Direct Expectations
Too many charity employees distrust their board.
Boards easily become seen as a distant and suspect entity, holding authority without insight, and out of touch with the day to day reality of things. They become a convenient bogeyman to blame and criticize when staff don’t feel seen and supported.
Some charity leaders feed this damaging dynamic by speaking of the board only when they are frustrated or as a way to escape responsibility for unpopular decisions: “Sorry everybody, this is what the board wants…”.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
As with so many things, a big part of the disconnect is rooted in expectations, or a lack of them.
Equally difficult is a fundamental misunderstanding by most people of what a charity board of directors is and does. (This misunderstanding is all too often shared by the board members themselves). We easily forget that the legal structure of charities requires that directors be volunteers, which almost always means they spend far less time and energy on the organization than the staff do.
We need to carefully consider what we expect from our board members.
Healthy Organizations need boards that clearly understand their role, and make sure that staff and stakeholders understand it too. Showing up to monthly or quarterly meetings, approving a budget, reading a few reports, and occasionally replacing the lead staff person may be the regular activities of most boards; but failing to clarify their role and communicate it openly is a dangerous failing.
Ongoing board development should include both the basics of governance and specific learning relative to the cause and context of the organization.
There should be a clear way for staff to communicate their questions and concerns with the board.
And boards should be expected to exemplify the organization’s values at all times.
Beyond that, each board has a lot of freedom to define their own role according to their bylaws (which they can always change), and the current needs of the organization. And healthy boards regularly ask if they need to redefine their role as things change internally and externally.
I train boards to ask these 5 Questions:
What is our job?
What roles do we play?
How do we work?
What do we bring?
What questions should we be asking?
And to earn the trust of staff and other stakeholders, let them know how you answer these questions so everyone knows what to expect.
Contact me if I can be helpful to you and/or your organization.
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