DEAR JOHN: Books, Board Chairs, and Boredom

Based on my inbox, I’m wondering if it’s time to start a “Dear John” newspaper column? (You do remember newspapers, right?) I doubt if I’ll ever replace “Dear Abby,” but—here goes.

DEAR JOHN: I’ve noticed that you tend to answer board governance questions with “Read this book!” This isn’t the 1900s, Pearson! It’s 2020 and no one reads book anymore! Would you please just answer the question—and stop assigning homework to your readers? –A NON-READER IN REDDING

DEAR NON-READER: Charlie “Tremendous” Jones said, “You are today what you’ll be five years from now, except for the people you meet and the books you read.” And by the way, you must have read this governance blog somewhere—so apparently you are a reader. Way to go! And since you asked, I’d recommend you read The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life: How to Get More Books in Your Life and More Life from Your Books, by Steve Leveen. Note his caveat: “Do not set out to live a well-read life but rather your well-read life. No one can be well-read using someone else’s reading list.” (Read my review.) 

DEAR JOHN: I read in one of the Dan Busby/John Pearson governance books that you have endured more than 500 board meetings. I affirm your word choice. I, too, have endured excruciatingly dysfunctional board meetings—and I’m the board chair (LOL!). What one book would you recommend I read to minimize the dysfunction and maximize our board’s effectiveness? –DYSFUNCTIONAL IN DENVER

DEAR DYSFUNCTIONAL: I’m so sorry you are not finding board meetings to be a joy. They should be. One of my friends, Mike Pate, says that board meeting days are the best days of the month for him. Click here to read Lesson 11 from More Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom: Effectiveness, Excellence, Elephants! “Thrive With Four Kingdom Values” is a great outline for a devotional thought at your next board meeting: Discernment, Deployment, Commitment, and Enjoyment. But…if you’re looking for one book on enriching your board chair competencies, read David McKenna’s powerful book, Call of the Chair: Leading the Board of the Christ-centered Ministry. He includes four assessment questions for the board chair—all convicting! (Read my review.)

And…one last thought. Not every board member has the wiring, the spiritual gifting, and the temperament to be a board chair. If this role doesn’t fit you—it’s OK to step down. Ask the Lord and a trusted friend what you should do.

DEAR JOHN: During this crazy coronavirus era, our board has cancelled our annual board retreat and—instead (wait for it…)—we’re meeting via Zoom for eight hours on a Saturday. Any ideas to keep the engagement high and the boredom low? –ZOOMED-OUT IN ZION

DEAR ZOOMED-OUT: You…and thousands of other boards…are mitigating COVID-19 in creative ways. Congrats! I wish I knew more about your board—and where you are, for example, on what Michael Hyatt calls the “Vision Arc” in his new book, The Vision-Driven Leader. His graph of the vision arc includes seven phases of the typical organizational trajectory through time (similar to Jim Collins’ five stages). If you don’t interrupt the trajectory, look where it leads you: Startup, Rising, Transitioning, Mature, Legacy, Zombie, Dead! (Read my review.) 

Generally—whatever stage you’re in—I’ve found that an excellent engagement exercise is to ask each board member to present a 10-minute “trendspotting” report—on a targeted topic of relevance to your ministry. A one-page template and instructions are included in “Tool #15: Board Retreat Trend-Spotting Exercise” in ECFA Tools and Templates for Effective Board Governance. Have fun—and award Chick-fil-A gift cards to all presenters who finish on time!

DISCERN

“Discernment is a gift of the Holy Spirit that comes with spiritual maturity.
It may well be the gift that defines Christ-centered leadership.”
(David McKenna in Call of the Chair)

QUESTION 8: Why Do We Need a Lead Director Anyway?

A Nonexecutive Chair Might Help Your Board Prevent Sins of Omission and Sins of Commission!

Note! Question 8 recommends a trending approach in for-profit boardrooms, often when the CEO is also the company’s Chairman. For this reason (and other reasons), the author suggests that boards name a “Lead Director”—a board member who has the time and requisite temperament to enhance the work of the board and the relationships between the board and the CEO. While this is very rare in nonprofit organizations, the chapter is still worth the read.

QUESTION 8 of 14: Why Do We Need a Lead Director Anyway? Owning Up: The 14 Questions Every Board Member Needs to Ask, by Ram Charan (Order from Amazon)

Ram Charan says that boards need effective leadership. “No group of people, be it an orchestra, a basketball team, or a project team, ever becomes high-performing without a clear leader, and boards are no exception.”

