Nonprofit Performance 360 Magazine Vol 4 No 4

POINT & COUNTERPOINT

Dialogues on Board Rules Here are two viewpoints on topics that impact the overall effectiveness of leaders in a social benefit culture. This isn’t a debate - it’s a dialogue from the perspectives of two experienced leaders. The goal is to provide different perspectives to stimulate creative thinking and bring leaders into a new paradigm of functioning, not to provide final answers. The magic of the mix of talent and subject matter expert responsibilities of your board will rule your effectiveness, stability, and growth, or slow decay!

Hugh Ballou Musical Conductor, Leadership Coach

Jeff Magee Executive Coach, Human Capital Developer

Hugh Ballou is a Transformational Leadership Strategist, President of SynerVision International, Inc., and was a musical conductor for 40 years. Hugh has written numerous books on Transformational Leadership and works with leaders of religious organizations, business and nonprofit communities as an executive coach, process facilitator, trainer, and motivational speaker, teaching leaders the fine-tuned skills employed every day by orchestral conductors.

Jeffrey Magee (Ph.D., PDM, CSP, CMC) is the “Thought Leader’s Leader.” He is a columnist, the publisher of Professional Performance 360 Magazine , editor of Performance Execution and Performance Driven Selling blogs, a former nationally-syndicated radio talk show host, published author, and recipient of the USJC TOYA award. A motivational leadership speaker, he is one of the most sought-after keynote speakers in the world.

Rule I: What Essential Mix ofTalent Should a Board Have? Ballou —

Magee — Think about the C-suite of a large, thriving, successful and profitable organization. As a nonprofit, you should mirror that same structure. For example, before you even evaluate the personalities of your present board or look to recruit your next board member, build out all of the board spots to align with all of the present and future operating business units to your nonprofit organization. As the CEO, one of your board members should be, or should have been, a CEO in a like organization to be able to provide you with great counsel. You should have a CFO/CPA-type on your board to counsel you and the organizational leaders, and be the accountability conduit to your organization’s CFO/Treasurer/Bookkeeper. You want to architecturally build out your board accordingly, with one board C-suite occupant for each organization C-suite player. Now you will have integrity, efficacy, and accountability check points in place from your board to the operational leaders within your organization.

The competencies on the board of directors should follow those defined by the organization’s strategic plan. The strategy defines the long-term strategic objectives, as well as the pathway to achieve those objectives over the months and years moving forward. A critical part of any strategic plan is the list of competencies needed to achieve the desired goals and objectives.We need competent leaders in the organization that fit the culture norms defined in the strategy. Diversity, measured in many dimensions, is essential: race, gender, generation, background, etc. Having a mix of skills and perspectives provides for more creative planning and implementation. Having different perspectives, along with different skills, creates a balance of input to support the nonprofit executive in their work.

36 I Nonprofit Performance Magazine