Enhancing Board Development: Strategies for Initiating Change and Continuous Improvement

1. Approaches to Board Development Thomas P. Holland, Ph.D., Professor Institute for Nonprofit Organizations University of Georgia Athens, Ga. 30602 706-542-5463

2. CEO: Initiator of Change • Many boards comfortable with status quo • Someone must raise ambitions and stir discontent: “We can do better than this.” • Allies among board leaders are vital. • Some may take idea as implying criticism. • Change always involves anxiety. Don’t avoid it or let others sidetrack efforts. • Offer examples of how other boards do their work and add greater value to organization. • Keep at it. Change takes time.

3. How Do We Get Started? • Take advantage of common situations to reflect on roles of the board in them and learn from its experiences, such as • departure of the CEO, board chair, or any senior person • completion of a campaign • success or failure in achieving a goal • attendance shortfalls or complaints about board or staff meetings • change in relationship with a donor, funding source, partner organization, consumers • any event that has major impact on organization

4. Questions for Group Reflection • What were the major factors that led up to this situation? • What were our goals, assumptions, and actions going into it? • In what ways did we influence the sequence of events? • What could we have done differently to make the outcome more positive? • Lessons we should take into the future?

5. Make Learning an Expectation • Initiate regular evaluative discussions as the last 15 minutes of every meeting: • Did we work on the most important issues? • What went well? What didn’t? • What should we do differently next time to be more productive in our future meetings? • Carry out more extensive assessments of the group’s performance annually. • Discuss findings in a retreat, drawing lessons and group goals for the coming year. • Demonstrate how accountability works.

6. Task: Add Assessment to Planning • What are our top priorities for this organization? • What key, selective aspects of the organization do we want to monitor? • What are the best ways to display each? • What comparisons would be most informative? (over time, with peers) • When do we want to receive reports? • What will we do when exceptions occur?

7. Assess How Well the Board is Performing Regarding… • Clarity of mission and purpose • Staying focused on important strategic issues • Evaluation and support of the Executive • Raising funds and managing financial resources • Involvement in planning for the future • Orientations for new members • Board-staff relationships • Communications with constituencies • Risk management • Board operations, use of members’ time and talents

8. Task: Format for BoardSelf-Assessment Tool • Begin with clarifying expectations of the team, both as a group and individual members • Identify goals for group for the coming year • List all expectations and goals in a series of statements • Add a response format to each statement: How well did we do in this area in this meeting? over the past year? • Provide space for comments & suggestions

9. Continuous Improvement: A Board’s Ongoing Responsibility • Identify and announce annual goals publicly • Keep them posted in conspicuous places • Remind group about them at every meeting • Link every agenda item to a goal • Solicit feedback periodically from team members and constituencies on progress • Review performance at end of each meeting and at end of each year • Set goals for improvement in coming year

10. Lessons Learned • What are the 2-3 most important things you learned about board development? • What will your next action steps be to help your board become through the development process?