REALBoard Buzz™
Should Your Board Give the Executive Director Advice?
“If I hear one more [board member] suggest MacKenzie Scott as a funding source I'm gonna lose it!” Source: An Executive Director of a not-for-profit enterprise on Reddit. The rest of the Reddit conversation was insightful. Various Executive Directors of nonprofit...
Board Oversight: Do Your Board’s Monitoring Reports Stand up to Scrutiny?
When your board is presented with a report that things are on track, is there actual evidence to make that case? Join me, Richard Stringham, Senior Consultant & Partner, as I show some common place, yet less than credible monitoring reports. I also provide some...
Board Reports: Are You Tracking Activities or Impact?
https://youtu.be/Q5ffASKcFmU Too often governing boards are absorbed with reports about what the organization is busy doing. Instead, your board’s monitoring reports should focus on impact. Join us as we look at the various ways that boards get caught up in measuring...
How Does Your Board Hold Your CEO Accountable?
First of all, let’s clarify a term. When I say CEO, I mean the sole staff person to whom the board delegates. That could be a CEO, Executive Director, President, Senior or Lead Pastor, etc. Does your board subject your CEO to the invisible expectations guessing game?...
Unlocking the Value of Every Boardroom Voice
In boardrooms everywhere, some of the most valuable insights go unspoken. I witnessed this firsthand when working with a board where two members seemed to fade into the wallpaper during crucial discussions. Their perspectives remained locked behind a barrier of...
Responding to Misconceptions and Objections About Policy Governance® – Part 2
In mid-January, we held a second webinar. It addressed the objections and misconceptions often heard about Policy Governance®. We know not everyone can attend a webinar. As with the first webinar, we want to share ideas for how to respond to the three misconceptions,...
How Much Thought Does Your Board Give to the Future?
It’s that time again – when forecasts for the coming year are making frequent appearances. In a recent podcast , Tom Standage, editor of The World Ahead by The Economist, candidly noted that their track record for previous forecasts was less than stellar. If the folks...
Have You Heard This One? Common Misconceptions about Policy Governance®
These days, many are unhappy with misinformation about a subject they care about. Before social media boosted misinformation, "myths" often surrounded Policy Governance." If you've spoken with board members or staff about adopting Policy Governance, you've likely...
Board Email Voting? Check this First…
On rare occasions, a board with a robust delegation system and a clear set of policies, may need to make a decision between board meetings. These days, it would be relatively easy to call a special meeting of the board to make the decision via video-conferencing. But...
Logically Speaking – A tool for developing Ends policies
I work with a wide variety of boards when they develop their Ends policies for the first time. I usually start by emphasizing that Ends describe the long-term results that the board wants the organization to produce. I remind board members that Ends state who should...