CEO Corner: Motivating Your Team
Alice Ayres, MBA
Published: 04/25/2019
Because of several conversations recently with leaders in the philanthropy profession, I’ve been thinking a lot about motivating teams. If you are like me, you read a lot about what brings meaning to people’s work and how to encourage people to take ownership of their own careers. There are a lot of things people suggest, including:
- Asking people to keep a list for a week of everything they do, placed in one of two columns — “Love it” or “Hate it” — so that they begin to understand their own motivations and the things they gravitate toward. Then have them share it with you so that you can work with them to develop a plan to move their responsibilities closer to their “love it” list.
- Invest in career development and continuing education opportunities for your team. Younger team members appreciate this because they see it as an investment in their long-term careers, and the benefits to the broader team’s education and performance are immeasurable. For more on how AHP can help, visit ahp.org.
- Evaluate your compensation and benefits structure from the lens of your employees — what matters to one person may be different than what matters to another. Push for more flexible packages that can include things like bonus plans, time off, underwriting a graduate course and time with executive leadership.
On this last point, I have been asked several times by AHP members whether there are consistent themes to compensation and bonus plans that AHP can share. It is clearly an area that AHP needs to focus on in the coming months, and it is something we’d like your help with. What do your bonus plans look like? What are you finding that works? Please send me an email at alice@ahp.org or give me a call at 703-538-3140 to share your story.