A Little Nonprofit Board Q&A for the New Year

Question: Can you recommend anything to prepare Boards for an informal "retreat?" We've had two previous retreats and one coming up in January. I'd love to elicit some real discussion and a sense of commitment but have had no luck so far. In some ways, I think our small staff does too much for the Board and they are used to non-participation. You've heard all of this before.

Response:

Dear Executive Director,

Hope you are having a good holiday.

Yes, your situation is very common among nonprofit organizations. And, unfortunately, it is uncommon for a group of people who have been spectators for years to decide to jump into the game. It takes years to develop a board culture and it can take a couple years and several new faces to change it.

A few thoughts - I apologize if they seem too obvious or you have already tried them. We'll also add this discussion to the new Indy Board Blog so we can all learn together:

1) I would recruit a few board members to help you think through and plan the retreat. You might form a "Board Engagement Task Force" to specifically focus on getting people better connected.

2) Consider a few questions - What is success for our organization? What is our impact? What should it be? How is the world/community different today because we exist? How will it be different in 10 years because we exist? What would the community lose if we were not here? You might use the Drucker Assessment Questions (What doe we do?, Who is our customer?, What do they value?, How are we doing at meeting their needs - how do we know?, What is our plan to improve and sustain ourselves?)

3) Send out copies of Jim Collin's "Good to Great and the Social Sectors" for members to read. In your retreat talk about how it applies and see if you can draft a Hedgehog for your organization. It is likely that several of your board members re familar with the book. The short "Social Sectors" monograph is only about 30 page long. It will get them thinking and also increase their respect for the capabilities of nonprofit leaders.

4) Do a survey to gather SWOT information from your board and see what they see as the strengths and opportunities before the organizations. What do they want to accomplish and what/who will it take?

5) Conduct a board self-assessment to solicit their input and also create a platform to discuss the roles and responsibilities of the board.

6) Have a discussion about the gray areas between what the board does and what the staff does. Most organizations are pretty clear on the "Board does the big-picture and staff does day to day" but in small and volunteer organizations the board has to fill more of the space between those extremes if things are going to get done.

7) Call or meet with as many of the board members as you can between now and then and ask them what they are excited about. (Divide these conversations among your Board Engagement Committee members)

8) Look at the articles at http://charitychannel.com/enewsletters/nbgr/ and send one out every few days to your board members to start them thinking about the topics you have identified for the 13th.

I find good planning and topic selection is more important than anything else in a successful retreat. Don't try to do too much and build in a little time for fun. Hope this gives you some food for thought,

Bryan

Readers - Can you provide soem feedback on my suggestions and offer some additional ideas that have worked for you?