Fast Company December How To Build A Management Team Nathan Johnson

The number one priority in developing a good management team in the author's opinion is to try put together as diverse a group as possible. She stresses the importance of having visionaries, leaders, implementers and builders as the building blocks for the group. Each one has a key role in helping the team perform at its optimum level.

In the short time I have been involved in Extension, it appears to me that there is no end to the number of teams/committees in this organization. There is the Extension committee, cluster teams, Extension cluster teams, specialization committees, rural options teams, and the list goes on and on. Just from the few meetings I have attended so far, I have developed an analysis of which ones are active and moving versus which ones meet because they are scheduled and supposed to be meeting. They appear to be merely existing.

The difference between a productive committee and a non-productive one seems obvious to me. There is a good mix of personality types on the committees that are functional. The opposite is true of the poorly functioning committees. The responsibility for setting up the groups with a good balance is placed on the people putting these committees together. Taking the time to put groups together that are diverse isn't enough. It is important to be able to help the members recognize their differences and still work well in the group as well.

I can see where this procedure could be a problem for local offices when putting together an extension committee. It is important to have people on the committees who are supportive of what the purpose of that committee is. But it's also important to have people who will give input on what they think are the needs the extension service should meet-how and what to look at in the future. Should the one organizing the committee load up the committee with supporters or visionaries? It is ideal to have the mix, but in many of our small counties is this attainable? That question is left up to each of the local offices to make the call.

This article also stresses one of the best ways to build support- make the program something that people desire to be a part of. It should be a group that people are willing to attach their name to and will be proud to be a member of. Is the Extension service doing this? Are we being left behind by the private industry? It is not difficult to look back and say, "Here are all our accomplishments!" However, most people in today's society are asking, "What can you do for me today as well as in the future?" Those are the people we need to reach. By working with this group, we will expand our base and in the long run our support for these committees in Extension.

-- Anonymous, January 23, 1999