On the 10-point scale between “Micromanagement (1) to Healthy Governance (10),” almost 40% of CEOs, in the latest ECFA survey, rated their boards at 7 or less. The good news: 87% of CEOs hope to move their boards to an 8, 9, or 10 within the next 12-18 months. Board chairs and board members were slightly more optimistic.
The findings are from “Highlight #3” in the hot-off-the-press executive summary of the ECFA 3rd Annual Nonprofit Governance Survey. It’s available as a download to ECFA-accredited organizations and subscribers. (Click here.) This 62-page treasure chest of insights and trends includes 10 highlights, 130 open-ended comments from CEOs, board chairs and board members, and 9 strategic observations.
The report also includes color commentary, suggested resources, and next steps for boards. For example, the report notes six insights on “How Do We Stop from Micromanaging?” from chapter 13 in Ram Charan’s book, Owning Up: The 14 Questions Every Board Member Needs to Ask.
“Directors must take responsibility for managing the board’s time. As much as management complains about the problem of micromanaging, they may be contributing to it by providing too many slides and unnecessary details.”
• “Asking questions of an operating nature is not in itself micromanaging, as long as the questions lead to insights about issues like strategy, performance, major investment decisions, key personnel, the choice of goals, or risk assessment.”
• “The board is there to make sure management has a plan and that it is executing that plan.”
• “CEOs don’t realize that they bring some of the micromanaging on themselves with their presentations to the board.”
• “Addressing strategic topics first puts directors at the right altitude for the entire meeting.”
• “Another best practice is for the CEO and other presenters to give the bad news on the first page in unmistakable terms then describe the whys and the context.”
In my experience, micromanagers on ministry boards rarely think about the spiritual implications of operating in the weeds. Here’s an eye-opener from Bruce Bugbee, author of What You Do Best in the Body of Christ: Discover Your Spiritual Gifts, Personal Style and God-Given Passion. A friend asked him this spiritually probing question:
“Why are you doing what others can do,
when you are leaving undone what only you can do?”
when you are leaving undone what only you can do?”
QUESTIONS: What are the agenda items and tasks that only the board can do? What are board members doing that others (staff and volunteers) can do? (Note: Nail this one—and you’ll likely see calling enhanced and micromanagement decline.)
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