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How’d We Do? – Meeting Evaluation

August 25, 2008 By Leave a Comment

The work of any non-profit board is governance and determining matters of strategic importance to the organization. The board’s work is accomplished at meetings. Successful and productive meetings are every board member’s responsibility so it is important for all members to be on time, be prepared,  engage in open, honest communication and help create an atmosphere where it is okay to disagree.

Earlier posts have focused on meeting tools such as consent agendas, norms and indicators or metrics.  If you have used any of these techniques I trust you are seeing more focused and productive board meetings. To continue the conversation about effective board meetings, I’d like to discuss meeting evaluations. There are a number of meeting evaluation tools available, or you can create your own.  Since every organization has a unique culture and way of working, it is important to identify an evaluation tool that “fits” your group.

Did your group accomplish what you set out to do in your agenda?; did the process make sense?; and what about relationships – how do people feel about how members treat one another?

One simple and very effective technique is to take 5-10 minutes at the end of the board meeting and ask board members to rate the meeting on a scale of one to ten, with one being awful and ten being superb.  The chair simply does a round-robin and everyone verbally gives their number and why they gave the meeting that ranking.  Someone might say, “I rate it a 6 because while we accomplished a lot, we did stray from the agenda and there were side-bar conversations.”

Again, if your group’s comfort level is with verbal evaluations, there are other questions that can be asked in a round robin at the end of the meeting, such as:
What did we do that really worked well?
Did anything happen that we do not want to repeat?
Are there bad habits we seem to fall into?

If your group prefers a written evaluation format, you can periodically distribute a written meeting evaluation form which includes statements  like:
Good                   Needs to Improve

Meeting started on time.

Meeting was business like, results-oriented and we functioned like a team.

Members were prepared for discussion of agenda packet material.

Discussion was confined to agenda items only.

Policy issues, rather than daily management issues were discussed.

Controversial items were handled successfully and to the satisfaction
of all members.

Printed materials were easy to understand and use.

Meeting was appropriately guided by board chair who did not
dominate the discussion.

Members were able to differ without losing
regard for the right of each to have his or her own views.

Board members listened to one another.

When action was taken, assignments were made and accepted.

Meeting room was comfortable and conducive to board activity.

For items that members indicate need to improve, it is helpful if they are asked to include suggestions for what those improvements should be.

Regardless of the type of evaluation you use, the key point is that you assess your board’s meeting behaviors and eliminate the time wasters, the drifting off topic and concerning yourselves with matters that are the executive director’s responsibility.  And remember that the meeting should take place at the meeting and not in the parking lot afterward.

Until next time,
Pat

www.management-strategies.org

Filed Under: Board Governance, Meetings Tagged With:

Tools for Board Meetings

August 7, 2008 By 1 Comment

The majority of the work of any board is accomplished at and through meetings.  A board member’s time is one of his or her most valuable contributions, so structure your meetings to make the best use of that time. As a follow up to an earlier post about meetings and using a consent agenda, I’d like to talk a little about other tools to help ensure that board meetings are focused and productive.

PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
Some boards use the dashboard indicator concept to quickly assess their organization’s performance.  They look at a few metrics or indicators that tell them if the organization is on track in a number of areas.

In order for this concept to work board members must come to agreement on some targets for finance, human resource, program etc.  For example under finance the board would make a determination that they have an operating reserve of cash equal to XX month’s of expenses.  For program they might look at a target of XX number of new clients per year, or an average client satisfaction rating of 4.2 out of 5.  The board can also set some targets for themselves in terms of board attendance or board member contributions.  For example, the target might be that board members attend 85-90% of the scheduled board meetings or that there is 100% participation by board members in terms of an annual gift.  Targets can be identified in terms of new donors or % growth in endowment or new revenues sources.  There is no limit to the number of targets that a board can set.  The basic question is what do we need to look at monthly or quarterly that will tell us how the organization is doing and help us fulfill our governance responsibilities.

