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Board/Staff Relationships

Planning for Progress Judith Lindenau, CAE, RCE www.judithlindenau.com. Board/Staff Relationships. 1. Build awareness of the similarities and differences in roles between staff and volunteer leaders

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Board/Staff Relationships

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  1. Planning for Progress Judith Lindenau, CAE, RCE www.judithlindenau.com Board/Staff Relationships

  2. 1. Build awareness of the similarities and differences in roles between staff and volunteer leaders Gain a working knowledge of techniques you can use to strengthen teamwork between staff and volunteers Understand the tools for keeping this relationship consistent from year to year www.judithlindenau.com Learning Objectives for this session

  3. www.judithlindenau.com The Differences between the chief staff person and the number one volunteer

  4. www.judithlindenau.com CEO Board Chair • Has consistency and history • Familiarity with day-to-day operations • More familiarity with needs of the ‘customers’ • More conversant with the organization itself • Temporary leadership • Has divided attention • Responsible for leadership of the Board and key volunteers • Must evaluate the CEO Inherent struggles

  5. Determine the organization's mission and purposes • Select the executive staff through an appropriate process • Provide ongoing support and guidance for the executive; reviewhis/her performance • Ensure effective organizational planning • Ensure adequate resources • Manage resources effectively (the buck stops with them,ultimately) • Determine and monitor the organization's programs and services • Enhance the organization's public image • Serve as a court of appeal • Assess its own performance www.judithlindenau.com Chief duties of the Board of Directors

  6. www.judithlindenau.com Determine mission and purposes • Have a strategic plan • Review it annually • Put mission statement on every agenda • Invest in public statement of mission—sign, ads, website • Position the Board to continually think of the Mission

  7. www.judithlindenau.com Select chief staff appropriately • Resource: http://www.npgoodpractice.org/Resource/ResourceFile.aspx?resourceid=8335

  8. Document the performance review process in your policy manual Insist on an annual review, in writing Have review forms available for review committee www.judithlindenau.com Provide ongoing support and guidance for the executive; reviewhis/her performance

  9. Long term plan Short term (one year) work plan Business Plans for every project (www.judithlindenau.com/project_planning_marketing.pdf ) www.judithlindenau.com Ensure Effective Organizational Planning and Determine and monitor the organization's programs and services

  10. www.judithlindenau.com Responsibilities for finances • Ensure adequate resources (fundraising, management control) • Manage resources effectively (the buck stops with them,ultimately)

  11. www.judithlindenau.com Enhance the organization's public image • Board as ambassadors • Active presence in the public eye • Ethics • Media Training • Disaster Plan

  12. www.judithlindenau.com Serves as a court of appeal • Member or Client Concerns • Staff Appeals • Media Investigations • Grants and resource decisions

  13. www.judithlindenau.com Assesses its own performance • Self-Assessment for Nonprofit Governing Boards (Board Source) • The Drucker Foundation Self-Assessment Tool Process Guide, Revised Edition

  14. Leadership • Team Player • Staff Manager • Business Manager • Communication Skills • Community Involvement • Personal Ethics • Impeccable Financial Management and Control • Business Development Skills www.judithlindenau.com What the Board Expects of the CEO

  15. Legal Compliance Support Hands off Management Financial Support of the Mission Participation Personal Ethics Confidentiality www.judithlindenau.com What the CEO expects from the Board

  16. www.judithlindenau.com Who does what?

  17. www.judithlindenau.com Job Descriptions • CEO • Committees • Volunteer Officers • Board of Directors Keep in your policy manual. Review annually!

  18. www.judithlindenau.com Add Consistency throughout the life of the organization

  19. www.judithlindenau.com Formal Practices and Procedures to Minimize conflict

  20. 1. Have clearly written and approved procedures for evaluating the chief executive and in an approach that ensures strong input from the chief executive. • 2. Have regular board training sessions that include overviews of the roles of board chair and chief executive. • 3. When a new board chair or chief executive is brought into the organization, the two of them should meet to discuss how they can work together as a team. • 4.Agendas for board meetings should be mutually developed by the board chair and chief executive • http://www.judithlindenau.com/create_agendas.pdf • 5. Maintain an Operations Policy Manual, re-adopted regularly www.judithlindenau.com

  21. 6. The board chair consults with the CEO when appointing chairs for various committees. • 6. Have clear written guidelines about the roles of staff who provide ongoing support to board committees. • 7. Rotate the board chair position every few years to ensure new and fresh perspectives in the role. • 8. Develop board chairs by having vice chairs who later become board chairs. www.judithlindenau.com

  22. 10. Ensure all board members are trained about the role of the board, its committees and their functions, and that the board chair has basic skills in meeting management. • 11. The chief executive and board chair should never conceal information from the rest of the board. The chief executive should never conceal information from the board -- all board members have a right to any information about the organization. • 12. Celebrate accomplishments, including by naming the key people involved in bringing about successes. www.judithlindenau.com

  23. www.judithlindenau.com Personal Practices to Minimize Interpersonal Conflicts

  24. 1. Practice basic skills in interpersonal communications, particularly in listening and giving feedback. • 2. Whenever you feel conflict, identify to yourself what it is that you're actually seeing or hearing that might be causing the conflict. This attempt helps to differentiate whether the source of the conflict is the other person's behavior or some remnant of a relationship or situation in the past. • 3. If you're feeling uneasy, then say out loud what you're feeling. If you feel there's conflict or tension between you two, name it out loud. (Dead Elephant Theory) • 4. Recognize that conflict is inherent in any successful relationship, particularly in a board if all members are actively meeting their responsibilities. The important thing here, again, is to name it if you think it's becoming an ongoing problem. (Abilene paradox) www.judithlindenau.com

  25. www.judithlindenau.com The President’s Important Skill Control the meeting!

  26. www.judithlindenau.com Prepare Agendas for Decisions • Advance Packet • Supporting Docs • Staff Recommendations • Timed Agenda • Trained meeting facilitator (ie, Chairman of the Board)

  27. www.judithlindenau.com Judith lindenau, cae

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