Boards

What would be the single gravest consequence to your organization
if your board did not meet or conduct board business in any way for a two-year period?
From Governance as Leadership, Chait, Ryan & Taylor, BoardSource © 2005, Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Everyone has heard about "board governance" and "board development" – but what does this mean, what do the terms mean, and how does it all help a board do better work? Maybe we should be spending more time talking about board performance! Despite what some may think – boards do and can make a difference. But, sometimes board members need help! What is their role, what is expected of them and how can they make a difference?

Some would say that the primary role of the board (if not the only purpose of the board) is to raise funds for the nonprofit. WE DISAGREE! Boards can and should play a major role in the life of any nonprofit organization. We are committed to seeing that happen.

But, board members often times need help to understand their role. We can help!

Our approach is to look at board performance from three different perspectives.

Board Governance – the roles and responsibilities that the board (as a whole) and the board members owe to the nonprofit organization – these include:
o Being strategic
o Making policy
o Providing oversight (includes fiduciary)
o Providing the leadership of passion for the mission

Board Development – the roles and responsibilities that the board owes to itself as a team, these include (but are not limited to) the following:
o Team building
o Visioning
o Leadership development
o Conflict and change management
o Communications and motivation

Board Management – how the Board functions as its own little organization – important considerations include (but are not limited) to the following:
o Figuring out where the nonprofit is in its life-cycle
o Creating a board grid
o Establishing strategies for board member recruitment
o Orienting board members on their roles
o Creating committees that are needed and that work
o Succession planning

For nonprofit boards to reach a high level of performance they must do well in all three areas!

To help your profit conduct its initial performance measurement, we have developed a diagnostics tool to help the nonprofit board determine where its strengths and weaknesses lie. Please contact us if you would like a copy of this tool (our Board Performance Diagnostics Tool).

In addition, we also utilize a comparison tool that identifies the start-up nonprofit board (Stage I) and the optimal nonprofit board (Stage II) and identify where your nonprofit board exist in the continuum between the Stage I and Stage II boards.

Our Approach

As a true management consulting firm, we do not take a blind approach or a one-size-fits-all approach to assisting nonprofit organizations. Rather, we gather information, perform diagnostics and analyze the results prior to make recommendations on what work needs to be done to enhance performance or correct problems. For example, a client might argue for the need for board officer job descriptions (structure) when the real problem might actually be a lack of understanding of their bigger responsibilities (board governance) to the organization, or a serious lack of leadership or vision (board development), or, it could simply be that the board cannot translate talk into action (board management).

This requires an understanding and insight and the ability to develop solutions based the analysis. This is our strength and represents the value we bring to the nonprofit organization.

A Quick Question: If the Board of Directors meets, and it is called a board meeting – who prepares the agenda for this board meeting?