If you’re frustrated at the end of board meetings because you feel that you’re not focusing on the right issues nor making the most of your scarce board-meeting time, perhaps the following best practices can get your board back on track.

The Right Allocation of Time

Recognizing that an organization’s board of directors has the exclusive franchise for the organization’s future, then the majority of your time should focus on the future when your board is in session.  Yet, the board is also responsible for oversight, which is not the future, but current programs and activities.  What’s a board with limited time supposed to do?Continue reading→

Board work is like any other team endeavor:  “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships” (Michael Jordan).

Boards are teams and how they decide to engage with one another to fulfill their responsibilities determines how successful they will be.  This article is about four pillars of successful boards based on my nearly 40 years of experience supporting and serving on nonprofit governing boards.

The four pillars are offered as a framework for success, not a prescription to be applied to fix an acute problem .  It is entirely possible for two different boards to implement these four pillars different ways, but still encompass the fundamentals of each pillar as applied to their culture and situation.

Is peak performance important? Can training and ongoing assessments of performance make a difference in outcomes? Absolutely yes to both questions. Board training does make a difference. It’s almost absurd to even ask these questions, yet one study found that more than half of board members in a national survey stated that their respective organizations did not effectively prepare them for board service.[1]

The above referenced study is both useful and interesting. It’s useful because it provides evidence about how board members experience their time and contributions serving on nonprofit boards of directors. It’s interesting because it largely confirms what most experienced executive directors know from practice. The simple truth is that every nonprofit board can have the onboarding and training they need to improve their contributions and their satisfaction serving in these important roles.

[1]     Association and Nonprofit Boards:  Maximizing Effective Service; © 2017 Heidrick & Struggles:  Project team:  Julian Ha, Bill Hudson, and David K. Rehr