The author urges for-profit boards to consider appointing a Lead Director or nonexecutive chair. It’s “different from most other leadership positions,” he writes. “It’s subtle and respectful and based on trust instead of formal power. Exercised properly, it takes the board to higher ground, and thus the leader earns tremendous respect among her peers.”

But whether your nonprofit ministry board names a traditional board chair—or a Lead Director—the selection process for Christ-centered boards requires time, discernment, and due diligence. Heed David McKenna’s wisdom in his book, Call of the Chair: Leading the Board of the Christ-centered Ministry (read my review).

McKenna writes: “The chair for a Christ-centered ministry must be called of God as well as elected by the board. When the time comes for a board to elect a new chair, all business should stop while the members reflect in silence and ask that the Spirit of God might give them discernment in their selection.”

Then this: “In the induction of the chair that follows, there should be the question, ‘Has God called you to this leadership position?’

“The prayer that follows should seal that call with the sacredness of the moment. If done in a consecration service for the board, its officers, and its members, the significance of the chair is communicated throughout the organization.”

With that God-honoring leadership selection process in place, it’s then worth considering how Ram Charan’s thoughts might enrich your board’s effectiveness. He notes that a Lead Director must have the “temperament, personality, and skills to build positive board dynamics in the boardroom.” But he adds, “That person should have no greater influence on the board decisions than any other [board member].”

A Lead Director with the right skill sets (I would add, with the appropriate “3 Powerful S’s”—Strengths, Social Styles, and Spiritual Gifts) will be immeasurably more effective than the CEO when addressing the myriad of boardroom issues. All boards have “unwritten rules of the board’s social dynamics,” he says—and thus that unwritten protocol often exacerbates “sins of omission”—where the boards stands idle as the organization falters.

But—you might push back—can’t a traditional board chair (not the CEO) also be immensely effective? “Why do we need a Lead Director anyway?” Charan builds a very intelligent case why boardroom dynamics and relationships require a Lead Director with a superb skill set. (And let’s be honest—many of us have endured innumerable board meetings led by less-than-competent board chairs.) The author notes that a Lead Director—who is savvy to the social dynamics of the board—will also help steer the board away from “sins of commission.”

This chapter delivers a Lead Director job description—a narrative that focuses on three key areas:
• Judging the Issues (intellectual honesty is a prerequisite)
• Making Meetings More Productive (communicating with all board members in between meetings to fashion the right agenda; and to keep the discussion on track—with several helpful questions for prodding unfocused board members)
• Building the CEO-Board Relationship (example: “He or she is the one who gives the CEO feedback following executive sessions and sometimes provides coaching to the CEO.” Plus: sometimes it will be the Lead Director who delivers the feedback to a board member who acted inappropriately in a board meeting.)

Two more helpful snippets: Charan believes it is critical that the Lead Director speak to every board member in between meetings so you don’t have “a two-tier board” which can lead to “power struggles between competing factions.” And because this position takes a large hunk of time, “a term of three years for a Lead Director seems about right.” 

BOARDROOM DISCUSSION: Is our current board chair job description appropriate—in light of the demands on the board during these challenging times? Should we consider researching the concept of a Lead Director—or another scenario that would help our board be more effective?

CHECK OUT THESE HELPFUL ECFA RESOURCES

• SURVEY: A recent ECFA survey noted that 52% of boards said only one person was considered when the board selected their current chair. Forty-six percent of boards said two or more candidates were considered. Download the 60-page report, Unleashing Your Board’s Potential: Comprehensive Report from ECFA’s Nonprofit Governance Survey, by Warren Bird, Ph.D.

• CHAPTER: Click here to read Lesson 25, “Align Board Member Strengths with Committee Assignments: Leverage the Three Powerful S’s,” from Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom: 40 Insights for Better Board Meetings, by Dan Busby and John Pearson.

TOOL 18 - Job Descriptions for the Top Leader and Board Chair

The Number One Hiring Mistake!

What’s the Number One hiring mistake? According to the book, You're Not the Person I Hired! A CEO's Survival Guide to Hiring Top Talent, by Janet Boydell, Barry Deutsch and Brad Remillard, it’s this:

“Inadequate job descriptions drove the hiring process; these focused solely on experience and skills, not company expectations. A staggering 93 percent of searches that resulted in new executive failure made this mistake at the outset.”

