INSTANT MBA: Get To Know Your Key Employees Very Well

Today's advice comes from Mark Tercek, President and CEO of The Nature Conservancy, via LinkedIn:

"Get to know your key people very, very well and figure out how to best position them so that they always feel challenged, never stop learning and are always contributing directly to the achievement of the organization's main goals. That's what the best nonprofit leaders do every day."

After working at Goldman Sachs for 24 years, Tercek thought he learned all that there was to know about leadership. In a culture driven by profits and earnings, however, Tercek said he hadn't realized that once money is taken out of the equation, employees are intrinsically motivated by the company's mission, so long as it aligns with their own.

"Leaders work very hard to get know each member of their team individually and to understand their strengths and capabilities, career aspirations and level of engagement ... they figure out how each person can make the biggest contribution to their organization’s mission, what experiences they need to get to the next level and what assignments will be most fulfilling and provide the most development."

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