Recruiting new board members is only part of the member recruitment process. Once new members have joined the board, best practices encourage organizations to provide an effective orientation process that quickly gets them up-to-speed and contributing to the process of organizational governance.

Without effective orientation, new board members often sit in the shadows for several meetings as they try to determine how things are done in your organization. Failing to equip new board members for their service actually does a disservice to both new and existing board members. New members are not sure how to properly engage or contribute to the discussions while some existing board members may feel frustration over what they consider “naïve” questions or ignorance about board processes. These situations can be minimized by effective orientation for new members.

We encourage all nonprofit organizations to adopt a policy requiring all new board members to attend new member orientation. However a policy apart from an effective process is meaningless. Let’s explore the goals for this orientation and look at some tools that may ease the process.

Goals
The primary purpose for this orientation is to:

1. provide new members with an overview of the nonprofit, its mission, history, and work;
   
2. review the roles and responsibilities for board members;
   
3. an overview of the organization’s current strategic plan and initiatives;
   
4. a report on the finances and fundraising activities; and
   
5. an overview of the board structure (including committees, meeting processes).
   

If you are a newer organization and none of the board members ever participated in an orientation, it might be wise to provide this orientation to all board members. I am familiar with organizations that have done this and all of the members benefitted from it and it helped get everyone on the same page. Of course, if you have never provided training on board member roles and responsibilities, perhaps it is best to include all of this in a one-day board retreat.

Duration
The length of time for this orientation meeting varies based on the size and scope of the nonprofit and the level of detail provided for each agenda item. This orientation could last from a couple of hours or could be a half or full day if it also included site visits to multiple offices or program sites. Your organization should feel the freedom to experiment with the structure and collect feedback to determine the best approach for your organization.

Mentoring
Another way to help new board members succeed is to pair them with an experienced board member to mentor them for several months. This will provide informal opportunities for the new member to learn about the organization and ask questions they may not feel comfortable asking in the board meetings.

Tools
If you have a board handbook or manual, this would be part of the orientation process and provide a resource to help answer questions you fail to include in the orientation session. If you don’t have a board handbook or manual, we suggest you develop one, as that is another best practice of high performing boards and the topic of next month’s newsletter.

X Factor provides a variety of services including board training, board retreats, meeting facilitation, coaching for Executive Directors and Board Chairs, and assistance with developing board manuals or handbooks. We work with clients locally and nationally. If you need assistance, please call us to schedule a time to discuss your needs and the results you want to achieve. We look forward to hearing from you.

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Tiffany Applegate, X Factor Consulting, LLC, Partner
Kevin Monroe, X Factor Consulting, LLC, Partner