5 Ways to Strengthen Your Board
Has the nonprofit board outlived its purpose? What is working well about this model and what is distracting us from our missions? These are questions that over 100 nonprofit executive directors and board chairs gathered to discuss on November 20th in Bath, at MANP’s inaugural Executive Leadership Forum.
As event facilitator, Mary Ellen Jackson, Executive Director of the New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits challenged the group, “Is it realistic to ask [volunteers] to come around a table 6-10 times a year and know the organization well enough to be able to make critical financial, strategic and governing decisions?”
While there may be inherent challenges to the board governance model, it is a construct that brings passionate individuals together for the common good, which is a strong foundation on which to build. From the vigorous and wide-ranging conversation at the forum emerged the following themes about recommended board development.
1. Keep mission front and center.
When the course is not clear, your mission can help focus conversation and provide a framework for decisions.
Bring the discussion to your board:
- Do all board members know and understand your mission? Can you improve your organization’s mission statement?
- How can your board keep the mission alive and familiar? Do you make use of mission moments or other strategies for integrating mission discussions to your meetings?
- Is your mission getting “creepy”?
2. Get the right people in the room, and ensure they can contribute.
Passion is important, but to be truly effective, boards need members with the experience, skills and insights that are most aligned with an organization’s strategic goals.
Bring the discussion to your board:
- Does your board have a proactive recruitment strategy? (Explore MANP’s Keys to Successful Board Recruitment.)
- What are the characteristics you should seek in new members?
- Do you have strategies to recruit and retain busy people?
- Are you training volunteers about their roles and responsibilities? Could you make use of MANP’s Board Basics Handbook and Board Boot Camp to educate and energize board members?
3. Nurture the Executive Director/Board relationship.
This is a complicated, but critical relationship. Boards and CEOs that do not create a productive working relationship do a disservice to the organization’s mission.
Bring the discussion to your board:
- Is the board/CEO relationship one of trust, or are there tensions?
- Does your board understand the risks of a struggling relationship and ways to build the partnership?
- Is the board avoiding evaluating the executive director’s performance?
4. Foster new leadership on the board and in the organization.
With up to 75% of Executive Directors retiring in the next ten years, and only 14% of board members being under 40, boards and organizations are both facing a leadership crisis.
Bring the discussion to your board:
- How can you bring the next generation to the table?
- How could your board incorporate mentoring components, or even a formalized mentoring program for new members and leaders?
- Is your board prepared to manage an executive leadership transition?
- Do you have an emergency succession plan?
5. Be open to new ideas, and willing to have challenging conversations.
Boards are leading our organizations through challenging times, and there are tough conversations ahead.
Bring the discussion to your board:
- Is dissent encouraged? Is there more you can do to foster a culture of open dialogue?
- Is your current governance model serving the organization well?
- Would your board benefit from self-assessment?
- Could you make better use of committees? Advisory groups? Thought partners?
Not all boards have the same challenges: what resonates for your board? In 2015, commit to bringing a few of these questions to your board table so we can all continue the conversation about how organizations can make the board model most effectively serve our missions.
MANP’s next Executive Leadership Forum will be on April 16, 2015 in Waterville, and early bird discounts are available until January 30th. Join nonprofit leaders from around the state for engaging conversations that inspire change.
