Make it Transformational: A Blog for Champion Discipleship

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.

When I was growing up our family vacationed in Old Orchard Beach, Maine.  Upon arriving at the beach, my parents would lay out a blanket on the sand and immediately give the instructions to my sister, brother and me that we were only allowed to swim in the ocean "directly in front of the family blanket.”  Planning to heed our parents’ instruction, the three of us always ran excitedly into the water to play…and you can imagine what happened next.  Fifteen minutes later we were no longer in front of family blanket; we were thirty yards down the shoreline.  We had to get out of the water, walk back up the beach, and jump back in directly in front of the family blanket.

Without markers, people and organizations – well-meaning people and organizations – are prone to drift with nothing to bring them back on course.  In our family’s case, the blanket served as a clear reference point that showed us where we were in light of where we were supposed to be.

Your organization needs to have its “family blanket” in place.  Every organization needs clear reference points so it can constantly evaluate if it's in the "right" place or if it has drifted off course.

You may be thinking, “We’re good with this.  We have organizational values that we’ve identified and even have them framed and hanging in our office lobby!”  My experience tells me that organizations have stated values and actual values.  And there’s a big difference between the two.  Many, many organizations have a set of values and markers in place that they have agreed to live by but, at the end of the day, they are living and operating by a completely different set of rules. 

How about your organization?

This month, at Mission Increase Foundation workshops around the U.S., we’ll be talking about the incredibly important topic of board governance and leadership.  We’ll be talking about the 30,000 foot view that your board needs have in order to lead effectively, the importance of avoiding vision drift, and the importance of being a values-driven leadership team - knowing how God has called you to live as an organization and really living out that call!

Hope to see you soon at an MIF workshop! 

A warm body does not a good board member make!  How we all know this to be so true, but we often fall into the trap of desperation when it comes to filling our board rooms.  Is it any wonder that CEO’s spend countless hours struggling with and complaining about their board?  Or at least some of its members?

If you expect to have a wonderful , hard-working, Christ-centered board, then you need to take the responsibility of training them on what it means to be a productive board member and teach them how to recruit others with specific goals in mind.  You realize, I hope, that it’s not the CEO’s responsibility to recruit and build the board, but it is, in fact, the board’s own responsibility to build itself.   There are times when an organization is new or when the board is weak, that the CEO needs to step in and get things rolling.  But ultimately, the board is responsible.

You’ll want to start with a board nominating committee so this task has ownership.  You will also need a good job description so the board agrees on and the prospective board members know, what is expected of a board member in this role.  The job description needs to clarify your expectations in the area of board meeting attendance, participation in board retreats and subcommittees, length of terms of service, fundraising responsibilities , etc.

The job description is a great tool for outlining the expectations of the board member, but don’t overlook the characteristics you are looking for in that person.  The character of the person is just as important, if not more so, than the specific duties they will perform.

Scripture is full of character qualities becoming a Christian leader and we would serve our organizations well to pay attention to these qualities.  I Timothy 3 and Titus 1 tell us Christian leaders should be sober-minded, able to teach, gentle, ruling his house well, blameless, not self-willed, lover of what is good, just, holy and able to exhort, to name a few.  Believe me, this is not just another warm body.  And nowhere on this list is wealth an indicator of a Christian leader.

Good recruiting is the key to a strong  and faithful board.  But it won’t happen without being deliberate and focused on the goal.  It takes time and commitment and training, but the rewards will be heavenly.

To learn more about board recruiting and governance, register for our Sept. workshop titled, “Board Governance: The Board’s Greatest Gift."