Your CEO’s Worst Mistake!

This week The Accelerators blog, published by The Wall Street Journal, asked their panel of experts, “What are some of the worst mistakes startup founders will make this year?”

Board members who have helped launch new ministries would likely relate to several of the worst mistakes mentioned:
   • Introducing a good idea to the market too early
   • Having too much vision—and missing what is right in front of us
   • Not talking to customers
   • Robbing yourself of helpful growing pains by sweeping mistakes under the rug

But one mentor’s insight arrested my attention. One issue is common not just to startup nonprofits, but in many, many organizations. Michael Lazerow, who has started four companies and invested in 25 more, asks founders one simple question:

What are the top three things 

you need to accomplish in the next 

six to 12 months to give the company 

the best chance of long-term success?

The think-ahead CEO will lead the board by focusing on this question at every board meeting. But if the question, and the board-affirmed answers, are not discussed, then the board must address it promptly.

Lazerow laments, “Most entrepreneurs I speak to can’t name their priorities right away. If an entrepreneur can’t name their top priorities without hesitation, how will the rest of the company know? It’s bad enough for a founder to work on the wrong projects. But if the entire company is not focusing in the right areas, game over!

“I encourage all leaders (of companies, divisions and small teams) to write down the top three areas of focus somewhere visible in the organization and communicate them to the entire team. By doing so, you are not only able to focus on what is most important, but you are also able to eliminate distractions, which is the biggest gift you can give as a leader.”

Amen! I encourage CEOs to seek board approval on up to five written annual CEO “S.M.A.R.T.” Goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-related). To keep the goals top of mind year-round, CEOs should email the board a one-page dashboard by the 15th of every month—with color-coded YTD bullet point commentaries for each goal:

• Green: on target
• Yellow: caution
• Red: needs more focus!

Christ-centered organizations, by the way, should have a culture of grace that acknowledges “worst mistakes” because everyone makes mistakes. Yet, by settling for an activity-driven culture versus a results-driven culture, we needlessly delay Kingdom advancement. That’s the worst mistake.

QUESTION: What are the top three things you need to accomplish in the next six to 12 months to give your organization the best chance of long-term success?

No Bad Board Meeting Is Too Short!

How long should a board meeting be? One hour? Four, six or eight hours? A weekend?

Roger Ebert, the movie critic who died this month, famously said, 

“No good movie is too long 

and no bad movie is short enough.”

Ditto our board meetings!

If your board has been in the same old/same old rut for more than three years, it might be a helpful exercise to “zero-base” your board meeting pattern and see if a different meeting scenario might help you be more effective.

Consider:
   • Frequency (monthly, every-other-month, quarterly or…?)
   • Adjusting the time to the seasonal agenda (two shorter meetings and two longer meetings)
   • An annual retreat (more time for prayer, interaction, evaluation and spiritual discernment)
   • Conference calls (try one in place of a face-to-face meeting)
   • Adding a pre-meeting lunch or dinner (and inviting spouses)

Caution! Of the four social styles on your board (Analyticals, Drivers, Amiables and Expressives), each style approaches the use of time differently:
   • Analyticals tend to be slow, deliberate and disciplined.
   • Drivers tend to be swift, efficient and impatient.
   • Amiables tend to be slow, calm and undisciplined.
   • Expressives tend to be rapid, quick and undisciplined.

For more on social styles, read my review of How to Deal with Annoying People: What to Do When You Can’t Avoid Them, by Bob Phillips and Kimberly Alyn.

Proverbs 15:22 (Amplified Bible) says, “Where there is no counsel, purposes are frustrated, but with many counselors they are accomplished." 

So take time to get input. If you gently and graciously focus on the board’s objectives, and not tradition—“But we’ve always done our board meetings this way”—you’ll get buy-in.

QUESTION: Is it time to rethink the frequency and the length of our board meetings?

The Powerful Potential of Tab 10

One of the helpful resources in the ECFA Governance Toolbox Series No. 1: Recruiting Board Members is a sample table of contents for a “Board Nominee Orientation Notebook.”

