Why Don’t Board Members Do What They Are Supposed To Do?

Being a longtime board member and former board chair at numerous local/national nonprofits and several community related organizations caused the title of Hardy Smith’s article to jump out at me. Here is the link. I know many of you have been in a board role asking the very same provocative question.

It does not seem to matter whether the subject is strategic planning, financial forecasting, mission development or fundraising. In all cases, there are board members sitting around that board table or on that board conference call wondering just what a few of the other members were possibly thinking with their comments or lack of action.

For example, the always-stimulating discussion about the need to have 100% participation by the board in the annual campaign fundraising is my favorite. In my opinion, this should not even have to be discussed in a regular board meeting. If someone is being recruited for a multi-year term why not handle before the first meeting? For example, if it is a three-year term then have them sign a three-year pledge card as part of the recruiting process. (The pledge can always be adjusted upwards if you are worried about the initial pledge amount...) If it is a requirement of being able to serve on the board then just take care of it before they attend the regular board meetings. The most outstanding part of taking such action is that the need to pledge is never discussed in any board meetings and you can focus on strategic issues!

The survey results from Hardy's article will probably not surprise most of you reading this post and his article.

My two favorites are:

Question Three: What advice would you offer to organizations who ask this question: Why don’t board members do what they are supposed to do?

1. Lack of direction. Roles/duties/responsibilities not clearly defined when asked to serve.
2. Board members are not held accountable.
3. Individuals are on board for wrong reasons.
4. Right people are not being recruited.
5. Better screening/evaluating of prospective board members.
6. Soft sell approach when recruiting.
7. Not having buy-in from board members. Not feeling involved.
8. Not being specific with task requests.
9. Poor communications.
10. Being asked to do too much.
11. No follow-up.
12. No orientation or training.

Question Five: How can organizations be more effective in utilizing their board members?

1. Clearly define what is being requested.
2. Listen to their opinions.
3. Have good effective communications.
4. Get buy-in. Create ownership.
5. Limit tasks they are asked to do.
6. Know your board members and play to their strengths.
7. Recognize their accomplishments.
8. Don’t take them for granted.
9. Make sure your board members know each other.
10. Have fun.
11. Have accountability measures in place.

Please allow me to highlight what truly made sense to me as an active board member. The neat part about the highlights I will mention is that they are so easy to correct!

Here are my top five:

1. Clearly define the board role in writing -- in fact, have signature blocks on the document for all to sign
2. Have fun! (There is no law against this and your attendance levels will soar!)
3. Listen to their opinions (this means having strategic discussions not merely OK’ing staff or operations reports).
4. Create ownership. Does this ever hurt in any endeavor?
5. Better screening, evaluating of potential board members (if the board manages the CEO or Executive Director should we not be as careful in choosing them as we did the CEO/ED?).

Hardy, thanks for conducting your research and sharing it with us. Perhaps your efforts and my few thoughts might impact numerous board meetings in a positive way in the future. If so, maybe your probing question about board members doing what they are supposed to may never need to asked again...