify Its Existence?
The Young Nonprofit Professionals Network is dedicated to nurturing leaders within the nonprofit field. With a growing number of Executive Directors in the position to retire, it is imperative that young nonprofit professionals have access to professional development opportunities. YNPN-Austin is also in a unique situation, as there are approximately 7,000 nonprofits in the greater Austin area alone. We have a tremendous number of nonprofiteers that are able to reap the benefits of networking and professional development opportunities.

Q: What can people gain by becoming members of YNPN?
The biggest tangible benefit that members of YNPN have is access to FREE monthly professional development events. These events feature prominent local leaders and valuable topics, such as Work vs. Graduate School and Generational Leadership. Our members are also invited to our Do Gooder Wednesday happy hours that are held on the third Wednesday of every month. In addition, all members are automatically signed up to receive our Weekly Digest, which is an email containing job and volunteer opportunities, relevant news alerts, as well as information about upcoming community and YNPN events.

What are the Do-Gooder Games?
The Do Gooder Games is an annual event hosted by the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Austin. It features teams of non-profit employees competing against each other in mental and physical challenges for a $500 jackpot to be donated to the charity of their choice. The 2010 Do Gooder Games just took place on September 15 with the title going to Goodwill Industries of Central Texas! They selflessly donated their winnings to Trinity Center, a faith-based organization geared toward serving the spiritual, emotional and physical needs of people experiencing homelessness and poverty in Austin.

Q: Other questions that you wish I had asked?
Where can people get more information on YNPN-Austin? They can visit ynpn.org/austin for information on upcoming events, volunteer opportunities and resources that are relevant to the nonprofit community.

How can people get involved with YNPN-Austin?
To become a member of the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Austin, all you have to do is click here.

If you are interested in getting involved with YNPN-Austin by either joining the Board of Directors or volunteering for committee service, please send an email to austin@ynpn.org. You can also attend our open house reception on Tuesday, October 12 at 6:00 pm. We would love to see you there!

(Full Disclosure from Mazarine, I am a member of YNPN. All I did was go to their website, and sign up for their free membership. I am not getting paid to highlight them in my blog. They have helped me do a shout-out for my free nonprofit career club once or twice on their list, but that’s it.)

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Young Nonprofit Professionals Network! Interview with Meredith Maples originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on September 30, 2010.

Gen Y sees things from a different perspective!

Gen Y has been accused of a lot of things. Ego-centricity. Being not able to finish things. Needing a trophy for everything.

I disagree with labeling people Gen Y. The challenge with classifying people according to arbitrary periods of time is that you will find that many people, perhaps too many, are exceptions to the rules you’ve laid out for a “generation.”

For instance, people who have lived through the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s tell me that the 70s were more wild and crazy like the 60s are portrayed today, and the 60s were more like the 50s, more straitlaced. So if you were a hippie in the 60s, perhaps you were more of an anomaly than a hippie in the 70s.

That said, here are some ways that people born between 1975 and 2010 might be different from people who came before.

Apparently our brains are now reorganizing themselves to deal with larger and larger amounts of information. So you’ve probably heard the statistic that ONE Sunday NYTimes contains as much information as a person in the middle ages would come across in their entire lifetime.

A person who spends 6 hours a day on the internet, even if they’re just looking at pictures on Facebook, is going to be absorbing a lot of information. Here’s an article about how constant exposure to technology is affecting our brains.

So let’s assume, for a moment, that there is a Gen Y, in the way that we’ve got a group of people who have been absorbing more information than previous generations. So they have greater capability to digest, sort, and re-purpose information. And they can also be more impatient, fragmented, and know-it-all than previous generations! So the challenge here for Gen Y is to slow down, unplug, and breathe.

To Manage “Gen Y” here’s what you can encourage.

1. If they’re all about the data, make them organizational researchers. Ask them to interview others, look up the best ways to do things, and synthesize this data into a report.

2. If they’re always about communication, ask them for advice on new ways to reach donors. Let them spearhead that project. And be aware that their preferred method of communication might not be yours. You might be a face to face person. They might be texting, emailing, forum poster, or skype-ing person. So ask them how they communicate most often, how they prefer to communicate.

3. Show them every week how their work is making a difference. Appreciate their efforts, and you’ll see a better worker. While this is true of most people, Gen Y especially needs this recognition. They need it because we live in a society now that focuses on the negative, perfectionism, always trying to do better, or more, or run on crises. Often, people in Gen Y don’t slow down to appreciate themselves or others. That’s where you can come in, and show them how slowing down and appreciating their own efforts and their team’s efforts can give everyone a boost in morale and productivity.

