This post will introduce you to CCCC’s Board Chair, Tim Coles, Executive Director of YFC Canada. I appreciate Tim providing a board chair’s perspective on good governance and governing well.

My Journey in Governance

What drew me originally to CCCC was an interview I did with John Pellowe for his book The Church at Work. That experience led to me joining CCCC as a board member. At the time, I’d worked with boards for 10 years in my role as an executive director but had never been on a board myself. Working with the CCCC board helped me understand how a board thinks and how the board can be a better companion for the CEO, and the CEO for the board.

I was very honoured to become chair of the CCCC board succeeding Barry Slauenwhite—a great person to follow. Now, as I lead YFC Canada and chair the CCCC board, I’m still learning about board governance and am applying that knowledge back to YFC and all of its 37 chapter boards. YFC Canada asks all its chapters to be members of CCCC. Frequently, I will point out resources to all our executive directors or board members and let them know it’s something important they need to read and be on top of.

CCCC has been answering people’s ministry questions for years, and out of that experience it has created an extensive Knowledge Base of information, making CCCC a one-stop shop for information on running a ministry well. Part of what they offer is guidance around governance.

Elements of Good Governance

Direction and Protection

The role of governance in a well-run, healthy Christian ministry is to direct and protect the organization. I remember Bob Andringa saying that 60% of policy should be driven by staff but approved by the board. At CCCC, it’s normal for the staff to contribute by developing 60-80% of the organization’s plans and policies that the board, quite often in committee, will then interact with before approving. This approach gives the CEO the added assurance of being on the right track. In return, the board acts as a brain trust and provides backing and authority covering for the organizational leader.

Mutual Trust and Respect

Good governance is the result of a partnership of mutual trust and respect between the board and CEO. And yet, the board needs to hold the CEO accountable. This tension is addressed well in the book Radical Candor by Kim Scott. The radical part is to love someone so well leading up to a moment when you must be candid with them that they are okay with your candor because they know it comes from a place of care. When the board is the CEO’s number-one cheerleader, the CEO will be receptive to candid feedback from the board. This environment of candor is really important.

The board chair needs to have radical candor with the board members as well, to be able to address issues as they come up, by taking the person aside privately and talking with them about the issue. Sometimes people don’t even realize their behaviour is causing a problem. Candid, loving feedback from the chair can open a constructive conversation around it.

The skill of relationship is important in all interactions. When board members interact intentionally and skillfully with staff, it removes the sense that they have a “big bad board” above them. CCCC is exemplary in creating relational connections between board members, as well as between board members and staff. Opportunities for interacting are built into the times that the board and staff connect for board meetings.

Contributors to Strong Governance

Clear Expectations

In addition to developing skills for critical roles such as the board chair, the governance committee, and the nominating committee, a key contributor to strong governance is clear orientation for new board members. Newcomers need to know what to expect, how to speak up, and the difference between governance and management.

Clear Responsibilities

It’s important for a board to not only know what to do but also to have healthy mechanisms in place to remind them of the parameters in which they function. An example of such a mechanism is the assignment of a Policy Governance Monitor at each board meeting who is tasked with completing a Board Meeting Evaluation Form (link is to the CCCC Member Knowledge Base) during the meeting. They then report at the end as to whether the board waded into what’s been delegated to management. Upon reflection, the board learns what not to do going forward.

The best tool for developing governance skills is a Board Policy Manual that shows whose responsibility it is to do which task and where the boundaries are. It’s important for both board and staff to know what to do and what not to do in their roles. Doing someone else’s job can make them feel irrelevant and threatened in their position, which is not healthy. CCCC’s Board Policy Manual is available to members in the Knowledge Base.

CCCC’s board governs through Policy Governance. The board policies include executive limitations that define what is not permitted, with the understanding that anything beyond those limitations is good and permissible. Developing clear executive limitations is key for a board to be able to govern with a clear standard that they hold their CEO to. Clarity around limits leaves a CEO with plenty of room to innovate, which can greatly benefit the CEO, the board, and the organization.

Meaningful Board Engagement

A Perspective to Consider

Most board members don’t spend their life thinking about the organization they’re governing, but their CEO does. The CEO invests everything he or she has into the organization, while board members come and go monthly, semi-monthly, or three or four times a year. Even though the board doesn’t play a role in the management function or have the expertise that management has, it does have a right to oversee the organization and inspect that management’s work is being done well.

Oversight and Direct Inspection

The board needs to know how to do oversight and direct inspection, asking the tough questions as needed to make sure the organization is being led appropriately. This can be done in a way that’s not threatening, and CCCC is ready to help members manage such governing complexities. All ministry boards should be engaged with CCCC for access to excellent governance resources, such as Serving as a Board Member and The Board’s Most Important Relationship, that help board members understand their role and learn how to connect meaningfully and intentionally with the CEO and the organization they’re working with.

Closing Thought

Having a board that governs well is a key component of a ministry’s success. Intentional board development will strengthen the board members’ ability to support the CEO and contribute to the organization in the way that only a board can. In addition to experiencing effective board meetings and healthy relationships, a strong board can be confident in knowing that the mission is being furthered from their investment of governing well.

The post Governing Well: A Board Chair Perspective appeared first on CCCC Blogs.

The Board’s Posture

The board’s posture towards a crisis is defined as how it thinks about the crisis. When crisis strikes, it is easy to feel overwhelmed and paralyzed into inaction by everything you don’t know or can’t control. Directors must shake off these feelings and take control of their thinking so they can see opportunities and make good decisions. Here are three ideas to help you regain control:

1. Test: Think of the crisis as a test of your board’s governance prowess and your personal skill as a director. It is an opportunity to put every tool you have in your governance toolbox to work and see how well it performs. It is also a test of how complete and effective the board development work has been over the last few years.
2. Recommitment: The crisis is also a challenge to recommit to your ministry’s purpose. In this pandemic, what are you trying to preserve? Is it a program? A building? A comfortable routine? A sacred cow? What are you not willing to give up? You will find that ultimately the only thing that really matters is that some form of the organization endures to pursue the mission to which the Lord called it. When you, as directors pursue the mission above all else, your priorities become crystal clear. Your options become easier to assess.
3. Opportunity: Henry Cloud says the crisis is an opportunity for innovation. What is the essence of what you do that will never change? What are the old things you will get rid of? What needs to be “invented” to move forward. This is a time to learn from others and find new ways to fulfill mission. A pandemic can provide the opportunity that many boards would not explore otherwise.¹

The most productive way for your board to approach a crisis is not to fear it, but to embrace it as a challenge for the board to step up and be its very best. If ever there were a time for excellent governance, this is it. Make “excellence in governance” a shared commitment owned by the directors. By making this commitment, they are saying “This is what we expect of each other. This is what you can expect from me. We’re in this together, giving this board everything we’ve got!”

