The Board’s Neglected Role

I advise boards, I serve on boards, and in the past I’ve reported to boards. I have a lot of respect for those who volunteer themselves for the often poorly understood and poorly equipped work of governance. (If you type “board” into the search bar at the top of this page you can find lots of my thoughts on the role and function of the board of directors of a charity).

One aspect of board leadership that is rarely discussed, alongside the more typical duties of managing the ED/CEO, approving budgets, policy work, and high level strategy; is the importance of representation.

Among the most common frustrations charity leaders have about their boards are that they don’t really understand the realities of the work and they seem distant or disconnected. It leaves staff vulnerable to seeing the board as a nebulous negative entity that seem to spend their time criticizing or making decisions of ignorance. The board can quickly become an ogre to blame for everything that isn’t working.

Beyond this, if the role of the board isn’t mutually understood (which seems to be the case more often than not), staff often wonder why the board isn’t more involved in fundraising, helping ou.t at events, or just building relationships with the staff.

I know many boards insist they are “a governance board” and not involved in day to day operations. But ultimately the board is responsible for everything that happens in the organization and using a vague descriptor like governance board doesn’t clarify things nearly as much as some people think.

If you want a healthy board-staff dynamic one of the easiest things you can do to improve things is just show up. Come to the office, observe a program, attend an event (with appropriate notice and permission of course). Simply offering greetings to staff, volunteers, or participants on behalf of the board carries more weight than you imagine. Your presence communicates so much.

There is a mutuality here. The real issue is clarity of expectations so staff, not just the top leaders, understand what the board does, and doesn’t do. My “5 Questions Healthy Boards Can Answer” workshop is my best attempt to make this easy.

But even if it’s not an essential priority, when board members make the effort to play the representative role, formally or informally, it sends an encouraging message to the team and gives you valuable insight from the front lines to better inform your governance decisions.

Plus, you may just find out you really like your employees and care even more than you thought about the great work they are doing.