Board Meeting Body Language

THE PROBLEM—annoying boardroom behaviors!

Email Eddie: His life on the outside is so important (so he thinks) that he’s reading or sending emails (click, click, click) throughout your board meeting.

Sidebar Sally: Her need to add side comments to virtually every agenda item distracts everyone within earshot. 

Tardy Teresa: “Did I miss anything?” is the annoying interruption (cue the loud voice) from this always late, often-clueless board member.

Tortoise Tom: Worst case—this guy’s your board chair and talks very…very…slowly…and chairs the meeting with the speed of an hour glass of molasses. 

THE SOLUTION—talk about it!

What if…one of the distinctives of Christ-centered governance was that we reject the silliness of silent suffering and address the mini-elephants in the room?

What if…we challenge Email Eddie, and all board members, 

to focus on the agenda 

and silence the cell phone

instead of God’s voice?

What if…we trust God (and our families and staff members) to handle things outside the board meeting, while we steward the work of God in the meeting?

What if…instead of whining about Sidebar Sally in the hallway after the meeting, we ask the chair to address her annoying sidebar conversations?

What if…we affirm the value: “If you’re not early, you’re late.” And what if…Tardy Teresa understands why being late does not honor God or God’s people?

What if…frank, but gracious feedback was shared with Tortoise Tom—and he was open to coaching to improve his board chair competencies? (“Thanks for this brief discussion, now who will propose a motion to approve?”)

We delude ourselves when we think we can hide our boardroom body language. Our raised eyebrows, rolling eyes, tightened lips and folded arms project our discomfort.  If your style is to ignore annoying boardroom behavior—rather than to appropriately address it—I have a name for you: Ostrich Oliver. 

QUESTION: What are your unwritten rules about board behavior? What guidance do you get from Scripture when confronting character or behavioral flaws?

The Meeting Before the Meeting

John Maxwell says, “the secret to a good meeting is the meeting before the meeting." He credits his meeting management wisdom to Olan Hendrix, the first president of ECFA.

In 10 quick-reading pages in his book, Leadership Gold: Lessons I’ve Learned from a Lifetime of Leading (read my review), Maxwell builds the case for turning routine meetings into productive action-oriented gatherings.  Following the counsel of Hendrix, he writes that the meeting before the meeting: 
   • helps you receive buy-in
   • helps followers to gain perspective
   • increases your influence
   • helps you develop trust
   • avoids your being blindsided.

The “no surprises” rule is critical for certain people in each meeting—and typically, that means you must meet with them in advance.  Maxwell preaches: 

“If you can’t have the meeting 

before the meeting, 

don’t have the meeting. 

If you do have the meeting before the meeting, but it doesn’t go well, don’t have the meeting. If you have the meeting before the meeting and it goes as well as you hoped, then have the meeting!”

Many CEOs, board chairs and committee chairs can profit from this counsel. Board members who are not on the Executive Committee or part of what C.S. Lewis called “the inner ring,” often do feel blindsided or ignored in the decision-making process—and that’s deadly.

CEOs sometimes whine, “What went wrong?” when their 30-slide PowerPoint fails to persuade board members.  In retrospect, the meeting before the meeting would have alerted leadership to opposing viewpoints, the need for more data, or the appropriate timing of a new big idea.

Proverbs 11:14 (The Message) says, “Without good direction, people lose their way; the more wise counsel you follow, the better your chances.”

QUESTION: How will you know the perspective of your board members, if you don’t have some form of “the meeting before the meeting” (lunch, phone call, Skype call, etc.)?

Why Do Board Members Micromanage?

Why are some board members so easily tempted to micromanage? There are many reasons, but I believe there is one big reason.

In the absence of a rolling strategic plan process and a crystal clear ministry strategy, board members are given permission (by default) to roam the highways and byways of any topic that tickles their taste buds.

Proverbs 16:3 (The Message) says, “Put God in charge of your work, then what you’ve planned will take place.” (There is an assumption here that planning is in place.)

