6 Ways to Avoid the Bad Board Syndrome

It’s no exaggeration to say that the functionality of a nonprofit board will make or break an organization. 

Obviously, taking even a quarter of one’s time to focus on board relationships is a huge commitment. But a colleague who is a nonprofit veteran with more than 30 years working with leadership volunteers and boards, learned that can be an organization’s reality. Years ago, her colleague had shared with her that a board chair expected him to spend 50% of his time working on the board, with the board and through the board to move the organization forward. 

CEOs know that, as with any relationship, maintaining an effective board requires communication, understanding and a desire to work together. That said, many organizations struggle with dysfunctional boards. The result is poor decision-making and lack of focus. Sometimes, leadership resorts to a toxic strategy, minimizing the influence of the board and making decisions independent of it.

Here are six specific examples of how leadership can avoid having a bad board and maximize chances for success. Addressing these six situations will help you, your staff and your board members avoid the soul-sucking inefficiency that kills enthusiasm and morale. 

1. Improve Recruitment 

How do you know whether someone will be a good board member? After all, nobody tries to recruit bad members, but it happens often. Take a pro tip from recent research on leadership — empathy is the most important leadership skill in modern organizations. When considering someone as a board member, ask yourself how well they do on things like these: 

• Are they good listeners? They should give a speaker their attention without interrupting.
• Do they get non-verbal cues to pick up on others’ feelings? People with high empathy are often attuned to subtleties that might indicate how someone is feeling.
• Can they see an issue from another’s perspective? One of the hallmarks of empathy is the ability to see situations from other people's perspectives, understanding their feelings and thoughts without judgment.
• Do they validate others? Empathetic individuals are adept at reflecting what others are feeling in a way that makes them feel understood.
• Are they tolerant and patient? High empathy is often accompanied by an open mind and patient understanding of where others are coming from.

It’s a good bet that someone high in empathy values the input of others, considers diverse perspectives, and aligns their decisions with the needs and values of the team. And this is someone who will be a solid board member. Make a checklist of traits of empathic people and keep score. 

2. Fix Onboarding 

What is your job as a board member anyway? Successful onboarding of a board member for a nonprofit is a nuanced process that depends more on emotion than information. It goes beyond mere introduction to the organization's mission — it involves cultivating a sense of belonging and purpose. Cultivating a productive, satisfied board member is no different than fostering someone’s satisfaction in other aspects of life. Research has shown that satisfied people feel: 

• A sense of autonomy. The member should feel they have some freedom or agency. 
• Competence. They’re doing important work and doing it well. 
• Relatedness. They’re a part of something bigger than themselves. 

Tailoring the onboarding experience to align with the individual's strengths and interests is important. Providing each new board member with a mentor or a point of contact for guidance and feedback can significantly ease their transition (lean on one of their high-empathy board peers). Facilitate contact between the new board member and all of the veterans. Taking this kind of approach to onboarding can significantly impact the board member's satisfaction and effectiveness, ultimately benefiting the nonprofit organization as a whole.

3. Make Board Work Relate to the Strategic Plan

Organizations that lack a good strategic plan are at high risk of having a board that goes off into the ditch. If you can’t articulate your destination, it’s hard to blame someone else for wanting to drive to their destination. On a board agenda, all of the items should be matched to one of the main pillars in the plan. 

“As part of our annual two-day board retreat, the staff leadership team identified three ways board members could be meaningfully engaged in each strategic pillar,” my colleague, the nonprofit vet, said about how she employed her organization’s strategic plan. “While the activities were tactical, the results were fantastic. We experienced more engagement than ever before, and the board members saw the benefit of their time, participation and thought partnership.” 

“But, to make sure these activities actually happened,” she added, “it had to be a priority of mine as the CEO.”

4. Limit Staff Time Used to Prepare for Board Meetings 

One sentiment we often hear is that nonprofits spend way too much time building board presentations, which negatively impacts their work to save the world. You shouldn’t have to prepare for an oral doctoral defense every quarter. Instead, make data and information collection part of the organization’s standard operating procedure. That makes it easy to pull things together when the time comes. Employing these six tactics will get you started:

• Standardize templates. Create standard templates for agendas, minutes and reports. This reduces the time spent on formatting and ensures consistency across all documents.
• Use collaborative tools. Implement collaborative software, like Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive. These cloud tools allow multiple team members to work on documents simultaneously and track changes in real time.
• Centralize information. Maintain a centralized digital repository for all board-related documents. This approach makes finding and updating materials easier, reducing the time spent searching for information.
• Automate data collection. Utilize software that can automate the collection and compilation of data for reports. This can significantly reduce the time spent on manual data entry and analysis.
• Set clear deadlines. Establish and communicate clear deadlines for when materials need to be submitted by staff members. This helps ensure timely preparation and avoids last-minute rushes.
• Pre-meeting briefings. Hold a brief meeting with key staff members to review the main points presented. This can streamline the actual meeting and ensure everyone is on the same page.

After each meeting, gather feedback from staff on what worked well and what didn't regarding meeting preparation. Use this feedback to continuously improve the process.

5. Require Board Preparation for Board Meetings

This is another common complaint.

“I end up reading aloud the information that I sent to them a week ago,”  a nonprofit CEO recently told me. 

This situation can be remedied (or at least impacted) by upping your expectations of board members. Send members the board package two weeks before the board meeting. Ask each member to respond with one question or comment per section one week before the meeting. 

Announce that you will be compiling these responses and distributing them to the full board no less than 48 hours prior to the meeting. On this document, attribute each question/comment to the member who submitted it. No one wants their peers to see them as a non-contributor, so use a little social pressure to your advantage. This tactic will work if you make strides to cure the next problem.

6. Modernize Communication With the Board

Many organizations still use archaic tools that make it unnecessarily challenging for the board to get through the package. Have you ever tried to read a PDF on your phone? Enough said. When you deliver the bad news that board members must respond one week before the meeting (No. 5), also mention the improved format of no more than a two-page executive summary at the beginning of the package. Send this separately as an email to facilitate consumption. 

If members read nothing more, fine! At the meeting, take their questions to drill down into the specifics. Pick and choose from your PowerPoint slides as the answers to their specific questions as appropriate. 

Regarding what goes on those slides, do yourself a favor and order a copy of “Making Numbers Count: The Art and Science of Communicating Numbers,” which is full of “specific principles that reveal how to translate a number into our brain’s language.” When your board gets it, its members are far more likely to be helpful and productive. 

Now, there are platforms like Zeck that can alleviate problems No. 4, 5 and 6. Platforms, like Cascade and Causey, can help with problem No. 3. Software won’t fix the problems, but can help a lot. Problems No. 1 and 2, that’s all you and your board chair. 

Now, if your board members’ “ability to give” is the only consideration for whether someone should be on your board, this article is not going to be helpful for you. 

The preceding post was provided by an individual unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.