5 Quick Ideas - The RIGHT Team is More Important Than a Full Team

 I recently had a conversation about how volunteerism is down everywhere, its true.  But the RIGHT people, saying the RIGHT things, and engaging the RIGHT volunteers leads to more success than having a full boat.

As you get started in building your government affairs team - and as you build its success, your team will be crucial to its success.  So who do you look for?

1. PICK LEADERS NOT SEEKERS - There are those that seek to be seen as leaders, and those that are leaders.  You want the later.  People can sense the wanna-bes and they dont want to be a part of that team.
2. DIVERSIFY - Yes, its going to cause some fighting on perspectives, however if you followed the advice of Building A Program That Lasts - they will know how to check their ego and politics at the door.
3. ENCOURAGE - Improv has a principle that you never say no, you build off of "yes and".  It is how a scene can innovate, evolve, and create something new.  It's also how a team builds trust.  You want a diverse team of leaders to work together.
4. CONNECT INTERESTS - Your team is going to have different interests and skillsets.  Work with those, don't try to make a square peg fit in a round hole.  Jim Collins, author of Good to Great demonstrates this with his concept of getting the right people on the right bus and in the right seats on the bus.
5. ASSIGN & ACKNOWLEDGE - There is nothing worse to a leader than being asked to be a part of something without any direction or expectations.  The second worst thing is to not acknowledge, thank, and promote the contributions they gave.

Make sure everyone on the team is bought into this program, and if you do have a team like this, you are going to get the respect your organization needs.