Don't Waste Their Time - Reflections on Board Member Involvement, Good and Bad

The See-saw

We have all been there…to the board meeting where one or two members just won’t let go of a topic, no matter how ready everyone else is to move forward. We have also all been to the meeting in which a long agenda is laboriously worked through with little discussion – only to be followed up by remarks from earnest but disgruntled members that the meetings are a waste of their time.

So what is the right balance of engagement and detachment with our board members? And how do we arrive at it? It is helpful to consider the question from two angles, during regular board meetings and between them.

Staying Usefully Engaged: Between Meetings

There are two keys to appropriate, effective board member involvement outside of the board’s meetings. The first is a thoughtful, on-going board development program that helps members familiarize themselves with the agency’s programs, sites, clients, staff, and volunteers. Without such background, directors may (rightfully) feel ill equipped to offer useful insights during board deliberations. Short of disrupting the proceedings then, with demand for extensive background, they are left to sit and say “amen” to what is presented by the executive director or other staff member. Of course, the foundation to any board continuing education plan is an annual orientation of new members in which the veterans participate as mentors.

The second key is a committee structure in which board members and others can delve deeply into important topics to a degree that simply is not possible in a regular board meeting. Committees do not always fulfill their potential in this regard, however, insofar as they hold meetings in which the staff liaison takes the lion’s share of the “air time.” At their best, committee meetings are designed in such a way that they call out and call upon the special talents and enthusiasms of all those around the table. Thus it is critical that committees be seen not just as oversight bodies but deliberative ones just as much.

Staying Usefully Engaged: In the Meeting

The key to rewarding engagement during the meeting is to provide the space for genuine, thoughtful conversation about an issue – and preferably one which does not require an immediate decision. (I realize this may be unavoidable if confronting a true emergency.)

So, in this era of instant, paperless communication, it is preferable to distribute full reports in advance and keep verbal reports to a minimum. I also urge making clear distinctions among the three major components of an effective meeting – deliberation, decision, and dissemination (of information) – and resisting the temptation to rush one for the sake of another.

An Outline of a Board Business Meeting Agenda

The Board
1. Welcome: call to order
2. Introductions: new members, staff members, guests
3. Review of agenda
4. Review of minutes of last meeting
5. Learning: topic related to a program area or an area of nonprofit leadership and management

Topics for Deliberation
1. Major discussion: time for real conversation on an important issue
2. Secondary discussion: as time allows and circumstances require

Topics for Decision
1. Consideration # 1: optimally, on topics previously discussed
2. Consideration # 2: routine business

Items for Dissemination (not requiring action)
1. Regular reports: committee briefings, sometimes the prelude to a future discussion topic
2. Brief announcements: upcoming events, etc.

The Meeting
1. Outstanding questions and concerns
2. Future agenda items
3. Next steps
4. Adjournment