Reflections on a workshop for board chairs-
"It Doesn’t Have to be Lonely at the Top"

Michael Davidson & Sarah Holland

On November 14, 2006, we facilitated a workshop at the Support Center for Nonprofit Management for the chairs of nonprofit boards. The genesis of the workshop was the thought, based on our professional and personal experiences, that providing board chairs with an opportunity to reflect on their experiences and to learn from their peers could help them to provide better leadership and reduce some of the stress and anxiety that can lead to leadership burn-out.

The workshop was structured to examine the leadership role, the factors that sustain leaders, and to explore how understanding the leadership role could lead to strategies to address board challenges.

The 13 board chairs who participated in the workshop taught us a great deal that we hope can be of help to their peers.

Facilitators reflections on the workshop

• The greatest reward for board leaders is the inherent satisfaction of enabling the organization to achieve its mission and the board to grow as a working team.

• The greatest challenge is to engage the entire board in that work

• Solutions lie in:
• Accepting that the essence of leadership is to share responsibility and to motivate the best energies of each board member

• Shifting the balance between Technical and Adaptive leadership to allow the chair to have the time and reflective space to ask and address fundamental questions of organizational mission and direction

Workshop Structure

1. As participants introduced themselves, they were asked:

• What is the best part of being chair?
• What is the worst part?

2. Each wrote answers to two questions on a work sheet:

• What two objectives would you most like the board to achieve this year?
• What obstacles do you expect?

3. The facilitators provided a brief summary of some leadership paradigms:

• Technical and Adaptive Leadership, Ronald Heifetz
• Exemplary Leadership, James M. Kouzes Barry Z. Posner
• Good to Great, Jim Collins

4. The bulk of the workshop was spent applying these paradigms to the objectives identified by the participants.

5. Participants were then asked to answer the third question on the worksheet-

• What steps will you take to initiate action on the objectives?

5. Finally, they shared their answers to the fourth question on the work sheet:

• What accomplishment with the board has given you the greatest personal satisfaction?

Summary of the Discussions

What is the best thing about being a Board Chair?

• Having an impact on accomplishing the mission of the organization
• Building a team
• Leading a process to make important decisions for the organization
• Working with a positive and engaged group
• Being able to support the staff
• Taking charge

What is the worst thing about being a Board Chair?

• Lack of other leaders
• Carrying all the weight
• Negativity of some board members
• Getting board members to follow though on their responsibilities
• Not having the right team

What objectives would you most like the board to achieve this year?

Vision and Planning

• Develop a strategic plan
• Create a common vision for the organization
• Increase the policy role of the board
• Establish a sustainability plan for the organization

Board Development

• Recruit new board members
• Create a leadership succession plan for board leadership
• Increase committee work outcomes
• Motivate board members to take responsibility for board objectives

Fundraising

• Have the board become more active in fundraising
• Establish a development committee
• Implement a development plan

What obstacles do you expect?

• Lack of motivation to work
• Differing points of view
• Different understandings of the mission
• Personal agendas
• Lack of knowledge about fundraising

What steps will you take to initiate action on the objectives?

Engaging the commitment of board members

• Establish personal relationships with board members
• Meet with board members about their board role and financial commitment
• Enlist the help of a board member with development experience to work on a development plan

Board Management

• Initiate a board discussion about board expectations, including financial support
• Engage board members in defining a planning process
• Charge the Development Committee with soliciting board contributions
• Plan for a stakeholder Task Force to identify board candidates

What accomplishment with the board has given you the greatest personal satisfaction?

Mission

• Having an impact on the ability of the organization to achieve its mission
• Helping a floundering organization to survive and thrive
• Changing the vision of the organization
• Expanding on the founders vision
• Improving organizational outcomes

Management

• Increasing attendance at board meetings
• Initiating fiscal oversight
• Increasing staff salaries
• Employing technology to move the organization forward
• Implementing new fundraising activities

Participants reflections on lessons learned from the workshop

• The respective roles of the Board Chair and the ED
• The role of the chair as motivator rather than manager
• The importance of delegation
• Delegation of key responsibilities to the Governance and Development committees
• Using stakeholders as resources for board recruitment

• The commonality of issues among boards

You can find further ideas on this and other topics at www.governancematters.org.

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