Other People

I live across the street from a park.  It’s a well used park—kids play soccer, volleyball, sometimes there are cricket teams bowling (or whatever it is cricket teams do).  People picnic, practice martial arts, groups gather to play music.  There’s places to play softball, tennis courts, and basketball courts, and a wonderful kids playground. But one thing that is not allowed in the park are dogs. And almost every day some yahoo is playing ball with their dog.  “This isn’t a dog park,” I shout across the park.  The usual response is a raised finger.

I get it.  I have dogs.  I would love for my dogs to be able to streak across the park.  But if all the dogs in the neighborhood used the park for their gamboling, then the kids could not play soccer, volleyball….all of the above.

It’s hard sometimes to realize that you just can’t do what you want.  Other people need to factor into your actions.

For many nonprofit CEO’s that’s their board members.

The board, of course, is responsible for governance—oversight and setting strategic directions.  They hire, nurture, sometimes fire the CEO.  And sometimes, the want to get into the weeds and direct how things are going.

Or the board simply rubber stamps it all and never helps the ED think things through, look at new ways to do old things, and typically never helps where help would be welcomed.

I firmly believe that no one goes on a board to be a bad board member, but too often, that is exactly what happens.  It is our job to ensure that our board members have the tools they need to be the best board possible.

This starts, of course, with recruitment.  Ensuring that potential members understand completely what is required is really important.  And then onboarding them in a way where they have a real opportunity to ask questions.  So no, just handing them a board manual is not what I am talking about.

Giving every board member a board buddy—someone who understands what it means to be an effective (and awesome) board member—to help them in their first 6 months or year.  But don’t just assign, train the board buddies on how to really be effective.

A true governance committee—whose members understand the role of the board and want to ensure that the board is working well together—can help to keep recruitment at top of mind.  For smaller nonprofits especially this is important.  It is often hard to get board members, and too often these organizations end up accepting those who are willing.  Raise the bar.

Making your organization’s board a place people want to serve means ensuring that board members get to do more than simply hear reports they could have read, vote on things they haven’t been involved with, and either spend too much time on zoom or in their car driving to a meeting.  Make sure they have interesting issues to grapple with; opportunities to make suggestions to help you be more effective.

Recognizing that your board can be truly helpful rather than either a pain or people you want to avoid, is so important.  Treating them as partners can also make a big difference.  And then that middle finger will not be the answer when you ask for support or explain why their great idea just isn’t viable.