Nonprofit Boards and
Governance Review
Structuring Board Meetings
to Maximize Strategic Input
(Part 5 of a 5
part series)
By Terrie Temkin,
Ph.D.
NonProfit Management Solutions, Inc.
Part 5 of
How To Build A Strategic Thinking Board
Organizations
can go to all the trouble of adjusting their
bylaws to
promote strategic
thinkers, recruiting the best and the brightest,
orienting them to the need to share their knowledge
and experience, and then shoot themselves in
the foot when these people show up at a board
meeting. The classic meeting format, which
relies heavily on reports to bring board members
up to date on old and new business is one of
the worst approaches an organization can take.
Reports are boring. They don't involve people.
They don't make them think about the "what
ifs'." What's worse, however, is when
those board members who still put on their
thinking caps are discouraged from asking questions
because everyone wants to finish and leave
or because questions are seen as a challenge
to leadership.
Structuring your meetings to maximize strategic
thinking is critical. I mentioned in previous
sections how important questions are. So, you
want to create an agenda that promotes questions
and the brainstorming of options. Try assigning
a devil's advocate at each meeting. This person's
job is to challenge each idea that is brought
up. He or she might ask such things as: What
could happen that would prevent us from accomplishing
our objective? Isn't the trend away from this
and toward? The risk I see is.... While there
are natural devil's advocates in every group,
the tendency is to tune out the voice that
appears always to be taking the opposite road.
By spreading around the responsibility for
challenging the status quo you remind people
why you chose them in the first place and they
begin to appreciate the value of such behavior.
Also try eliminating the reports. Have them
prepared ahead of time and sent out as a part
of the board packet. If committees have recommendations,
they can also go out ahead of the meeting with
a brief synopsis of the rational for the recommendation,
the pros and cons, the estimated cost in terms
of all resources, and a description of how
it fits the organization's mission, vision,
values and goals. This way, board members can
truly think through the issues related to the
recommendations rather than merely reacting
off the top of their heads. This way, too,
most of the recommendations can be handled
quickly through a consensus vote, with time
spent only on those issues that require additional
discussion.
There is one presentation that should be kept.
That is the board education piece. Every board
meeting should include a short segment about
the organization -- its mission, clients, or
successes -- or how to be a better board member.
Best if presented creatively, these portions
motivate board members as well as providing
them with information that is key to their
making strategic decisions.
Design the bulk of the agenda around a single
substantive issue that truly needs the input
of a group of strategic thinkers. This issue
should be closely tied to the organization's
goals for the year. Concentrate on what's not
working (your dashboard indicators will give
you this information), upcoming opportunities
that directly relate to your mission, vision
and values, and specific threats to your organization
or its mission. Spend the time to develop action
plans and assign responsibilities. The best
ideas are worthless if they are not carried
through.
Leave time for two additional agenda items:
the Executive Director's Nightmare and the
BTW Talk. The Executive Director's Nightmare
is the opportunity for the executive director
to talk about those issues that keep him or
her up at night. Requiring a strong partnership
relationship between board and E.D. as well
as a commitment to confidentiality and a high
level of trust, this part of the meeting can
make immediate use of the different skills
and perspectives represented on the board as
everyone puts their heads together to discover
solutions to problems that seemed unsolvable.
The BTW (By The Way) Talk takes the place
of the environmental scan in the traditional
strategic plan. It substitutes a year-round
assessment of those factors that could impact
the organization in both the near and distant
future. Because each board member travels in
different circles, each hears different information
and places different values on that information.
Setting aside a few minutes at the beginning
or end of each board meeting to discuss these
factors again provides information critical
to making strategic decisions.
Cyril
Houle once said, "A good board
is a victory not a gift." By building
an organizational culture that rewards board
members for thinking strategically every day
planning will be ongoing and meaningful --
not just another "best practice" that
is adopted with fanfare and quickly forgotten.
Editor's Note: Our thanks to Terrie Temkin
her contribution to Nonprofit Boards & Governance
Review. More information about Terrie
can be found at: http://charitychannel.com/resources/Detailed/600.html
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