This week, we continue our conversation from episode 69, “You are the new board chair, now what?” In this episode, we discuss the keys to success as a board chair and top decisions to avoid. If you follow these keys, we believe you will have a successful tenure as board chair.
Timestamps:
00:00 Board Chair Orientation continued
01:20 Keys to success
04:20 Things to avoid
Transcript:
Now, this week’s episode of the i501c you the podcast for nonprofit board members. We’re going to actually continue discussion. We started two weeks ago when it was, hey, congratulations, you’re the board chair now what? And we talked a little bit about the expectations, the roles, responsibilities, things along those lines. And so I would encourage you, if you want to go back two episodes ago from from this episode and you’ve kind of got a little bit of a sequence, go in there today. What I want to talk about two things the keys to success of being a board chair and things to avoid. When you are a board chair. And yes, these have been learned from the school of hard knocks and I’ve probably done some of these, hopefully more of the success ones and then they avoid these ones. But nonetheless, I have learned by doing
Hey, I want to jump in real quick. Somebody asked me the other day, what does the CORLEY Company do? Well, we do three things for non-profits. One, we facilitate meetings. Yes, like board retreats where we discuss governance and strategy with all the members of the board. Number two, advise CEOs and help them as they make decisions and implement actions to drive their mission. And then finally, we produce podcasts such as this one, but also for a number of nonprofits to help you get the word out, get your message out. So if you’re interested in any of these services, please feel free to reach out to Michael@thecompany.com. Now back to the podcast.
Let’s talk about the keys to success. You’re the board chair. Congratulations. Absolutely. Critical number one, establish relationships with the other board members, build good trust staff, build trust and good communication. You start that by reaching out to them. Of course, through the normal channels, but encourage you to take them to lunch, go meet with them. This will pay off in spades over your tenure as board chair, which is typically a year or two.
But certainly you want to do that. Reach out to the board members. You want to make sure you’re an effective leader and facilitator. Then at the meetings you lead the meetings, but you also facilitate primarily facilitate those meetings. You know the old adage, the leader speaks last, and I would encourage you to do that, encourage you as a facilitator or to engage everybody in the meeting and have them participate and provide input.
Yes, some people are shy and aren’t going to speak on their own without being asked. So understand who those people are and ask them at the appropriate time to comment on a specific topic or issue. So that’s number two. Be able to lead and facilitate those meetings. Number three, stay informed about the organization’s activities, the organization’s financial health. You’ve got to really stay up to speed because you’re going to have as a board chair more opportunities to interact, of course, with the CEO, the executive director, get updates on what’s happening.
And that’s really important that you’re able to speak to those things at a high level. You know, I’m not talking at a very detailed level, but you want to be abreast of things. Nothing worse than going to a cocktail party with your friends and go, Hey, I saw your aren’t you on that board? And I saw y’all are doing X, Y, Z, and you have a blank stare on your face.
So hopefully you’ll be getting the proper updates along the way. Work to be an effective communicator. And of course, this ties in with the with the leadership to really clearly and regularly communicate with the board, with the staff when appropriate. Any external stakeholders. After all, you are a spokesperson for the organization as the board chair, you and the CEO likely and so effective communication just ensure those lines of communication are open.
And number five, fostering a culture of transparency and accountability. Yes, even at the board level that’s important. Now, you’re not going to be managing staff, but you want to make sure that you operate and behave in a manner that you hope the rest of the organization does, so that transparency and that accountability and that means holding board members accountable.
And that’s that can be quite challenging sometimes. I’m, of course, leading by example, which ties in to the number five. What I just said is people want model your behaviors. They will watch you if you’re inattentive at meetings, if you’re not responding to emails requests, people will do the same. So it’s like any type of leadership role as board chair, you want to lead by example.
So if you do those, I’ll call them six things. They might be five. If you do those six things, you’ve got an opportunity to be an extremely effective board chair. But on the other side, what should you probably avoid? My observation, and of course, having done some of these, avoid micromanaging the organization or staff. You’re the board chair.
Stay at that board level and it’s going to be tempting to get involved in day to day, especially when you have your one on one meetings with the executive director and he or she says something. I’m certainly you can provide your advice, your counsel, but avoid micromanaging or trying to micromanage the organization. Number two, failing to involve other board members in any decision making.
Yes, it’s more efficient for you to make decisions. It’s more effective. Typically for the board to make decisions. And, you know, you just have to learn what those nuances are. But engage other board members in discussion, get them involved, because remember, they’re pretty smart people and they wouldn’t be on the board and they want to provide input, and that’s critically important.
Do you give them the opportunity to provide an input neglecting your duties? A chair should go without saying. If you’re not keeping up to speed on the, you know, reading the board packet beforehand, if you’re just showing up late, whatever the case may be, it goes back to that modeling that good behavior. Number four would be failing to communicate effectively with the board and the organization staff.
You’ve got a really critical role and an opportunity to influence a lot of people, certainly to engage the board. That is your job. That’s not the executive director’s job. So as board chair, you want to make sure you’re communicating effectively, because once if that does not happen, well, then you don’t have control. And I’m saying that in quotes, control of the board.
Your job is to manage the boards. You want to make sure you’ve got effective lines of communication. Of course, ignoring conflicts of interest. Sometimes it’s tempting for board members to ignore those conflicts of interest. A board chair job is to ensure that is enforced and also to model that type of behavior. If you cross that line, others will cross the line or they’ll certainly think less of you for doing so.
So you want to model the appropriate behavior. And of course, you want to adhere to the bylaws and relevant laws and regulations. So it should go without saying. But I see a lot of times where people look at the bylaws as a nuisance and we can work our way around them. Well, there’s a right way and a wrong way to approach.
And the bylaws and the bylaws change. You want to do it the right way. You want to set the model for trust, doing things the right way, because that will permeate the organization. So I encourage you to avoid those six things. We focus at the top, the first five or six key to success. So you’ve got an opportunity to be a highly effective board chair, something that’s extremely rewarding.
You will be able to effectuate change and make an impact in your community and just remember to avoid those things that might pull you away or distract you from being an effective board chair. So there you go. As you embark on your journey as a board chair, I commend you. I congratulate you is extremely rewarding and I wish you the best of success.
This is Michael Corley, i501CYou the podcast for nonprofit board members and we’ll see you next week.
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