Resources

Meaningful Organizational Narratives

Over 100 years ago, John Dewey wrote that “all communication is educative.” Yet, as we live in an ever-noisier world, our organizations often approach communication from a place of desperation to feel ‘heard.’ From more emails, to post after post on social media, they are trying anything possible to connect with their members.

This blitz/barrage tactic still is not achieving success. For some, the philosophical approach of the power of narrative in communications has been accepted in theory. Yet, communication budgets still too often focused on .pdf design and brochure printing. If nonprofits are going to connect with their constituencies, it is going to be through a learning and story mindset.

Whose voices are needed for any story that will have authenticity in what they have to share?

If all communication is educative, then what is the story trying to teach?

What is to be learned?

How is the listener invited to be a part of the story?

As we shift from a “building awareness” mindset to a “narrative and invitation mindset,” there are four approaches to the story that an organization can use to learn and grow:

1.      Narratives of intent. Strategic organizations who are focused on creating a better tomorrow know there is a journey between now and then. Stories of intent can share aspects of an organization’s vision, mission, and the better future it is striving to create. These can be moonshot aspirations of the world decades hence or plans in progress where results may first emerge in just months. Either way, authentic voices who feel inspired by the vision, sharing their own excitement at the organization’s aspirations and commitments, can provide meaningful connections.

2.      Narratives of effort. Often, when we are the ones making effort and it is consuming much of our time, we live in a bubble where we assume those in our network are as aware of the effort as we are. We may repeat stories of where we are excelling and the challenges we are meeting to several individuals on a daily basis, but that doesn’t mean those stories are sparking ripples of greater awareness. When an organization is investing resources – fiscal, staff, volunteer – then continual and meaningful stories of how efforts are progressing is key. These stories may not signal achievement by completion, but they can serve as a bridge between intent and outcome. When stakeholders have invested in your organization – through dues, through donations – they should remain in the loop on the good their investment is creating. And, with pictorial representations of effort and progress being made, even without the final product, they can relate to the journey of the effort.

3.      Narratives of impact. Often, our organizations are their own worst trumpet blowers. Stories of progress – even if they are not yet fully realized – still demonstrate organizational strength and garner excitement. Those self-same narratives can also include meaningful moments of recognition for those who have played a key role in supporting progress. When an organization has successfully launched and executed an effort, stories of how the effort is making impact can be much more engaging than narratives about the details of the program itself. We live in an experience economy where we make resource investment decisions based on the experiences of our peers and colleagues. Creating communication platforms for stakeholders to tell the story of how organizational effort has made impact, elevating and amplifying those stories, can both raise the perception of the organization as well as drive interest in others in experiencing the impact for themselves.

4.      Narratives of recognition. In each of these stages, there are many groups and individuals who meaningfully contribute in a variety of ways. Rather than the organization subsuming all the credit, stories recognizing those who contribute along the way can make the narrative more personal. Once recognized, it is more likely an individual will tell the story of the organization’s intent and investment through their own lens. When a culture of gratitude infuses an organization’s approach to communications, the story of the organization is a story of the many who are a part of it, shedding hubris and demonstrating an inclusive and gracious core.

Through these approaches to organization narratives, there is an inherent opportunity for an organization to infuse a learning mindset. What is the organization hoping the content consumer will learn from the story? What action do they hope they will take? What can the organization learn, in turn, from the end user? If narrative is a bi-directional communication methodology, what can the storyteller learn in return?

A reframe of our organizational communications as intentional narratives of learning, experience, and invitation can shift how our organizations and communities alike connect and grow.

Leadership Reflections: Eyes to the Horizon

At what point does disruption become normative? After two years of change, associations have become better surfers, becoming more adept at riding the waves of ups and downs, of challenge and opportunity that have become the de rigeur. Despite this, it is not atypical to still hear organizational leaders talk about “going back” to previous practice, circumstances, and norms.

As we start a new year, there is an opportunity start a new chapter. Through key reflective questions, it is possible to reorient the focus of leaders from the rearview mirror to the horizon. These are just a few questions to prompt strategic reflection and future-focused dialogue among organizational leaders.

