Getting Tough with your Board of Directors

1. Getting Tough with your Board of Directors QENO Executive Directors Roundtable January 28, 2010 Camilla M. Herlevich, Coastal Land Trust

2. What do you want from the Board? • Advice and counsel: Big Picture • Fresh, varied viewpoints • Wisdom; keep you from making mistakes • Objectivity • Rein you in when needed and push you forward when needed • Plan for the future

3. What do you want from the Board? • Connections • Broader, more diverse communities • Links to persons with influence • Money • Duty to secure adequate resources • Make peer to peer asks • Preserve and manage assets • Oversee budgets and finances

4. What do you want from the Board? • Participation and Work • Help carry out the mission • Support the Executive Director • Ambassadorship • Build your good reputation with their friends, family and colleagues • NOTE: you may also want things from them as individuals

5. What do you NOT want from them? • Micro-management of you and/or your staff • Cliques or sub-groups • Pressure to do favors for friends, family or colleagues • Lack of participation, apathy or worse

6. How do you get the good stuff and avoid the bad stuff? • Identification, Recruitment, etc. • Size of Board: not too big • Be careful who you approach; committees service try-outs? • Before election, be clear about expectations re: attendance, travel, time, committees, contributions • A job description is helpful • After election, use annual work plans, with plenty of options

7. How do you get the good stuff and avoid the bad stuff? • Meetings • Agenda: distinguish between action items and information items. Consider a consent agenda for latter • Don’t overuse Executive Committee • Frequency of meetings-infrequent enough for staff to get things done? • Are items fully prepped by staff ? • Is there at least one “big picture” discussion item at every meeting?

8. How do you get the good stuff and avoid the bad stuff? • Communications between meetings • Use emails out for information items that don’t need debate; e.g. requests for assistance, status reports on projects, etc. • Distinguish between good helpful ideas and micro-managing; protect staff by deflecting the latter

9. How do you get the good stuff and avoid the bad stuff? • Conduct annual Board Self-Evaluation • Best if done by outside consultant • Cover culture of Board, responsibilities of Board as a whole and members individually • Encourage Board Training & Seminars

10. How do you get the good stuff and avoid the bad stuff? • Use Peer Pressure! • Report on what the various Board members are doing; e.g. attendance grids, ambassadorship reports • The President or other Director, not staff, should address any problems that may arise; e.g. attendance, improper influence, lack of contribution, etc.

11. How do you get the good stuff and avoid the bad stuff? • Consider values statements, posted at meetings • Model good behavior (no gossip, open discussions) • Allow time for Directors to get to know each other; enhance connections

12. How do you get the good stuff and avoid the bad stuff? • Respect their time and contributions • Actually follow their advice; take it to heart and adapt your actions to incorporate their wisdom • Don’t micro-manage them; accept their labor, even it’s not the way you or your staff would do things • Make it easy for them to help you • Thank them often for their passion, time and commitment

13. Information and Resources • Board Source • Www.boardsource.org • Governance Matters (subscription) • www.governancemattes.org • Philanthropy Journal • www.philanthropyjournal.org • NC Center for Nonprofits • www.ncnonprofits.org