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Leadership CoP How to Make your Board More Effective Facilitator: Linda Greenseid

Leadership CoP How to Make your Board More Effective Facilitator: Linda Greenseid Guest: Dick Chait Harvard Graduate School of Education Date: May 28, 2008. Participants will be able understand the differences between:

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Leadership CoP How to Make your Board More Effective Facilitator: Linda Greenseid

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  1. Leadership CoP How to Make your Board More Effective Facilitator: Linda Greenseid Guest: Dick Chait Harvard Graduate School of Education Date: May 28, 2008

  2. Participants will be able understand the differences between: procedure oriented board meetings and action oriented board meetings strategic planning and strategic thinking best practice governance and governance by philanthropy Goals of the Call

  3. Welcome and Introductions Presentation and Discussion Next Steps Agenda

  4. Richard P. Chait, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, has studied nonprofit governance for more than 20 years. He is a member of the board of directors of BoardSource and a trustee and member of the executive committee of the governing board of Wheaton College. He was previously a trustee of Goucher College and Maryville College. Dr. Chait has served as a consultant to the boards and executives of more than 100 nonprofit organizations, particularly in education and the arts. The Fulbright New Zealand Board of Directors selected him as a Fulbright U.S. Distinguished American Scholar, and he was named one of Harvard University’s outstanding teachers in 2004. Meet Richard Chait

  5. Sleepless in San Francisco:What Keeps Me Awake at Night (KPAWN) 2007 Closing Plenary Speech by Richard Chair, Harvard Graduate School of Education BoardSource Leadership Forum Oct. 13, 2007

  6. Committee on Governance Conflict of Interest Statement New Member Orientation Critical Performance Indicators Guiding Literature Appreciation of Responsibility Understanding of Best Practice Features of Today’s Boards

  7. Operational Issues By-Laws Board Size Term Limits Meeting Schedules Definition of Duties Committee Size Procedure over Substance

  8. Board Culture Group Dynamics Work Plans Group Norms Higher Leverage Practice Issues

  9. More engagement Greater in-depth participation Extensive exchange of views before decision-making Positive group dynamics Mutual respect Focus on strategically significant issues Qualities of Top-rated Boards

  10. How does your board function? Are you spending too much time on operational issues? Our board operates at a top quality level. It allows the HOS to function effectively. One issue is micromanagement implications. For example, top management understands the need for a change but it’s not always easy to accomplish. “Position board as a brain trust” “Put a whale in the pool.” That will force the board to look at the big issues. Ask trustees, “Are you satisfied with the way things are? Do you want to be focusing on minutiae? Ask trustees, “What is the single most important question we need to address and what is the single most important decision we need to make?” There is a cost to focusing on minor issues—it takes away from focusing on bigger issues that are more critical and more significant. KHAWN (Keeps Head Awake At Night) Allow time for the HOS to share with the board what keeps him awake. Time to reflect as a board. Discussion Questions

  11. Effective governance entails influential participation in meaningful discussion, collaboratively framed by the board and HOS, that lead to significant outcomes. Key Point

  12. Focus on substance and priorities. Engage in inquiry, dialogue and stories. Utilize collective knowledge and intelligence gathering capabilities. Seek the winning propositions and superior insights that are going to drive the plan. Ask, “What do we know that that others do not know that will provide comparative advantage?” Frame the issues that matter most to the long term welfare of your school. Engage in Strategic Thinking;Not Strategic Planning

  13. How have you engaged your board in strategic thinking? What insights can you share from your experiences? Our board has been busy with day-to-day issues and is always trying to solve the next problem. How do we spend our time to meet our existing needs and to take a step back to look at the picture from a different perspective? Suggestion: Sit still and consider questions in a hypothetical mode. For example, what if a funder said, “I will give millions to the JDS with the best idea to improve education in our school.” What ideas might you put forward? Ask, “How are we (our board) smarter as a school today than we were five years ago? How will boards in the future remember us? Discussion Questions

  14. Philanthropy individual act personal passions piper calls the tune Governance collective act fealty to an institution’s welfare preservation and strengthening of all shareholders Governance as Philanthropy

  15. Are seats added on the eve of a capital campaign? Is capacity the #1 criterion? Does one have to “give big” to be a Board Chair? Are big givers “exempt” from certain board expectations? How Powerful is Philanthropy in your Boardroom?

  16. Does money speak in your board room? How important is capacity when your Committee on Trustees meets? There can be problems at both ends of the spectrum. This is a topic which needs to be addressed with sensitivity Discussion Questions

  17. Do you have board members who have seats and are not expected to come to meetings? Does anyone have an experience they can share where philanthropy got in the way of good governance? Discussion Questions

  18. If your school’s endowment quadrupled…. How would your board re-channel the energy in development? Would there still be governance to do? 1st Thought Experiment

  19. Irrespective of institutional wealth, there are always vital governance functions to perform; therefore, nonprofit boards must recruit, enable, and engage people with the skills to govern and the substantive knowledge to oversee and not simply bankroll the organization’s core mission. Key Point

  20. 2. What if philanthropy were viewed as a conflict of interest? Would your school find ways to govern and raise money? Would philanthropy plummet because donors were not seated at the boardroom table? 2nd Thought Experiment

  21. Recognize the inclination of many boards to treat structural symptoms rather than substantive problems related to board effectiveness. There is a tendency to conflate governance and philanthropy. Despite these concerns, we are good organizations in good shape Conclusion

  22. Share this paper with your board. Look critically at how your board functions. Examine whether your board deals with procedure or substance. Explore whether philanthropy drives your school. Make necessary changes if you feel it is in the school’s best interest. Possible Next Steps

  23. http://groups.google.com/group/peje-leadership What question would you like to post? What resources do you have to share? What further support do you need? Continue to Discuss on Google Groups

  24. Wednesday, June 25th at 1:00pm EDT Does your school need a Board Contract/Brit? Next Call

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