2012 asae cr virtual round table assisting components with better board meetings
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How associations can assist their chapters with better board meetings
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2012 asae cr virtual round table assisting components with better board meetings
- 1. Assisting Components with Better Board Meetings Lowell Aplebaum Trevor S. Mitchell, CAE
- 2. Session Objectives • Meaningful Board meetings • Board Member Responsibilities
- 3. Focus on the Board
- 4. Four Keys of a Successful Board • Collaboration • Consensus • Transparency • Communication
- 5. Challenges to a Board • Increased fraud and abuse • Increasing demands from members, donors and funding sources • Increased challenge in finding and mentoring new volunteer leaders • Lack of resources and support
- 6. Who do we serve?
- 7. Meaningful and productive board meetings – as a board • Set expectation at the beginning of every meeting • Periodically discuss how meetings are going and what can be improved. • Have education/training at each meeting • Use an agenda. Table unrelated topics • Start and end on time • Share responsibilities by having a facilitator, note take, & time keeper. • Give the facilitator permission to mange meeting behavior
- 8. Meaningful and productive board meetings – board member • Take all phone calls and send all email & text message outside. • Don’t side talk. • One person talks at a time. • Be succinct. Express your point of view and then let others speaks. • Be open to new ideas and ways of doing things.
- 9. Use Time Wisely 10% 40% 10% 40% Reports & Updates Seeking decisions and action items Board-obligated items Environmental scanning and strateigc discussion Associations Now/The Volunteer Issue January 2012
- 10. Creating an Un-boring Boardroom • Ask people why the join a board? • Not all people care that it’s fun • If you’re boring them, they aren’t there. • Keys to success: – Time is well spent – Balance – Fun needs purpose
- 11. Meeting Icebreakers • Begin by breaking bread • Give kudos for good work • Open up with an open-ended question • Start with a “seven by seven” briefing Associations Now/The Volunteer Issue January 2012
- 12. Resources • Bylaws • Policies and Procedures • Parliamentary Procedure
- 13. Focus on Board Members
- 14. Responsibilities of the Board Member • Attend all component meetings and events • Know the component’s goals, programs and services • Be educated and prepared when making Board decisions • Suggest and encourage potential component leaders • Act in best interest of the component • Disclose other interests and avoid conflict • Maintain organization information and confidence
- 15. Make Informed Decisions • Be prepared for Board meetings – Read agenda submissions carefully – Write initial questions prior to meeting • Research and obtain necessary information prior to the meeting • Be sure to discuss the issue from both view points • Take proper minutes at Board meetings
- 16. Support Decisions • Once the Board makes a decision, support the decision • DO NOT deride the decision to the members • Show a unified front – there is no “I” in “Board”! • The Board is ultimately responsible for the Component
- 17. Become a Better Board Member Today 1. Educate yourself on both your industry & association. 2. Do your homework before meetings 3. Be an engaged listener 4. Have an open mind. 5. Learn and use facilitation skills 6. Respect the board’s time 7. Respect board decisions and be a full participant 8. Lead change and don’t resist it. 9. Challenge yourself and grow as a leader. Associations Now/The Volunteer Issue January 2011
- 18. Discussion How have you helped your components with better board meetings?
- 19. Thank You!
Editor's Notes
- Today we’re going to talk about how to assist components with better board meetings. Introductions!
- This session is going to flow by looking at the following areas: Meaningful board meetings – how to ensure that the time that board members spend is used productively Board member responsibilities – after understanding what the board’s responsibilities, how your individual role that you were elected/appointed to plays into that bigger picture.
- Speaking of culture – these are just a few of the unwritten items that the Board seems to value – to give you a leg up! Collaboration is key to using all of our talents & resources. We have many stakeholders and we’ll talk more about that today Consensus is what we strive for among the Board. It doesn’t mean that we always reach 100% agreement – but we work towards consensus Transparency – allows everyone to see and understand the actions that the board is taking. This should be done with your members – with each other (board members) – and between chapter and region/HQ. It’s important to know that not every action/decision can be done in transparency (member discipline proceedings, etc.) but every effort should be made to communicate to everyone once the decision is done. Communication continues to be valued and necessary and it is something that we all must take seriously There are surely more, and as the session goes on - feel free to share those too.
- We’ve talked about a few keys to a board so now lets focus on what are some challenges that face our boards. Increased fraud and abuse – (cc/debit cards, checking accounts & statements, membership roster usage) Increasing demands from members, donors and funding sources – (economy, more info) Increased challenge in finding and mentoring new volunteer leaders Lack of resources and support
- Many times component board members get focused on their own ideas and plans for the chapter that they forget why they are there in the first place. Components needs to be reminded from time to time that they are there to serve the members and should be making decisions for the membership as a whole.
- We all have a lot of things on our plates (work, family, volunteer, etc.) that take time. It’s important that when you have meetings that they are meaningful and productive. Ensuring that members know that their time will be well spent will aid in happier and egnaged board members. Some ways to do that are. Set expectation at the beginning of every meeting Periodically discuss how meetings are going and what can be improved. Have education/training at each meeting Use an agenda. Table unrelated topics Share responsibilities by having a facilitator, note take, & time keeper. Give the facilitator permission to mange meeting behavior Start and end on time
- We all have a lot of things on our plates (work, family, volunteer, etc.) that take time. It’s important that when you have meetings that they are meaningful and productive. Ensuring that members know that their time will be well spent will aid in happier and engaged board members. Some ways to do that are. Take all phone calls and send all email & text message outside. Don’t side talk. One person talks at a time. Be succinct. Express your point of view and then let others speaks. Have education/training at each meeting Be open to new ideas and ways of doing things.