While you don’t “hire” a board chair—the principles are similar to when boards are recruiting a new CEO. Who should be your next board chair? Use a thoughtful job description to help drive the decision and the discernment process.

TOOL #18: JOB DESCRIPTIONS FOR THE TOP LEADER AND BOARD CHAIR
Use these sample job descriptions for the Board Chair and the CEO and then leverage these insights to refresh your thinking and your annual assessments.

Tool #18 in the new resource, ECFA Tools and Templates for Effective Board Governance, is one of three tools in Part 5, “Policies and Board Responsibilities,” in this jam-packed 271-page resource. This tool features 20 pages of resources on developing and refreshing two critical job descriptions: the CEO and the board chair.

Yikes! The authors of You’re Not the Person I Hired include this poke-in-the-board-ribs:

“The harsh reality is, when you define a job in mediocre terms,
you tend to attract and interview mediocre people.”

As you develop or refresh your board chair’s job description, the tool suggests you consider using David McKenna’s “nine M’s” to frame what he calls the “distinctive role of the board chair for the Christ-centered ministry.” Call of the Chair: Leading the Board of the Christ-centered Ministry lists nine roles:
   • Missionary, Model, and Mentor
   • Manager, Moderator, and Mediator
   • Monitor, Master, and Maestro

Under the “manager” role, McKenna writes, “Like a one-stringed banjo player, the chair will always sound the note reminding the members that the board’s role is policy, not execution.” (See Tool #17: Board Policies Manual.)

Worksheets for the CEO job description are also included in this tool—with thoughtful alignment to the Board Policies Manual template. While many CEOs tend to be overwhelmed with their visionary roles and responsibilities (and detailed to-do lists), Fred Laughlin and Bob Andringa’s book, Good Governance for Nonprofits, nets it out to just two major areas:
   • “Organizational accomplishment of the major organizational goals, and
   • Organizational operations within the boundaries of prudence and ethics established in board policies on Executive Parameters in Part V.”

If you’re starting from a blank sheet of paper, check out the recommended resources, including the ECFA Knowledge Center and the book from BoardSource, The Nonprofit Chief Executive’s Ten Basic Responsibilities (Second Edition), by Rick Moyers

Order the tools book from Amazon by clicking on this title: ECFA Tools and Templates for Effective Board Governance: Time-Saving Solutions for Your Board, by Dan Busby and John Pearson. The book gives you full access to all 22 tools and templates—formatted as Word documents so you can customize the tools for your board’s unique uses.

BOARD DISCUSSION: This tool suggests that before you write or refresh the CEO and board chair job descriptions, you position your thinking around priorities and results—and read the powerful book, The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results, by Gary Keller with Jay Papasan. Here’s a helpful axiom: “What’s the ONE Thing you can do this week such that by doing it everything else would be easier or unnecessary?” (Click here to read my review.) 

MORE RESOURCES: David McKenna wrote the guest blog for Lesson 22, in Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom, by Dan Busby and John Pearson. In “The Most Underrated Board Position,” McKenna writes, “The board chair must have the character of being first among equals in integrity, trust and humility.” Read his blog post here.

Best Board Books #12: Call of the Chair

David McKenna warns CEOs and boards—don’t speed-vote an unsuspecting person into the board chair! This esteemed governance guru writes that the board chair “has responsibility for the speed, spacing, and sequence” of the governing process. (That will preach!)

Book #12: 
Call of the Chair: Leading the Board of the Christ-centered Ministry, by David L. McKenna
(Order from Amazon)

Before electing your board chair...STOP! If you’ve been around the nonprofit block for a few years, you’ve certainly experienced this scenario:

“Quick! While Jane is out of the room—I move that she be elected the new chairperson of the board, effective immediately.”

And presto! Without warning, Jane returns to the boardroom only to be handed the gavel—accompanied by the delightful dysfunctions of a nonprofit or church board of directors.

Stop the madness, says David McKenna. His book should be required reading for all ministry board chairs and CEOs. (Chairs of faith-based for-profit companies would also benefit.) Call of the Chair is jam-packed with 119 pages of wisdom, insights, and practical help for the board and their board chairs. Example:

McKenna writes that “The chair for a Christ-centered ministry must be called of God as well as elected by the board.” That would eliminate the speed-voting trick that landed Jane at the head of the board table.