  • Who should be part of the journey of impact in the coming year and isn’t currently prominent? What do we need to understand about them to make more appealing invitations of inclusion?
    • Our question of “who” serves as a bridge between mission and the actions taken to advance that mission. Perhaps there are certain member segments, a niche of new industry partners, or organizations who could be strong allies on priorities for the coming year.
    • The question of “what” inherently places priority on discovery rather than assumption. By learning about these audiences, better value and messaging can be created to include the audience(s) moving the organization away from past practices which may no longer be relevant.
  • Where can my voice best contribute to the story of organizational mission impact in the year ahead?
    • In an environment where consumers (our members) make resource investment decisions based on peer experience, the value of the association needs to be relayed from peer to peer rather than from an organizational email, social media post, or press release. Storytelling is a powerful way to do this and can occur in many ways – from authorship, to conversation moderation, to pictorial representation, etc. Every member of a Board and leadership – not just the officers – should have a role in telling the story. Helping leaders, and in a cascading fashion members, discover how and where their voice will best support the narrative can allow the organization to grow and flourish in new ways.
  • Are there any challenges or opportunities coming this year we haven’t considered?
    • One blessing of having a diverse cohort of organizational leaders the range of perspectives they bring. Asking this question can prompt leaders to put their ears to the ground and bring forward key, rising priorities that should make it onto a Board agenda early in the new year.
  • If, on December 31, 2022, we are celebrating a year of impact, progress, success, and community, what will we be celebrating?
    • Metrics and measures of progress should be part of our strategy and organizational action plan and it’s important we be on the lookout for successful achievement of those metrics. We must also keep an eye on places where the established metrics may need a shift based on what is known today.
    • Going beyond metrics, our organizations strengthen member relationships. Plans to celebrate both those relationships and the strengthening of our organization’s culture serve to remind us of the importance of this component of our mission.
  • What can we learn this year as a Board or individual Board members?
    • Volunteerism should be a learning journey. Board members may respond with requests for specific leadership workshops, changes in the Board agenda so that there are five-minutes of learning at each meeting, or establishing lightly-structured mentoring relationships. Best of all, responses to this question can increase the engagement of Board members as their leadership growth is positively impacted through new learning opportunities.

As we close 2021, how will you help your various leaders appreciate the past while focusing on the future from a place of inquiry, discovery, evolution, and growth?

Leadership Insights: Silence is not Affirmation

The room was silent. He could hear the hotel staff vacuuming in the hall as he paused. He’d just presented the Big Idea to the board, and they  weren’t  saying  anything. He looked to the Chair who shrugged, looked around the room, and said “Anyone got any questions?” Silence. “Ok then, looks like a ‘go’,” the Chair said, and the group moved on to the next order of business. 

Six months later, there are problems, big problems with the Big Idea. In a heated discussion among the Board, the Chair Elect says “I never agreed to that…”

Uggh. How many Executives and Board members take silence as agreement in moments just like these?

What if we flip our narrative and acknowledge silence as the absence of any indication of whether or not a group is on the same page; that interaction and response are necessary for there to be a partnership and common understanding on an issue. Dialogue can be an uncomfortable thing to ask for, especially if a group is not used to providing it, yet it is critical to fulfilling the board’s duty of care. With each issue presented, the board can articulate a variety of responses, each of which can help inspire additive learning and engagement with the issue under consideration. Having a vocabulary to use for these responses can help Board members articulate where they are on an issue in a neutral way. We suggest asking board members to articulate where they stand using one of the following terms:

Reservation is an indication of deep concern. The person responding with reservation should be encouraged to articulate, with specificity, the concerns they have so the Board can engage in further exploration of the issue.

Clarification is an indication more information is needed. The person responding with clarification may be unsure of the path forward or need more information to feel confident the path is the correct one for the organization.

Confirmation is an indication of support for the decision. The person responding with confirmation is supportive of the direction being proposed.

