Tips > Published on 2009/10/28 2:50:00

Building Your Board Through Board Development

How are you building your current Board? Consider forming a Board Development committee if you don’t already have one. If you have a Nominating Committee, why not extend their responsibilities to include year-round tips and tricks for Board members?

Want a positive and fun approach? Charge the committee with a “Did You Know?” segment at each Board meeting.

(Note: Whatever you do, don't just call it "board training." Most Board members hate to be "trained".)

Published on 2009/10/29 2:58:26

See other tips in Recruiting and Retaining Strong Boards

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Poster	Thread
Laura Deaton	Posted: 2009/11/2 8:43 Updated: 2009/11/2 8:43
Not too shy to talk Joined: 2009/9/2 From: Tallahassee, FL Posts: 39	Re: How are you building your current Board? (Cross posted on LinkedIn in reply) Thanks for the comment, Norm. It's particularly interesting because just today I posted another tip on our site that is based on a presentation presented by Bill Ryan, Research Fellow at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University, at a seminar sponsored by The Pew Fund for Health and Human Services. Although not specifically highlighted in today's tip, Ryan talks in detail about three different modes of governance. The first is described as the "fiduciary mode" where the board acts as a "sentinel" and "oversees operations and ensures efficiency, while also focusing on legal compliance, and fiscal accountability. The second is the "strategic mode" where boards act as strategic partners to senior management, and the core work includes strategic planning and "monitoring performance against plans." The third mode is the "generative mode," where the board's central purpose is to be "a source of leadership for the organization" and the "sense maker." In this mode, the board "discerns challenges and opportunities; and probes assumptions, logic and the values behind strategies." He then goes on to talk about the real benefits of ensuring that the board's time is primarily spent in "generative mode," and even intimates that a board is most healthy when there is a strong sense of equal power/shared governance between board and staff and a commitment to truly engaging the board as a partner. Here's what interests me: One of his suggestions for staying in generative mode is to 'have as few standing committees as possible." He suggests instead that "task-driven committees that address specific issues, gather information about those issues, and then report to the whole board about what they have learned," is a more generative model and may lead to better results. He also suggests that "the entire board should then discuss the committee's ideas," presumably instead of just a committee recommendation or an executive discussion. What's your thought about that? I definitely don't know your Board, but your description of all of the processes that you've put in place sounds more like your board may be spending more time in one of the other modes? I'd love to hear what you think, as I'm still pondering much of the information presented in the summary. You can read the full paper here: http://clicky.me/gB . Warm regards, and thanks again for your comment! Laura

3rd Sector Connector Admin	Posted: 2009/11/2 8:39 Updated: 2009/11/2 8:39
Webmaster Joined: 2009/5/29 From: USA Posts: 116	Re: How are you building your current Board? From LinkedIn: By Norm King Business Executive, Community Builder with for-profit and not-for-profit experience Quote: We've got a Nominations sub-committee/task force, stemming from our standing Governance Committee, that does board recruitment and interviewing year round. The Governance Committee has recently reviewed and amended the board orientation process and board manual. The process has been amended to pilot a board mentor/board buddy program over the course of 6 months and a 'passport' exercise that incorporates activities to be completed by new board members over their first few months. Now the task of delivering on-going training for the board. But for a retreat, the obvious place for such is to build in a segment to board meetings and to perhaps leverage e-learning.

3rd Sector Connector Admin	Posted: 2009/10/29 14:36 Updated: 2009/10/29 14:36
Webmaster Joined: 2009/5/29 From: USA Posts: 116	Re: How are you building your current Board? Via Twitter from @AmyKinkaid: Great tip for #nonprofit #Board. Don't call it "training."