Not every one of my client engagements involves work with a board of directors, but enough do that I can safely say I’ve worked with several dozen boards and that’s allowed me to reach some conclusions regarding what separates those that truly lift up their organizations from those that drag them down.
Unfortunately, it could also take a book to spell out all these differences, along with recommendations for how to improve boards.
Nonetheless, someone challenged me to identify the most important attributes of a high-functioning board so they could know where to begin for improving their own board.
So without further ado, here’s my best effort.
Effective boards do five things particularly well:
- They’re efficient
- They’re responsible
- They’re financially supportive
- They are connected to the cause
- They are continually improving
Efficient means they hold well-run board meetings that are actively facilitated and focus on essential topics, they use committees or task forces where appropriate between meetings, and board-staff relationships are managed in a way that doesn’t create additional, unnecessary time sinks.
Responsible means the board meets their legal, ethical and fiduciary responsibilities. Plus, it also means they are accountable to each other and to the staff. Put another way, they plan for the board and they ensure the organization has a culture of planning. Plus, they do what they say they’ll do.
Financially supportive means they donate themselves and they have some involvement in raising funds or securing revenue for the organization. Not everyone needs to be an asker, but everyone needs to somehow engage as an ambassador, steward, cultivator, or some other way that either directly bring in dollars or helps someone else on the team bring in dollars.
They have some connection to the cause (that staff should help reinforce) so that their passion for the mission can help get past any inertia or fear that would otherwise block them from being effective board members.
Lastly, they are continually improving, meaning they are constantly asking relevant questions, such as: who else should be on the board? And what could we be doing better?
There are, of course, many details underneath each of these. Books worth of details. And the process taking a mediocre board to high-functioning can take multiple years.
But if you’re beginning the process of building or improving a board, I think reviewing the above with the board and asking them: “how are we doing?” is a good place to start.