The board is now ready to approach the crisis resolutely committed to the mission. They have something worth fighting for, worth sacrificing for, and they are facing the crisis not in a panic but with a determination to pass the test. They are in control of themselves and confident they will find options from which to choose their own path forward. They are not victims of circumstance but empowered agents of God. They can proceed calmly and firmly.

Foundational Strategy for a Crisis

Your ministry needs to prepare for whatever may come. Since no one knows yet what that may be, all you can really do is make your ministry an organization that has a realistic chance of doing well in any scenario and make decisions based on the best information currently available about the present and the anticipated future.

• Focus on organizational traits. The kind of organization that will do well in all scenarios as the future unfolds is the same kind that has survived over the long-term already: it has corporate traits such as resiliency, a healthy tolerance for risk, nimbleness, and a commitment to the mission that easily throws aside anything that might get in the way of survival.
• Make temporary decisions. Most of the decisions we make in life are really temporary decisions, even when we think they are permanent. We can always change them later when we feel like it or if circumstances change. The same principle holds true in ministry. The way we pursue our mission is a temporary decision. The mission is unchanging; the methods are temporary. Sometimes the methods last for generations and then become sacred cows. When either the board or staff make a decision, treat it as a provisional decision “for now.” When new information arises, the decision can be revisited and another provisional decision will be made at that time. The only exceptions are the irreversible decisions, so they need a lot of thought and prayer. But for the many other decisions that need to be made in a crisis, leading provisionally lowers anxiety over the decision and is the only way we can make room for the Holy Spirit, who blows where he wills and presents new opportunities.

Boards have four primary considerations that continue through times of crisis:

1. Oversight of the senior leader,
2. Protection of the ministry,
3. Guiding the future of the ministry, and
4. Deciding how it will do its own work.

Oversight of the Senior Leader

Since the ministry’s senior leader is likely charged with executing strategy and managing the ministry’s operations, the board should be in conversation with the leader as it considers how it should fulfill its governance responsibilities. Once a plan is agreed upon, the board should do what it can to support the leader’s implementation work.

Conversing with the Leader

The board should work with the senior leader through its usual monitoring role where the leader submits reports to the board and the board discusses them. In this respect, a crisis is no different. Leadership should submit an immediate plan laying out the first few days or weeks, and after some time of reflection, a more detailed plan for the near-term. The board should assess accordingly:

• Review their leader’s plans. Look for blind spots. Probe for and test management’s assumptions. Are they reasonable? Comprehensive? Will they do the job?
• Challenge management’s thinking—probe and help them refine their thinking.
• Ask the tough questions. Ask the really difficult questions. This is how you can help management be clear-eyed and break out of its assumptions.
• Review the current succession plan for the senior leader. In a crisis like a pandemic, the leader could get sick and be unavailable to lead. Review the succession plan and see if it is still up to date and appropriate in the current circumstances.
• Finally, having read the leader’s plans and had the conversation outlined above, discuss these questions in camera (only board members in attendance without the leader): Do we have the right people to handle the crisis? Should we augment our staff with consultants? How can the directors help? The issue is whether the board has confidence in the leader to handle the current crisis on her or his own.

Supporting the Leader

Recognize that your senior leader is likely encountering the effects of this crisis for the first time, just as the board is, and based on the assessment just done in the above conversation questions, consider if any aspects of the board-leader relationship need adjustment.

• No adjustment needed: You might have a leader who doesn’t need much help from the board. She or he has a plan that the board likes and a strong management team. In this case, the board may not have to do much more than simply monitor the situation.
• Minor adjustment needed: It may be that the leader is capable of leading the ministry through the crisis but would benefit from the greater breadth of experience and insights that the directors can provide. Directors are in a unique position to help their leader because they understand their ministry and its challenges and yet bring outside perspectives for the leader to consider. The board has the opportunity to broaden the leader’s thinking and provide additional guidance.
• Major adjustments needed: If the board finds that the leader is not equipped to lead through the crisis alone, it does not mean the leader needs to be replaced. It just means that the board needs to set up some formal supports around the leader. For example, a temporary leadership council could include the leader, directors and staff members, and the council would make group decisions without undermining the leader’s role.

Finally, boards should remember that no matter how great they think their leader is, the leader is still a human being with normal human psychology. Senior leaders will feel the full brunt of responsibility for safely guiding the organization through the crisis and may need emotional and other support from the board. Some attention should be given to how the leader is faring through the crisis.

Protecting the Ministry

The board is responsible for protecting the ministry and its mission. This is its fiduciary role. The board’s role is to assess what leadership is doing in the immediate and near-term against the longer-term welfare of the ministry by asking the questions below:

• Is leadership’s plan too dramatic, jumping the gun? Is it cutting programs or laying off staff too quickly? Is it planning irreversible actions such as selling a building? Or, is it too lethargic, not addressing real risks? Is leadership avoiding the tough decisions?
  • In particular, make sure leadership avoids knee-jerk reactions that gut the mission-critical assets of the organization. There must be something that survives to carry on the mission.
• Are crisis communications in place? Is there clarity around who speaks for the organization and what the key messaging will be?
• Has leadership identified which leading indicators to watch? What are the real-time indicators of actual results to watch?
• How is the staff being cared for? Is leadership paying attention to their mental health? How is morale? Is the staff contributing to a solution?
• Is leadership considering all the relevant time periods: immediate, near-term, and long-term? Their focus will shift over time. When the crisis breaks, their attention will most likely be limited to the immediate present. But as the crisis works its way into a temporary new normal, leadership’s focus should shift to the longer-term future.

Guiding the Ministry to its Future

This is where the board moves into its generative role and looks into the long-term future.² In this role, the board questions everything and assumes nothing about the ministry or how it works except its mission. This role is one of maximum creativity.

Once the initial assessments of the leader and the risks posed by the crisis have been made, and when action is underway to minimize risk and the downside scenarios, the board should ensure the leadership gives attention to the upside potential. It can do this through the following questions:

• How could the organization come through the crisis and emerge in better shape than before?
• Where in this crisis are the opportunities for us to advance our mission?

Board Work

Finally, the board is responsible for deciding how it will do its own work.

• Should the board change how it works—the frequency of meetings and/or adding a helpful ad hoc committee?
• Does the board need to change the leader’s reporting requirements and frequency?
• Is there a need for new policy development to protect the organization better in future crisis scenarios?

Conclusion

Boards that give their very best governance in the uncertainties of a crisis can expect to emerge from the crisis as strong, healthy boards.

An expanded version of this post will be published in the September CCCC Bulletin.

The post Preparing for a Healthy Post-Crisis Board appeared first on CCCC Blogs.

It can also be fun, playful, and memorable!

Generative Governance

The quickest way to explain generative governance is the following scenario:

Unfortunately, the roof of your church caved in. How does the board respond?

