Board Member Leadership

There are three components for successful Board Management:

1. Having the right board members.
2. Having them engaged.
3. Having them engaged and focused on the right things.

One distortion of #3 is when Board Members put themselves, their needs, thoughts, and feelings, before the organization.

This is a problem. Avoid recruiting people that will do this. And if you already did, address it quickly.

When looking to recruit Board Members, try to identify their ability to put their needs last. Ask if they have served in other Boards, and then reach out to them to ask if during their time on the Board there were occasions when they put themselves first. If you already have a Board Member that is behaving this way, then you will have to address and fix the situation. The sooner, the better.

In general, when making decisions, a Board Member must consider and answer to the needs of the following groups and entities, in this order:

1. Beneficiaries - the people whose lives you are trying to make better.
2. The Nonprofit - what it needs for long-term success.
3. The Executive Director or CEO - what they need to lead successfully.
4. Staff - what they need to work successfully.
5. The Board - what it needs to govern and guide successfully.
6. Yourself - what you want to do.