Improving Board Performance

1. Improving Board Performance Bryan McQueeney Executive Director, Ride On bryan@rideon.org

2. Why do we want a board? • Legal, effective, independent • Complex organizations demand it. • We can do more with a high performing board than we can without.

3. Tell me about yourself • Your role in organization • How long involved • Age of organization • # of riders/budget • # of board members • What is your board IQ?

4. Is there a disconnect between board function and organizational needs?

5. How are we doing versus what do we need? • We will examine • Board nuts & bolts • Board functions • Changing stages of life for a board • Elements of a Team • Organizational culture

6. You will need: • Vision – to know where your organization is going • Vision – to spot troublesome patterns and behavior • To hone the ability to break problems down into small, easy-to-win, tasks • To Be consistent • To Be persistent

7. Board Nuts & Bolts • Roles vs. Job Description • Composition Matrix • Looking at diversity and skill sets • The Orientation Manual • What are you expecting • The Statement of Agreement • What will I do?

8. How do you attract Board Members? • Your pool of candidates • Find a fit between what they want and what you need • You don’t have money so use vision and inspiration • Create an attractive mission • Run an effective organization

9. How do you attract Board Members? • Run Great Meetings • Respect their time • Give them something meaningful to do • Give them tools and training • Give them support

10. Governance Set Policies & Procedures Financial Oversight Resource Development Community Relationship Building Duty of Care Duty of Loyalty Duty of Obedience Board functions

11. Stage of Life Imagine and Inspire Found & Frame Ground and Grow Produce and Sustain Review and Renew Board Changes From friends to community From “who can I get” to “who is right” From doing to delegating From informal to formal From managing to governing Organizational Change over time

12. Elements of a Team In the non-profit world, vision unifies the team.

13. Elements of a team • Trust • Conflict • Commitment • Accountability • Collective Results • Patrick Lencioni, “Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team”

14. Improving Team Performance • Building Trust: Personal History stories before a meeting • Managing Conflict: Behavior profiles self-assessment and group discussion • Achieving Commitment: Writing down commitment; communicating commitment to outsiders; agreement on core values.

15. Improving Team Performance • Embracing Accountability: team assessment of each individual’s strength and weakness • Focus on Results: Clearly set out goals and measuring stick

16. What’s organizational culture? • Patterns of activity that drive behavior and lead to consequences that are either good or bad

17. Examples of Organizational Culture • Culture of programming excellence • Culture of financial transparency • Culture of building relationships for the long-term • Culture of respecting roles • Culture of accountability • Culture of collective leadership

18. Organizational Culture • Impediments to change • Look for key behavioral patterns that tend to repeat • Look for structural explanations of the pattern: • how decisions are made • How information flows • What values or norms are explicit and implicit

19. Organizational Culture Improvement • Assign task to board member • Assign staff support • Set deadline • Place on next agenda • Accountability reinforced by praise/embarrassment if done/not done

20. Take this away • Identify the problem. Then look at what your role is and change. • Vision: This is the profit motive in a non-profit. Make the most of it. • Build Trust: Establish a culture of learning about other team members with personal stories • Accountability: Set Easy Goals and follow-up. Who Nags?

21. Take this away • Commitment: Twice a year bring all stakeholders together to learn the course and speed • Fundraising retreat beginning of the year • “State of the State” at mid-year