The Board Chair and Executive Director Relationship
One of the most important relationships in a nonprofit organization is the partnership between the Board Chair and the Executive Director. Unfortunately, there is no rule book for navigating the complexities of this relationship, but you may well find the following guidelines helpful!
Some of the basic foundational elements of an effective working relationship are:
A shared vision and common goals for the organization
Mutual respect, transparency, and honesty
Establishing positive and appropriate relational boundaries
Regular communication
One of the most common frustrations we hear from Executive Directors is “My board isn’t engaged.” Our response is to ask if the Board Chair is leading the board, or if that duty has fallen to the Executive Director. Nine times out of ten, the Executive Director tells us that they are managing the board and that things are not going particularly well. This is not surprising given the ED has plenty of other things to do :)
In a perfect world, the Board Chair would manage the Board and perform the following tasks:
Provide ongoing support to the ED
Work with the ED and Directors to develop the monthly Board meeting agenda
Lead annual ED evaluation and Board evaluation
Hold board members accountable to their goals and commitments
This is a lot! And the Board Chair role is almost always a volunteer position, so they are most likely juggling additional professional and personal commitments. However, we believe that with an efficient system in place and good communication, the Board Chair and ED can work in concert to lead successfully. There is a fantastic chart developed by Board Source that outlines the separate and shared responsibilities of both the Board Chair and CEO/Executive Director. Check it out - click here.
One of the most important items on the list above is the last bullet, holding board members accountable. When the Board Chair provides oversight and leads by example by holding themselves and other members accountable for completing the agreed-upon tasks that fulfill identified goals, the Board becomes more effective and the Executive Director has more capacity to focus on their job: running the organization!
We are presenting on this topic next week at the Colorado Nonprofit Association Connecting Colorado Conference in Colorado Springs, on April 12th if you’d like to learn more!