- It’s important that you are using your timely wisely in meetings. Here is a good measurement of how the agenda should be broken up. 10% should be spent on Reports & Updates Use a consent agenda – items that are don’t require action (committee reports, general updates, etc.) – provided ahead of time in writing Anything that doesn’t require decisions or directions from the board. 40% should be spent on seeking decisions and action items These should be well framed – supporting detail if necessary May be crisis oriented – example upcoming meeting space backed out and new location requires signature of the board and needs to be approved. Issues requiring a position – vacancy fulfillment, disciplinary action, etc. Issues related to the goals and objectives of the chapter. 10% should be spent on board-obligated items Minutes Nominations and appointments Governance items Financial requirements 40% should be spent on Environmental scanning and strategic discussion Unframed trend seeking Limitless boundaries Direction, not decisional – focus on where you’re doing not how to get there.
- We’ve all being on a board at some point in our lives that the meetings are boring and drag on and on. The goals is to brigde the gap of making them engaging and interesting while still maintaining the purpose of the meeting. If you ask someone why the joined a board, you are most likely not to hear “ because I thought the meetings would be fun?”. Are your meetings fun? Do your board members enjoy coming to and participating in your meetings? Not all members are going to care of the meeting is fun and that’s okay. They key is that if you are boring them, they are not going to engage with you. Here are some keys for success in to make your meetings un-boring: Make sure that the time is well spent. Those individuals that see you are valuing their time, and are working to achieve something will see that you appreciate the time they are allowing to contribute to the chapter. There is a balance in the activities of the meetings to keep them engaging while still on topic. People want to enjoy serving on a board and with each other while working to make a different. When you do things that are non-tradition for meetings to infuse fun, make sure that it has a purpose and that everyone understands the connection. Not doing so will give the appearance that you don’t value their time or what the direction of the chapter should be.
- Here are a few suggestions of how to incorporate some icebreakers into your meetings to increase engagement. Begin by breaking bread – think of your meeting like going to the movies. There are always previews before the main movie begins. Starting a meeting with food does the same thing. It gives people a chance to get into the meeting without feeling like they are racing into it. Give kudos for good work – boards typically do not build time into their meetings to credit people for their hard work. Doing so can help increase volunteers’ enjoyment and engagement. Open up with an open-ended question – This can be both fun and eye opening. Some questions to consider: What is the best decision we’ve made as a board over the past 18 months? What decision would we have made differently knowing what we know now? What do we think are our three greatest assets? What is our greatest hidden assets? Ask something personal – greatest achievement to date in their professional career? What challenge would they like to tackle next (life, career, etc.)? Start with a “seven by seven” briefing – have a board member briefing colleagues about a subject they are knowledgeable about for seven minutes, followed by seven-minute Q&A session. You spend time recruiting members because they know a lot about a topic or have experience in a specific are but we never get to hear them talk about it. Not only will the board learn something from them, they will also feel more connected as well. It’s important to note that you don’t have to do this at every meeting and should change it up from time to time. If individuals get used to one option being used to lead each meeting it could result in them skipping that part of the meeting “to buy more time” and lose out on the purpose of the activity.
- There are many resources that can assist a component in running their board meetings. The bylaws outline the responsibilities of the component. The Policies and Procedures aid to fill in gaps from the bylaws on specific items and deadlines throughout the year that components need to be aware of. Parliamentary Procedure allows components with a guideline of how to handle business in a meeting in an organized way. While I am a parliamentarian as recognized by the National Association of Parliamentarians, I don’t feel that board need to follow Robert’s Rules (or any other parliamentary standard) to the letter. Using some of the keys that we’ve already discussed such as having an agenda, being respectful of others, etc are the fundamental items to use. The rest is there when there are other issues that arise.
- We’ve been focusing on what the board as whole’s responsibility is. Now lets focus on the role of the board member. Attend all component meetings and events Know the component’s goals, programs and services Be educated and prepared when making Board decisions Suggest and encourage potential component leaders Act in best interest of the component Disclose other interests and avoid conflict Maintain organization information and confidence
- It’s important as a board member to make informed decisions. Making decision uniformed can have major impacts on your component. Be prepared for Board meetings Read agenda submissions carefully Write initial questions prior to meeting Research and obtain necessary information prior to the meeting Take proper minutes at Board meetings
- Supporting decisions of the board is extremely important in providing a unified front to the members. You may not always agree with the decision but you should still support it as it was the overall decision of the board. Once the Board makes a decision, support the decision DO NOT deride the decision to the members Show a unified front – there is no “I” in “Board”! The Board is ultimately responsible for the component
- Educate yourself on both your industry & association. – make sure you know the programs and services that you offer. Do your homework before meetings – read background materials, understand the issues to be discussed, take part in pre-meeting discussions, and understand what decisions need to be made. Be an engaged listener – don’t plan what you are going to say while someone else is speaking. Actually listen to what people are saying. Ask questions to understand all views. Have an open mind. - don’t solidify your opinions before you hear the view of your peers. Be open to all possibilities and don’t tune out what you don’t agree with. Learn and use facilitation skills – use open-ended questions, rephrasing, and other skills to help to draw out ideas. Respect the board’s time – no “me toos” or trying to restate what the last three people said to just go on the record as having said it. Don’t ask questions that could have been answered with background materials. Don’t engage in side conversations or disruptive behavior. Respect board decisions and be a full participant – don’t be silent during discussions and share your real view later in the hallways. Support all decisions of the board publicly. Lead change and don’t resist it. - as tough but non confrontational questions. Seek out all voices. Build relationships and trucst across the board. Challenge yourself and grow as a leader. – seek out other professional development opportunities on leadership. Being here today is one of the options, as a chapter leader the online leadership courses are provided to you at no costs to take advantage of. Ultimately the choice is yours on what role you have, the kind of board member you want to be, the relationships you want to build, the impact you want to have, and the difference you will make.