4. Show generosity, listening, and respect. Gen Y have been more aggressively marketed to than previous generations. So they’re more suspicious. It’s almost a relief not to be sold anything for five minutes. So when you talk about your nonprofit, find ways to engage by listening to them, and drawing them into your conversation. Slowly slowly cultivate Gen Y by showing them you are their strongest supporter. Retweet them, comment on their blog posts, be genuine. Find their hot-button story, the thing that gets them passionate. Since they’ve been marketed to, spent so much time online, and with TV, they’ve had less people listening to them. Respect them by lending them your ear, and watch your relationship with them grow.

5. Go outside and take a walk with Gen Y, no cellphones. Encourage slowing down and disconnecting from electronic leashes. Start to have a dialogue about what they’ve noticed that needs to be changed at your nonprofit, and what matters most to them. Share your own vision. Walking and talking without distractions can be one of the best ways to get Gen Y to open up and really breathe and listen. Then tell them a joke. Encourage them to laugh more! Life doesn’t have to be a series of serious crises. It should be fun to work at your nonprofit too!

Other suggestions for managing Gen Y? I’d love to see your comments below!

Follow @wildwomanfund on twitter! Because you’ve got someone in Gen Y to manage and Mazarine’s got advice!

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Who do you think you’re talking to? Managing Gen Y originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on September 1, 2010.

The first part in this series talks about their book, “Now, Discover Your Strengths,” the ideas behind it, and begins to talk about how to manage the 34 different types at work. The second part continues with the different types of people and how to manage them. The third part continues to talk about these types, and finally, we’re going to finish talking about these types today.

Managing Maximizers
This person wants to learn about their strengths, and understand that you value these strengths. Ask this person to lead a task force to discover best practices, and design a program for measuring and celebrating the productivity of each employee. This person is not so interested in fixing broken things, but rather taking things that work and figuring out how to maximize their performance.

Managing Positivity people
They love to celebrate things. Their enthusiasm is contagious, and they can’t deal with cynics, so keep them around basically positive people who just need a spark. Ask this person to plan events. They can help people be more excited about their work, and they are more creative than most people.

Managing Relators
This person can be generous, and likes to develop bonds with others through knowing their goals. They are loyal and trustworthy. They want to know that you care about them, as they organize their life around their close relationships. When they manage others, their direct reports will work harder for them because they know the Relator will be there for them.

Managing Responsibility people
This person has serious ethics. They care about quality first, and about getting new responsibilities. They define themselves by their ability to live up to their commitments. Protect this person from taking on too much. You may want to be careful about promoting this person because they want to be responsible for their work, not other people’s work.

Managing Restorative people
This person can be relied upon to respond in a focused, businesslike way to problems. They are real problem solvers. This person should be paid to solve problems for your best donors or customers. When this person solves a problem, make sure to celebrate this achievement. Ask this person in what ways they would like to improve. Agree that these improvements should serve as goals, and they will appreciate this kind of attention.

Managing Self-Assured people
Put this person in a role that they need to be persistent in. They can project calm, and stability, and will want to make meaningful decisions. Make sure this person knows which decisions produce outcomes. And they want control of their world. But they need clear feedback if they mess up. You will have to rein this person in because they are not always aware that they have weaknesses.

Managing Significance people
This person is very independent. Encourage them to praise other top achievers as they enjoy making others feel successful. Give this person the opportunity to stand out and be known. Acknowledge that this person thrives on meaningful recognition for their contributions. This person will make claims to excellence, and you need to help them keep benchmarks for developing their strengths. Their self esteem can suffer when others do not give them the recognition they deserve.

Managing Strategic people
Always give this person time to think a situation through. Involve this person in organizational and strategic planning. Then get them to write up their ideas and present it to a group. If you hear of new strategies that work in your field, tell this person, it will stimulate them. Ask this person to sift through all possibilities and find the best way forward and report back on this.

Managing Wooers
Strangers energize this person. Ask this person to be a goodwill ambassador to your community. They might like to meet, greet, win over, and move on to the next person. They can help strangers feel comfortable with your organization.

Do you recognize several themes for yourself? Apparently you can have up to five dominant themes.

Do you recognize ways you have tried to manage people here? Do you recognize ways people have tried to manage you here?

What works best on you?

What seems to work best on the people in your office?

What did you learn from this series?

