by Valyrie Laedlein - How much time do those of us on executive teams spend preparing reports, summaries, “Board Books,” and Power Point presentations for our Board of Directors meetings?
In doing so, is our intent to bring our Board members into a greater familiarity with the work we do, the critical decisions we face, the issues that are keeping us up at night? Or are we attempting to assure our de facto “bosses” that we have identified the key issues facing the agency, analyzed all facets of the situation, and made solid decisions about those matters we’re entrusted to manage?
In a book published a few years ago, Governance as Leadership: Reframing the Work of Nonprofit Boards, (Wiley & Sons: 2005), the Board research team of Ryan, Chait and Taylor put forth a game-changing perspective on what makes for effective Boards. They affirmed that the Board of Directors clearly has a fiduciary responsibility, that is, the responsibility of assuring the public that your organization will protect and manage the charitable resources entrusted to it to carry out its mission. Few would question that. And most would also agree with these authors that the Board needs to play a strategic role for the agency, which is to say a role in helping to choose how to create and sustain a competitive position that will allow the agency to sustain and succeed in its efforts to attract resources and fulfill its mission.
Fewer recognize – or function in ways that support - what Bill Ryan and his colleagues put forward as the third and most critical role for the Board to play: that of generative thinking. Generative thinking is a cognitive process for deciding:
– what to pay attention to
– what it means
– what to do about it
The opportunity for Boards to play a generative role is greatest when issues are getting framed, not once an issue has been analyzed, processed, decided upon, and presented in a Director’s report. In other words, the overkill some of do in pre-planning, pre-thinking, and pre-deciding virtually every problem or issue before it is brought to our Boards, is the very practice that draws the winds out of the sails of a Board searching to fulfill its “macro” governance role: that of generative thinking. Ryan asserts that the opportunity for generative thinking declines as issues get framed by an ED and presented as plans and strategies to her/his Board.
When times are good, and work and funding are relatively stable, there is less to compel an ED to bring generative questions to the Board, or for Board members to surface them. What does our organization represent to our community? Are we in the right business? What would it matter if we shut our doors tomorrow? How can we assure that the community is served in our absence? These questions are rarely on the agendas of most Board meetings in robust times.
Now that we are in the throes of economic uncertainty, Boards and Executives are being forced to examine these generative questions. CRE is increasingly called upon to lead Boards and staffs through conversations to inquire “what is our core?”. Many of our clients are struggling in their efforts to grapple with such questions because they are out of practice. They are inexperienced in backing up to the 30,000 foot level to do the difficult, generative thinking required in these times. In some organizations, the relationships among Board members and with their EDs are unaccustomed to being tested with such fundamental questions, which may surface very difficult answers for different players. For some, the Board members feel they don’t have a grasp of the “real” situation in which their organization operates and don’t feel confident framing the issues.
We in staff leadership have an untapped resource in our Boards: a resource for helping us to keep perspective in these challenging times. It is up to us to assemble and engage Boards who are prepared and equipped to engage in this type of bare-bones, foundational thinking and to create the circumstances that leverage their insights.
As you consider how staff and Board leadership function in your organization:
- Who decides what issues and problems are priorities to address?
- Who frames those issues and the conversations about them?
- Who decides what information is relevant to consider?
Do the forums for interaction (Board meetings, committee meetings, scheduled phone conversations, etc.) afford the opportunity to grapple with generative questions? Have you engaged your Board leadership in thinking with you about when and how foundational questions can be discussed?
When you assemble your Board packets for the monthly/quarterly Board meeting, have you avoided the temptation to choose the questions and issues and deliver the answers according to our own thinking, rather than identify the questions and search for the answers together with your Board?
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