Affirmation is an indication of strong support for the decision. The person responding with affirmation is an advocate of the issue and can be relied upon to be an ambassador for communicating in support of the issue outside of the boardroom.

As your board uses this language to express their stance on an issue, the presenter of the issue can respond with inquiry and further information, or know they have the full support of the board to move forward.

There is an additional fifth dimension that should remain be used with some frequency – Celebration. Too often, we withhold positive affirmation on accomplishments until the ‘end’ of an initiative. By encouraging leadership to recognize and celebrate iterative accomplishments – steps along the way – you establish a positive mindset of progress. These small, regular celebrations also make the hard conversation when an item goes off track easier since a baseline of recognition has been built.

Some organizations put these response options on their board agenda – and other laminate them onto a card for use at each meeting. No matter the methodology, structuring response options clarifies the key responsibility of partnership in input and resource commitment that a Board needs to fulfill. Without their voice, without their input, silence serves not as an affirmation of direction but as an abandonment of governance responsibility. 

How Unanimity Can Weaken Association Boards

Many boards aren’t satisfied with a decision by majority; unanimity is their goal. Yet, the healthiest boards are unlikely to have homogenous views and unanimous decisions, instead they benefit from the diverse views and voices of their members. Board diversity brings with it many boons: richer dialogue, broader representation of different perspectives, and the capacity for stronger foresight about future opportunities and challenges.

A board’s potential is stymied by the very human desire to avoid conflict and seek agreement. Based on mutual agreement, unanimous decisions may feel stronger, but boards that seek progress only through unanimity, rather than majority agreement, inherently design a culture where voices of varying perspectives are less likely to speak up.

The paradox of unanimity

The inherent danger of unanimous decisions is the topic of a TED Talk by Derek Abbott, a physicist and electronic engineer at The University of Adelaide. In a scientific paper he co-authored, he describes the paradox of unanimity: the closer a group gets to total agreement, the less reliable the result becomes.

In situations where you’d expect variability, such as a coin toss, unanimous agreement is a troubling sign of systemic error or bias. Toss a coin 100 times and you’d expect to get heads about half the time. But if heads come up nearly 100% of the time, you’d suspect something was wrong, not with your individual flips, but with the coin itself—the system.

The dangerous territory of unanimity

The bias for unanimity can have devastating consequences outside the boardroom. For example, more avalanche accidents are caused by decision-making errors than by misreading the snowpack. Back country skiers involved in these accidents report a tendency to go along with the group, and not be the one to speak up, cause dissension, and delay action. They feel the group must know best, so they keep their concerns to themselves.

This dangerous expression of groupthink is compounded by the halo effect: people are more likely to follow the lead of a person with more expertise or social capital. Consensus is the easy way out of a potentially uncomfortable (but healthy) conflict—a behavioral pattern that can easily happen with a board too.

When the culture of a board leans towards a desire for unanimous agreement, leaders will lean into not ‘rocking the boat.’ This mindset creates conditions where the diverse views and approaches that lead to broader perspectives and considerations are no longer brought to the table—resulting in a limiting view. Board members who are encouraged to conform, rather than lobby for alternative views, can lead the organization down a less desirable path or the wrong path altogether.

Creating the right conditions for decision-making

While the onus of seeking peers’ perspectives should be part of every board member’s role, a board often follows the lead of the officers. Officers must establish the time and space to get everyone’s honest and different opinions. They must intentionally design a space for varied views so preconceived notions and opinions are seen as malleable until each perspective can be considered. Ultimately, leaders must not let biases—cognitive or systemic—get in the way.

When establishing the time and space for diverse dialogue, a corollary expectation must be made: once a board is in that space, differing voices are invited to share. The meeting or conversation facilitator should note which voices are NOT speaking up and probe to see if there is an alternative point of view in the room. When these views are shared, they should be met with respect and gratitude, since it is much harder to present an approach that doesn’t go with the flow of your colleagues.

To be clear, when a board comes to a decision, they should emerge from the board table with a singular voice—all supportive of the decision and direction of the organization. This cohesiveness, however, should not diminish the potential that comes with a board culture where varied views are welcomed and where votes that elicit a minority viewpoint are still looked at as a strength.

