I’ve been thinking about emerging nonprofits, which I describe as those undergoing a noticeable, intentional shift in what their organizations are doing. This change often happens where there is a high-performing team and at this critical stage, you can’t afford to lose anyone. This week, my guest is Monique Ayotte-Hoeltzel, a partner with The Management Center, a Washington, D.C. organization that works with nonprofit leaders to help them learn how to manage people.
Monique’s career began as a Teach for America corps member. She later joined the staff of Teach for America where she eventually joined the leadership team making strategy and capacity decisions impacting more than 1,000 staff members.
On the show, we discuss how to be a great manager of high performers so they continue to do great things for your organization. One of the keys, Monique says, is to find out what they need and want to be happy. “A great manager is always asking, ‘What can I do to keep this person around?'” Frankly, board members all need to ask this regarding their executive directors.
Having been a manager, I know how easy it is to take high performers for granted, or to worry about what will happen if they leave. This show will provide you some solid answers and may even ease your mind.
A related show with Monique and Jerry Hauser from The Management Center is Delegating and letting someone go. It’s a great interview about dealing with low performers who negatively affect your organization and drain your time. It first aired April 23, 2013.