Once targets are set in the various areas, board members receive a performance indicator sheet either monthly or quarterly or semi-annually that would look something like this:

FINANCE
Days of cash on hand                                                                Target:  4 months        Current status: 6 weeks

Days after month end of preparation of financial statements    Target:   5 days           Current status:  10 days

PROGRAMS
Programs are self- sustaining                                                    Target:  85%                Current status:  90%

HUMAN RESOURCES
Staff turnover rate - annually                                                      Target:  below 15%     Current status:   10%

This type of report allows board members to quickly zero in on what’s important and where they should focus.   If we take the days of cash on hand example, there is a considerable stretch between the target of 4 months and the actual of 6 weeks.  Clearly action needs to be taken to meet the target.

NORMS/GROUND RULES
Many boards find it helpful at their organizational meeting to discuss how things are going to be, so that everyone understands what is expected of them.  They do this by establishing norms which are standards of behavior for the group.  They are designed to increase meeting productivity and effectiveness while creating safety for members.  The norm for setting norms is that there should be a reasonable number (4 – 6), clearly understood and supported by the group and posted as a reminder.  Each board and organization has its own culture and way of work, so the norms will vary from group to group, but I am listing a few examples below:

EXAMPLES OF NORMS
Meetings start on time
One person talks, everyone else listens
Stick to the agenda
Confidentiality is observed
No cell phones, lap tops, etc.
The meeting takes place at the meeting, not in the parking lot!

Effective meetings are every members responsibility.  So I encourage you to take advantage of these and other meeting effectiveness tools like the consent agenda.  There will be future posts on other meeting tools, so if you have specific questions send them along and I will try and incorporate the answers into my next post.

Until next time,

Pat

 

Filed Under: Board Governance, Meeting tools, Norms, Performance Indicators Tagged With: , ,

Meetings With Meaning

July 12, 2008 By Leave a Comment

It has been said that meetings are events at which minutes are taken and hours are wasted. Yet for those who serve on non-profit boards, meetings are where and how they carry out their governance responsibilities, so it is imperative to have well-run meetings which facilitate reasoned and effective decision making.

Does your board suffer from any of these symptoms of board meeting problems?

  • lack of a quorum
  • meetings start later and later
  • no agenda exists, or the agenda is not distributed in advance
  • few members speak
  • members are hesitant to vote in opposition to the majority thinking
  • individuals resign before their board term expires
  • there is lack of clarity about who is going to do what based on decisions made
  • majority of decisions are made by the executive committee
  • actions taken get rehashed and revisited
  • meetings seem to go on and on

If so, it is time to make some changes. A good starting point is a brief board survey asking board members to identify your organization’s top three priorities based on your mission, vision and strategic plan.

Are the top three priorities of the board the same as they are for the organization?
How much time does the board spend on the above priorities at your board meetings?
How much time at board meetings is spent talking about things that have already happened?
In thinking about recent board meetings were there agenda items which could have been better handled by a committee or the executive director or senior staff?
Results of this survey should give you a starting point for actions you might take to ensure that the board spends more time on priority matters.

There are a number of tools to keep meetings focused.  I am going to talk about the most important tool – the agenda – and how this really is the blueprint for success of any meeting.

AGENDAS are necessary for effective meetings and every board member should be able to have input in terms of what goes on the agenda.  Every board member should also be expected to review the agenda and all supporting materials in advance of the meeting.

Many boards have adopted a consent agenda format where routine items and resolutions are grouped together and voted on with one vote.  These should be issues that do not need any discussion before a vote.  Often included in a consent agenda would be approval of committee or previous board meeting minutes, minor changes in a procedure, or routine revisions of a policy.   Any board member may request that an item be removed from the consent agenda and discussed individually.  What I have observed with boards using a consent agenda is that initially members want to remove items from the consent agenda and discuss them.  As the boards learns to work in a more focused way, they quickly adapt to the consent agenda concept and use their board time for discussing strategic issues.

Agendas should be forward looking and focused on matters of strategic importance. Many board agendas are backward-looking and this encourages second guessing and drifting into management.  The priorities identified in your survey or strategic plan should be the priorities addressed at your board meetings.  Planning and evaluation of programs and services, acquisition and management of resources, assurance of integrity and accountability and the future are governance issues to be addressed by the board.