An organization that welcomes diverse leadership voices can weave a stronger tapestry of vision and direction through the intertwined complexity of leadership perspective. A leadership culture that can build a greater tomorrow because they lean INTO diversity, instead of conformity, will demonstrate in practice that, indeed, all voices are honored and welcomed—and the association is better because of it. 

It Might Be the Right Time to Do Strategy If…

In recent weeks a number of clients have approached me asking if “now” is the right time to take a look at their strategy. While strategic practices should be incorporated into everyday routine, a targeted initiative of strategic visioning and planning is not an activity to be undertaken lightly. Whether a strategic cycle (3, 5 or even 10 years) is up for renewal or in the midst of such shift a strategic refresh would be a helpful focus, here are some reflections on the timing of strategy.

Now might be the right time to do strategy if:

1.      The last time you reviewed and made any changes to your plan was prior to March 1, 2020.

Even if your industry has remained consistent, the environment around it has not. An effort to step back, confirm that your guiding vision still speaks to the future your membership and industry needs, and that your organization is investing in the right efforts to get there will be key as we start to transition to a post-pandemic world.

2.      You are still functioning with a crisis leadership Board.

For most associations, in 2020, the Board of Directors had to shift into a pattern of crisis response. Sudden meeting cancelations, members experiencing new and unforeseen challenges, budgets thrown out of whack. As we recover from crisis, leadership needs to reform patterns of working with a recommitment to future focus and foresight. Has dedicated time for foresight and innovation made its way back as regular Board agenda items?

3.      If your vision and mission have become irrelevant.

Your vision should be describing the future you are trying to create in order because of your organization’s unique contribution. Your mission is how to get there. If the description of that future is no longer the one your membership, industry, or society needs, then a strategic refresh can help you reset the vision.

4.      If your future focused vision and mission is not guiding leadership decisions.

With a vision, mission and direction that feels pointed in the true north of need and opportunity, it is being used as an active tool by leadership? At the top of every Board agenda, should be your vision and mission. If leadership have stepped away from using it as a litmus test for resource investment, it’s time to reorient.

5.      If the narrative of leadership to membership is reactive instead of projective.

During the past year, many organizations have instituted more frequent and intimate spaces for leadership to connect with membership. Town halls, fireside chats, they have been opportunities to keep members in the loop on how the organization is responding and what is happening. As these opportunities for a greater connection continue, the narrative underpinning these moments should shift toward building pathways to the future, with strategy at its core.

Ultimately, we are just about at a year (in the US) into the onset of a pandemic and subsequent societal shifts that have changed the landscape. At some point in that year, you have had a transition of officers. New board members coming in must see within the strategy of the organization an inspirational, robust, and innovative pathway to a better future. Leadership needs to be able to bring a narrative of the meaningful tomorrow your organization is creating – and, if that narrative is wanting, now is the right time to do strategy.

CEO Insights: Board Relationship Dashboard

As technology has continued to advance, our organizations and leadership have embraced relying on analytics and dashboards to help guide resource investment decisions. Associations who leverage their database to identify trends – and incorporate predictive modeling for a future lens – are able to apply logic to their decisions that go beyond the gut instincts of leaders. Yet, for all this data know-how, one of the most essential factors in organizational success falls outside of the database – the CEO-Board relationship.

Most CEOs are highly conscious of the CEO-Chair partnership, using weekly 1:1 calls to maintain open lines of communication. As election cycles progress, those 1:1 interactions will usually extend to the incoming Chair as well. Yet, in this time when we have been operating at distance – when it is likely the last time the CEO was in the room with the rest of the Board was up to a year ago – what happens to the relationship between the Chief Staff Executive and the rest of the Board members?

