Make it Transformational: A Blog for Champion Discipleship

Today is the final post on how building a stronger board.  In the first post, I addressed who should be on boards, the second post was on what boards need to understand about their roles and responsibilities before they begin serving (you can find these posts here), and today I’ll tackle the need to INVEST in the growth of your board members – growth in relation to their role, in relation to the cause and in relation to their own Christian walk - as they strive to serve with excellence.

In Boardroom Confidence Tom Engstrom said, “the stronger the board, the stronger the organization, the stronger the organization, the greater its contribution in history.”  I truly believe when we invest in people (including our board), fruit abounds.  How are you investing in your board’s growth right from the beginning?  And, indeed that is where it needs to start...in the beginning when the board members are being welcomed onto the team!

Let’s consider some ways you can contribute to the growth of your board...

1. Provide new board members with a welcome packet that includes information to help get them up to speed with “where we’ve been,” “where we are now” and “where we’re going”.  Then allow them the opportunity to ask questions and share initial thoughts. Members who don’t have a sense of these things will be ill-equipped to speak confidently and knowledgeably in meetings early on.  

2. Each year have the board put together a 12-month reading plan that will contribute to their growth.  It should include books or articles that help them better understand and perform their role on the board (e.g. Boardroom Confidence), or grasp a greater understanding about the cause (e.g. Tell them who I am: the lives of homeless women) or related to character building and spiritual strengthening (e.g. The Servant Leader Within).  By the way, the goal isn’t just to whiz through a bunch of books, take time to discuss them as a group and share key learnings.

3. Task each board member to spend time “in the trenches” with other staff at least a few times a year.  Not with their board hat on, but with their champion hat on. This will refresh their perspective to then go back to the board and speak more wisely about how to best direct and support the CEO, and how to better define and measure success.

4. On a similar note, task each board member to spend time with each other outside of board meetings.  Meet for lunch or coffee one-on-one occasionally with no set agenda.  Learn how to best encourage and build one another up.  More experienced members should take on a mentoring relationship with the inexperienced members.  Get to know and value each person’s uniqueness and quirkiness.  The time spent building these relationships will prove invaluable not only in board meetings, but in a very real and personal way.

When an organization values investing in it’s board, it will find a stronger, wiser and more cohesive board not just excelling in, but truly enjoying their work!  I’m sure you can come up with some additional and wonderful ideas.  When you do, please share!

Coming off our latest Mission Increase Foundation workshop on Board governance, many organizations are feeling the need for change.  It’s been a bit of everything…

“We need to go a different direction.”
“We need to expand our board.”
“We need to rework a few leadership positions.”
“We need to become more policy driven.”
“We need to change!”

And that may be the case.  If so, I have some advice for you:  Make change slowly…and quickly.

There’s no doubt that some change needs to happen slowly.  There’s the story of the pastor who was driven from his leadership position for trying to remove the church piano from the worship center en route to a more contemporary style of worship.  Upon a return visit to the church months later to perform a wedding, the recently-removed pastor quickly noticed that the piano was gone.  Aghast, he tracked down the church’s new leader and shockingly asked, “How!?”  “Simple,” the new leader replied, “After every Sunday service for the past six months, I moved the piano one inch closer to the door until it was gone!”

A cute story with a serious truth – a high percentage of change needs to happen slowly, carefully, methodically and strategically.

In some cases, however, change needs to be made quickly.  There are times when slow change works to the detriment of your organization.

Years ago, I arrived in the Midwest to lead a struggling organization.  Programs needed to be launched, facilities needed attention, volunteer and paid positions needed to be identified and filled – and those changes needed to be made immediately.  I didn’t have twelve to eighteen months.  I prioritized and made the changes, and those changes were met with the “normal” amount of opposition.

It’s a very fine line.  Some changes need to be made slowly and meticulously and other changes need to be made quickly.  A significant part of leadership is having the wisdom and courage to change what needs to be changed immediately and the patience and understanding to change what needs to be changed over time.

As you consider your Board’s future and, perhaps, realize that there’s some "changin’" that needs to happen, take this very seriously.  Gain God’s direction and wisdom, discuss a change strategy with other leaders, and discern if this should be slow change or a quick(er) change.

If September’s workshop attendance is any indicator, ministries around the country are hungry to grow effective boards.

The principles we shared were at once convicting and encouraging, simple and sophisticated, immediate and long term. With minor tweaks based on three basic concepts, board members and CEOs could reap major rewards. Let’s review the principles:

Prayer -- the most important thing your board does. I’ve had the privilege this year of serving on the board of one of my favorite organizations. We gather monthly with the staff (despite the fact that half the staff is on the other side of the globe) and pray over the phone. If your board hasn’t met recently with the singular intention of seeking God on behalf of those you serve, I recommend you do it right away.

One Voice -- the moment your board members leave the boardroom they revert to champion status and as such should be coached like any other champion of your cause. If you’re a board member ask to be coached and if you’re a CEO seek to humbly coach your board to full maturity in relation to your cause.

Policy Governance -- We recommended Carver’s model saying that a set of policies is the greatest gift a board can give. Find the book here.

For some, the principles were revolutionary, and they answered the “how” question.  But, some may still be asking the “why” question -- Why do boards exist?

