How to Strengthen the Performance of your Board

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How to Strengthen the Performance of your Board

• Thomas P. Holland, Ph.D. Professor and Director,
  Institute for Nonprofit Organizations
• The University of Georgia
• Athens, GA

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Old vs. New Approaches

• 1.Management defines problems and solutions
  board listens and approves
• 2. Board structure parallels administrative
  functions
• 3. Meetings driven by standard procedures,
  emphasizing reports
• 4. Board is collection of stars, talented
  experts

• 1. Board and management identify key issues
  together
• 2. Board structure is based on strategic
  priorities
• 3. Meetings are goal-driven, emphasizing
  strategy and learning
• 4. Board is strong constellation with growing
  teamwork

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Effective Boards

• Keep their attention focused on strategic
  priorities, not operations
• Identify and work together on what matters most
  to the long-term future of organization
• Understand trends and changes in the environment
  and what they mean for the organization and its
  future
• Think together out loud about issues before they
  become problems, preventing fire-fighting
• Develop means for monitoring organizational
  performance in key areas

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Practices of Effective Boards

• 1. Mission and Values
• develop and sustain strong, shared understanding
  of the organizations ends,
  purposes, mission and values
• make active use of them in the boards work
• 2. Planning and Priority Setting
• identify strategic directions
• set clear priorities and criteria
• stick to them in the boards work

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More Effective Practices

• 3. Teamwork
• grow from collection of individual stars into
  a strong constellation
• develop group inclusiveness and cohesion
• use feedback to strengthen teamwork skills
• 4. Board Education
• continue to learn about the organization, its
  environment, and strategic issues
• evaluate the boards own work periodically
• strengthen the groups skills in problem-analysis
  and in leadership

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Strategy vs. Operations

• Most board members (like most people) come from
  positions of responsibility for operational
  decisions. Thats familiar territory for us.
• Most board members (like most people) have little
  understanding of or experience with governance,
  strategic thinking, or planning for the future.
• As a result, board meetings slide into familiar
  territory-- operations.
• Senior staff unwittingly foster such slides.

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Governance

• Governance isnt just big management
• The board is responsible for
• identifying the mission, purposes, ends
  of the organization who it serves and why
• translating them into strategies that lead to
  successful accomplishment of those ends
• monitoring managers implementation management
  involves means to the ends
• ensuring that the organization has resources
  to carry out its purposes
• adding value to the organization

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Group Culture of the Board

• Culture that set of unspoken habits, norms, and
  practices that guide how a group goes about doing
  its work
• Group culture develops over time, emerging
  from the work habits of founders
• It typically focuses on operational issues
• Newcomers are socialized into cultural
  assumptions about how this group does its work
• These assumptions and habits are resistant to
  change, continuing to guide work even when
  outside conditions change
• Staff continue supplying operational data

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Learning new ways to do the boards
work

• Move from old habits to new, more effective
  practices. Old assumptions become choices among
  alternatives.
• Identify options, new possibilities for doing the
  work of the group.
• Board must stay focused on goals and ends, not
  operations and means.
• Experiment with new practices, substituting
  better approaches for old ones.
• Learn by reflecting on experiences together.
• Demonstrate accountability the board should
  model the behaviors it desires in others.

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How do we get started?

• Take advantage of common situations to reflect on
  roles of the board in them and learn from its
  experiences, such as
• departure of the CEO, board chair, or any senior
  person
• completion of a campaign
• success or failure in achieving a goal
• attendance shortfalls or complaints about board
  or staff meetings
• change in relationship with a donor, funding
  source, partner organization, consumers
• any event that has major impact on organization

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Questions for group reflection

• What were the major factors that led
  up to this situation?
• What were our goals, assumptions, and
  actions going into it?
• In what ways did we influence the sequence of
  events?
• What could we have done differently to
  make the outcome more positive?
• Lessons we should take into the future?

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CEO is often the introducer of change

• Many boards comfortable with status quo
• Someone must raise ambitions and stir discontent
  We can do better than this.
• Allies among board leaders are vital.
• Change always involves anxiety. Dont
  avoid it or let others sidetrack efforts.
• Offer examples of how other boards do their work
  and add greater value to organization.
• Keep at it. Change takes time.

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Make Learning an Expectation

• Initiate regular evaluative discussions as the
  last 15 minutes of every meeting
• Did we work on the most important issues?
  
• What went well? What didnt?
  
• What should we do differently next time to
  be more productive in our future meetings?
• Carry out more extensive assessments of
  the groups performance annually.
• Discuss findings in a retreat, drawing lessons
  and group goals for the coming year.
• Demonstrate how accountability works.

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Restructure Boards Committees so form
follows function

• Traditional committee structure follows
  management divisions, inviting micro-managing
  operations undermining CEO
• Instead, focus on strategic goals
• Identify what board will add to staff work
• Create ad hoc work groups focusing on each goal
• Groups bring options best ideas to board
• Group ends when goal accomplished

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Screen the Meeting Agenda
Youre not ready for air time until you have
clearly answered each question

• What is the purpose of this meeting?
  of this agenda item?
• What specific things do we want to accomplish?
• How will that move us toward a major goal that
  will strengthen the organization in the future?
• Are the questions sharply defined and understood?
• Have we provided members appropriate information
  needed to address questions?
• How will we assess our success?

