Where’s Waldo?...A Nominating Tale

This year I agreed to chair the nominating committee. Our charge was to get two new people – the right people – to be co-chairs.

I made a lot of phone calls. Sent a ton of emails. And met several people for coffee, for some reason all at various Pain Quotidians.

They knew I was the Nominating Chair, so the reason I was approaching them was clear from the get-go. Or, at the least, that we wanted them on the slate.

Once we’d gotten through the chit-chat stage of the meetings, I would put a list of position descriptions in front of them and I’d watch them work their way from the bottom up, trying each position on for size.

The first person I nailed told me he had an unpredictable work schedule. I countered with “Let’s not let that stop us – I’ll put in the right team behind you.” Well it turned out he actually did have some control, and in any event would know his schedule 10 days in advance. He looked at the positions, told me he’d call me in a day or two, and then texted me:

“After some thought i would like to hold the position of co-president if the slate is comprised of co positions. It seems to be do-able with my schedule if there is another person.”

Yes!

Now to find the partner. A lot more exploratory emails, demurrals, phone calls.

And then last night, I got there. The second right person looked at the position listings and stopped at treasurer: “I’ve got financial expertise,” she mused.

Then she went on to secretary: “Well I certainly have communications skills.”

And then she looked at me and said: “I am very good with people.”

I raised my eyebrows – and I waited.

“I think I’d like to be a co-chair,” she said.

I tried not to scream.

“I think that would be good,” I said calmly.

It was only after she left the restaurant that I called the departing president who had charged me with the task…and screamed into the phone “She’s going to do it!”

The moral of this story? That leadership matters. And that if you wait for the right people to volunteer out of the goodness of their hearts, their essential sanity will prevent that (or, at the least, they’re going to see if someone else would/could take on the job). But that if you go after the people you desire, with clarity about what you want and how they could get it done, you just might get what you need.