On this blog, I’ve mentioned Ram Charan’s helpful book for corporate boards, Owning Up: The 14 Questions Every Board Member Needs to Ask (read my review). It’s packed with wisdom and caution for nonprofit ministry boards too.  

Charan’s fifth question (paraphrased) should be front and center in every board meeting: 

“Does Our Board Really Own 

the Organization’s Strategy?”

His best practices for the strategy question are both brilliant and practical—but the CEO will need to dramatically increase face time with board members to implement the ideas. But the pay-off could be huge—as you move micromanaging board members to a new level of strategic thinking.

He notes, “Strategy should always be in the back of directors’ minds. It helps to have the strategy brief or a two-page sheet of bullet points in the binder for every meeting.”  

Fred Smith said, 

     “I learned to write to 

     burn the fuzz off my thinking.”

Micromanagement happens in the vacuum created by ineffective planning.  It happens when the Big Picture is not clear and when the path to the target (if there is a target) is mostly verbal and/or frequently changing. It happens when the focus is on the Great Committee and not the Great Commission.

Finally, Charan cautions boards, “If the board and the CEO have lasting substantive differences, they have a choice: stay with the strategy or replace the CEO. Consider that management has a shelf life too, just like the strategy.”

QUESTION: What would be the upside if the board and senior team agreed on a two-page strategy document? 

Fast Feedback Tool

Here’s a Fast Feedback tool that will immediately improve your board and committee meetings.

Yesterday, I facilitated a one-hour Nominating Committee meeting via conference call. At the end of the one-hour call, the newly elected committee chair asked for feedback.

“At every board or committee meeting I chair,” he told us, “I always ask each participant to rate the effectiveness of our meeting.  So on a scale of 1.00 to 5.00 (5.00 is high), I’ll ask each of you to give me your rating. How did we do?”

The seven participants each shared their rating. The CEO gave us a 5.00—which was an encouragement to everyone.

At our next meeting, I know two things will happen:
1) We’ll be asked to rate the meeting.
2) Throughout the meeting, we’ll be thoughtfully contributing (listening more than talking) to help the ratings stay high!

It’s a brilliant idea—and it took less than three minutes.

Romans 12:3 reminds us: “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment…”  This Fast Feedback tool will remind everyone to do just that.

QUESTION: What if…you’re the chair and the Fast Feedback exercise reveals low scores?  What would you say?

We All Need Feedback

This week I participated in a CEO/board chair symposium for a niche segment in the nonprofit world.  While I gleaned several big ideas every day, my “Aha!” moment was an unintentional consequence of a presenter’s blunder.

A highly-credentialed workshop leader inspired us with the power of stories—how to use simple customer stories to enhance our brands. He said effective stories must be short, true and memorable.

Here’s the irony! When he finally shared a compelling story with our group, he was already 50 minutes into his presentation on how to leverage stories! The story was powerful—and added punch to his presentation—but he did not model the power of story. 

He didn’t practice 

what he preached.

I thought to myself. “Wow—with just a small dose of gracious feedback from a colleague, he could improve his presentations by 50 or 100 percent.” 

Then I had this Holy Spirit nudge. “John, you too! If you were open to feedback you could improve your role as a board chair by 50 or 100 percent.” 

Gulp! So here’s the point: all of us need feedback. It’s so obvious to others—but less obvious to ourselves. So how do we get better?
   • Ask an impartial person to observe our board meetings—and give us feedback.
   • Take 10 minutes at the end of a board meeting and conduct a checklist self-assessment. Did I contribute? Did I model God-honoring graciousness? Did I listen more than I talked?
   • Ask another CEO or board chair to coach you and your board. 

Why? Boards must model excellence if we want our CEOs, staff and volunteers to model excellence.  God is honored when we get better at governance! God is honored when we ask for feedback—and when we practice what we preach, our CEOs will ask for feedback.

What Really Needs the Greatest Improvement? Not Fundraising!

The executive summary of the ECFA 2012 Governance Survey was published last month and so boardrooms have been buzzing about the governance trends and benchmarks from 1,600 CEOs, board chairs and board members of ECFA accredited organizations. (Click here for a complimentary PDF of the 48-page report or to order a printed copy.)

