Our Biblical Model For Succession

CEO succession, a dormant subject just a few years ago, has come fully alive. Boards are thinking about succession, not only when their CEO is ready to retire or under threat of dismissal, but as a working principle of good governance. For Christ-centered ministries, Elijah’s transfer of prophetic authority to Elisha is our succession model. Follow the sequence. Elijah, aware that his leadership is coming to completion, is told by God to anoint Elisha as a man of unquestioned integrity and youthful energy. So, in an irreversible act, Elijah takes off his mantle and puts it on the shoulders of Elisha, never to take it back. The newly ordained prophet responds in kind. Elisha sells all of his equipment, slaughters all of his oxen, and feeds the poor to let everyone know that he will never turn back from his calling. Then, in a mentoring moment, Elisha follows Elijah to be his servant and learn from the master.

Dare we follow this model? If so, we need CEOs of Christ-centered ministries who are not threatened by the reality of succession. We need CEOs who are actively cultivating potential successors to their position. We need CEOs who pass the mantle of leadership without reservation. We need successors who cut all of the lines of the past in order to give themselves unreservedly, and even sacrificially, to CEO leadership. And then, we need senior statesmen who will make mentoring of the next generation the lasting legacy of their leadership.

Governance — Good, Better and Best

Good governance gets better results with best practices. Proven standards beginning with a clear statement of strategic focus and ending with a candid assessment of performance constitute best practices in organizational governance. Christ-centered organizations are no exception. Here is our guiding principle: Governing boards that follow best practices may not be Christ-centered, but Christ-centered boards will follow best practices.

Good reason backs up this principle. First, best practices increase the effectiveness of our ministries. Second, astute major donors will ask about best practices before they give to us. Third, Paul reminds the Corinthians that they are a “letter from Christ…known and read by everybody,” (II Cor. 3:2). A Christ-centered organization is also a letter from Christ that is read far and wide. To have best practices written into the text is an honor to the Author and a witness to the reader.

Anticipatory Governance

Wayne Gretzky, ”The Great One” in the world of hockey, is not known as an authority on governance, but he spoke volumes for us when he said, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” Strategic governance is always anticipatory. Effective boards of Christ-centered organizations will foresee emerging issues and trends in both its internal and external environment in order to get ahead of potential problems and propose viable options. Ineffective boards, however, are known for acting only after things become urgent.

CEO’s are the Wayne Gretzkys of an effective board. In their reporting as well as their planning they will strike an anticipatory note to limit the surprises and grasp the opportunities. With deft and strategic moves, then, the board and the CEO can skate together to where the puck is going, not where it has been.

Countering the Culture of Complacency

Diverse threads of my reading are coming together in a warning for boards of Christ-centered organizations. One thread is the biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer by Metaxas in which we see the tragic results of complacency in the Christian church during the rise of the Hitler. Another thread is the Association of Governing Boards magazine for boards of colleges and universities with a feature article warning trustees about breathing a sigh of relief and relaxing after weathering the recent financial crisis. Still another is an analysis of such cataclysmic events as the Egyptian revolt, the BP oil spill, and the loss of the Columbia space shuttle. In each case, a culture of complacency contributed to the failure to see the coming crisis.

Boards of Christ-centered organizations have had it good for a long time. We have counted on economic prosperity, evangelical clout, political favor, and traditional values to support and strengthen our ministries. But, to assume that they will go on forever is the trap door into a culture of complacency. Perhaps, we need an old-fashioned dose of “WOT’S UP” in one of our board meetings asking, not just about our internal Strengths and Weaknesses, but also about the external Threats and Opportunities of which we must be aware. The exercise is sure to shake up our assumptions and counter the ever-lurking culture of complacency.

The Tell-Tale Agenda

Call me a governance wonk. Who else reads the agenda of board meetings like a love letter? For most of us, a board meeting agenda is a necessary evil to keep us on time and on track. A deeper look at the agenda shows that it can be a keen instrument for executive leadership in advancing a policy-making board. Consider these questions:

• Who writes your board agenda? Many board agendas are products of accumulated staff reports. It is a hodge-podge of information collected to woo and wow the board. If the agenda is an effective leadership instrument, however, it is a product of executive leadership coordinated with the board chair and nuanced by the members of the board itself.
  
• What is the focus of your board agenda? The focus of the board agenda should not be on information. Prior mailings from the CEO and staff should be read in advance by board members so that only highlights from the reports or new information will take up meeting time. Like a laser beam, then, the focus of the agenda will be upon implementing existing policy and developing new policy as needed.
  
• What is the rhythm for your board agenda? Think of your board agenda as the score for a symphony with the CEO as the composer and the board chair as the conductor. An opening sonata of devotions and the CEO report sets the theme and the tone for the meeting. While energy is high and attention is focused, important policy issues become the movements of the symphony with the rising sound of full discussion and the faster beat of final decision. Interludes between the movements give time for an executive session, a consent agenda, and a learning period for board development. A coda of benediction then closes the meeting with the members having heard the grand theme of the organizational mission played over and over again. And, don’t forget intermissions. Skillfully used, they can save the meeting.

How Does Your Board Member Orientation Rate?

If you want to test a board’s commitment to leadership development, start with its plans for the orientation program of new members. If past experience of consulting with boards of Christian ministries is any indication, orientation of new members is one of the dullest tools in our development kit. Few boards have formal programs for the orientation of new members. For the others, orientation is either hit-and-miss or non-existent. Let me give an extreme example from recent experience.

A friend received an invitation to join the board of directors of a Christ-centered ministry. She had been recruited by the executive director, introduced to the board chair, but knew only one of the other members. Before accepting, she asked my advice. Because of her outstanding credentials as a mature Christian leader who had won her credentials by excelling in the corporate world, I enthusiastically said, “Yes. What an opportunity for you and the board.”

After her first meeting, I asked if she would give me a confidential appraisal of the experience. As I expected, she was discrete and very gracious. But then I asked her the question, “Did you have an orientation session before your first meeting?” The answer came back, “No.” My mind went on alert. “Were you introduced to the board with biographical information or a formal introduction?” Again, the answer was, “No.” An edge of anger could probably be heard in my voice when I pressed on, “Were you invited to give witness to your faith and your calling to be a member of the board? By now, you know the answer. After the roll call, the chair simply said, “Welcome to the new members of our board” and then plunged into the agenda.

I asked one more question. “Were you introduced to the staff and the constituency by any public announcement?” Of course, the answer was still “No.”

Yes, I confess that I was angry, not just because the new member was neglected, but the board revealed its lack of commitment to the development of its members. A timely orientation session, a formal introduction, a personal testimony, and a public announcement are the starting points for a long-term plan of development for our board members. Without this start, I sincerely doubt that there will be any follow-up.