“When the time comes for a board to elect a new chair,” McKenna adds, “all business should stop while the members reflect in silence and ask that the Spirit of God might give them discernment in their selection.”

Then this: “In the induction of the chair that follows, there should be the question, ‘Has God called you to this leadership position?’

“The prayer that follows should seal that call with the sacredness of the moment. If done in a consecration service for the board, its officers, and its members, the significance of the chair is communicated throughout the organization.”

McKenna cautions: “Discernment is a gift of the Holy Spirit that comes with spiritual maturity. It may well be the gift that defines Christ-centered leadership.”

That defining moment—and that powerful question—will eliminate speed-voting and will weed out chair candidates who aspire to resume-building versus Kingdom-building. 

McKenna has more—and it’s convicting: 
   • 4 assessment questions for the board chair
   • 5 deficient ways that boards elect chairs: Successor, Exemplar, Rotator, Politician, and Dissenter
   • Commenting on the Rotator chair scenario, McKenna notes: “The idea is that the ministry can survive incompetence for a short period of time.”
   • 1 priority: why being board chair must be that person’s number-one priority
   • 9 board chair roles: Missionary, Model, Mentor, Manager, Moderator, Mediator, Monitor, Master, and Maestro
  • 3 results when the board chair fails to focus on the clarity of the mission: “mushy, muddled, and almost meaningless”
  • 60 words in 30 seconds: Jesus’ elevator speech!

McKenna, retired president of two universities and one seminary, is author of numerous books, including Best Book #4: Stewards of a Sacred Trust: CEO Selection, Transition and Development for Boards of Christ-centered Organizations. Read my review to learn how he helps boards segment CEOs into six descriptive categories (several are unsavory!).

In Call of the Chair, McKenna defines an important fork-in-the-road for boards: “A major difference between Christ-centered ministries and for-profit or nonprofit organizations is in the question, ‘Who gets the credit?’”

The Transcendent Moment

Trust me—this book is very, very convicting. But when I reached the last few pages of the book—ready to wrap it up and move on—I was blown away by “The Transcendent Moment” on pages 116-119.

Whew! I won’t spoil the drama and impact for you—but at a board meeting just after reading the book, I asked a board member (he has a great radio voice), to read those pages during the agenda segment, “10 Minutes for Governance” (a lifelong learning feature the board enjoys at every board meeting). Here’s just one taste:

“…if the board is to rise to its spiritual potential, it needs a chair who brings the personal experience of Pentecost to the leadership of the board.”

Oh, my.

I will end with this helpful metaphor: “Like a one-stringed banjo player, the chair will always sound the note reminding the members that the board’s role is policy, not execution.” How knowledgeable is our staff on the roles and responsibilities of the board—and the board chair?

BOARD DISCUSSION: Discussing the policy governance term, “executive limitations,” McKenna illustrates: “In effect, God gave Adam and Eve a policy of executive limitation, saying, ‘Go until I say stop.’ He did not say, ‘Stop until I say go.’” Are the board’s executive limitations crystal clear to your CEO and all staff?

MORE RESOURCES: Check out the “40 Blogs. 40 Wednesdays.” color commentaries on Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom, by Dan Busby and John Pearson, including Lesson 22, “The Most Underrated Board Position,” by guest blogger David McKenna.

Best Board Books #4: Stewards of a Sacred Trust

Here’s a very helpful book on CEO selection—as part of my series on “best board books.” But note—read this well in advance before your current CEO retires, resigns, or is terminated.

Book #4: Stewards of a Sacred Trust: CEO Selection, Transition and Development for Boards of Christ-centered Organizations, by David L. McKenna

What makes this book, published by ECFAPress, so timely, practical and readable? Who but an octogenarian can get away with segmenting ministry CEOs into these six descriptive categories?  McKenna says that boards:
   • Love Patriarchs 
   • Admire Prodigies
   • Respect Achievers
   • Tolerate Caretakers
   • Pity Bunglers 
   • and Shun Pariahs. 

The book features informative and accountability-focused checklists at the end of each chapter. Twenty-two chapters. Twenty-two checklists. The lists alone are worth the price of the book.

McKenna ably defines and balances the solemn duty and sacred trust of a board member.  He writes, “Election of the CEO separates Christ-centered organizations from other organizations because it is a sacred trust. While the professional standards for the search process must be the same for all organizations, Christ-centered organizations have a spiritual dimension that cannot be denied. For good reason, ‘cookie cutter consulting’ should be vigorously resisted on presidential search in Christ-centered organizations. Likewise, attempts to spiritualize the process at the expense of professional integrity cannot be tolerated.”