Try to do one on one assessments of people you work with, and reward them in certain ways that seem consistent with their strengths. Do you notice an increase in productivity or a lift in mood?

I took the test, and my strengths are:
Achiever
Strategic
Focus
Positivity
Individualization

What are yours?

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Development 301: Managing & Motivating Others, Part 3 originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on August 12, 2010.

How do you manage people? Have you taken the Gallup assessment, which was given to over 2 million people, and provided insights on 34 types you might have to manage at work? This can be an invaluable tool as you help people discover their strengths, and focus on these in their work.

Ask these four questions to people you work with, and see how different everyone is, and how you can start to motivate different types of people.

1. What’s the best praise you ever received?
2. How often do you like to check in with your manager?
3. What’s your best method for building relationships?
4. How do you learn best?

Here is part two of how to manage the different types of people in your organization. If you haven’t read part one yet, you really should.

Managing Competitors
Use competitive language with this person. Talk about “outsmarting’ the competition. Measure them against other people. Set up contests. Find places where they can win. One of the best ways to manage this person is to hire another competitive person who produces more. When they lose, let them mourn, and then quickly move them into another opportunity to win.

Managing Connectedness people
This person will have social issues that they will defend strongly. Listen to them. Your acceptance of these issues will influence the depth of the relationship you can build with them. If they have a spiritual orientation or strong faith, your acknowledgment of and acceptance of this will let them become more comfortable with you. Encourage this person to build bridges with others in the company to show each person how they all rely on others.

Managing Context people
When you ask this person to do something, explain why it needs to happen. Get the background on colleagues in meetings before you sit down to business. Get this person to help others understand what has been done and the thinking behind what is currently being done. Get case studies to help illustrate his points, and highlight the key discovery from each anecdote, which can then possibly be turned into classes.

Managing Deliberators
This person can excel at negotiating contracts, a rigorous thinker that can help you see the pitfalls in your plan. Do not ask this person to greet or network for your organization, and do not ask them to make snap judgments. This person is a private person, and does not want to share the details of their life with you. Don’t take it personally. They are selective and do not want to move quickly from team to team.

Managing Developers
Developers help people around them succeed. They are excellent at mentoring and teaching classes. This person loves to recognize others for their genuine achievements. Often people under this person can be transferred quickly to positions of larger responsibility because they grow people and prepare them for the future. To make this person happy, tell them, “Your encouragement and confidence helped this person succeed.”

Managing Discipline people
This person can bring structure to chaos. They can also be annoyed by clutter. Tell this person the schedule. Don’t surprise them, but if there have to be surprises, help them develop routines to respond to surprises. This person can help you plan and organize your own work, and the work of others.

Managing Empathic people
This person needs to work with positive, optimistic people. Don’t overreact when they cry. They often feel things more keenly than others. Before getting this person to do something, ask them how they feel about the issue involved. Get this person to see their empathy as a gift, as it helps them understand others and sense what others are missing.

Managing Fairness people
Practical bent which means they will be more comfortable with getting tasks accomplished than long range planning. Most comfortable with predictable patterns, but also good around fairness for everyone. This person is good with establishing routines and consistent practices for your organization.

Managing Focusers
This person thrives on regular check-ins. Probably not sensitive to the feelings of others. New goals, and new measures of success are what this person pays attention to. They prefer to have an agenda for meetings. They like to talk about their goals and their progress towards those goals.

Managing Futurists
Put this person on the planning committee. They can see a brighter future around the corner. Stimulate them by talking about what could be. Have this person create a presentation to show the future to others. Give them time to think, write about and plan for products and services needed in the future.

Managing Harmony people
This person does not want conflict, they are NOT at their best when confronting others. Determine in what ways you agree with this person and regularly reinforce these agreements with them. Surround this person with others strong in harmony, and they will be more focused and more productive when they know they are supported. Don’t bother trying to discuss controversial subjects with them. They may not show you they disagree with you. Help this person find authoritative backup for actions they take.

Managing Ideation people
This person has creative ideas, and position them where their creativity will be valued. Especially as a designer, this person can shine. They thrive on new ideas, so try to feed them ideas that are within the scope of your mission. When decisions are made, take the time to show this person how each decision was rooted in the same theory or concept. They need to see the organization being coherent.

Managing Inclusiveness people
This person wants to make everyone feel like a part of the team. You can put this person in a donor or client-facing role and be certain that they can help break barriers between people. They like to work with products or projects made for everyone, not just one little subset of people.

