Nonprofits
People first
How to develop the right team
By Meredyth McKenzie
Smart Business Los Angeles | December 2008
Page 1 of 2
Scott Bowling
president and CEO, Exceptional Children’s Foundation
Scott Bowling grew up in a
family of business owners,
with his father and grandfather both running businesses.
From these two men, Bowling
learned many of the lessons
that he has incorporated into
his role as president and CEO
of Exceptional Children’s
Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides services to
the developmentally disabled.
“What I learned was to be
good to people, treat them well,
be consistent and have integrity
— do what you say you’re going
to do,” Bowling says.
Bowling also learned how
important it is to have the right
team of people. He has developed his team of 440 people at
his organization, which has an
annual budget of $27 million,
and he makes sure they are an
important part of decisions.
Smart Business spoke with
Bowling about how to develop
the right team and how to develop relationships with employees.
Q. What qualities do you look
for in your team members?
Of course being smart in their
particular area of discipline or
business. I also look for people
who have a good work ethic,
are hardworking and who
believe in the spirit of working
well with others — teamwork is
of paramount importance.
Assembling a good team is
where it needs to begin.
An employee demonstrates
his or her work ethic in a variety
of measurable and visible ways,
including time spent at work,
productivity meets or exceeds
expectations, works well with
others, as evidenced by good
communication, approachability
and positive relationships.
Q. Once they’re identified,
how do you develop team
members to work together?
Involve everyone in the development of the organization’s
strategic plans and emphasize
everyone’s role in the plan’s successful implementation. You
constantly reinforce this is
where we’re going, this is why
and this is what we’re going to
achieve together.
Communicate regularly on the
progress everyone is making on
the organization’s plan and regularly acknowledge and
celebrate progress and
success. Celebrate those
milestones along the way.
Everybody has a part,
everybody has a role in
the success, and that’s
important that you communicate that to them.
On a quarterly basis,
each person who has a
specific responsibility to
carry out the action needed to meet a strategic
objective will provide a
written quarterly progress
report. Reports from
members of the team are
compiled and distributed
to all team members to
acknowledge the
progress we’re making. It
also gives me the opportunity to
acknowledge and celebrate the
progress, which tends to generate momentum to continue
along our productive path.