A Board Relationship Dashboard can help connect nurturing those top-level interactions with daily line-of-sight priority. On the wall in the CEO’s workspace, picture a dry-erase calendar. Instead of each square reserved for a month, they each hold the name of a board member. Within the square is basic information – the name of a partner or children, general interests, skills, birthday, what they are looking to learn/achieve in their service, and where they are involved. At the bottom of each square, on a monthly basis, the CEO rates the current relationship with each Board member. This could use a rating system as simple as 10 (one of the strongest relationships) to 1 (estrangement). Having such a self-reflective rating for each Board member can lead to a number of outcomes.

  • A low relationship score should be a proactive indicator to the CEO that outreach and relationship repair may be needed
  • A high relationship score can be used as an indicator of what is working well and could be replicated with other Board members.
  • Monthly tracking over time will produce a relationship trend analysis which can be analyzed for patterns and used to develop interventions.

Even if a relationship is not on the lower end – if a Board relationship is consistently at a 4-5, this may justify a proactive outreach and be a worthwhile investment of CEO time in reestablishing conversation and connection.

With a more proactive mindset, the factors contributing to relationship deepening or separation can be a place of learning as the CEO cycles through leader cohorts.

Relationships are not strengthened by happenstance, but by dedication, priority, and focus. While this kind of tracking could be done through digital means, it would require the CEO to remember to go in and take a look/contribute to the tracking system rather than it being visible in a line-of-sight fashion. The nurturing of the CEO-Board relationship is a key element to a successful, strong partnership between staff and volunteer leadership. Keeping those relationships top of mind will lead to greater priority, proactive outreach, and a greater potential for partnership in mission advancement. 

A Moment of Malleability

Let’s rewind.

If – on January 1, 2020 – I gave you a preview of what March 13, 2020 and beyond would look like… Online learning. Rethinking how you create community connections for your members. Redesigning your governance timing and meetings. Ramping up information sharing across staff, governance, and general membership. Keeping your crisis response aligned to your strategic direction. Oh, and you’ll do it all while working remotely with minimal human contact.

We’ve been in that sort of adapting and rapid response mode for the past 9 to 10 months. As new things roll out, the next crisis comes. As we look toward the new year, this is a moment to put in place something which is different, not letting the cycles of crisis set into our norms. Much like taking metal out of a forge while it’s still red hot – you can still bend it, shape it into a different form.

That which is different than what was hasn’t yet become what needs to be.

In the first quarter of 2021 there is a real opportunity to take a look at the key places where associations have put in place new practices and structures. To step back and ask: if we were actually designing those practices, structures, cultures, and experiences what would they look like? What would they be? We have the time to do so. To design what we want, to step back and have the conversation before that which we put in place in crisis response becomes our new norm. In the first quarter of the new year, let’s ask where there are opportunities for our association to take a step back, what the critical places are where serious shift is needed for the organization to survive, and areas we have discovered where our association can thrive.

How do you create the opportunity to get the right people, the right minds, in the room to step back and say, “if we were creating this from scratch with time, what would we actually want to see…

…when we think about how our staff are functioning from at-home environments? What if we had time to design? Would we have given them different equipment? Have different schedules? Would there be updates to our policies?”

…from the technology platform we’ve put into place to deliver value? How would we have designed the value we want to deliver? What would be our methodology of delivery? What experience do we want our members and customers to have in that delivery?”

…at the heart of our organization as we strengthen members’ professional connections and relationships? How do we enable these connections in meaningful ways? How do we go beyond Zoom to catalyze key conversations? How do we help them forge meaningful relationships?

As we think about that which is cited time and again as the value of our organizations – be it individual or trade – we hear about the people you can meet and the relationships you can make. How do we design in this virtual and hybrid space to engender member-to-member connections that lead to meaningful relationships that aren’t just happenstance?

The course is not yet calcified. There is still time, in the first part of 2021, in this time where there’s a great deal more latitude for experimentation than there has been for decades. Now, before things start to calm, before a ‘new normal’ sets in, before we accept that which we shifted to quickly – now is the time to put a strategic refresh on the calendar. Now is the time to identify those places which have experienced radical shifts.

Let’s define what we actually want to design, what we actually want to create, what we want to embody in our organization, in our systems, in our staff, and among leadership. 