I encourage boards to use this 31-tab binder as a tool during all four recruitment phases: Cultivation, Recruitment, Orientation and Engagement. (Why 31 tabs? Because Staples sells 31-tab dividers!)

Once completed (actually, I’ve never seen a complete one—it’s always a work in progress), the notebook is a treasured “one-stop location” for all organizational documents.  Trust me—your board prospect will be impressed and even assume your board has their act together! Here are just seven of the 31 tabs:
   • Current Board Members (mini-bios) and Committee Structure
   • Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation
   • Board Policies Manual
   • Board Member Annual Affirmation Statement (and Conflict of Interest document)
   • Annual Budget, Current Financial Reports and Audited Financial Statements
   • ECFA Membership Profile, Public Statistics and the IRS Form 990
   • Strategic Plan (Executive Summary and a one-page “placemat”)

All this is good, but it’s likely you have never leveraged the powerful potential of Tab 10, the list of your “Former Board Members and Board Chairs.”

A year ago in my blog post, Begin With the End in Mind, I referenced Rebekah Basinger’s insightful thoughts, “After Bye-Bye Board Member, Then What?” Here’s her full article, “After Thank You and Good-Bye: The Challenge of Holding on to the Hearts and Attention of Former Board Members.”

I was reminded of this powerful potential again yesterday when I received a packet of information sent to former ECFA board members. (According to the “Director’s Award” plaque on my office wall, I served six years on the ECFA board from 1989 to 1995.) Dan Busby, ECFA’s president, communicates intentionally and regularly with former board members—with perfect doses of “inside info” and encouraging news. I always open his mail first.

I’ve served on numerous boards, 

yet this is the only board 

that keeps me in the loop.  

Kudos to Dan and ECFA! (Memo to CEOs: a monthly donor appeal letter doesn’t qualify for “keeping me in the loop.”)

IDEA: inspire a current board member to create an intentional plan for keeping former board members in the loop. Christ-centered organizations can rightly expect former board members to be some of their best prayer warriors, but it will take creativity and intentionality.  If you do this, you will experience the powerful Kingdom potential of Tab 10!

QUESTION: What’s your next step for leveraging the God-honoring heart and passion of former board members?

Board Input Versus Board Output

Last Saturday, I facilitated a half-day board retreat and asked the board members to rate the meeting on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being high). One thoughtful board member answered, “I’ll give you my rating after we see the next draft of the strategic plan.”

Bingo! That was a brilliant answer! Effective input is important, but output is critical.

“Directors should not confuse hard work, as commendable as it is, with meaningful results,” says Ram Charan in Owning Up: The 14 Questions Ever Board Member Needs to Ask.  

In his chapter, “How Can Our Board Self-Evaluation Improve Our Functioning and Our Output?” Charan quotes an influential board member. This proud-of-his-work director explained, “I personally spent 250 hours on board work last year, including my committee work. And most of my fellow directors did about the same.”

Unimpressed by input only, Charan asked him, “What would you say are the one or two things your board did that really made a difference for the company?”

He added, “The director took a long pause and looked up at the ceiling. He seemed lost in thought, like he was struggling to come up with a concrete answer. As I waited for him to respond, I realized that he probably had never thought about his board work in that way.”

“The board’s output—the quality of the decisions

it makes and actions it takes—is the 

acid test of effective corporate governance.”

Adapting the author’s counsel to Christ-centered boards, I would add, “Does the board in fact help the CEO and the ministry achieve better Kingdom results both short-term and long-term?”

“When boards fail to consider their output,” says Charan, “they can easily convince themselves and others that they’re doing well when in fact the essence of their governance is weak.”

Last Saturday, I was blessed to be in a room with board members who understood that output is critical.  Faithful board service (showing up) is not enough—Kingdom work demands meaningful results because the Great Commission stakes are so high.

QUESTION: “What would you say are the one or two things your board did in the last 12 months that really made a difference for your ministry?”

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?