One of ten highlights noted in the report was the response to this question: “Of the [10] organizational areas listed below, what are the Top 5 areas that NEED THE GREATEST IMPROVEMENT in your ministry?”

Board members listed the Top 5 in this order (greatest need first): 
   •  Need #1: Fundraising
   •  Need #2: Strategic Planning
   •  Need #3: Marketing & Public Relations
   •  Need #4: Achieving Mission Results
   •  Need #5: Human Resources

CEOs, board chairs and board members all agreed that fundraising was the #1 area needing the greatest improvement. “Governance” was listed as Need #8 by board chairs and board members and as Need #7 by CEOs. Where would your board members rank governance?

In her thoughtful blog, Generous Matters, Rebekah Basinger, board and development consultant and co-author of Growing Givers’ Hearts, commented on the ECFA survey results—challenging CEOs and boards to think differently about the area needing greatest improvement. 

In a January blog, “Nonprofit Leader, Fundraising Isn’t Your Board’s Problem,” Basinger writes, “At the end of the day (or the fiscal year), legitimacy is the most precious gift the board—corporately and as individuals—can give. Committing to good governance is the most important work of the board. It’s every organization’s single greatest need.

 “So nonprofit leader, 

fundraising isn’t your board’s problem. 

You are, 

by continuing to act as though fundraising is.”

She adds, “If you put good governance first, fundraising and money won’t be problems in the long-term.” (Click here to read the full blog.)

I agree with her and I’ll add my own color commentary to the survey results during the ECFA webinar with Cameron Doolittle on Feb. 12, 2013, “Results of the 2nd Annual ECFA 2012 Governance Survey.” Register here.

QUESTION: What are the Top 5 areas that need the greatest improvement in your ministry? 

Hallway Executive Sessions

This week my wife and I were talking about “Executive Sessions” at board meetings. Clients often ask, “Should we have an executive session (without the CEO in the room) at every board meeting, or only as needed?”

My standard answer: include time for an executive session in every board meeting. 

But—and this is critical—always, always, always invite the CEO back into the room for a verbal summary of the executive session discussion. Then allow time for the CEO to comment or correct inaccurate assumptions or facts that might have been presented unknowingly. This works if you’ve built a grace-based culture. (Not all executive sessions, of course, focus on what needs to be fixed. They can also be used to affirm a CEO’s leadership.)

All of us have stories of dysfunctional boards that have used executive sessions inappropriately (whining, complaining, venting—with rare truth-telling back to the CEO when all boards members are present). So some CEOs—still stinging from previous board experiences—have successfully vetoed the idea of regular executive sessions. Bad idea.

“CEOs need to recognize,” Joanne said in our discussion, “that there will always be executive sessions whether the CEO wants them or not:
   • formal sessions per the agenda,
   • and informal sessions in the hallway.”

I thought her insight was brilliant (and I even told her that!).  Unhealthy boards sometimes stuff conflict and uncomfortable conversations way, way down during board meetings. It’s the proverbial elephant in the room—and no one’s talking.  Until…the coffee break or adjournment…and then everyone talks plenty in the hallway.

Wise CEOs and board chairs create a healthy forum for honest and open communication between the CEO and board members—in the meeting.

After an executive session, the board chair should invite the CEO back into the boardroom and then summarize the board’s discussion—with opportunity for other board members to add any missing color commentary that the chair may have skipped.  The chair might even repeat the classic line from Governance Guru John Carver, “The board speaks with one voice, or not at all.”  (Including not at all in the hallways!)

But note! The executive session—as a stand-alone tool—is inadequate. Effective boards must also conduct annual board self-assessments, annual CEO assessments, and hold the CEO accountable for three to five Annual S.M.A.R.T. Goals, among many other things. 

Governance is complex and is not for the faint at heart! This executive session stuff is hard. It’s risky. It’s not done well in many circles—but it’s at the very heart of what Christ-centered governance must be.  

QUESTION: What is your board’s policy and protocol for executive sessions?