There is no doubt that the top challenge of most nonprofit Executive Directors is motivating Board members to be actively engaged ambassadors for their agency.
It takes so much of your already-pressed time and energy. Then, all too often, there’s little to show for your efforts. You can’t keep this up and still accomplish your agency goals! And it’s critical to offload the stress building up for. You.
Something has to shift.
What are the common causes behind Board inactivity? And how can YOU do all you can to get your Board informed and engaged?
It takes a deliberate strategy to forge a productive partnership with your Board. and the first step as the ED is make sure your Board members know what is expected of them
Reasons for Board inactivity come down to two main things:
- Board Members not really understanding their role, and
- Your actions as an Executive Director
So, let’s take a deep breath, put your frustrations aside, explore in this episode about how to get your Board actively engaged. Find the full transcript for episode 1 and other resources for women nonprofit EDs at relishyourrole.com/1.
Why Nonprofit Boards Do Not Consistently Get the Work Done
Nonprofit directors face special challenge in getting their Board off their hands and out in the community working on behalf of your agency.
There are many reasons for Board Member passivity and, as the agency leader, it is your responsibility to conduct your own informal audit on the potential causes of their lack of engagement. Then develop an action plan to resolve the issues. This is something I help my VIP clients do in my 5-month program.
Let’s start with what’s going on with the Board Members.
Why don’t Board Members read their emails,
volunteer for tasks, or participate constructively in Board meetings?
In my experience, one of the most frequent reasons they do not contribute is … they do not know what is expected of them.
Board Members are Unclear of Their Role
First, while they may have sat on several Boards, you would be amazed at how often they have no clear idea exactly what a Board Member is supposed to do!
They may have some idea about the cause your agency addresses but they do not really understand your programs, or your finances, or what they are supposed to do with that information.
So, my question for you is, do you have a formal orientation process for new Board Members? What does that orientation entail?
Or as new Board Members voted on, maybe they have a welcome lunch with you and the chair. Then, suddenly they are at the next Board meeting and they have no clue what they are supposed to be doing.
- If you do have a formal orientation, is it just focused on your agency?
- How much of the material covers their responsibilities and expectations as Board Members?
- Are these expectations written down?
If you want your Board to be active, they must understand what they are expected to do and given the tools to do those things.
The Importance of Training Your Board
So, train your Board. Invest the time and resources to have your new Board Members participate in training on the specific role of a Board Member.
Think about it … what it would be like if you set aside an hour at your next Board meeting and brought in an expert to train all of your members on the roles and responsibilities of a nonprofit Board and contextualize that information for your agency?
If nothing else, you will know that they are all working off the same set of information and expectations.
Nearly every time I have provided training to Boards on what they need to do as responsible Board members, it has led to an extremely productive conversation about how to transform themselves into a high functioning Board.
This is how your board will take ownership of their role.
Plan this training with the input of your Board Chair well in advance so you can respond to specific ways that the Board is falling short. Your goal is to have Board members take the initiative and agree to take specific action and then report back to the full Board within a specified timeframe.
Your Board members will enjoy being active and following through on assigned tasks! Success breeds success.
Communicate Clearly to Your Board
Now let’s look at how you communicate with your Board at Board meetings.
How often have you spent days preparing your Director report, full of data and charts, summaries of grant reports and after your presentation you hear … crickets.
It’s heartbreaking when after your beautiful presentation your Board provides no feedback, asks no questions, and simply moves on to the next item on the agenda.
Know what I mean?
Are you ready for a hard question?
How did you decide what you would include in your Executive Director report?
Most likely that report reflected the data and program summaries that you believed were most important for the Board to know.
In my experience, what a director thinks the Board should understand —such as the successes and challenges of the agency — are not the same things that the Board cares about.
I worked with an Executive Director who had beautiful multi-page PowerPoint presentation for her Board. Every meeting was filled with charts, data dashboards, and funding source acronyms — a thorough snapshot of the agency’s quarterly activity.
And it was impossible to understand.
The Board had nothing to say because they did not understand what they were looking at and they did not even know how to parse the information in order to ask questions.
Most importantly it did not answer the questions they already had about the work of the agency.
The Board Members sat in their seats, not really understanding what the agency does, and like all of us, did not want to look stupid, so they did what all adult learners do when they do not understand — THEY TUNED OUT.
So, my next question is, have you asked the Board what they want to know on a quarterly or monthly basis?
Clarify What the Board Wants to Know
Perhaps the issue is not how many clients enrolled but how many complete the program. In any case, by having the conversation you can begin to educate them on their terms.
More importantly, you begin to share ownership.
You may be cautious to open the conversation because you might need to correct them or redirect their inquiry. It’s difficult to steer a group, who are your bosses. Those conversations may initially feel like confrontation, which is uncomfortable.
But remember, YOU are the expert. With your expertise you can both support their inquiry and use the moment to educate and enlighten them about how your services actually work.
The conversation provides a golden opportunity to:
- Humanize your services
- Explain their data request through real life anecdotes
- Build their understanding and their affinity with what your agency does
Perhaps you begin by just showing the enrollment data and add a line for program completion which allows you to share with them the challenges of completing the program and the need to provide more staff, transportation, evening hours, bi-lingual services, whatever the issue it. Data becomes how you inform.
The takeaway is this … if you take the opportunity to jointly design your reports and take their questions seriously, you will share what they really want to know, which will engage them!
You can do it and I am here to help.