It is also helpful to stage the agenda and wise to not begin or end the meeting with an issue known to be controversial.  Table major issues if you don’t have consensus.  Avoid drift and when members are off-topic have a process for quickly returning the group to the priorities at hand.  A parking lot process – where important but off topic concerns are posted on a flip chart can be an effective tool for capturing the concerns and then including them in future agendas, or at the end of the meeting if there is time and the group wants to address them.

Write an “anticipated action” for each agenda item such as approval, discussion, information, refer to committee.  Some groups also like to include an estimated time for each item.

At the beginning of the year identify a number of educational topics that can be included on a long term agenda and then every other month or so include a 20 minute presentation or discussion. Topics can range from changing client profiles to emerging competitor organizations to board composition & diversity topics.

There are a number of other tools including establishing norms, key metrics to monitor, meeting evaluation tools and a variety of decision making options that will be discussed in later posts.

A sample agenda follows:
 SAMPLE AGENDA

There are a number of ways to focus board attention on priorities.  How the agenda is structured is key to that process.   This agenda begins with the mission statement as an ongoing reminder of work of the organization. It begins with a consent agenda to save time and deal with routine items which do not need discussion. The format alerts board members to what will be expected of them regarding each item.  Some organizations also like to indicate how much time will be devoted to each item.  The meeting ends with a review of actions taken and assignments made and a quick evaluation of perceptions of the meeting.

                                                                     ABC PUBLIC LIBRARY
JUNE 1, 2008
7:30 PM – 9:30 PM

Mission:  ABC Public Library fosters and enhances family literacy through access, information and instructional services.

     Call to Order

ACTION                          TIME

A. Consent Agenda                                                                                    approval
a. Approval of Minutes of May 4th meeting
b. President’s Report
c. Librarian’s  Report

B. Treasurer’s Report                                                                                review, file for audit

C.  Finance Committee………….Jeff Brown
Proposed change in insurance carrier                                             approval

D. Expand Educational Program……Susie Smith
Documentation of need  (Program Committee)                                   approval

E. Board Assessment                                                                                 discussion
approve use of new
evaluation tool

F.  Establish “Friends of Library” Group                                                      discussion/appoint committee

G.    Presentation by Allen Case – Libraries                                               discussion/reaction
of the Future.

H.    Other business

I.      Announcements

J.     Meeting Evaluation

K.     Action Review

L.     Adjourn

 

Until next time,
Pat

Filed Under: Board Governance, Meetings Tagged With: , , , ,

Best Practices (or just common sense) to Enhance Board Effectiveness

May 31, 2008 By Leave a Comment

During the past 16 years as a consultant working with non-profit organizations and foundations, I have read countless articles, books, white papers, columns, and journals focused on the non-profit sector.  I have attended workshops, seminars and conferences.  For the last several years I have included a number of what I have termed “best practices” as part of every Building Better Boards through Strategic Governance Workshop I have presented.  At this stage, it is hard to pinpoint where each practice came from.  Some are original with me, others I know are not, but I have been including them for so long, it’s hard to remember their point of origin.

Are they in fact ‘best practices’ based on empirical data and longitudinal studies?  No.  Yet there is a certain logic and sense to them. I believe they help boards to be more effective and after all isn’t that one of the ultimate goals of every not-for-profit?  You have nothing to lose by implementing them and much to gain. So here they are in their simplicity with a blanket thank you and acknowledgement to other practitioners, presenters and authors for their contributions to this list.

  • Encourage board members to tell each other what motivates them to serve.
  • Educate board members about your organization and their responsibility.
  • Hold each other accountable for the board’s performance.
  • Ensure that the board continually plans for the future.
  • Ask thoughtful questions and keep asking.
  • Ensure that meetings have meaning.
  • Avoid a policy vacuum.
  • Understand the value of diversity
  • Develop and sustain a synergistic board-executive director partnership.
  • Determine the board’s role in the overall fund development strategy.
  • Recruit board members intentionally and understand generational differences when recruiting.
  • Set term limits.
  • Develop an executive succession plan.
  • Engage in regular self evaluation and assessment.
  • Celebrate.

