Elevating the discourse of your board.

Engage your board members in a discourse on issues of importance to the profession or industry they represent, and watch their energy levels rise.

Are your fellow, board members bored with or disconnected from the organization s mission? Are they on information overload with no time to develop strategies for dealing with issues facing the organization? Are the experience and knowledge they can bring individually and in the aggregate being ignored? Are they overwhelmed with task-oriented work, with no time to look at the big picture? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, it may be time to redefine the role of the board and elevate its discourse.

Elevating the discourse of the board means engaging the board in a dialogue that relates to the future of the organization and placing the board at the middle of the organization rather than at the top. A board engaged in discussions about what matters to the profession, industry, or cause it represents is involved in forming, revealing, and testing the character of the organization. Elevating the discourse of the board may also mean changing the role of the board and its leadership philosophy.

Defining the role of the board

For many associations, the role of the board is frequently an inherited one. Without a conscious effort to analyze its role, assess its philosophy, and determine what outcomes are needed from the directors' work, the future board is destined to be a reflection of its predecessors.

To reverse this cycle, an organization must consider what is needed from the board. If it is to be an integral part of the business of the organization, the board must continually assess its leadership philosophy and determine the specific outcomes and benefits it can bring.

There are three philosophical approaches for a board: strategic, policy making, and operational. Each of these philosophies produces different outcomes and benefits concerning the directors' work.

The outcome of a strategic board is an organization with strong core values and a clear mission understood and championed by the board members. Directors operating from a strategic philosophy engage in discussions about what matters to their profession, industry, or cause.

A policy-making board defines limitations for the staff and addresses the short-term and long-term financial needs of the organization. These boards tend to review reports and ratify the recommendations of an executive committee or the senior staff.

Hands-on management of the activities and programs of the organization is the outcome of an operational board. Directors are frequently committee chairs and make implementation decisions concerning programs.

Regardless of philosophy, boards must recognize their responsibility to question, test assumptions, review data, and discuss issues that impact the association's future. It is through this elevated discourse that boards truly add value to organizations.

For example, a small professional society, with hands-on board members and committee chairs, changed its board meeting format from oral status reports on committee work to brief written reports. This simple shift in a reporting process provided time on the agenda for the board to discuss agreed-upon strategic issues. Committee chairs continue to attend the board meetings, but they participate in meaningful discussions about the future, rather than give reports on past activities. The committee chairs are not disappointed that they do not have a designated presentation time on the agenda, because they know they are adding greater value to the organization through participation in board discussions.

Changing the role

As an organization goes through stages of development, it will discover a need to transition the board philosophy along with the growth and change. At the embryonic stage, when staff and volunteer resources are limited, an association may require a more operational board until committees are empowered and staff capacity is increased. This board may easily answer yes to the question, "Are you overwhelmed with task-oriented work, with no time to look at the big picture?"

After reaching a staff operational stage, with adequate staff and volunteer resources, an association is more likely to approach its work at a policy-making level. Yet, because board members in this case spend most of their time ratifying the decisions of others, they may answer yes to the question, "Are the experience and knowledge you bring being ignored?"

At a mature stage, the organization becomes more focused on external issues, and a board may become more strategic. As directors are expected to spend more time on the big-picture issues, the association must be certain to acknowledge the changing philosophy of the board. If the format of board meetings does not significantly change to accommodate an expanded strategic role, the board may answer yes to the question, "Are you on information overload with no time to develop strategies on issues facing the organization?"

With any of the three philosophies, a board needs to elevate its discourse by spending time in strategic dialogue leading to outcomes that deliver on the mission. The first step is planning for the change. A discussion about changing the board's role and philosophical approach begins with the chief elected officer and chief staff executive.

Making the case for change

If the chief elected officer and the chief staff executive identify a need to change, there are several avenues available for making the case to do so. One way is to seek answers to a series of questions, such as those asked at the beginning of this article. Another involves recognizing the signs of a dysfunctional board. These may be a lack of commitment to serve on the board, difficulty in resolving issues, a lack of progress within the organization, poor delineation of roles between volunteer and staff leaders, a disconnect with the expectations of board members and their board experience, or a lack of a sense of responsibility. Another way to instigate change is to have a conversation with board directors about their views on leadership responsibility and discover whether they feel good about their service on the board. This simple step of initiating one-on-one conversations will also engage directors in creating the very changes they would otherwise need to be convinced to implement.

Beyond the need for change, there may be other conditions that clearly mark an opportunity for change. These could be a new elected leader, a new chief staff executive, an industry crisis, the potential of a merger with another organization, new research information, or a significant financial shift for the organization.