• A board operating at the fiduciary level will ask, “Was anyone hurt? Are we covered by insurance?”
• A board operating at the strategic level will ask, “Should we take this opportunity to build a balcony to meet our anticipated growth?”
• A board operating at the generative level will ask, “Why do we need a roof? If we had no building at all, how would we do church?”

How Generative Governance Differs

Fiduciary governance asks, “Is everything is okay?”

Strategic governance asks, “What’s the plan?”

Generative governance asks, “What’s the question?”

Fiduciary governance is absolutely necessary, and helps ensure the ministry is safe and complies with all laws and regulations. Strategic governance is necessary if the ministry is to remain healthy and viable into future years. Generative governance is a crucial support to the accomplishment of the ministry’s mission.

It is different from both fiduciary and strategic governance, because they both assume that there are answers already existing that just need to be researched and found. They are designed to narrow options down so a decision can be made. Generative governance is quite different. It asks questions that don’t typically have ready answers. They need to be explored. Its goal is to expand the range of options and lead to further exploration. When it has done its work, then strategic and fiduciary governance can come into play to pick the option that best serves the ministry.

Generative Governance Is…

Generative governance:

• Searches for meaning and understanding
• Asks catalytic questions designed to open up our thinking so we can generate new alternatives
• Is playful and creative
• Leads to discovery
• Is unpredictable
• Thrives in a retreat-like environment

Design a Generative Governance Retreat

Three questions will help you design a generative governance retreat:

1. What are the priority issues we should use generative governance to investigate?
2. What information sources do we need, especially that are independent of management? This guarantees fresh thinking.
3. How do we create time for generative discussions? Likely you will have a board retreat, but you could also dedicate a half day of a day-long meeting to generative discussions, or if you have monthly board meetings, you might dedicate one meeting to generative governance.

CCCC Experience with Generative Governance

To help you plan a generative governance retreat, I’ll share how we constructed our first experience with generative governance at a CCCC board-staff retreat in June.

Our answers to the three questions were:

1. The priority issues are: a) how are the changing demographics and times affecting the ability of Christian ministries to raise funds? b) What is happening in the Evangelical Christian world and how might that affect us and our members? and c) What is happening in the association world that we should be aware of?
2. We wanted to hear from experts in the field and have some time to interact with them.
3. We decided to have a separate day dedicated to a retreat the day prior to our board meeting.

In designing the day, here’s what we did and how it worked.

• The CCCC board meets three times per year.
  • In September 2016, the board was given a presentation on what generative governance is and how it works, developed from Richard Chait’s chapter in Governance as Leadership: Reframing the Work of Nonprofit Boards. The board decided to discuss generative governance at the February meeting to decide if it would form the basis for a board retreat in June. The topic would be decided in February as well.
  • For the February meeting, the board was given several articles to read which describe how generative governance is done.
    • “Governance as Leadership: Reframing the Work of the Nonprofit Board” by the Pew Fund for Health and Human Services.
    • “Governance as Leadership: An interview with Richard P. Chait” by a newsletter called Great Boards.
    • “Good Remedy: Not for every ill” from The Philanthropist.
    • “Governance as Leadership: Executive book summary” by Keith Walker.
  • At the February board meeting, the board decided the topic to explore would be “10 things worth exploring for possible focus in Vision 2025.”
  • The one day retreat in June was broken into two parts: the morning was dedicated to receiving outside perspectives on the three topics related to our future; and the afternoon was devoted to prayer, reflection, and creative thinking. Our facilitator was fantastic – Jill Malleck of Epiphany at Work.
    • In the morning, we had three 30 minute presentations by Skype with 15 minutes in between each to reflect on what we heard and write some notes in a guided journaling exercise. We heard from:
      • Larry Matthews, of KMA Associates, on Trends in Charitable Funding for Christian Ministries. We chose this topic because fundraising is the lifeblood of our members, and we must understand the world in which they live.
      • Rick Hiemstra, director of research for the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, on Evangelicalism in Canada Tomorrow. We chose this topic as it will greatly affect the shape of our ministry sector over the next decade. It gave us a sense of where we as a community are going.
      • Jim Pealow, principal of Association Management, Consulting & Evaluation Services (AMCES) on Trends in Association Life. CCCC is essentially an association, so we needed to learn what is happening in our own sub-sector.
    • In the afternoon,  we had a guided individual reflection period followed by sharing (in groups of three) our observations, questions, and things we’d like to explore further.
    • We then spent time in listening prayer, followed by the whole group developing a list of themes, topics, and ideas that might warrant further exploration. The list had 41 items.
    • Once we had the list, we shared how our thinking had shifted during the day so far, and then did a creative small group exercise to develop stories of our future.
    • We ended the day with a guided discussion about the list of ideas and then voted on the top ten.
    • The output of the day was given to the staff to develop its thoughts, and then report to the board.

I was very excited by the list we came up with, particularly the top ten items, and really look forward to exploring them further. Everyone, both staff and board, thought the day was quite valuable and enjoyed the creative exercise. It was a very good day!

Okay, you’ve heard about generative governance. Now why not try it out for your ministry!

The post Generative Governance: Purpose & Significance in the Boardroom appeared first on CCCC Blogs.

Board Development’s Goal

The goal is to have a stronger, more creative, more capable, high-functioning governance team that is a blessing to the ministry, its staff, and its volunteers; one that creates the environment in which everyone serving the ministry can be fully who God made them to be to maximize their part in fulfilling its purpose. All board development is ultimately directed toward achieving that end result.

Every board should set a goal to be the very best board possible; to be an exemplary model of excellent governance that, as a microcosm of God’s realm, witnesses to God’s perfect, holistic final state for the world – shalom.

Development is Broad

It is natural to think of board development as group study, a few minutes out of a board meeting, but it is much broader than that. Anything that strengthens the board’s capacity to govern is board development. So think big. The question to ask is, “What will it take to get us closer to being the board we aspire to be?” The answer will be your board development plan.

Board development includes learning in its traditional formal and informal forms (books, courses, seminars), but it also encompasses shared experiences (visiting your ministry’s programs in action, debriefing and learning from how a board handled a situation or made a decision), activities that draw people closer together (group spiritual discernment, social events), and even infrastructure that supports the board (board website, work processes and committee structure, board directory).

A development plan should include anything that would help the board achieve its goal of being the very best possible board.

Development Needs

While you may already have identified a high priority development need, if you are not in a crisis and have some time, start with a board evaluation that will give you the information you need to do a needs assessment. CCCC (in the member area of our website) has a comprehensive survey your directors can complete that addresses both the individual and the group. We also have a webcast that helps you understand the issues addressed by the survey’s questions.