Feel free to add your own best practices, common sense maxims or simple truths to the list.

Until next time,
Pat

P.S. I hope you like the new background for the blog. I have fond memories of my first Parker fountain pen and this template spoke to me.  However, if I had to write out each post in long hand, even with an elegant fountain pen, my blogging days might never have come to be.

Filed Under: Board Governance Tagged With: , , ,

How Is Your Board Performing? – Part One – Individual Performance

May 16, 2008 By Leave a Comment

One of the recommendations in the recently published brief by Francie Ostrower,  BOARDS OF MIDSIZE NONPROFITS: THEIR NEEDS AND CHALLENGES  was to “Institutionalize a procedure for the board to regularly monitor its own performance.”   Going on to say  “in order to identify and correct weaknesses in their performance, boards must regularly examine that performance and find find ways to train board members and implement changes as needed”, the publication is one of many stressing the importance of board self-assessment.

While the literature on this topic is growing and a number of board assessment forms are available, many boards do not engage in the self-assessment process.  Why?  Probably for a number of reasons ranging from:

  • they don’t know they are supposed to,
  • they think they are doing fine, so why bother,
  • they are so busy dealing with one crisis after another that there isn’t time to devote to this endeavor,
  • they have talked about it but no one has taken the initiative to make it happen.

For unaware board members, let this post be a wake up call that self-assessment should be on your board’s yearly agenda.  Having said that, what is it you want to evaluate – the overall performance of the board or how well individual board members meet their governance responsibilities?  Hopefully, both.  So where do you start?
It might be easiest to start with how well individual board members fulfill their duties.  This presupposes that board members have job descriptions, and have participated in board orientation and training so they are clear about what it is they are supposed to be doing in terms of their governance role.

INDIVIDUAL BOARD MEMBER SELF-ASSESSMENT
As a proponent of Steven Covey’s “habits”, I also recommend beginning with the end in mind.  What is it that you want to know? I would not presume to tell you what to ask but rather offer some ideas for consideration.  Questions that might be asked of individual board members could center around attendance, understanding of their responsibilities, whether or not an annual contribution has been made, their understanding of the organization’s finances, their involvement with special events, willingness to serve as an officer  or committee chair, how frequently they recommend potential candidates for the board or secure volunteer, in-kind or material donations for the organization and their satisfaction with how meetings are run.  Open ended questions –  in terms of what support they need to be more effective,  personal goals they hope to accomplish for the organization through their board service or skills they feel they bring to the organization – can provide a treasure trove of information.

If you have a Board Development Committee they would have responsibility for researching or developing and/or adapting questionnaires, distributing the questionnaires and summarizing the responses which are then presented to the board for discussion. Or, if you are working with a non-profit consultant they would develop/adapt/distribute/summarize questionnaire responses and facilitate a discussion of results at a board meeting.

How well individual board members fulfill their responsibilities plays a major role in how well the board works together as a collective body. If you are not ready for a full board assessment, begin with the individual board assessment. Maybe you will find that a majority of board members think your meetings are too long and boring or too short and not substantive, or that very few board members really understand the financial statements or that several board members have specific untapped skills.  Additionally, the discussion following the assessment provides an excellent forum for board members to better understand one another’s perceptions and concerns.  Further, the survey results can help identify topics for further board training to help improve performance and add value to the organization, while gaining assurance from what is being done well.

In this time of heightened concern about governance, it makes sense to assess how well your board is doing.  Next week’s post will focus on assessing the entire board and will include suggestions on how to gauge performance along a number of dimensions.   If your organization follows the practice of having an annual board “work plan” outlining specific activities the board will undertake in its areas of responsibility, then you are well positioned to carry out a board assessment because your benchmarks for performance will already be in place. If not, well there’s a little more work you’ll have to do.

Until next time,
Pat

Filed Under: Board Governance