Board-Executive Director Relations

Board Chairs & Executive Directors

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A board chair and the executive director (CEO) can be a great combination. It is a pairing that we tend not to think much about when wondering how to improve a non-profit’s governance practices.

In shaping how the board chair and executive director (ED) can work effectively together the focus first should be on the frequency and kind of communication they have outside of board meetings. But there is more to consider. This post sketches out what the working relationship between the chair and the ED could look like. This pairing isn’t about creating a new “reporting relationship” or a committee.  

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Governance Selection

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When it comes to candy my favourite choice is a box of Ganong’s Delecto Dark Chocolates. I am quite loyal to this brand. They are Canada’s oldest candy company.  Employing nearly 400 people, the family-run firm is the mainstay of the economy of St. Stephen, a small town on the Maine- New Brunswick border. It is just down the road from where I grew up.

A box of mixed chocolates can offer a variety of choices for those with a sweet tooth. Often you are not exactly sure what each candy offers even though you read the description before choosing. My Governance Selection, great articles by other governance nerds like me, tries to offers a similar experience.

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Difficult board conversations

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Is there an issue with a board member, or even your executive director, that you have avoided addressing? Perhaps you have a board chair that is failing to exercise any control over meetings, or a board member that dominates every discussion. On one hand you are afraid to broach the issue because the relationship is important. On the other, if you do not try to resolve things, the relationship may be in peril. In the context of non-profit governance, the existence of unresolved conflict can often lead to board member resignations by those close to the conflict and even those on the sidelines.

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