There are four broad development categories your needs will likely fit into:

1) Knowledge

Types of knowledge that the board may want to explore:

• Governance (models, legalities)
• Programs operated by the ministry
• Operations, risks, and other internal aspects of the ministry
• Financial literacy
• The environments you operate in (social, political, etc.)
• Stakeholder interests
• Mission-related specialized knowledge
• Tools and models for developing strategy
• Christian discernment practices
• A theology of the ministry’s core issue (eg., a theology of poverty, of disability, of ageing, etc)

2) Skill

Skill can be defined as the practical application of knowledge. It is one thing to know something, quite another to be good at making use of it. Skills a board might want to enhance include:

• Problem-solving
• Debate
• Creative thinking
• Conflict resolution
• Collaboration
• Strategic thinking
• Thinking theologically
• Group spiritual discernment

The board can either practice its new skills on real-life decisions it needs to make, or if those are too controversial or emotionally charged to use for practice, the board could develop some hypothetical scenarios to practice on instead. Miriam Carver has co-written a book called The Board Member’s Playbook: Using Policy Governance to Solve Problems, Make Decisions, and Build a Stronger Board. Her book analyzes and answers the scenarios according to policy governance principles, but the scenarios can be applied to any governance model, and the principles are readily transferable as well. The question you ask in each scenario is, “According to the way our board governs, how would we resolve this scenario?”

3) Relationships

Building and maintaining good relationships requires know-how and skill for sure, but it also requires directors who trust each other and are generous towards each other in their relationships. Board development must include lots of time for building strong interpersonal relationships. Having a good social environment increases peoples’ patience with each other and makes it more likely they will assume the best about the other person and cut him or her some slack when discussions get a bit tense. Based on healthy relationships, they will feel a commitment to work through differences together, rather than hardening their positions. Doing spiritual practices together also enhances relationships, and is a key part of demonstrating the Christian nature of the board.

Relationship building activities could include:

• Social times before or after meetings, such as meals or times in a relaxed environment
• Sharing of personal experiences to create affinity, such as why they are interested in the ministry, what their hopes are for it, family situations
• Trust-building exercises, which could include a discussion of life lessons they live by, their values, and their priorities
• Group devotions and prayer
• My post How to create a sense of team on a national board has lots of relationship-building ideas

4) Infrastructure

Support structures and processes that could strengthen the board include:

• Improving the recruiting and orientation processes
• Adding a committee to dig deeper into an area and develop proposals for discussion
• Making it easy for directors to communicate with each other
• Improving the quality and timeliness of information used by the board
• Technology to support the board’s work
• Documentation and easy retrieval of board decisions

DIY or Hire a Consultant?

The board can do a lot of board development without outside help, especially when there is no pressing issue to address. But if a board needs development to deal with a specific issue, the more urgent the issue is, and the greater the associated risks are, the more likely the board will want to engage a consultant. Hiring a consultant can be very helpful because:

1. They provide an unbiased, outsider’s perspective on the issue
2. They probably have dealt with similar issues elsewhere many times, and can help you get through the issue faster
3. They can break a logjam easier than the directors can because they are not subject to groupthink and therefore can spark more creativity than the board can on its own

It’s one thing to hire a consultant to help you through an issue; it is another thing to hire a consultant to help you through an issue while also transferring knowledge to your directors and training them on the tools and methodologies that were used. The transfer of knowledge and skill turns a regular consulting job into a board development exercise.This way, the board uses its own experience as a case study for internalizing the transferred knowledge and skill.

A board may also want to hire a consultant when it has no pressing issues. Instead of the board doing its own self-assessment, it could have the consultant assess the board and suggest a learning plan. The outside perspective is helpful because sometimes we give ourselves high scores on a self-assessment without really knowing what it takes to be worthy of a high score, and then we lose a chance to get better. A consultant would have a better perspective on how close to excellence the board really is.

If you do board development with in-house people leading it, you can easily build board development in to every board meeting. If you meet for two hours every month, perhaps 30 minutes could be devoted to board development. A board that meets a couple of times a year for a day at a time might give 90 minutes per meeting to development. Whatever time is allocated should be enough that learning can take place and skills practiced.

Development Resources

Resources for board development which don’t involve a consultant include online or live courses, seminars, conferences, books, MP3s, videos, and websites. In addition to resources on CCCC’s website (including this blog, board books and DVDs, and the knowledge bank), BoardSource, Leading From The Sandbox, and ChurchBoardChair.ca have good resources and posts.

Make the Development Stick

One advantage of group learning is that it is far more likely that real change will take place because:

• Everyone takes the course at the same time and knows what everyone else should be doing (reinforcing the new way of doing things)
• They all have the same terminology and shared experience (also reinforcing the new way)
• They are all prepared to discuss new ideas related to what they learned, so that action is taken

After a board development initiative has been completed, decide how you will capture what was learned in a permanent record, such as a board values statement, a policy manual, the orientation program, or a report that becomes a permanent board document.

You can pass what was learned on to new board members through the orientation program. Many boards require all directors to take the orientation program each year, because everyone needs a reminder of how the board wants to work. Seasoned directors may still gain fresh insights and application ideas with the benefit of their board experience. Orienting all directors annually keeps everyone on the same page.

Finally, be sure to practice your new knowledge or skills right away, so board development doesn’t become just an “interesting experience” that doesn’t actually change anything. Board development is of no value unless it is acted upon and makes a difference.

The post Board Development Plans appeared first on CCCC Blogs.

• The board didn’t understand its governance model (a policy governance model) and thought they couldn’t ask questions or do anything proactive in monitoring the ED.
• The ED aggressively told the board to stay out of staff affairs and the board accepted his argument.

I thought “Oh no! Not again!!” Another ministry that will be sidelined until the search process ends and a new ED (or pastor) settles in. This happens too often and it is soooo unnecessary. Both the board and the staff leader are at fault. The board did not properly govern and the ED rejected the board’s authority.

The Cost of Broken Board-Leader Relationships

The reason I find this scenario so upsetting is that the consequences for ministries caught in this situation are substantial, not only for the people involved and the ministry, but also for the whole body of Christ. Here are some of the costs of bad board-leader relationships:

• Bad leadership. Ideally, the board and senior staff function together as a single leadership team composed of two parts with different responsibilities: governance and management. They are not, and should never be allowed to be, in opposition to each other. Within a hierarchical relationship they work side by side, each respecting the boundaries between their roles, to get the mission accomplished. When communication between them is broken, mutual understanding is lost and overall leadership suffers badly. Everyone focuses on internal issues rather than the mission.
• Checks and balances are destroyed. Good leaders appreciate accountability as a way of ensuring they stay at the top of their game. Board oversight helps keep leaders from becoming arbitrary or overly confident, as they fulfill their accountability requirements to the board.
• The ministry no longer is a good witness to life in the kingdom of God. Gone is any witness to voluntary mutual submission, loving your neighbour, and Christian unity. God’s blessing may be lost as a result.

