NOT-FOR-PROFIT BOARDS. . .

One must not always think so much about what one should do, but rather what one should be.  Our works do not ennoble us; but we must ennoble our works. –Meister Eckhart

In 1984 I began to develop my capacity to serve not-for-profit boards and since then I have had the privilege of serving on a number of boards — both for-profit and not-for-profit — and I have had the privilege of using my gifts and talents to help address the needs of for-profit and not-for-profit boards.  I am drawn more to not-for-profit boards and so they will be my focus for this posting.

Effective boards are relationship dependent and hence Meister Eckhart’s quote above will help frame our searching and seeking today.  Consider that there are three relationships that are crucial if a board is going to function effectively.  The first is the relationship each board member has with him/herself.  Who we are determines how we will act and what we will choose.  Socrates advised us a number of years ago that it is important for one to ‘know thyself.’  Here are four questions that a board member can engage: Who am I?  Who am I choosing to become? Why am I choosing this ‘becoming’?  What is the effect of who I am on myself and on others?  Hence, I must know my core values — those three or four values that I strive not to compromise no matter what — and I must know my ‘favorite’ virtues’ and ‘vices’ and when I engage both and I must know and understand my deep tacit assumptions and how they affect me and my role as a board member (there are additional ‘knows’ but these will suffice for now).

The second relationship is, literally, the relationship I have (or don’t have) with each of the other board members.  Effective boards are rooted in and influenced by the quality of the relationships that the board members have with one another.  My experience for these past thirty years is that board members do not take the time and energy required to develop relationships with one another.  There is a direct connection between the number of people serving on a board and the quality of the relationships; numbers do matter.  I know that when I have developed a relationship with another that I work more effectively with him/her — I am, for example, more open to their ideas, I am more accepting of their views, I seek to be more understanding of their ‘side’ or their ‘interpretation’ or their ‘perception.’  I do not think I am alone when it comes to this.  Because numbers matter a board must engage the tough question as to how many board members they need in order to be able to develop and maintain healthy relationships AND work effectively together (larger boards tend to entrust too much of their work to either committees or to an executive committee — they seem to forget that ultimately they, as a board, are fully accountable).

The third relationship is the relationship the board has with the chief administrative officer, with the staff and with those the organization directly serves — there is another group and for not-for-profits this always seems to be a challenge to identify; this is the ‘owners.’  Developing these relationships (beginning with defining the nature of the relationship needed/desired) will, of course, take a certain type of commitment.

I continue to be puzzled (is this the word?) by not-for-profit board members.  They want to serve on the board (for any number of reasons — and perhaps this is part of the problem) and yet when they are challenged to develop these types of relationships they will claim that ‘I am only a volunteer’ and ‘I am not willing to give the time’ (too many don’t even take the time to come to board meetings).  Some folks also serve on a number of boards and this, too, dilutes their ability to develop these three relationships.

In thirty years I have only experienced two boards that came close to being as effective as they could be; one was a twenty-member board and one was a two-member board.  All of the other boards I experienced (perhaps 40 of them) did not come close to their potential.  Most were mediocre at best; a few were truly harmful to those they were entrusted with serving.

Relationships are the tap roots that must be nurtured by not-for-profit boards, this I believe.