Every board chair and CEO should order and read this book. You may not need it today, but unless your CEO is named Methuselah, you will need it eventually.

BOARD DISCUSSION: Dr. McKenna used six memorable names to label different kinds of CEOs. Do you agree with those categories or have you observed other types? 

BONUS QUESTION: In Ram Charan’s book (watch for my next review), Owning Up: The 14 Questions Every Board Member Needs to Ask, Question #4 asks, “Are we well prepared to name our next CEO?”  So…if our CEO ended up in heaven next week (good news/bad news), is our board prepared?

MORE RESOURCES: Follow the “40 Blogs. 40 Wednesdays.” color commentaries on Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom. Click here. And view the four short videos with your board in the latest ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 4 on succession planning. Click here.

Succession Planning: “Do I Still Have Fire in My Belly?”

Note: This is the eighth of 11 blogs featuring practical wisdom from the new ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 4: Succession Planning. Free to ECFA members, you can download the resource and video by clicking here.

Principle No. 8 - Plan for Plan A: Your CEO Retires

News Flash! Your CEO will retire someday, as will the senior leaders reporting to the CEO. Healthy boards and healthy CEOs address these facts of life well in advance. Effective boards take time for prayer, discernment, and considering God-honoring options. The toolbox resources for “Plan for Plan A” include helpful questions so boards and CEOs can address the elephant in the room. 

Example:
• “We have clear expectations and written annual goals (with annual performance reviews) for our CEO to prevent ‘coasting’ into retirement.”
• “Our CEO already has a healthy and balanced life outside of work so retirement will not be a shock to the system.”

Even if your current CEO is relatively young, effective boards help CEOs plan for their inevitable retirement. David McKenna counsels, "Succession begins before we assume a position of leadership, not when we get ready to leave it.”

In the next two blogs, we’ll discuss Plan B—your CEO resigns, and Plan C—your CEO is terminated. Given three choices, Plan A is a joy to address!

When should a CEO retire or resign? McKenna says “timing is everything” when discerning when to leave a ministry. CEOs should ask themselves, “Do I still have fire in my belly for the future of this organization?”

In The Leader’s Legacy, McKenna notes three questions from Peter Drucker:
   • What needs to be done?
   • Can I do it?
   • Do I want to do it?

Download the Facilitator Guide and inspire a board member to address this common elephant in the room at your next board meeting. Remember: every CEO is an Interim CEO. 

BOARD DISCUSSION: One retirement option for your CEO might be to launch a second part-time career (consulting, teaching, writing, etc.). Would our board be open to our CEO beginning what Bob Buford, author of Halftime, labeled “low-cost probes” into a new venture while still employed here?

DOWNLOAD: ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 4: Succession Planning – 11 Principles for Successful Successions: “Every CEO is an Interim CEO.” The toolbox includes 
   • Read-and-Engage Viewing Guide (20 pages) – photocopy for board members
   • Facilitator Guide (10 pages)
   • 4 short videos (4-5 minutes each)
   • Additional resources and succession planning tools

MORE RESOURCES: Follow the “40 Blogs. 40 Wednesdays.” color commentaries on Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom. Click here.

Succession Planning: The Ongoing Continuous Process

Note: This is the fifth of 11 blogs featuring practical wisdom from the new ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 4: Succession Planning. Free to ECFA members, you can download the resource and video by clicking here.

What committee or task force owns short-term vs. long-term succession planning?

Principle No. 5: Delegate Succession Planning to the Appropriate Committee lists three tips so you’ll keep succession planning on your year-round agenda.

Tip No. 1: There is a substantial difference between executive transition and succession planning. As Nancy Axelrod notes in her very helpful resource, Chief Executive Succession Planning, the first is “an intermittent event that is time-line driven,” while the latter is “an ongoing continuous process that boards (with the help of their chief executive) implement.”

Tip No. 2: Assign succession planning to the committee or task force that fits your board culture. One size doesn’t fit all—but consider what committee will have high competence in discerning your on-going process, but can also spring into action when an executive transition occurs (by design or default).

And this reminder: emergency transitions are a very bad time to begin learning how to spiritually discern God’s voice. Build some spiritual discernment exercises into your board work now—not when the crisis hits.