Advice to Associations: Six Perspectives

On a recent brain-share call with a handful of association partner colleagues, we realized that aspects of our conversation could prove useful for the greater community. With thanks to Mary Byers, Jeff Cobb, Seth Kahan, Bruce Rosenthal, and Celisa Steele, we share with you those thoughts here:

Advice to Associations: Six Consultants Weigh In

When a group of association consultants met via Zoom recently, they realized that what they are observing might be helpful to the association boards and staff charged with creating a way forward during an unexpected, turbulent time. Here’s their advice for 2021 and beyond.

What are you advising association professionals to be thinking about now that we know we’re in for an extended pandemic recovery?

Jeff Cobb, Advisor to Lifelong Learning Businesses: I think it is critical right now to be focused on our role in the social fabric. Associations are a major force for bringing people together, both literally and figuratively. It’s a good time to be thinking about how our activities–from educational programming to advocacy–can provide not only practical support, but also moral support and hope for a better future.

Mary Byers, CAE, Author and Retreat Facilitator: Rather than spending your energy trying to get “back to normal,” use it to help create your association’s “next normal.” The “new normal” is what happens to us; the “next normal” is what we create in response.

What questions should we be asking as a result of the pandemic that we might not have asked before?

Jeff Cobb: A key question is, “How much of our value are we placing on being a convener rather than a connector?” Associations have always relied heavily on bringing people together physically–and now digitally–but real connection is more about bringing people together emotionally. How can we better foster that capability given that physical meetings are off the table in most cases for a long time to come?

Celisa Steele, Podcaster & Writer Serving Learning Businesses: What are the types of disruption those you serve are experiencing now, and how can you help? To answer this question, don’t make assumptions. Do the work–have the conversations, collect and analyze data, find ways to observe those you serve–so you truly understand the types of disruption they’re experiencing. Then, with that knowledge and insight, you can craft ways to respond and support them.

Based on your expertise and the work you do with associations, where are there opportunities for associations to use the pandemic as a “tailwind” for needed change?

Bruce Rosenthal, Corporate Partnership & Sponsorship Consultant: The pandemic is an opportunity to reassess and look at new strategies. Many things are shifting and realigning: markets, information sources, alliances, etc. Now is the time to make bold decisions. Now is the time to be sure perfection isn’t the enemy of progress.

Lowell Aplebaum FASAE, CAE, Strategic Planning and Governance Consultant: There are many opportunities. Three rise to the top. 1) Governance: Do we have the leadership structure, culture, policies, and pipeline needed for tomorrow–not yesterday? 2) Value: Do we have a regular system of programmatic impact review that helps us create capacity for investing in innovation? 3) Communications: We are living in an ever-noisy world. How are we crafting unique messages of narrative and invitation that are focused on audiences of priority?

 

What clever or creative ideas have you seen from clients since we started the virtual journey in the spring of 2020?

Seth Kahan, Visionary Leadership Advisor: Digging into the practice of Strategic Foresight. Those leaders who are pulling away from the pack right now and taking the lead with their members are actively conducting scenario planning that not only mitigates risk but identifies the ways they can excel at growth using the unique pressures of our current environment.

Byers: This may not count as clever or creative but it’s practical: people are picking up the phone and taking advantage of the human connection that’s been lost due to advances in technology. I’m certainly not opposed to connecting digitally, but voice-to-voice communication has value (even if it’s only a voicemail.) Many of the CEOs I work with tell me they are communicating more often with their boards and due to Zoom fatigue, they are often doing it by phone so that they can move around while they talk.

How are you seeing clients embrace this time of “business as unusual” that we’re in?

Rosenthal: Savvy association executives realize this is a time for new models; new staff expertise; new types of information and marketing technology; new revenue sources; new partnerships, alliances, and collaborations; and new board roles to thrive and survive.

Kahan: My best clients are practicing proactive evolutionary leadership, forging more powerful relationships with their chairs and executive committees, tightening their communication on budget, operational impact, and month-to-month strategizing. This includes preparing for opportunities like mergers and acquisitions, and vanquishing longstanding challenges like a lack of diversity on the board, recruiting young leaders into decision-making roles, and overhauling their entire meeting/event constellation to leap into the 21st century.

