Mentoring Canada - A service of Big Brothers and Sisters of Canada The fundamentals of effective board involvement
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 »  Module 4 - Board Processes
1. Your Commitment
2. The Board's Context
3. Board Accountabilities
 
4. Board Processes
 
Bylaws
Executive Officers
Committees
Job Descriptions
Meetings
Meeting Malady
Making Decisions
Touch Base With
     Carlos
     Debra
 
5. Continuous Learning

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Touch Base with Carlos and Debra

Debra's news …

When we last got together you confirmed my concerns that my board was not acting on some of its accountabilities. Well, I couldn't rest until I addressed this with the board. At our last meeting I distributed the report from the Panel on Accountability and Governance in the Voluntary Sector, and gave a brief presentation on our key tasks to ensure effective stewardship. To my surprise, it was actually well received! I guess I wasn't the only one who didn't know exactly what we were responsible for.

The next thing I knew, some board members were approaching me to be the next board president. I guess all these board development projects I've been doing lately have people thinking I've got what it takes to be a leader. I'm actually considering taking on the presidency, because I've also come to believe I can be a leader.

If I do become president, there are a few things about the way my board works that I would want to change right away. I would like your advice on which of the following solutions would be most effective.

My board is supposed to be a working board, but it's failing to look after some of it's own basic operations, like minute taking and financial record keeping. Our executive includes a president, vice president and secretary-treasurer, and even they aren't taking leadership on these things.
(A) Amend your bylaws to create more executive positions, and write those operational duties into their job descriptions.
(B) Have the Executive Director take responsibility for fulfilling these procedures of the board.
(C) Hire additional staff to take on these duties.
Our committees aren't working well. Virtually all board members sit on all committees. As a result, most board members are tired of meetings, they're feeling burned out, and they don't attend many of the committee meetings.
(A) Recruit people to your committees who are not currently sitting on the board.
(B) Examine your committee structure to see if all the committees are really required.
(C) Suggest a limit to the number of committees each board member sits on.
(D) All of the above
My board often has polarized views on issues. There are a number of board members who tend to have pretty traditional ideas, there are several others whose perspectives are more liberal, and there are a few fence-sitters. We have been using a pure consensus model for our decision making process. Sometimes our meetings go on endlessly because it's difficult to find a solution everyone agrees to.
(A) Table those items that you can't agree on to the next meeting, when everyone has had a chance to reconsider.
(B) Recruit board members whose views are more consistent among each other.
(C) After allowing everyone to feel heard and respected, use a "majority rules" or other decision-making process that does not require consensus.
(D) Send issues you can't decide on back to committee for further study.

It's time to move on to the last module - Continuous Learning!

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