Tip No. 3: Provide your committee or task force with resource materials on succession planning. Four books are listed in the materials. Order all four and delegate your reading:

• Stewards of a Sacred Trust: CEO Selection, Transition and Development for Boards of Christ-centered Organizations, by David L. McKenna (ECFAPress)
• Chief Executive Succession Planning: Essential Guidance for Boards and CEOs, by Nancy R. Axelrod (BoardSource)
• Boards That Lead: When to Take Charge, When to Partner, and When to Stay Out of the Way, by Ram Charan, Dennis Carey and Michael Useem (Harvard Business Review Press)
• NEXT: Pastoral Succession That Works, by William Vanderbloemen and Warren Bird (Baker Books)


Principle No. 5 includes “Five Critical Next Steps” for your board to address, including: “If outside help or counsel is needed (a volunteer, a board coach, or consultant, for example), does the committee have the authority to retain necessary assistance? (What is the budget?) 

Check it out here: 

DOWNLOAD: ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 4: Succession Planning – 11 Principles for Successful Successions: “Every CEO is an Interim CEO.” The toolbox includes 
   • Read-and-Engage Viewing Guide (20 pages) – photocopy for board members
   • Facilitator Guide (10 pages)
   • 4 short videos (4-5 minutes each)
   • Additional resources and succession planning tools

BOARD DISCUSSION: "Are there appropriate board-approved succession policies to guide the work of the Succession Planning Task Force?"

MORE RESOURCES: Follow the “40 Blogs. 40 Wednesdays.” color commentaries on Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom. Click here.

Succession Planning: “Appointment Without Anointment Always Led to Disaster”

Note: This is the second of 11 blogs featuring practical wisdom from the new ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 4: Succession Planning. Free to ECFA members, you can download the resource and video by clicking here.

“…the greatest tool for effective steward leaders is a mirror and a group of friends to be sure they are looking into it with clarity and focus.”

That insight is from R. Scott Rodin’s important book, The Steward Leader: Transforming People, Organizations and Communities. Who is holding your current leaders accountable—and what do they believe about leadership?

The second of 11 principles in the new ECFA Governance Toolbox Series on succession planning warns, “Before your board’s CEO succession planning discussion spirals into the nuts and bolts, stop the presses…” and reflect on this topic:

“Principle No. 2: Discern Your Board’s Succession Values and Beliefs”

Are all of your board members (and senior team members) on the same theological page? Is everyone in alignment on what Christ-centered leadership looks like? Noting two resources from Rodin and David McKenna, Video #2 of 4 wades into these important waters. Don’t skip this one!

Rodin says the antidote to the “owner-leader” trap is the steward leader. He skillfully contrasts the classic leadership styles (servant leadership, great man and charismatic leadership, transactional leadership, transformational leadership, etc.) with his unique and deeply biblical insights on the concept of a steward leader.

And then this gut-check for CEO search committees:

“I know of few Christian leaders today who were anointed before they were appointed.

“We have mostly employed the business model of doing careful searches, looking for Christian leaders who we can appoint to office. We check their credentials, put them through rigorous interviews and give them psychological tests before we make the critical appointment. Once they are in place, we then anoint them and ask God to bless their work.

“The biblical evidence seems to indicate that God selects leaders in the opposite order. Samuel anointed David before appointing him king. The selection criterion for leadership was not based on who seemed most fit for the appointment, but on whom God had anointed for the task. And appointment without anointment always led to disaster.”

Yikes! 

DOWNLOAD: ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 4: Succession Planning – 11 Principles for Successful Successions: “Every CEO is an Interim CEO.” The toolbox includes 
   • Read-and-Engage Viewing Guide (20 pages) – photocopy for board members
   • Facilitator Guide (10 pages)
   • 4 short videos (4-5 minutes each)
   • Additional resources and succession planning tools

BOARD DISCUSSION: Do you agree that “appointment without anointment” will lead to disaster?

MORE RESOURCES: Follow the “40 Blogs. 40 Wednesdays.” color commentaries on Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom. Click here.

Succession Planning: “My Heart Had Left the Building”

Note: This is the first of 11 blogs featuring practical wisdom from the new ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 4: Succession Planning. Free to ECFA members, you can download the resource and video by clicking here.

“The number one issue for me was passion. My heart was no longer engaged in my job—the fire had gone out. My heart had left the building.”

That transparent admission is from Hans Finzel’s 80-page gut-check-of-a-book, The Power of Passion in Leadership: Lead From Your Heart Not Just Your Head.

