HOW HIGH-FUNCTIONING BOARDS HELP EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS

There are some ironies about boards that I’ve been thinking about lately.

Irony #1: Boards have ultimate authority for setting the strategic direction of a nonprofit, and yet it is the staff who usually have the most expertise about the organization and its mission.

Irony #2: Boards are necessary because IRS rules mandate the organizational structure of nonprofit organizations, not because the structure is optimal from a business perspective.

Irony #3: Boards shoulder ultimate legal responsibility for a nonprofit but are not necessarily privy to its day-to-day operations.

Boards can, however, perform incredibly important roles:

• Boards ensure a nonprofit reflects the community.

• Boards can have a huge role to play in community engagement.

The truth is that the organizational structure we must work with is a bit of a mishmash, but we have to make it work. And sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.

The relationship between the Board and the Executive Director is the most common area where things can go well or not – and that is the focus of this blog. 

Boards are literally “the boss” of the executive director and yet, as per irony #1 above, it is common for executives to have far more experience in nonprofit management and mission expertise than board members.

Added to this is the fact that Executive Directors often must “manage” their boards – push priority agenda items, coerce them into participating in fundraising, and encourage them to develop governance policies (or prepare them in advance for the board to rubber-stamp their approval). A board can be a lot of added work for an Executive Director.

Additionally, at board meetings, Executive Directors routinely receive seemingly unlimited suggestions and requests from the board which might start with ‘If I were you I’d do this….,’ ‘Have you ever thought of doing it this way?’ or, just straight ‘do-this,’ even if ‘this’ diverts the director away from their carefully prepared and already full priority list. The result is an executive leaving each meeting feeling overwhelmed, underappreciated, and worried about meeting yet another set of expectations. 

This is not an anti-board blog. My goal is simply to offer a few suggestions about how a board can effectively support an Executive Director in ways that will strengthen the entire organization. But first, the diagnosis.

The truth is that many boards just don’t know what they should be doing. In the context of that void, it seems that the default position is for board members to second guess management decisions, attempt to adopt that role themselves, and conduct post-mortems on situations that are no longer relevant. The entire focus of the board becomes backward-looking rather than forward-looking.

Some guidelines for Boards that will help resolve these tendencies and lead to better outcomes include:

• Has the Board developed and approved big-picture goals for the organization?

• In what ways is the Board supporting the organization’s fundraising goals?

• Are clear and relevant policies and procedures in place which provide guidance for decision making, the authority of the Executive Director, and gift acceptance? Is there a Whistleblower policy? A Conflict of Interest Policy?

• Does the Board regularly assess its performance and develop goals for Board development? What is the Board’s commitment to anti-racism and does it have an Anti-discrimination policy?

• How can we learn more about the community we serve and what we can do to better represent them?

• Does the Executive Director have a current and relevant job description?

• Is the board self-managed?

These are just a few of the items that a board should routinely address. In doing so, the tendency to fill the void of not-knowing with busy work for the Executive Director will disappear, the board will become increasingly proactive and forward-thinking, and the community will be better engaged in the activities of the organization, and visa-versa.

The Nonprofit Strategy Group can assist your board by conducting a comprehensive assessment and helping you build a strategy for success. Book an appointment to see how we can support your current needs. Email me: richard@thenonprofitstrategygroup.com(.)