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Use Alternative Meeting Formatsaccording to
goals for each meeting
(again, form follows function)

• Moderated discussions or educational sessions
• Small group brainstorming and discussions
• Thematic meetings focused on a single topic of
  overarching importance
  (Roberts Rules useful in very
  young or disorderly groups, but less so later)

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Strengthen TEAMWORK

• Most boards are composed of individual stars
• Go beyond to focus on the constellation
• Strengthen group performance by
• screening nominees for teamwork skills
• orientation and mentoring
• setting goals for the group itself
• speaking with one voice
• ongoing board education
• regular evaluations and feedback
• taking time to reflect and learn
  from experience and feedback

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Information is essential to learning, but most
board members experience

• Data overload
• Inappropriate levels of detail
• Administrative vs. governance perspective
• Lack of strategic relevance
• Unresponsive to members
  time constraints
• Lack of interpretive context

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Information must be infused with
Meaning

• Governance information, not management
• Strategic, not operational
• Selective, not exhaustive
• Normative, comparisons
  over time and with peers
• Senior staff should guide and support such
  distinctions by the information provided to the
  board.

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Sample DashBoard Dialsabout Organizational
Performance

• Percent of revenue by sources, over time
• Expenses by major categories or priorities
• Percent of consumers completing service
• Discounts as percent of price charged
• Percent of professional staff with highest degree
• Deferred maintenance/ replacement value

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One Organizations Dashboard
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Another boards Dashboard focuses
on

• Program Mix Are the organizations activities
  focused on our priorities?
• Program Quality Are they being done well?
• Resource Acquisition Are we bringing in
  sufficient resources to meet the budget?
• Resource Management Are we keeping our budget
  balanced and in line with priorities?

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That Boards Dials, Part 1

• Program Mix Are the organizations activities
  focused on our priorities?
• Staff time allocation, by program, quarterly
• Expenditures by program, , quarterly
• Program Quality Are they being done well?
• Feedback from those receiving program efforts
• donors, sponsors, granting foundations
• community organizations, volunteers, chapters,
• consumers and staff

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That Boards Dials, Part 2

• Resource Acquisition Are we bringing in
  sufficient resources to meet the budget?
• Income by source
• amount and of board members giving annually
• income by other sources, over time (quarterly,
  annually)
• compared with peer organizations
• Are we diversifying our sources of income?
• amounts by sources over time
• new sources, amounts
• comparisons with peer organizations

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That Boards Dials, Part 3

• Resource Management Are we keeping our budget
  balanced and in line with priorities?
• Set tolerance limits (plus or minus 10) for each
  line or category
• Report total expenditures by program and priority
• Comparisons over time (quarterly, annually, over
  past 5 years)
• Justifications for exceeding limits

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Additional Qualitative Information

• Views of key constituencies and stakeholders
• Informal views and concerns of Executive and
  staff
• Information from experts inside and outside

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Task Invite your Board to Design its own
Dashboard

• What are our top priorities for this
  organization?
• What key, selective aspects of the organization
  do we want to monitor?
• What are the best ways to display each?
• What comparisons would be most informative?
  (over time, with peers)
• When do we want to receive reports?
• What will we do when exceptions occur?

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Assess how well the board itself is
performing regarding

• Clarity of mission and purpose
• Staying focused on important strategic issues
• Evaluation and support of the Executive
• Raising funds and managing financial resources
• Involvement in planning for the future
• Orientations for new members
• Board-staff relationships
• Communications with constituencies
• Risk management
• Board operations, use of members time and talents

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Task Board creates own
self-assessment tool

• Begin with clarifying expectations
  of the team, both as a group and individual
  members
• Identify goals for group for the coming year
• List all expectations and goals in a series of
  statements
• Add a response format to each statement
  How well did we do in this area in this
  meeting? over the past year?
• Provide space for comments suggestions

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Sustaining Attention to Board
Performance

• Expand duties of Nominating Committee to
  include ongoing board development
• This group oversees regular evaluations and uses
  findings to
• plan educational events for whole board
• identify learning opportunities for individuals
• help chairperson improve meeting procedures
• refine nomination criteria
• guide continuous improvement of board work

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Continuous Improvement is a major part of
the boards ongoing responsibility

• Identify and announce annual goals publicly
• Keep them posted in conspicuous places
• Remind group about them at every meeting
• Link every agenda item to a goal
• Solicit feedback periodically from team members
  and constituencies on progress
• Review performance at end of each year
• Set goals for improvement in coming year

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Summary

• Focus the groups attention on those few, key
  issues that really matter most to the mission
  and goals of the organization as it goes into
  the future
• Set priorities for the groups attention and then
  keep meetings focused on them
• Specify criteria for monitoring progress
• Use feedback to strengthen teamwork
• Work on priorities through better committee
  structures and meeting formats

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For further information

• About the UGA Institute for Nonprofit
  Organizations
• web site http//www.uga.edu/nonprofit
• telephone [phone]
• e-mail tholland_at_uga.edu

• About Holland, Blackmon Associates
• web site http//www.hollandblackmon.org
• telephone [phone]