The first of 11 principles in the new ECFA Governance Toolbox on succession planning is cautionary: “Principle No. 1: Avoid Buses and Boredom!”

Your board may have an updated emergency succession plan in place (watch the video for another gut check!), but what if your CEO gets bored?

My story is not prescriptive for other leaders, but I was good for about 11 years in any one position (and some less than 11 years). That’s how the Lord wired me. So I know that CEOs and board members will benefit from reading Finzel’s personal journey. He adds:

“It is not fair to the organization or the team to hang on for the wrong reasons. It’s better to leave too soon than to stay too long. Tentative leadership kills the momentum of the whole ministry.

“So, after 20 years in the first chair, I decided it was time for me to step down as the leader of our international ministry. I was no longer all in, so I needed to be all gone. It was a job I once loved, but no longer enjoyed. I asked the board to start the process of finding my replacement. This was one of the hardest decisions of my career, but a good one.”

DOWNLOAD: ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 4: Succession Planning – 11 Principles for Successful Successions: “Every CEO is an Interim CEO.” The toolbox includes 
   • Read-and-Engage Viewing Guide (20 pages) – photocopy for board members
   • Facilitator Guide (10 pages)
   • 4 short videos (4-5 minutes each)
   • Additional resources and succession planning tools

The Facilitator Guide provides three discussion directions (30-45 minutes; 45-60 minutes; or use at a board retreat or two-hour board development session). 

On CEO succession planning, David McKenna notes, “No decision of the board, absolutely no decision, is more profound.” As board members, are you stewarding the giftedness of your CEO? Next blog: “Principle 2: Discern Your Board’s Succession Values and Beliefs.”

BOARD ASSIGNMENT: Tee up a discussion, using Video #1, “Avoid Buses and Boredom!” from the new ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 4: Succession Planning. Click here.

MORE RESOURCES: Follow the “40 Blogs. 40 Wednesdays.” color commentaries on Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom. Click here.

Called to Serve: Use White Space to Practice Hospitality

Note: This is No. 20 in a series of blogs featuring wisdom from the 91-page gem by Max De Pree, Called to Serve: Creating and Nurturing the Effective Volunteer Board.

Max De Pree: “Hospitality has to do with equity for each member.”

Honest…my plan for this thin, quick-reading book was to crank out five, maybe seven or eight blogs—and then move on. Not! De Pree’s wisdom is so rich—so convicting. At least we’re 75 percent on our way to page 91, so stay tuned. The end is near.

I’ve never read a governance book, blog, or paragraph that said the practice of hospitality was a key ingredient of a board chair’s effectiveness.

De Pree explains with a few reminders:
   • “Asking people to sit in a circle with no table is surely a distracting and ineffective way to work…”
   • “…as is putting people at a long, narrow table where they can have contact with only those adjacent to them.”

He also reminds us about the tools of hospitality: pens, writing pads, agendas, minutes, records, reports—and how they’re organized. He notes that hospitality includes attention to social needs. “Things go better with snacks, drinks, timely breaks, and no anxiety as to where the toilets are—small matters that should never become distractions.”

The spiritual gift of hospitality, according to author Bruce Bugbee, is “the divine enablement to care for people by providing fellowship, food, and shelter.” If you were not blessed with that spiritual gift, however, it doesn’t let you off the hook. As board chair, discern who on your board or staff is specially enabled by God to practice hospitality—and invite that person to help you create a warm and inviting board meeting environment.

In the tremendously helpful new book from ECFAPress, Call of the Chair: Leading the Board of the Christ-centered Ministry, David McKenna, reminds board chairs to sense the need “for the white space of coffee and bathroom breaks,” and “pauses for prayer before casting votes.” (Read my book review here and watch for future blogs on the board chair’s role.)

By the way, practicing hospitality is not limited to the board chair. Board members will practice God-honoring hospitality by arriving on time (with homework done), pocketing all devices, listening, engaging, speaking thoughtfully—and not leaving early. And most important—every board member (and the CEO) will learn the spiritual gifts of colleagues around the board table—and encourage each person to leverage their spiritual gifts, their strengths, and their passions.

BOARD DISCUSSION: Do we practice God-honoring hospitality before, during, and after our board meetings? How could we be more hospitable? Why does this matter?

To order from Amazon, click on the title for: Called to Serve: Creating and Nurturing the Effective Volunteer Board, by Max De Pree, (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company).