Board Problems, Part One

Welcome to 2020!

For my first post of the year, I want to spotlight a blog post from December about a recent webinar hosted by Network for Good in which attendees were asked about their most common board struggles.

The 4 “winners” were:

1. Board members are not involved enough in their organization (41% of respondents)

2. Board members do not fundraise for or donate to their organization (28%)

3. Board members are averse to change (17%)

4. There is confusion among board members about their roles and responsibilities (14%)

I wish I could say that I am surprised about this, but I hear the same complaints all the time. Encouraging board engagement and participation is definitely challenging, and so is moving boards away from the “this is how we’ve always done it” mindset. But it’s not impossible.

From the above list of problems, dealing with #4 is key to shifting the dynamic identified in #1 and #2. Clarity around what is expected of board members from the beginning is essential in creating a board culture that connects board members to the mission and programs of the organization, and maximizes their fundraising and donation potential.

As for #3, engaging the board in some “big picture” strategic visioning can help move them into embracing innovation and change.

These are all important and often deeply-rooted problems, and I don’t want to make it seem like they are easy to fix. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. I can help you tackle these and many other issues that might be holding your organization back in its growth and success. I’m looking forward to working with you in 2020!

You Deserve a Break Today

In a recent op-ed in The New York Times, David Leonhardt writes about the importance of allowing yourself time for detaching from regular daily activities and simply...thinking. He calls it a "Schultz Hour," after former Secretary of State George Schultz, who was a proponent of carving out an hour each week to think about the strategic elements of his job, without distraction.

It seems like this detachment is even more important today, considering our 24/7/365 lifestyles and connections to technology. Our brains are able to benefit from activities that are directly connected to accomplishments and productivity, and those that are more like daydreaming. But they can't do both at the same time, so it's important to give each type of activity some time.  Turning off our phones and computers for an hour, taking a walk in the park, or just sitting and looking out the window the next time we're on the train can give our brains the space to think more creatively and enable us to appreciate the world around us a little more. 

It might just be that by giving ourselves a Schultz Hour, we will become better able to focus on our personal relationships as well as finding solutions to problems we are trying to solve.

Let's try it! Email me and let me know if you do.