Continuing with the light summer mix we dedicate this song to all of ED’s and Board Chairs out there in radio land who are sitting alone tonight pining for the good old days and wondering what happened and why they are, as Hall and Oates put it...

Starting all over again is gonna be rough, so rough,
But we’re gonna make it.
Starting all over is gonna be tough, on us,
But we gotta face it.

We’re taking advantage of summer as an opportunity to take a lighter approach to the serious topic of board governance. This month we tackle the topic that many of you have faced before, may be facing at this very moment, and hope to never face again -- starting over again with the board leadership. Sadly, many grassroots organizations commonly experience fits, starts, and struggles and go through a few iterations of their “board” before leveling off and developing a Board that provides leadership and functions as it should. How do I know this? Well, I have privilege of talking to hundreds or thousands of leaders from grassroots organizations annually at workshops and seminars.

In this last week alone, I had two different nonprofit leaders expressing this exact situation and I began thinking how frequently this topic comes up in sidebar or one-on-one conversations. I don’t pretend to know what goes on inside every nonprofit board meeting in America or to speculate the nature of the problems you may be experiencing at this very moment. However I do want to encourage those of you who may be in this situation now or feel that you are heading in this direction.

Don’t give up on board governance! I happen to believe it’s impossible to have a great nonprofit organization with a mediocre Board. Organizations may be able to mask weak or malfunctioning boards for a period of time, but sooner or later failures in leadership will take their toll on the organization. It’s like cracks in the foundation of a building; you can cosmetically cover or dress them up, but sooner or later you must rebuild as the cracks continue to grow and the building begins to collapse. Building a high performing Board takes time and continuous effort. There is no stopping place; for the moment you think you’ve arrived and cease your efforts on board development, your decline has already begun.

10 Tips for Rebuilding a Board

1. Assess the current condition of the Board - in other words - how bad is the current situation? Drawing on a health metaphor and adapting the Illness-Wellness Continuum originally developed by Dr. John W. Travis, we use the Board Wellness Continuum to help diagnose the current health of the Board. Is it dysfunctional, diseased, or dead? We discussed these diagnoses in a recent webinar (now viewable in the archives) - Board CPR: Revitalizing Troubled Boards.

2. Conduct a Postmortem - if your Board is defunct or dead, conduct a postmortem examination to try to determine the factors that led to the demise. A postmortem would include talking to people that were formerly on the Board to discover what led to their departure:

• Was it just a matter of improper fit? It’s possible that the Board did not have the right people on it and they simply grew weary and lost interest.
  
• Did they leave due to a change in their personal life? Frequently shifts in responsibilities at home or work may get in the way and prevent someone from fulfilling their commitments.
  
• Did they just burn out from trying to do too much? It is extremely common in grassroots organizations for a few people to do all of the work and burnout may result. We addressed this a couple of years ago in Combating Board Burnout.
  
• Were they frustrated by poor planning, lack of direction, or inadequate training for their role?
  
• Did they feel their service was not a good use of their time or talents?
  

Get the facts as best you can and meet with a group of advisors -- remaining board members, staff members, or key volunteers and review the feedback to identify trends and develop strategies for moving forward. NOTE: in some cases the Founder or ED might be part of the problem and may not be the appropriate person to gather honest feedback as they may be part of the problem [see number 4 below.]

3. Conduct interviews with departing board members - as a matter of practice we recommend exit interviews for all board members. This is best done by the governance or board development committee (if you have one). Develop a list of questions that you ask all departing board members and seek their input and feedback on ways to improve the Board and the organization. Some sample questions might include:

• What did you find most rewarding about being a part of this Board?
  
• What caused you the most frustration as a board member?
  
• What’s one change we could make that would make board service more fulfilling?
  
• How could we improve board meetings to be more productive?
  
• Were you adequately informed as to your roles and responsibilities? What advice would you offer to a new board member?
  
• Why are you resigning from the Board?
  
• Is there anything we could have done to change this decision?
  

4. Consider your complicity in the matter - This is probably the hardest challenge to face, but what if the Founder or Executive Director is part of the problem? Let’s be honest and admit there are situations where this is the case. If your leadership is a major contributing factor to the problems in the organization (if you’ve gone through three iterations of the Board and everyone has left but you -- the Founder/ED -- you might be the problem or a major portion of it). If this is the case, you can either recognize it, address it, and change or stay the course and shipwreck the organization.

5. Revitalize board service - talk to your existing board members (either one-on-one or in a Board meeting) and determine what parts of board service are exciting and invigorating as well as any tasks or parts that are boring. If it is boring, take time to discover what’s lacking in the experience and determine ways to re-energize board service. Remember, board members serve as volunteers and ideally their service should build on their strengths and allow them to serve in areas of gifting and passion.

6. Evaluate effectiveness of board meetings - take 5 minutes at the end of each Board meeting and assess the effectiveness of the meeting. Did we stick to the agenda? Did we allow enough time for the important topics to be addressed? Did we lose valuable time on insignificant issues or personality conflicts? Are there unresolved issues between board members that need to be addressed before the next meeting?

7. Build a Board Bench - in other words, make board member recruitment an ongoing priority and activity in your organization. Always be looking for prospective board members! Utilize this opportunity to formalize your recruiting process and maintain a database or roster of prospective candidates. Click the following link to learn more about Formalizing Your Board Recruitment Process.

8. Invest in Board Development - it is common in grassroots organizations for board members to be new to board service. Therefore, they may lack a thorough understanding of how organizations operate (or should operate), how to read (and understand) a financial statement, or how to best fulfill their duties and obligations as board members. Commit to providing ongoing educational opportunities, also known as board development for all board members. This occurs in a variety of both formal and informal ways. We addressed this in an earlier article titled, Does Good Governance Just Happen?

9. Find a mentor - if you are the Board chair or Executive Director and are struggling with building or leading the Board perhaps you can identify a local leader who would provide some mentoring. This could include sitting in board meetings as an observer to see how their board or committee meetings are conducted. It could also include one-on-one discussions on a number of topics: board-staff relations, board involvement in fundraising, creating and managing the agenda for board meetings. You may find a mentor at established nonprofit organizations in your community or through organizations you partner with in other projects or through a local coalition.

10. Hire a consultant or coach to help you navigate this season. You may have great local resources to assist. If not, contact us - we’d love to help you develop and implement a plan and get back on track with your Board.

Invest the time, energy, and effort to revitalize your Board; it’s a worthwhile investment. Hopefully following these steps will give you a new song to request the next time you call your favorite DJ.

Please join us for our next webinar on August 26th when we will be discussing Board Wellness - Optimizing Your Board for Greater Performance.

Kevin Monroe is the Founder and Managing Partner of X Factor Consulting, a consulting firm that makes the world a better place by equipping leaders and strengthening organizations. Through active partnerships with businesses, foundations, government agencies, nonprofits, and others that share this commitment, X Factor is strengthening individuals, families, neighborhoods, and communities around the world. 

Kevin has a wealth of experience and a passion for nonprofit and philanthropic organizations, as evident in the results he has achieved working with organizations around the country. He is available to consult or speak on this topic and many more. Contact us today or click here to learn more.

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