My Frustration

Unfortunately, I hear too many stories like this one.

I grieve every time as I think of the unnecessary waste of a leader’s potential, of the loss in terms of mission accomplishment, and of the pain the board suffers as it goes first through a remedial process with the leader and then, if necessary, a termination and search process. The staff, volunteers, and donors are also affected to one degree or another through the process. In ministries where the beneficiaries feel a connection with the leader, they suffer too.

All of this could be avoided if boards and leaders could just understand and accept their roles and responsibilities for organizational leadership better. “Why don’t people get it?” I wonder.

What I’m Doing about It

So, last spring as I thought about what I am most passionate about that I want boards and staff leaders to hear, the Spirit brought the quality of the board-leader relationship to mind, and I wrote a seminar about it. Starting this week, I’m visiting 14 cities across Canada to present The Board’s Most Important Relationship.

While the seminar covers lots of practical how-to’s, I think having a good board-leader relationship really boils down to two things (as do all relationships): empathy and respect for the other party.

I really encourage you to come with your board and leader.

If the relationship is good, the seminar will help define and cement the good practices and attitudes you already have, and may give you some additional tips. If the relationship is strained, the seminar will provide lots of ideas for how to redeem the relationship.

I can’t overstate how important I believe the board-leader relationship topic is. It’s hugely important and worthy of a small investment of your time and money to attend.

May God bless your ministry through its leadership team!

The post Too Many Pastors and Executive Directors Get Fired! appeared first on CCCC Blogs.

The Pastor’s World

A regional director for a denomination (who prefers to remain anonymous) recently gave me some great insights into pastors as organizational leaders. He says they must, and can, become good managers.

Ministers are primarily spiritual care-givers who work in a culture requiring of managers understanding and skill in four areas; the mind (non-clinical), communication, expediting, and administration. This requires them to often function outside their preferred trait. The challenge is to balance the care-giver orientation toward people with the task demands of managing the ministry.

Characteristically, most ministers are outgoing and gregarious, have high social service interest in directly helping people, strong persuasive tendencies and low or moderate interest in clerical or office work. They are happiest with artistic rather than managerial responsibilities. They generally have a people orientation and primarily prefer a communications-based culture designed to influence others, an intangible work environment that emphasizes collaboration, promoting, directing, and motivating others. They enjoy a culture of ideas, usually with a strong strategic focus, and a work environment that emphasizes planning, innovating, and creating.

To successfully lead in a multi-dimensional environment, pastors must be intentional with understanding the language, expectations and how individuals assess success in each of the four areas referred to earlier. Pastors and boards must be on the same page with not only what and how the church functions but why it exists and evaluate progress accordingly.

 As servants of the people, most pastors develop good management skills. Failure to address management issues eventually shows up as distrust at the board table. Leading well in today’s church environment requires pastors to have a knowledge of and progressive ability to manage the work of the ministry. You cannot separate ministry and management from a position of healthy influence and control.

This regional director gave me a much more nuanced understanding of the board-pastor relationship than I had before.

Church boards are made up of church members, and since only 12% of Canadians work in the nonprofit sector, chances are that most employed church members are used to the more task-oriented ways of business. This means that when they get together with a pastor who is most comfortable operating in the people-oriented realm, and discuss results and staff reports, they are likely to think the pastor is “shooting wide of the mark” when giving reports.

What to do? As the regional director suggested, pastors must learn to work outside of their natural comfort zones and learn about administration and so forth. But could the board also show some flexibility and move towards the people-oriented side and meet in the middle somewhere? I think they can. Here’s how both pastors and directors can move towards a common understanding.

Board & Pastor Development

An easy thing is for:

• Board members to learn about the differences between the charitable and for profit sectors, and
• Pastors to learn about the organizational responsibilities entailed with having charitable status.

There are two free resources which should help accomplish both goals:

1. A 30 minute webcast on the CCCC website called “Welcome to Charity Leadership.” This is a quick, high level overview of things that are unique about charities that directors and pastors must know.
2. My post called Business people as charity directors discusses how directors from the for profit sector need to adjust their thinking and terminology when they sit on a charity board.

Check the Governance Model

Many church boards have adopted a policy governance model, which is the most liberating model for the staff. It works quite well when properly implemented, but only if the church has a fully functioning management team. Policy governance demands from staff expertise and a way of thinking that pastors may find difficult to provide without strong administrative staff support.

So in a church with no management staff, a management board (also known as a traditional board) may be more appropriate because it draws on the expertise of church members who have the requisite skills for the administrative work, and leaves the pastoral work to staff. My caution is that a management board requires directors to set aside personal preferences, and in a church setting where board members are also beneficiaries and donors, setting personal preferences aside can be difficult. I have a post about the unique challenges of church boards that provides more information on this topic.

If the board is committed to a policy governance model, and if there is an administrative staff, one solution would be to have the church administrator report to the board as well as the pastor. Policy governance allows for this. The problem, though, with having two staff reporting to the board is that the board must now resolve differences between its two reports. With a single report, such differences get worked out by the staff.

Another solution, perhaps the best one, would be to have the administrator prepare the pastor’s board reports (in which case the pastor is still accountable for everything the administrator puts in the report).

Ensure the Pastor Sees the Value of Administration

Anyone who feels a strong sense of God’s call will be absorbed by that call. A question that is always on their mind is, “What relevance does this or that have with my call?” Why should pastors care about board reports when they are driven by mission?

Well, there are two key reasons why a pastor should care about having a good reporting structure in place:

1. Both the board and the pastor want the church’s mission accomplished, and board reports are a way that they can know that real results are being achieved and that the church’s programs are effective. Both parties should want to know the truth so they can make corrections. Who wants to arrive in heaven some day and discover the fruit from a lifetime of ministry wasn’t nearly what it could have been? Better to know now, when you can do something about it.
2. Both the board and pastor should also be vitally interested in the church’s organizational health. Is the local church sustainable? What might it look like in 5 or 10 years if current trends continue? Pastors should be interested in knowing how secure their ability to live out their call is.  When pastors know that the church is meeting its civil responsibilities (eg., government filings, compliance with regulations), has a viable cashflow, is able to attract good staff, and has a growing membership, they can be assured that they will be able to continue working on their call in that local church if they continue to grow professionally themselves.

A Common Language for Board and Pastor

When boards design the reports it wants and requires the pastor to complete them, they are asking pastors to do something they probably would rather not give a lot of time to, while at the same time imposing a reporting structure on the pastor. I’m told that pastors are not against structure per se, but they don’t like imposed structure; they’d rather design it themselves. So designing the reporting requirements should involve both the board and the pastor.

Are the people-oriented pastors up for this? Yes! Pastors may not naturally be comfortable with the corporate-style language often used by board members, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a good handle on the church’s affairs. They just have another way of thinking about it and a different vocabulary to describe it. If the board and pastor can come to a common language for reporting that the pastor naturally relates to, they will both feel better about the reporting structure.

