BOARD coaching

Nonprofit boards can be ineffective for any number of reasons:

1. Insufficient commitment: Service on a nonprofit board is a JOB, and it’s an important one. To do it well, this job will require you to make the work of this board second only to your faith, your family, and your employment. If you are not prepared to give your board service that level of importance, please don’t take the job.
2. Micromanagement or lack of oversight: Many, if not most, of the people who choose to serve on nonprofit boards have employment that requires them to MANAGE people, places, and things. Board service requires you to LEAD, not manage. When someone is inexperienced at leading, it is not uncommon for them to settle back in their comfort zone of management. But, if the organization has matured to the point that it has staff, management is not the role of the Board. It is in this type of situation that the board abandons its work divining the future and turns to the work that shows progress immediately – i.e., the work of the staff.
3. Lack of “Two Hats”: Every board member must know that they have “two hats”: the “Board Member Hat” and the “Volunteer hat.” When members are at the board table discussing critical issues and making policy decisions, they are wearing their “Board Member Hat.” When a board member volunteers to help with any work that isn’t strategic or policy making, they are wearing their “Volunteer Hat.” Volunteers ALWAYS work under the direction of staff. Wearing the “Volunteer Hat” means that individual board member has no business directing staff or making suggestions for changes. Keep those comments to share at the Board table.
4. Fear of Giving Honest Feedback: Board members have a duty to hold one another accountable to the vision that the Board has established. If there is a person also serving on the same Board that you feel you cannot challenge when your gut tells you to, that is not the Board for you. Board members have three fundamental duties – Care, Loyalty, and Obedience. If you have a conflict of interest that prevents you from fulfilling those duties, walk away.
5. Little to No Understanding of the Mission: Many well-intentioned individuals join the board of organizations that they know very little about. They don’t have a passion for the mission; they have never volunteered to see how the organization works; they have no understanding of the issues the organization strives to address. Board service has to start at “What,” what do you care about more than anything else?
6. Poor Board Recruitment and Succession Planning: Ensuring the health and stability of the Board of Directors is a critical issue. A nonprofit board should be seen as a living, breathing organism. As long as new “cells” arrive in the body as the old “cells” die, the body will continue to be vibrant. If this doesn’t happen, the body will waste away and die. If new board members are not carefully selected and intentionally prepared for board service, as more seasoned members roll off, there is no one left who knows how to do the work.
7. Lack of diversity: While boards need members with strong skill sets in a variety of fields, boards also need members with diverse lived experience. That diverse experience can come from differences in skin color, body type, neighborhood, etc., but it is also important to have voices at the board table that have experienced the challenges your organization seeks to alleviate. All of these voices at the table help to ensure that the organization is addressing not only the symptoms of problems but also the root causes.
8. Poor Leadership: The role of the Board Chair is complex. The Chair facilitates board meetings, builds consensus when necessary, and supports and supervises the chief executive. An important responsibility is to manage board meetings in a way that ensures every member has an opportunity to share their thoughts on the issue being discussed and to be treated respectfully when doing so.
9. Inability to Support the Consensus: Board members individually have no power; it is only the Board as a whole that has the power to make decisions and alter policies. As a result, each board member must accept the decision of the Board even if they disagree. If a board member cannot in good conscience support the decision, they must never speak negatively in public about it. If a board member cannot accept that limitation, they should resign. If a board member violates this rule, they must be dismissed from the board. 
10. Little or No Recognition of the Personal Responsibility Assumed: Nonprofit board members are fiduciaries; fiduciaries are obligated to act only in the best interests of the organization. All board members are expected to understand and uphold their duties of Care, Loyalty, and Obedience. Ignorance of what is required is not a defense nor is ignorance of circumstances that violate that trust if a prudent and ordinary person would have known and taken action. Directors and Officers Insurance can provide protection but not in circumstances of dereliction of duty.
11. Refusal to Accept Their Role in the Fund Development Process: Every nonprofit organization must develop a “Culture of Philanthropy,” in which EVERYONE understands that resource development is part of their job. Why? Because only the last 5% of the process is asking for a donation and the Board must model this behavior for the rest of the team. The first 95% of fund development is introducing people to the organization, helping interested people to become more involved, and nurturing a strong feeling of support for the organization.

ElevateNPT can help you address these challenges with intentional efforts to improve governance practices, enhance board diversity and skills, foster a culture of transparency and accountability, and commit to ongoing training and development for board members.

The team at ElevateNPT can set your board on the right track to providing the governance and strategic guidance your organization needs to eliminate reactive leadership and ensure all members of the team are on the same page and moving in the same direction. Let us help you.

• Board Member Recruitment Strategy and Execution
• New Member Onboarding
• Board Chair Coaching and Mentoring
• Analysis of Board Structure
• Vision/Strategy/Plan - Roles and Responsibilities
• Fund Development - Roles and Responsibilities