In a word?  Accountability. Boards, of course, provide fiscal and legal accountability.  But, in Christian ministries, they also provide spiritual accountability.  I was dismayed that many organizations we worked with this month expressed deep dysfunction in their CEO/Board relationships. So, while the principles above can have a big impact, I think there’s one step that might be even more important – repentance that leads to good, old-fashioned, biblical peacemaking. If you are a CEO who bristles at the accountability offered by your board, if you refuse to submit to their God given authority over you, if you are grasping tightly to your own authority and power, I plead with you to repent, confess and make peace. If you are a board member who oversteps the boundaries of the One Voice principle, who refuses to trust your CEO, who is unwilling to be coached in the cause … likewise … repent, confess and make peace.

So, I encourage you to schedule a free, one-hour coaching session with your GTO to begin applying the principles offered in this month's workshops, but you should know that your GTO will not abide board bashing or fingers pointed at ineffective CEOs. He or she will graciously remind you that God has already given you exactly who and what you need to accomplish His purposes.  They'll ask the tough questions about your need for repentance, confession and peacemaking. And, they'll pray with you about receiving and growing the spiritual accountability that will nurture your board and your organization.

Have you ever been asked to do something only to find out later it’s NOT what you thought it would be or that you were vastly ill-prepared for it?  I think this is more common than we’d like to admit when it comes to board members!

Today’s post is part 2 of 3 in a series dedicated to figuring out how we can build boards that excel.  In the first post, I addressed the WHO - who should be on boards? (which you can find here.)  Today I’ll get into the WHAT – what do boards need to understand about their roles and responsibilities BEFORE they agree to serve?

Harold Geneen, best known for making ITT (International Telephone &Telegraph Corp) the first international conglomerate said, “Ninety-five percent of boards are not fully doing what they are legally, morally and ethically supposed to do.”  This pretty much sums up why talking about this "WHAT" is so important!  

First and foremost, a prospective board member needs to understand the weight of responsibility on them as a leader in a nonprofit board. Under the law they are directly accountable for the overall direction and policies of the organization.  Is your board actively involved in defining what needs to get accomplished and how?  Is your board taking time to ensure that the organization is in compliance with all state and federal laws as they go about doing this?

Second, the board is accountable to the community in which they serve.  By law, the board is set as owners of the nonprofit serving in trust on behalf of the community. They are expected to represent and speak for their interests.  By the way, who’s included in the community? Your champions!  Does your board take time to talk with leaders in the community and with your committed champions to hear their perspectives, their ideas, and their needs?

Last, but definitely not least, there is a moral responsibility to be good stewards over what God has entrusted to us.  In 1 Cor 4:2 Paul reminds Christians that “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.”  Everything in our possession – be it tangible or intangible, like leadership in a nonprofit – has been created by God and for God and we will all render an account to Him for our stewardship over it.  What account will we render when all is said and done with our board position?

These three areas are the big umbrella of what a person needs to understand before entering into a board position, but that’s not all.  A prospective board member must also understand how these responsibilities play out on a regular basis.  It is CRITICAL for the organization to develop clear job descriptions for the board (and the CEO) so they know how to most effectively and successfully serve.

By the way, make sure the job description is in writing (I’ve heard things like “we’ve talked about what they’re suppose to do”) - we’re all human and prone to memory failure!  Also, have each member sign off on the job description agreeing to uphold it and be held accountable to it.  

We’ve talked about choosing the right person and equipping them to fully know what will be expected of them as they serve on the board. Next time we’ll talk about how they grow in their position to be an effective and productive board member, while also strengthening their connection to the cause, and maturing in their Christian walk.

As categories for understanding often (if not always) precede our development of concepts, I was intrigued to consider the following question raised by this month’s workshop topic concerning Biblical categories:

Is there an analogous Biblical category for non-profit governance and leadership?

By that I mean, what Biblical concept or principle(s) exist from which we can not only infer, but draw a deep and rich understanding of the fundamental role and responsibility of those called to serve on non-profit boards? You may be asking, is the Bible at all concerned with these matters? Here are a couple of ways I think it is.

The Matter of Discernment –
We can and do benefit greatly by considering Paul’s list of spiritual qualifications (I Tim. 3, Titus 1) as distinguishing markers for good board candidates – versus say the traditional qualifications which are largely concerned with influence and affluence. That said, these lists eventually run aground as Paul’s central concern is such passages is with Biblical leadership in the context of the local church (i.e. ecclesiology), not with non-profit’s, nor their governance.

So, while these texts help tremendously to re-frame the conversation around the type and character of our board members (i.e. form) it doesn’t fully satisfy the larger issues of calling and governance (i.e. function). So, is there another?

The Matter of Stewardship –

Stewardship, in its fullest sense, is the concept that God has entrusted ownership and care of something into the hands of His people. This is the only category for me that both fully understands Divine ownership and simultaneously gives some clarity as to the unique role of a board member. Namely, the entrusted responsibility to care for and provide direction to the organization AND its mission (both legally and spiritually). I believe it is here and only here that we find the deepest and most meaningful launching point to understand the responsibilities (i.e. function and duty) of non-profit boards.

One passage that is particularly helpful to develop this idea is in I Cor. 4:1-5, especially v.2 where Paul makes explicit his motivation regarding his stewardship of the mysteries of God saying, "In this case, moreover, it is required of a steward that one be found trustworthy (faithful)." So, in what sense is a board member to be found faithful? While there are many, I would at least say faithful to seek the will and wisdom of God. Faithful to provide fiduciary oversight for the organization. Faithful to keep the organization focused on its mission. Faithful to one another in the process. And so on...

So, perhaps it would be good for us to consider a couple of questions this morning together:

What are the things (assets) that God has entrusted to our care?
How can we be found faithful in our stewardship of them?

May we be found faithful in employing all that we’ve been given for God’s glory and the good of our cities.

I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming workshops where we'll be discussing these ideas and more.