Christian agencies have long been using a theory of change as part of their strategic planning. This theory is a model that appeals to the logical and factual way directors often think. Pastors, however, are usually well-trained to think in terms of a ministry philosophy, which fortunately functions in a way that is very similar to a theory of change. If your pastor doesn’t have a ministry philosophy, there are some excellent reasons why they should make the effort to write one for the church. (The one they have may relate only to their own ministry portfolio.)

A ministry philosophy gives you:

• a definition of mission
• a way to link activities to mission and an opportunity to look for untested assumptions
• a definition of success, and the basis for figuring out how to measure it

The questions the board should then ask the pastor are:

• How do you know how well you are doing in fulfilling your call to ministry?
• How do you know how well the church as a whole is fulfilling God’s purpose for it?

Some of the pastor’s answers may be tangible and measurable, but others may be anecdotal. That’s okay. Both quantitative and qualitative information is helpful. If it is difficult to define or obtain tangible measurements, you can fall back to other indicators of success.

How do you measure what is going on in the heart of a church member? Are they closer to Christ than a year ago? How do you measure that? You could consider other indicators of Christian growth. One might be engagement with the local church in terms of attendance, volunteering, and giving. Another might be the freshness of their testimonies of God’s work in their lives. Or you could ask people to share stories about how they live out their faith in the broader community, perhaps through volunteering or even informal, personal activities. The danger here is that you could become legalistic and start thinking of what people should be doing. The important thing is that people find their own ways to live and grow in their faith.

You can also take your board policies (“executive limitations” in policy governance parlance) and ask questions that get at those policies in terms the pastor thinks about. For example, if you have a policy about treatment of staff, you could ask:

• Has each staff member had a formal performance review within the last year?
• Do you have a professional development plan for each staff member?
• What is the atmosphere in the office like? How would you describe the environment?
• Is anything about staff troubling you?

Mutual Support

My prayer is that this post will help pastors and boards find a way to work together that works well for everyone. God bless!

The post Pastors and Their Boards: How to Connect appeared first on CCCC Blogs.

Collective Wisdom

Since the board chair cannot override the board or act without board authorization, every board decision must be a group decision. The practical consequence of this design is that collective wisdom is built right into the board’s fabric, resulting in five key benefits.

Fuller Discussion

Since no one can unilaterally jump in and make a decision, and even a request to end discussion needs the group’s approval, no one on their own can force a premature vote. Discussion cannot be cut off until at least the majority feel that everything has been well researched and discussed.

It is more likely, then, that the board will have fuller deliberations than any individual would have on their own. One person may be sold on a particular decision that seems obvious and be ready to rush forward, succumbing to the temptation to save time and ‘just do it.’ But in a group situation, others may feel that alternatives have not yet been seriously explored and cause the board to slow down and go into deeper or broader analysis and debate. While the decision may take longer, the board’s collective wisdom will result in a better quality decision.

Synergy

If you want creativity or new thinking, there’s nothing like a group to make it happen. A comment by one person sparks an idea in another. Yet another person observes the line of thought and comes up with a fresh angle. Collective wisdom develops as people gain insights and “Aha’s!” from what others have said. A single jumping off point for discussion becomes multiple jumping off points when a group gets ahold of it.

Smoothing

Collective wisdom evens out the directors’ individual risk tolerances and personal preferences, including those of the chair (which might dictate the decision if the chair made the decision alone).

Each individual risk tolerance or personal preference will have less influence on the group’s decision than they would if a person decided alone. Each one can be identified and objectively tested for validity and reasonableness. Risks can be challenged, mitigated, or accepted by the group, when they might have been too much for one person to accept. Personal preferences or biases (present in all of us) will be uncovered and considered, thus arriving at a decision which is better thought out than would otherwise be the case.

Breadth of Perspective

Staff are hired for their skill related to the ministry’s work, and over time they become encultured to the ministry’s way of seeing things. This is what employers want, but it also has its downside, because staff will gradually come to think more and more alike.

Directors, on the other hand, are selected because they represent a demographic (chosen by the board as significant to good governance at the particular ministry), and for their skill at governing. They should have a passion for the mission, of course, but they come from a wide variety of backgrounds.

In the case of the CCCC board, we have people representing church ministries, denominational ministries, and Christian agencies. The directors live anywhere from New Brunswick to British Columbia.

They also have a variety of professional and educational qualifications and experience. The staff can only afford to hire people with the particular qualifications the ministry’s current work demands. The board is where you can assemble volunteers with a much broader set of qualifications that are beneficial to the ministry.

The directors should therefore have a very wide breadth of perspectives to add to the depth of perspective contributed by staff.

Boundary-Spanning

Directors are in a unique position to help the ministry. Like staff, they are well-educated in the business of the ministry, but unlike staff, they are not immersed in the ministry because they spend most of their time away from the ministry’s day-to-day operations. Since they span the organization’s boundaries, they can critique budgets, action plans and strategic plans from both external and internal perspectives.

Summary

Collective wisdom increases as board diversity increases. When board recruiting becomes a strategic process, there will be a consequent improvement in the quality of governance.

The Downside of Group Decisions

Having to come to a group decision does have its limitations. Getting a decision from the board may mean that:

• choices follow conventional wisdom
• caution replaces daring
• tinkering replaces radical re-invention.

To avoid this, the board needs to be aware of its own risk tolerances and compare those to the needs of the ministry. When confronted by options that it considers too bold or daring, the board needs to identify exactly what it is challenged by and then see how it could mitigate those risks. There are times when the board needs to move into uncomfortable degrees of risk if the organization is to move forward. A board with a low tolerance for risk will likely end up overseeing a shrinking and increasingly marginal ministry.

Preserving the Collective Benefits

The added value of collective wisdom disappears when the board allows the senior staff member or the chair to effectively run the board. There are at least four reasons why this situation may arise; one is the fault of the senior staff member, one the chair’s fault, and the other two are the board’s fault. The reasons are:

• The executive may be a strong personality who dominates the board by stacking it with friends or intimidates it by sheer force of power. If the board is ever afraid to confront the executive, something is seriously wrong.
• The chair may also be a strong personality, perhaps even the founder. A domineering chair is no better than a domineering director. This can be a very difficult situation to correct, but the board does need to take action. Perhaps a senior director or former director may be able to discuss the issue with the chair. Or the nominating committee should implement a process for doing annual review of the board and committee chairs. Anything that surfaces the issue would be good. Otherwise, the directors must take bold action at the first board meeting after the AGM and elect a new chair.
• The board may be in awe of the executive or hold the person in such high respect that they defer to that person. This may happen because of the leader’s demonstrated success or because the directors are overwhelmed by the staff leader’s passion and enthusiasm.
• It may be the board just isn’t doing its job. When this happens, don’t be surprised if the executive shows leadership. Leaders lead and are likely to step in when there is a leadership vacuum. The best senior leaders would, however, help the board recover its true role by: a) pointing out the problem to the board, and b) suggesting options for board development. Self-aware executives know it is in their best interest (and that of the ministry too) to have a high-functioning board.

