Advisory Board

Today’s Issue: Boards of Directors Development

What are the dynamics of a board?

It’s a microcosm of a business built upon:

• People
• Process
• Productivity
• Pertinence

People
Capture interest when the energy is high. The “wooing” time will color how the prospective member responds to board needs. Relate activity to action aligned with the overall board’s purpose. Then measure it with the committee’s directive like marketing, fundraising.

Ask what the initiate considers important to be able to make a contribution to the board? Identify how the board can best harness what they’re offering. Know the delivery preference of the initiate. Often executive directors, who are paid a salary, have an agenda to meet the deliverables from the “mother ship.” The incentive to perform is different.

• Discuss openly at meetings what can be gained by serving on this board.
• Do you offer access to experts?
• Serving is a leadership training ground. What roles can people fulfill?
• Acknowledgement
• Personal information as the subject applies to the member.
• Contribution to a cause that . . . They can see the end in sight from the annual plan.

What skills can be sharpened?

• Offer a portion of the meeting to developing these skills like
• Parliamentary procedure
• Presentations
• Budget preparation
• Recommendation letters
• Negotiating skills: Solicitation of speakers, Fundraising, sponsorships, program development
• Marketing aspects—How to’s
• Event planning
• How to reward people in other ways than money

The buddy system inspires confidence with new members. It keeps energy fresh with veteran members.

Before embarking on a major event, introduce the different skills required. Have people self-select based on their interests, what they want to learn, what they can contribute. This circulates the energy and talents of board members.

Check the ego plays at the start.

The challenge of a volunteer-based board not earning anything for their investment of time is to how to keep people engaged.

Ideas:
Useful, content-driven meetings. Members leave inspired rather than overwhelmed.
Presenter/materials driven by board member’s interest. Tie back into member’s interests.

Review by-laws and adhere to them considering term limits, financial obligations, etc.
Have a kick-off event to create a new “face” on what will be accomplished during the coming year.

Make it fun
Inspirational
Testimonials
Summary of previous success stories

Momentum
Avoid starting over at each meeting. Meetings that drone on push people away.

Meetings can be a waste of time and members will stop coming if they don’t feel productive.
Set a measurable meeting outcome
Reinforce mission at each meeting. Clearly relate to progress status to annual mission.

Structure the meeting so people know what to expect. This is more than printing/emailing an agenda.

Open the meeting with an unrelated activity:
“Open mike” comedy for 7 minutes. (Have clear guidelines for what is appropriate language, imagery, etc.)
Inspirational stories
Theme a meeting. Wrap items around it.
Understand that different styles process communications differently. Have something for each style at each meeting