Ten Mistakes that Boards Make

Effective Governance for New and Returning Trustees
Ten Mistakes that Boards Make
Dr. Ken Haycock
778.689.5938
[email_address]
2011

Board Effectiveness
Three Core Board Functions:
Set strategic directions (BHAG)
Hire/evaluate the CEO to implement #1
Ensure monitoring and auditing of implementation and outcomes (the what, not the how)
Start with the end in mind…

The Source 12
Constructive Partnership
Mission Driven
Strategic Thinking
Culture of Inquiry
Independent-mindedness
Ethos of Transparency
Compliance with Integrity
Sustaining Resources
Results-oriented
Intentional Board Practices
Continuous Learning
Revitalization

#1 Why Are We Here?
Issues:
Why do we exist?
What business are we in?
What do we hope to accomplish?
Mission; vision; values; drivers
Platform for advocacy, fundraising, marketing
Focused; flexible
Institutional history; role models

#2 Who Is Our Employee?
Issues:
What is the partnership?
Why are the effectiveness of the Board and director interdependent?
Oversight and policy vs. operations and resources
Accountability; evaluation; succession

#3 What Is My Role?
Issues:
Why this Board structure?
What is role clarity? chair/politicians/staff
Agreement on values, mission, objectives
Respect for norms, policies, teamwork
Regular assessment
High level of trust; low level of conflict

#4 Why Are We Meeting?
Issues:
Why are we having this meeting?
Agendas of consequence
Strategic planning drives goals, agendas
Effective management of board work
Strategic orientation/culture of inquiry
Consent agenda
Duty of loyalty vs. Duty of independent-mindedness

#5 Who’s Got the Money?
Issues:
What is the budget?
Does it reflect the plan?
What about sustainable resources?
What about monitoring and auditing?
Purpose of advocacy
Networks of influence
Reputation and capacity
Planned giving by board members

#6 What Are The KSFs?
Issues:
What are the key success factors? input vs. output vs. outcome vs. impact
Advancement towards mission
Key indicators known, approved and reported; variety of measures; benchmarks; ROI
Staff gather/analyze data; Board helps monitor, synthesize

#7 Do We Need Integrity?
Issues:
What are the mechanisms for active oversight?
What are our values and standards?
Internal controls and oversight mechanisms established and implemented by management
Financial literacy; audits
Risk management; contingency plans
Conflict-of-interest policies

#8 Who Needs to Know?
Issues:
Who is on the Board?
Where is the agenda? Minutes?
How do I access information regarding finances, operations and results?
Open exchange with staff; equal access to all information for all board members

#9 What If I Am The Best?
Issues:
How do we learn together?
How do we assess performance and the value we add to the organization?
Orientation, continuous learning
Deepen knowledge of industry, environment, trends
Learn from history; recognize critical incidents
Invest time and resources in board development
Board succession management

#10 The Culture of “Niceness”
Issues:
How can we be the best?
How can we move to high performance?
Victimization
Conflict Avoidance

Highly Recommended
The Source 12 Twelve principles of governance that power exceptional boards.
BoardSource, 2005.
(formerly the National Center for Nonprofit Boards)

Questions? Issues?

To your success…
Sometimes you feel awkward about asking a question…
Sometimes there isn’t time…
Sometimes you think about something later…
Dr. Ken Haycock
[email_address]
direct: 778.689.5938

Ten Mistakes that Boards Make

by Ken Haycock & Associates Inc. on Feb 18, 2011

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

Statistics

Ten Mistakes that Boards Make — Presentation Transcript