How to address the dilemma of board development in a time-scarce environment.

Board members have repeatedly told us over the last 25 years that they want to be more productive, add more value to their organization, improve their working relationship with fellow members and with management, and extend retention of experienced members.

Any of these sound familiar?

What is the critical key we have found to achieving these goals?  Education of board members on their organization and their role. Reason enough to devote some of your scarce meeting time on board development. A small amount of time invested can generate significant returns.

However, board members also tell us they feel overcommitted, find it difficult to devote the time already being required of them and don't want to put in additional time. Hence the challenge, how to find the time to undertake board development?

Here are some alternative approaches to solving this dilemma:

1. Survey members as to whether they would be interested in undertaking a project to improve performance/satisfaction.

   Then, determine the numbers who are willing to:

   1. do so, but only if time can be found within the time already committed to board service,
   2. spend up to 2 additional hours per month,
   3. spend up to 4 additional hours per month.
       
2. Next, in the same survey determine a preferred method for learning:
    
   1. read material in advance of a meeting and discuss how it could be applied to improve performance,
   2. listen to presentations (audio or video) during the meeting that could be discussed and a game plan developed,
   3. have an external expert deliver a presentation at a meeting and then develop a plan, or
   4. conduct a special board development training retreat using any of these methods.
       
3. Alternatively, begin by asking one another at the close of a meeting:  How could this meeting have been improved? By the chairman? By the CEO? By fellow members? By me?
   
   Then, search BoardGrowth™ for articles that address the consensus improvement opportunity.
    
4. Or, use responses from your CEO in his/her last evaluation about how the working relationship with the board could be improved.  Together, select applicable material from BoardGrowth, have members read the material in advance of a meeting and discuss/develop an improvement plan at the close of your next meeting.
    
5. If improving knowledge of the organization's operations is the area of focus, schedule a tour or series of presentations by key staff on aspects of the operation.
    
6. Conduct one of the assessments listed in the bullets below and use those results as your starting point for development. Either of the tools help to identify where there are needs for a board development effort. However, before launching into development, begin by assessing the level of commitment by board members (item #1 and 2 above).

Launching without priorities, a course of action and/or commitment may serve to create disunity and move the group backward rather than ahead.

The survey mentioned in #1 above can address the board's commitment to development. To determine the priorities for development, i.e., "why is board development needed/important?" and set your course of action, utilize any of the following:

• The results of a Board Self-Evaluation or from feedback from your CEO in the CEO Evaluation (both evaluations can be found in the Tools and Resources Category, under Evaluation Surveys.)
   
• Individuals completing the Free Director Self-Evaluation and then discussing the results as a group

Managing the Efforts of Board Development is the Jurisdiction of the Chair

Leadership of the board resides with the Chairman. H/she may delegate development to a committee on governance but at the end of the day, the chair is responsible for:

1. performance of the board,
2. satisfaction of board members, and
3. board recruitment and retention.

Thus, if board development is part of the strategy to recruit and retain good members and add greater value to the organization, this charge belongs to the chairman.

As leader of the board, the question is what are you willing to demand of your fellow board members? How do you balance the demands of improving performance vs. limiting the demands upon members' time commitment?

Ultimately, can you find a way to improve performance that generates true board  improvement, is palpable to everyone and is worth the time required to make it happen.

Begin with improving your own performance (there is a wide variety of resources within BoardGrowth™ to aid you) and once having established credibility, raise the bar for your fellow members. Call them to a higher level of performance.

Try these board development discussion points with your group:

1. Is there genuine interest in improving performance and satisfaction from service as a director?
2. Is there consensus on how much time we are willing to devote to improvement and to a method for doing so?
3. What is the method for learning that works best for our group?
4. Do we know the most critical priorities for development? What is the method the board chooses to identify those priorities?
5. Is our CEO committed to improved governance? What role would he/she want to play in that effort?