Finding The Sweet Spot: Moving Your Board from Rubber Stamping or Micromanaging to Oversight
Do you struggle to keep your board out of the weeds? Do they focus on operational issues such as how staff runs a program rather than the more strategic question of whether the organization should offer the program in the first place?
Perhaps equally as concerning, do you have a board who rubber stamps everything you want? While that might feel very empowering, it actually creates as a recipe for disaster. Even the most competent executive director cannot consider every angle of a decision; you rely on the collective wisdom of the board to help create the best possible outcome for your organization. A rubber stamp board robs the staff and organization of this collective wisdom and experience.
If either of these scenarios describe your board, know that you have plenty of company; sadly, most boards fall into one of these categories.
How do you move your board from operational focus — or disengagement — toward active oversight? Start here.
Educate your board on their appropriate roles and responsibilities. Board members often arrive without knowing what roles to assume; they rely on you and their fellow board members to educate them. Even seasoned board members sometimes have less-than-ideal prior board experiences. Because of this, I urge you to create a formal board education program that explains their legal and fiduciary oversight responsibilities and how they should exercise them. Begin that education during the recruitment process and continue it into orientation and through regular board education at meetings.
Engage your board members in strategic discussions. Often when I work with an organization that has one of these problems, it starts with the staff. (Sorry!) If you only ask them to approve initiatives that staff bring forward or to discuss operations, they never have the chance to engage in strategic conversations. Looking for a way to feel valued, board members nit-pick at the details. Instead, teach board members enough about your organization so they can have intelligent discussions and then give them the time to have them. This happens in good committee meetings and good board meetings. Our blog post about creating an engaged board has some other strategies you might consider to better engage your board members in more strategic conversations.
Look to your board chair to set the tone. A good board chair partners with the executive director – and the rest of the board – to ensure good governance and an overall positive experience. Talk to your board chair about your concerns and suggest some of these solutions to better engage your board to fulfill their oversight responsibilities. Or recruit the next chair intentionally with this goal in mind if your current chair cannot or will not change.
Empower board members to self-govern. The board should manage itself and its members. That includes gently reminding members who veer toward micromanaging or who rubber stamp issues without any real discussion of their oversight role. Find some like-minded allies on your board and talk to them privately about prompting their colleagues to stay strategic. If you don’t have any of these people on your board, start recruiting some!
While it may feel intimidating or even impossible to change the culture of your board, you will find the reward well worth your time and energy. Instead of dreading board meetings, you will have a true partner who helps move your organization forward and better invested board members who know enough about your organization to help how you need. People want to use their time and talents to move the organization forward, not just sit through yet another meeting; I venture to guess that micromanaging or rubber-stamping board members do not feel very satisfied so you may have less turnover and more quorums at your meetings.