What advice do you have for association professionals when it comes to remaining resilient?

Aplebaum: Resilience isn’t pretending everything is ok when it isn’t…. It means recognizing that “more” isn’t the answer. Instead, focus on those places that have the likelihood of the most important return. It means accepting the challenges of today but ultimately focusing on the promise of tomorrow. It means giving yourself and others space and grace to not be perfect in a time of challenge – to be forgiving while committed to quality, to mission, and to one another.

Steele: To borrow a line from Rebecca Solnit’s essay “Naïve Cynicism,” I’d advise us all to be “open to the possibilities and interested in the complexities.” Paying attention to what’s happening in the world now, resisting the urge to simplify and prematurely categorize experiences and events as good or bad (or other binaries), that is how we’ll not only survive these disruptive times but potentially come out stronger and wiser on the other side–as individuals, as organizations, as a society.

Introducing Responsible Transparency

In the democratic systems that guide the governance of nonprofits, there is an inherent expectation of transparency allowing the system of leadership to operate from a place of trust and confidence in partnership with those they serve. This expectation will often result in ‘transparency’ appearing on a list of values or priorities for organizational governance, culture, and community. Yet, for some this is interpreted as the need for every person in an organization to know or have access to every piece of information. For a number of reasons – from legal responsibility to creating a safe space for difficult deliberations – this interpretation of transparency can actually hinder the success of an organization. Instead, I believe organization are looking to embrace a philosophy and practice of Responsible Transparency.

Responsible Transparency ensures the deliberations and decision making of the group (e.g. who said what and who voted which way) remains confidential. Hard decisions can only be made when there is trust among a leadership cohort allowing them to talk out differing perspectives and hear points of view outside of their own. They must feel safe in their conversations, without the fear of potential retribution from statements shared or taken out of context which diverge from the ultimate position of the organization. In the end, a Board needs to have multiple voices around the Board table and a focused intention around what is shared after decisions are made.

Responsible Transparency also enables clarity in the system of leadership nomination and selection. We live in a time of continual shift – the skill set, experience, and diverse governance perspectives needed for an organization to thrive will continue to shift as well. Organizations who embody Responsible Transparency build competency-based boards and publicly identify in each election cycle what they are seeking in their leadership. They reinforce those competencies and the clarity of their communications when recognizing what the chosen candidates bring to the table and how their selection will help advance the organization. In a system of Responsible Transparency, all are clear about why a selected individual is in a certain role and how they will help the organization achieve is mission and vision.

Beyond Board Orientation

Article Co-Authored by Lowell Aplebaum & Trevor Mitchell

Our organizations are incredibly lucky. Year after year we have caring, committed members who are willing to give up a significant piece of their life to serve at the highest levels of leadership. These leaders are entrusted with the highest levels of responsibility – and the ultimate ability for an organization to advance its mission by evolving in a meaningful direction while ensuring fiscal and legal stability has a high correlation to the organizational fluency these leaders possess.

It is not surprising that many Board members come to service with gaps in knowledge and understanding – whether it is organizational background, current governance structure and flow, their capacity as a strategic thinker, or even their own responsibilities. These dedicated volunteers may be experts in their respective field, have dynamic backgrounds that can provide the range in perspective that can help a Board make better decisions – but it is rare that they come with the kind of depth of executive-nonprofit-volunteer knowledge that they need to succeed. The ubiquitous solution is Board Orientation – and though it is a step in the right direction, it is all too rare to find the Board leader who emerges running at full steam.

In part, a contributing factor is likely that we solely focus on orienting NEW Board members without also embracing that every time new volunteers join a board, it is a whole new Board – and that this new group as a whole could benefit from connection/learning/team building activities.

