Keeping members active, involved stimulates board

Published in the April 14, 2006 edition of Columbus Business First

Nonprofits thrive when their boards are engaged and actively committed.

How well that is achieved is determined by what happens at board meetings. An effective board meeting can create commitment and engage each board member in advancing the mission that attracted them to the board in the first place.

There are four keys to structuring an effective board meeting that encourages attendance, engagement and active commitment by all members of the board.

The first key is a clear understanding of the board’s role and the purpose of conducting meetings. The primary role of a board is to assure performance of mission, provide adequate financial and nonfinancial resources for the mission to be achievable, and exercise financial stewardship that resources are being used effectively and responsibly. 

The purpose for having any board meeting should be for the board to carry out those roles. 

More on the checklist

The second key is to use the meeting agenda to clearly indicate what decisions will be made and what outcomes are expected. Ask yourself three questions whenever you see an agenda:

• What is the purpose of the meeting as described by the topics on the agenda?
• What do you expect will be the main accomplishment of the meeting?
• Could a board member prepare in advance for this meeting?

If you see report after report on the agenda, you may be sending board members an unintended message – that the purpose of the meeting is to hear a recital from management and no major discussion will occur and no decisions will be made. 

The third key is to structure meetings in ways that counter the following four obstacles to board attendance, engagement and active commitment: 

• Board members are unpaid volunteers who have four to 12 three-hour board meetings a year in which to fulfill their roles. This time needs to be highly productive or they will never feel engaged with the organization.
• A quality board wants serious work to do. Many board members will feel peripheral or undervalued and will disengage when too many decisions and discussions are closely held by the chair or take place in an executive committee. 
• Good board members have dozens of demands on their time. A board meeting that has a vague or poorly articulated purpose does not compete well with other time demands when the board member asks “Does it matter if I attend or not?”
• Good board members are decision-makers who like to be prepared. They become uncomfortable and distance themselves when cast in the role of hearing reports rather than as participating in meaningful discussions and decisions. Materials must be sent in advance that allow board members to arrive prepared to make sound decisions. 

The fourth key is to think of each meeting as an opportunity for each board member to participate usefully in one or more of the following ways.

• Ask questions that seek to link mission to money.
• Flag issues critical to mission sustainability.
• Provide advice and support on issues to be addressed in subsequent board meetings.

Setting the program

An agenda that effectively allows board members to be active participants has three parts: 

• Operating status: A brief review of a handful of financial and non-financial measures key to the organization. Dashboards are an effective way to do this ,but a review of financial statements is not. Identify four to six measures that can identify emergence of problems and flag the need for more extensive board discussion.
• Follow up on board assignments from the last meeting: An engaged board member leaves a meeting with something to do. Following up on progress each meeting reminds board members that what they are asked to do is important and valued.
• Review status of priorities and assign actions to be accomplished by the next meeting.  An organization has dozens of activities but only a few priorities. Board time should be focused on the priorities and on identifying assignments for board members that advance those priorities.

Take a look at the agendas for your last few board meetings. Did they prompt advice and decisions that sustained and fostered the mission of the organization? Did board members feel their attendance was important to the organization? 

If you answered no to either question, then revisit the purpose of your board meetings and how you structure your agendas. Once you do, you may find a higher level of engagement, better attendance and more active participation that make your board the one people want to join. 

Allen J. Proctor was chief financial officer of Harvard University and is the author of “Linking Mission to Money, Finance for Nonprofit Board Members.” Reach him at www.proctorconsulting.org.

Copyright 2006. Reprinted with permission, Business First of Columbus Inc.