The solution to all the scenarios is the same: the board needs to embrace its responsibilities, fully engage with decisions, educate itself, and maintain its independence from management while collaborating with it. Directors should go back to square one and learn to govern.

A Note to Senior Staff Leaders

You may be wondering how you can bring the advantages of collective wisdom to your staff. The answer is simple: adopt a collegial, team-based leadership style. There may be times when you make a decision alone, but as much as possible, lead by consensus with your senior team. Try it. You’ll love it!

The post Collective Wisdom: A Board’s Added Value appeared first on CCCC Blogs.

When you and I engage with work, a cause, a hobby, or a person, things happen too. And when ministry directors engage with their ministry’s cause, not only do things happen for them, but their engagement provides benefits for others as well. By engaging well, they:

1. motivate staff,
2. change the board-staff dynamic for the better, and
3. advance the ministry’s mission.

Motivation

When directors go beyond their board duties and voluntarily do something extra to support the ministry’s work, they send a powerful and encouraging message to staff. Their contribution shows that they are not just interested in governing or being a director, but are committed to the actual mission itself.

Ministry staff are dedicated to the mission, probably having sacrificed more lucrative careers or better working conditions elsewhere for the sake of working on the mission. When board members engage beyond their board work, it affirms the choices made by the staff and sends a powerful message that others are willing to help bear the burden. It is always motivational when you realize you are not struggling alone!

Board-Staff Dynamic

Sometimes an unhealthy “Us vs. Them” attitude can develop between board and staff. The more involved the board is in the operational decisions, and the less that staff (below the senior level) have to interact with the board, the greater the possibility for this problem to develop.

That divisive attitude can be changed to “You and I, we together” when staff members see directors doing things that support their work. Staff will more likely consider directors as partners working in common cause and there will be a greater sense of teamship between board and staff. It’s a much healthier environment for everyone.

Advancing the Mission

Directors want to see the mission advanced as much as staff do, and they may come up with their own ideas about how to help the ministry. As long as they check with staff that their ideas will truly help the ministry and not conflict with or complicate anything that the staff are doing, they can  contribute to advancing the mission, and that makes everyone happy! Directors just need to remember that when they do this, they’ve taken off their board hat and put on their volunteer hat.

Ways to Engage

Here are a few ways that directors can engage with the organization and its mission.

Fundraising

A director’s own donations to the ministry usually are confidential, but the fact that the ministry’s fundraiser can tell potential major donors that the directors do support the ministry financially is a real help to convincing these large donors to give.

Beyond their own giving, directors can raise resources for the ministry from others. For example, they might find sponsors for events, raise in-kind donations from businesses, or introduce their friends to the ministry as potential donors.

When Heather Card (formerly COO at CCCC) was chair of World Relief Canada she served as a great example of how directors can engage in a public fundraising program. When Heather and her husband Rod celebrated their 25th anniversary, they wanted to include World Relief as part of that celebration. So they decided to raise $25,000 for the ministry by challenging their friends to give and they would match their gifts until the goal was achieved. They approached World Relief and worked together with their development staff to put together a campaign that involved the Card’s social network as well as the ministry’s communication channels. Heather and Rod’s campaign raised $107,000 for a great cause, and World Relief created a really nice “Thank you” video for the donors.

Champion

A champion is someone who acts as an evangelist or an advocate for the ministry. Directors can be ministry champions simply by being alert to appropriate opportunities wherever they are; at church, at work, among friends.

In my book, The Church at Work: A Manual for Church-Agency Relations, I wrote about the excellent ministry partnership between Wycliffe Bible Translators and Metropolitan Bible Church in Ottawa. This great relationship came about because Wycliffe’s board chair attended that church and was able to champion its cause within the church.

Volunteering

There’s nothing like actually doing the ministry’s work to really understand what it does, Volunteering is a form of direct inspection that will better equip directors to discuss the ministry at the board table. It’s one thing to know the facts about a program; it’s quite another to personally experience it and see how people respond to it. This type of engagement also builds relationship between directors and the staff. Again, the director needs to remember that the director hat is off and the volunteer hat is on during the volunteer activities.

At CCCC, we don’t have many volunteer opportunities. So when a director volunteers to come and help with registration at a regional seminar, it gladdens my heart. Their time is precious, and I appreciate when they invest it in a CCCC event.

Representing

In part 3 of this series, I wrote about how directors represent the outside world and their particular constituencies to the organization. But they can also turn around and represent the organization to the outside world and their constituencies. On behalf of the ministry, directors could deliver speeches, attend meetings, visit donors, and so forth.

CCCC is located in a small town in Ontario, and at times we have had directors represent us at events in British Columbia and Alberta when staff were not able to be there.

Prayer

One CCCC board member stands out, and he is so humble I will restrain my inclination to name him, but I know he prays for me by name each and every day, and many other people as well, including some staff at CCCC. He also sends encouraging emails. This is a special way of engaging with the staff on a uniquely Christian level.

Social Media

One easy way directors can engage with the ministry is through social media. We have a director who retweets for us, likes posts on our Facebook page, posts that he’s looking forward to an upcoming board meeting, and generally helps raise our social media profile.

Be Creative

How a board member engages with the ministry really depends on their personal make-up. Finding a way to engage can start with asking oneself why they got involved with the ministry in the first place. What has God given them a passion for? What aspects of the ministry do they particularly care about? Be creative and find your own way to engage with the mission.

Why not share your tips for how directors can engage with the ministry?

The post Board Engagement: A Board’s Added Value appeared first on CCCC Blogs.

Here’s a great set of questions you could use for this assessment. The survey deals with how the board works rather than the work itself. The board would use this survey as one of a series so that over time every aspect of the board’s performance would be reviewed.

Insert these questions into an online survey tool such as the free version of  SurveyMonkey and send your directors a link. The output can be used:

• by the directors for their own self-improvement
• by the board to decide what training to provide to directors
• by the board to improve its work processes

Board Performance Review Survey

Director’s Self-Evaluation

1. I’m prepared

• I thoroughly review the Board package before each meeting
• I do additional research to enable me to contribute more effectively to discussions
• My submissions to the Board are complete, accurate and submitted on the Board report template
• I complete the committee work I’ve been assigned
• Any questions I’ve had about how to serve well on this board have been answered to my satisfaction.