Developing strategies

Change strategies are needed to

* explore and determine what matters to the organization through discussions on what matters to its profession, industry, or cause;

* establish a stronger partnership between the board and the chief staff executive, and demonstrate a healthy respect for his or her ideas and opinions;

* learn and use new methods to get to the questions that lead to change;

* answer the question, "What is it like to serve on the board?" to learn about its culture and the impact on the culture of the organization; and

* develop an understanding of the impact of the board's work, and monitor the projected outcome of that work.

All of these steps will lead to a change in the way board members understand their role and work together. The chief elected officer and the chief staff executive need to create opportunities for directors to discuss the ways in which they interact.

A national professional society held a special board meeting at which directors designed their leadership role. They did this through a series of questions.

* What do the board activities mean to the organization?

* How does the board want to be seen by the members and the organization's external audience?

* What will be the board's influence on the profession?

Thinking through these types of questions clearly demonstrated to directors the need for them to be at the heart of the organization, rather than at the top of an organizational chart.

Finally, the chief staff executive will want to take the organization's staff through a similar process. The contribution of staff ideas and their readiness to work with the board in a new way is critical to a successful transition.

Implementing change

Implementation of the changes is the next step. Again, be certain that all board members and all staff members understand each change taking place. If they don't understand that change is expected of them, they won't go there. One way to signify and implement change is to restructure the agenda and format of the board meeting.

Using the agenda. Design agendas to encourage dialogue among board members. Here are a few suggestions.

* Consider using the traditional consent agenda for written committee reports, minutes of prior meetings and other items that relate to past activities but may require board approval.

* Include on the agenda time for strategic discussions on preselected issues of importance to the membership. Avoid discussions about policies; focus on key issues facing the profession, industry, or cause. The initial board dialogue on an issue needs to reflect the viewpoint of the member. If you are concerned about the board's ability to engage in open dialogue without escalating to debate, consider moderated discussions.

* Relate the specific issues to the organization's purpose by printing the mission statement, in its simplest form, on every agenda.

* Connect the discussion to specific organizational goals by stating succinctly why the issue is being discussed and how it relates to the broader goals.

* Provide clear expected outcomes from board discussions. If the purpose of a discussion is to gather more information on an issue, let the board know this is the outcome needed. If the discussion is expected to lead to a decision on which to act, the board needs to understand that goal.

* Remind the board that the discussions are not for the purpose of defining right from wrong actions for the organization. Those choices are usually obvious. Let directors know that you are asking them to engage in a dialogue that may lead to several options.

* Provide an opportunity, for new issues to be suggested for future board agendas.

* Trust the board members to carry the discussion portions of the meeting.

Finally, to accomplish these changes, board agendas and background materials need to be forwarded to directors in advance of the meeting, allowing a reasonable amount of time for review.

Selecting new meeting formats. Here are some ideas to consider.

1. Bring in guest speakers, such as industry experts or leaders from related organizations.

2. Allow time for socialization so that board members build connectivity with one another and develop a comfort level for open discussion.

3. Offer off-line board sessions on specific topics for which some directors may desire more detail, such as an optional session for in-depth analysis of the association's financial reports.

4. Hold small discussion groups within the board, which allow for freer thinking and bringing directors closer together.

5. Ask board members to scan the environment between meetings and share newspaper or magazine articles they have read that offer a new perspective on an issue.

6. Focus on a single topic for the meeting, and use a variety of methods to address it.

7. Instill the concept of inclusion in the group process and no attribution outside the board meeting.

8. Include a method to collect feedback after each meeting.

Keep in mind that these types of changes may create a need for change in the frequency and the length of board meetings.

Living with the results

Remember that one change usually leads to another. The chief elected officer and the chief staff executive need to think through how a change in the board role and its discourse will lead to other changes in the system. Key areas that may be affected are committee process and structure, involvement of senior staff members, board representation and recruitment, and the planning process.

The benefits of elevating the discourse of the board are numerous to both the organization and the individuals entrusted to lead it. The association will gain from the collective experience and knowledge of its board members. The individual board member will enjoy the contribution she or he is making to the organization and have a renewed sense of commitment. There will be a greater understanding of the issues facing the organization and a deeper appreciation of the partnership of the staff and volunteer leaders. In an atmosphere of ever-increasing uncertainty and complexity, these are benefits that truly add value to the work of the board.

Start-Now STEPS

* Move from traditional committees to short-term groups that address "hot topics." Bring their ideas and recommendations to the board for discussion.

* Release new thinking by engaging directors in brainstorming, making sure that new ideas are recorded but not criticized.

* Print the mission statement and vision on every agenda, and measure decisions against furthering the mission.

* Set goals for board meetings.

Pamela Hemann, CAE, is president of Association Management Service, Inc., Pasadena, California. E-mail: [e-mail].