I remember reading once that the easiest people to place in jobs were Psychology and French majors. I figured this was because psych majors knew something about people, and French majors were language people, intellectually curious, and perpetual students.
At least that is the case for me. Luckily, the non profit that I am currently trying to dig out of a big, dark, and deep hole is also the home to a 50-year-old library that is constantly being updated through donations from ex-pats and, lately, a nice grant from the US Gov.
Now that I have been at the helm for about a year and I am out of the worst part of the crisis, I decided it was time to start thinking long-range planning. I also decided it was time to learn about management-- figure out what the experts say.
So I picked up this book: THE ESSENTIAL DRUCKER which is 60 years of Peter Drucker's writing on Management. And you know what? It's pretty good reading. Not at all what I would have thought about business writing, especially when I was a young French major. Well written, good stuff.
Here's what I'm working on today. People. How to pick them, etc. And the wisdom comes down to this.
1. If I put someone in a position and they suck. It's my fault.
2. It is my job to make sure that person performs.
3. People decisions are important because they determine the capacity of the organization.
4. Don't give new people major assignments.
The two rules that I realized I have been weak on are number 2 and number 4. I need to make sure that people know their job (I must communicate it to them) and I shouldn't expect new people to do anything other than what I can communicate well and offer help doing.
My experience with number two has to do with Accounting. More about that in a minute.
No comments:
Post a Comment