News Updates Most Important Legacy: The Next Board By Alice Korngold Boards are instructed to create a vision for the organization and then build the organization accordingly. Boards also need to create a vision for the board and then build the board accordingly. In fact, the greatest legacy a board can leave is a new board. Boards go through a variety of generations and phases. Newly established organizations are often referred to as founding boards. They usually glom onto a visionary and provide the initial support to advance a new initiative. Boards move on to future phases that run the gamut from stagnant to progressive; irrelevant to vital; lethargic to dynamic. The people who comprise the board will make an organization whither or thrive. Boards are key to selecting the right CEO, supporting or alienating an effective CEO, dismissing or retaining an ineffective CEO, raising money or shirking the responsibility, reaching out to new supporters or being apathetic. Good boards do not just happen. Good boards are built by design. Moreover, there is a right board for the right time. Boards that want to take their organizations to the next level of achievement and performance must proactively create and implement a plan to replace themselves -- to create the right board for the next decade. The Board Governance Committee (the more contemporary version of the traditional Nominating Committee) should play a formidable role in this process, working in partnership with the board chair and CEO. With board input, and ultimately the board's full support and participation, the Governance Committee should determine who needs to be on the board 5 years hence and how to make that happen. Here are the key steps: Know the issues. Look at the key challenges and opportunities facing the organization, especially in terms of the mission, revenue model, and strategic alliances. Understand the "business" of the organization and what it will take to maximize revenues, focus on a mission that is compelling, provide significant value to the community, and communicate the organization's effectiveness and impact. Decide how the board can add value. Figure out the expertise, diversity, and relationships that will be needed at the board level. For example, if the organization is funded primarily by public/government sources, then it could be important to have public policy experts on the board; if the organization needs to diversify its funding sources, then consider the expertise that will be useful; if the organization serves a homogeneous population and the community is changing, then determine the variety of perspectives that will enrich and illuminate the board. Paint the picture of the next board. Imagine the types of people who need to be on the board. Create the perfect board, describing the qualifications and backgrounds of the people who will be needed most. Create a plan to build the next board . Determine how you will identify, cultivate, recruit and engage the right people. Figure out who needs to be involved in reaching out to the candidates that are most important. Current board members and funders can be most helpful. Take stock of the pluses and minuses. That is, what will appeal to or scare away board member prospects? Remedy the matters that are easy. For example, if the board decides it needs to add successful business people, it is important that board meetings be scheduled at convenient times and locations. A more complicated matter to address is fiscal accountability. Boards that seek to recruit high-potential board members should be sure the organization's financial house is in order; nothing is scarier to board member prospects than cloudy financials. Another factor that will matter to a new prospect is the capability of the CEO; board members want to work with well-qualified CEOs so that the board can do its work and not the executive's job. Identify board candidates and court them. Many of the most desirable board candidates will take time and attention. Today's board members should be engaging good future prospects by bringing them as guests to organization events, taking them to lunches with fellow board members and the CEO, and eliciting their input. Some of the best board members need to be "queued up." Although their volunteer time might be fully committed at the present, they can often be recruited for the next round. Map the transition. Plan a timetable and a process. This will depend on how much of a change the board designs for itself. In some cases, a controlled evolution will work perfectly well. In other cases, the board might need to be more ambitious to take the organization to a new level on a more radical schedule; such a goal for the board will require a more creative approach -- possibly establishing a small band of high-caliber candidates and positioning them for greater responsibility through a carefully orchestrated transition. Funders can be key allies, and an outside consultant can be a useful facilitator. The board of one national organization recently "retreated" to envision the board they would like to have replace themselves over the next few years. This board had already spent two arduous years creating a bolder vision for the organization, hiring an outstanding new CEO, and creating the framework of the new strategic plan. This board realized that their next task was to create a board on which they themselves would never be invited to serve. This board understood that their greatest legacy would be the development of the next generation of the board to advance the organization further yet. This is the best gift the board could leave to the organization and those it serves.
Copyright © 2006 The NonProfit Times. |
