board meetings

The Lure of Operational Involvement

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Board members often want to help their non-profit in any way they can.  Contributing to its  effectiveness around the board table is essential but one’s role here can seem remote from the direct work of the organization. Indeed, governance work for board members can seem intangible in terms of how exactly it adds value.  Perhaps one should volunteer in the non-profit’s programs or services. Surely it would also be a support to staff.
 
Despite such good intentions, when board members focus their attention on, or even step into operational matters, roles can easily be confused and frequently are.

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Old Business – New Business

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Non-profit boards usually meet monthly or quarterly and most of those meetings involve multi-item agendas. Tradition tends to rule what the design of the agenda looks like. I think this is unfortunate. This post looks at some easy to adopt ideas that, for most, will represent a departure from their current agenda practices.

If board chairs and executive directors, the two people most responsible for the agenda, are prepared to experiment with some new board meeting elements they can give more spring to their organization’s governance step.

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Executive Director Reports

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One of the most enduring features of non-profit board meetings is the executive director’s or CEO’s report. There are few resources that offer good practice recommendations. Aside from the consideration of level of detail, few boards and EDs together give much consideration to what subject matter should be included.

So, I have some of my own suggestions, informed by my board experience and from two other sources, about the content of such reports. Despite the model that I suggest here, nothing beats a board-ED discussion of key content areas and even a little experimentation with actual board reports.

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Easy Board Home Improvements

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Living in an 100+ year old house means getting used to a life with a long and never completed home maintenance agenda. Something always needs repair or replacement. And, out there in the world there is no shortage of additional household improvement ideas I could add to my list.

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Do we need a motion for that?

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Have you ever been uncertain about whether an item to be decided by your board requires a formal motion?  Perhaps your board flirts with some version of “Robert’s Rules” even though no one really knows them? Maybe your board follows past practices with respect to making motions with no idea of where the procedures came from, or what could be improved. If any of this is true, you are in good company.

You might be surprised to know that here is no universally accepted or prescribed set of procedures that non-profit boards must follow in their deliberations and decisions. Yes, there are a set of meeting procedures many people have heard of called Robert’s Rules, but that is not where I am going here.

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