As we reflect on what it could take to help Board members function at excellence from their first day of service, here are just a few options to consider:

Current common approaches to Board preparation and management mastery:

  • Provide a Board Reference Guide – a manual or book or set of resources that have documents, definitions, and templates to aid a Board member coming into service. If a guide is meant to serve as an ongoing reference tool, they should be indexed so that the relevant section to any situation that arises can be easily referenced. Finally, expectations should be clear what parts need to be read as a Board member starts, which are for future reference, and which – if any – parts should be re-read annually by Board members for reminder/reinforcement.
  • New Board Member Orientation – Usually a workshop -type session or retreat that will orient a Board member further to an organization and, more specifically, what the duties of a Board member are. Depending on what additional components, as outlined below, are included in helping a Board succeed, the orientation goals and agenda will vary to some extent from organization to organization. 
  • Position Mentorship – Many organizations will connect incoming/outgoing officers, assuming that by assigning mentor/mentees that there is clarity in the knowledge to transfer. The power of these relationships comes to play not just in what is shared before a new Board member is in office, but in the mentor serving as an ongoing resource and sounding board during service. When these mentor matches transition from information transfer to co-leadership development, this can be a truly meaningful approach.

Governance excellence includes the above, while also possibly including:

  1. Pre-Election Organization & Board Responsibility Orientation – Ideally, anyone running for the Board should go through a two-part preparation series. One is an in-depth orientation to the pieces of the association that any Board member should know, making sure they can talk about most aspects of the organization with some fluency. Some pieces may include:
    • In-depth review of the governance flow chart – which entities exist and how they are connected.
    • Comprehensive review of programmatic investments and priorities of the organization – while Board members don’t need to DO everything in the organization, they should be aware of what is being done so that they can make the proper resource investment decisions.
    The second is a greater, in-depth understanding of what it means to serve as a Board member for this organization – from tactical responsibilities (meetings, appearances, thought leader contributions, etc.) to board culture definitions and commitments. At the end of this, every candidate can sign an agreement to fulfill these commitments as part of their service to the organization – setting a minimum threshold standard for Board service.
  2.  Full Board Orientation – Though new board members may need a greater orientation to service, every time boards rotate members, there should be a full board orientation to the team, leader perspectives, and the direction ahead. Full board orientation can include a review of the current state of the union of the organization, what strategic vision, plan, and guidelines are in place, key factors of disruption or opportunity in the environment, and any places of Board input for strategy needed to guide the organization at the start of a new term.
  3. Clarity in Board Listening – Board members serve to represent a full membership – not just single segments that may speak to their own background. A clear line of approaches available where Board member can (and should) throughout the year connect with varied member perspectives to enhance and expand their own will broaden the voice they can bring to key organizational discussions and decisions.
  4. Ongoing Learning in Nonprofit Governance Excellence – Orientations of any variety should be the start and not the end of how we help board members succeed. A monthly sharing of resources for their review, inclusion of a few minutes on regular board agendas to share a key insight, even mentorship of leadership to those in pipeline, can all provide further depth of knowledge to those who need to be the governance Jedi’s for their organization.
  5. Practice Having a Strategic Mindset – Board members are charged with setting the direction and monitoring the environment to keep the organization moving forward. We spend time educating ourselves and boards to be strategic thinkers during strategy-setting processes. We expect these board members to carry this knowledge through their term but tend to fall short in this area. It is more comfortable and more natural for individuals to fall into operational mode. Being strategic, even when you know how to do something, can be a challenge. Providing a quick reference guide that board members use regularly, can continue to reinforce the strategic mindset. This may include:
    • A reminder that questions generally beginning with what or why can lead to strategic discussions while questions beginning with who, how, when, where are more focused on the implementation.
    • Providing them with sample questions to ask of themselves and others can aid being strategic focused. An example might be are you looking to understand or solve the issue? Looking to understand will provide a deeper understanding to discuss future impact whereas looking to solve is focused on the short term.
  6. Focus on Future Succession – Board members are responsible for the long-term stability of the organization. Many times, this is manifested in revenue and members. We often forget about the future leadership of the organization until the next election cycle rolls around. Successful board members begin looking for potential successors from the very beginning, engaging them in various processes, and finding a way to bring them on when they are ready.