Managing Individualization people
This person can judge a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses admirably. They can really see the world through the other person’s eyes, and can help you get the right roles for everyone according to their strengths and weaknesses.

Managing Input people
Put this person in a research role. They want all of the books, articles and papers you can throw at them. This person loves to be on the internet, gathering facts that may eventually be useful. They need a system for storing what they collect. And look for opportunities to say, “It’s amazing, you always seem to have the facts we need!”

Managing Intellection people
Encourage this person to take time to simply think. Have a detailed discussion with this person about their strengths, they will enjoy the introspection and self discovery. Challenge their thinking and they will enjoy that you are paying attention to them and will be stimulated by this.

Managing Learners
Position this person to continually learn about their fast changing field. They will enjoy the challenge of maintaining competency. Encourage this person to take courses at the local college or association. Help them track their progress by identifying milestones and celebrate these. Encourage this person to become the resident expert in a particular area. Have them work beside someone who will push them to learn more. And ask them to conduct presentations to teach others what they’ve learned, and secure financial support to continue their education.

Do you recognize ways you have tried to manage people here? Do you recognize ways people have tried to manage you here?

What works best on you?

What seems to work best on the people in your office?

Try to do one on one assessments of people you work with, and reward them in certain ways that seem consistent with their strengths. Do you notice an increase in productivity or a lift in mood?

On the 12th, we’ll finish talking about the different types and how to manage them in the workplace. Make notes when you find people that you know in here, and make notes on 5 different types you feel drawn to. How do you best like to be managed? This is going to help you figure out what works and what doesn’t.

Follow Wild Woman Fundraising on Twitter! Because you want to motivate people faster!

Are you new here? Welcome! Sign up for my newsletter and get fresh nonprofit fundraising, management and career ideas monthly!

First Name:

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Development 301: Managing and Motivating Others Part 2 originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on August 9, 2010.

Why You Should Care About Inequality originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on July 6, 2010.

Their findings?

NONPROFIT LEADERSHIP LAGS POPULATION DIVERSITY

ALL MINORITY GROUPS ARE UNDERREPRESENTED AS NONPROFIT EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS.

YOUNG LEADERS OF COLOR LAG BEHIND THEIR NON-HISPANIC WHITE COUNTERPARTS IN BECOMING NONPROFIT EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS.

THE TENURE OF A NONPROFIT EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR IS FAIRLY SHORT, PRODUCING CONSIDERABLE LEADERSHIP TURNOVER IN THE SECTOR.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS OF COLOR MOSTLY LEAD LOCAL AND REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, NOT NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS.

MEN HOLD THE MAJORITY OF NONPROFIT BOARD POSITIONS IN THE BALTIMORE-WASHINGTON REGION.

RECRUITMENT OF NONPROFIT LEADERS IS PRIMARILY ABOUT NETWORKING AND PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS.

IN THE REGION AS A WHOLE, HALF THE PAID STAFF IN THE NONPROFIT SECTOR ARE PEOPLE OF COLOR; SHARES DIFFER AMONG JURISDICTIONS.

And their conclusion?

Although all groups of color are underrepresented in the sector, Latinos are the most underrepresented. The increasing number of Latinos in the Baltimore–Washington area suggests that this inequity is likely to increase unless more attention is given to helping Latinos acquire the knowledge and skills needed to become executive directors in the sector.

Young people of color are not entering the ranks of executive directors as readily as their non-Hispanic white counterparts. Filling the leadership pipeline may require promoting the nonprofit sector to young leaders of color so they consider the sector a viable career option.

Recruitment of leaders of color focuses primarily on building networks and personal relationships. Better connections must be made between potential candidates of color and decisionmakers who fill leadership positions.

Very few national organizations have executive directors of color. Leaders of color primarily work in local or regional nonprofit organizations. Removing the glass ceiling in national organizations can expand the leadership opportunities for people of color and ultimately strengthen the sector.”

What can we do, today, to start making these relationships between young nonprofit professionals and decisionmakers who fill leadership positions?

One way we could do this is start to have college internships with students of color and nonprofit decisionmakers. For 1-3 months, the student could shadow the executive director, board chair, CDO, or other leader and get to know them, find out what they do, and help with projects.

For colleges that already offer a Masters in Public Administration this may be easy, but what about at the BA level? Why not even at the high school level? How can we foster these connections so that more people of color are aware of nonprofit careers, and more people of color start to network with decisionmakers at nonprofits?

Who do you know who is working on this issue?

Incoming Message from Captain Obvious originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on June 10, 2010.