2. I’m punctual

• I’m on time for Board meetings
• I’m on time for committee meetings
• I submit contributions to the Board package by the deadline
• I attend all Board meetings
• I attend all my committee meetings

3. I participate

• I actively engage in discussions during Board meetings
• I attend the Board prayer time
• I attended the Board/staff retreat
• I pray for the Board & Lead Pastor/CEO
• I’ve read any governance books or articles that have been provided
• I’ve participated in board orientation events
• I’ve done research on my own to help me become a better Board member
• I feel free to share my opinion
• I actively participate on a Board committee
• I feel my contributions to the Board have been appreciated

4. I’m positive

• I represent the Board’s decisions with “one voice”, whether I voted in favour or not
• I take off my “Board hat” when I’m speaking with staff outside the Board meeting
• I redirect people appropriately when I’m approached about non-Board issues
• I convey a positive impression of serving on the Board
• My personal lifestyle reflects positively on my role as a Board member
• I feel the time I have given this board has been a valuable contribution to the ministry
• I feel I have been enriched by my membership on this board

Board Evaluation

5. The board is prepared

• The Board package is distributed in time for me to review before the meeting
• The agenda is well-structured
• We set aside time for prayer as a Board
• We have the right mix of skills and diversity on our board
• We have the right governance model for our ministry

6. The board is punctual

• The meetings are managed to start & end on time
• The minutes of our meetings are distributed on a timely basis

7. The board participates

• Our annual budget includes funding specifically for Board Development
• Board Development is part of our regular agenda
• We are achieving the goals we have set for the board
• Adequate time is allowed for discussion of agenda items
• We confine our discussion to the governance level
• Our discussions are lively but respectful
• The Lead Pastor/CEO participates freely in our discussions
• We accomplish things at our meetings

8. The board is positive

• The Board has a positive reputation with staff
• The Board has a positive image with the congregation and/or our donors
• We have a healthy working relationship with the Lead Pastor/CEO
• The Lead Pastor/CEO communicates appreciation for the work of the Board
• The Chair values & respects Board members & their time
• The Board values & respects staff
• If a church, the congregation understands the role of the Board
• Staff understand the role of the Board

9. Here are some ways we could do board work even better next year.

• We should stop…
• We should start…
• We could improve…

The post Board Survey: How Is Your Board Doing? appeared first on CCCC Blogs.

In fact, by setting the agenda the chair already has that ability. But the whimsical image of a board chair holding a remote control will help you remember four of the ways a board adds value.

Rewind = Review

The board reviews the ministry’s performance, but it also needs to review its own performance, including its adherence to the organization’s values.

Board Performance

The board adds value when it improves its skills and work processes, so here are some reviews that could be done:

• Have directors do an annual board performance review and suggest ideas for board development. Consider inviting senior staff to participate in the review because they work with the board and should have useful insights. Rather than using a single performance review template every year, you might think about asking different questions to get at different aspects of the board’s work. Over the years, the CCCC board has:
  • examined how it produces value
  • evaluated its performance against its policies for how it will work
  • compared its decisions for alignment with the corporate values
  • had individual directors evaluate their own performance as a director
  • had directors evaluate the board for how well it does its work
  • analyzed the agendas for the last year to see what the board spends its time on and if it addresses all the matters that a board should address
  • evaluated the current governance model to see if it is still the right model
• Review the performance of the board and committee chairs to ensure that good leadership is in place. Senior staff who work with the committees might be invited to participate here too. The CCCC board is in the midst of designing this process.
• This might be a bit far out, as I’ve never heard of it being done before, but it came to mind so here it is for your consideration. If your corporate membership is larger than the board, select a committee from the members who are not directors and ask them to review the minutes for the year and offer their comments and suggestions related to governance matters. This makes board accountability to the corporate membership more meaningful.
• Examine how well the board’s support systems are working, and whether it has all the support systems it needs. For example, does the board have a system to keep itself informed about the external environment? How does it orient new board members? One support system the CCCC’s board has is a board website that posts all board documents, bios and contact info for directors, pages for board committees, and so on.
• At each meeting, the board could assign one person to do a mini-review of that meeting focusing on how well the board complied with its own policies and how effective the meeting was. Here are the questions CCCC uses for this report.

Adherence to Values

Most organizations have corporate values that reflect its particular ethos. Since the board meets only periodically and the directors are likely associated with organizations that have their own sets of values, it is important that when they serve as this ministry’s directors they keep its values in mind. The board adds value when it ensures the organization acts in accordance with its declared values by:

• considering how the corporate values relate to the issue under discussion
• reviewing periodically how well the board is living out the corporate values
• checking that management has also adhered to the corporate values

Pause = Reflect

Great Board Deliberations

Boards add value by not rushing through an agenda but giving time for directors to reflect. Time should be allowed for group spiritual discernment, dialogue, and discussion; the three foundations for great board deliberations. I cover this topic in Serving as a Board Member, but often spiritual discernment is assumed to be an individual, private practice, and people usually think they already know what is best and skip over dialogue without even realizing it, going straight to discussion. When discussion is all you do in your deliberations, you have missed the most creative parts of developing a great solution.

• Group spiritual discernment gives the Holy Spirit room to speak to the board as a whole. This adds a whole different dynamic to the board’s spirituality.
• A dialogue is a free-ranging exploration of ideas without any judgements about those ideas. It helps you understand the topic at hand and find as many viewpoints as possible.
• A discussion is about analysis and persuasion. Promising viewpoints are researched to find factual support and to test assumptions. Then discussion turns to persuading people to one or the other of the options so that the board can reach a consensus.

Mission Progress

The board should also periodically sit back and reflect on what the board and management are spending time on and the results they are achieving. They can do this by looking at agendas and committee and management reports. Then they can assess whether or not the ministry is really moving forward in its mission.

If either the board or management feels like they are just going through the motions, or are stuck on a treadmill, it is time to discuss mission, outcomes and impacts, and how to shake things up. It may be time for field research, new blood on the board or staff, or a really challenging goal that revitalizes the organization.

Fast Forward = Represent

The board is in a unique position to help the ministry. They are not staff; they are quasi-outsiders who know the ministry very well. But unlike complete outsiders, they have detailed knowledge of the ministry. And unlike staff, they usually aren’t as comprehensively encultured. This means that directors are reasonably independent boundary spanners, linking the internal and external worlds of the ministry, with much to contribute to organizational life.

Senior management also spans organizational boundaries, but it crosses from the inside out, while directors cross from the outside in. Each contributes to a full understanding of the organization in its environment.

Directors are additional eyes and ears for the ministry, potentially acquiring a significant amount of market research. They also have a wide variety of experience and expertise through which to interpret what they discover in the field.

This all means that directors can hit the fast forward button, project current plans and activities into the future and, acting as representatives of the constituencies with their perspectives, provide the board and management with advice about the likely reception and outcomes of those plans and activities.

Eject = Replace

Senior Leader Replacement

The board must ensure that the right leadership is in place. This responsibility doesn’t end when someone is hired because, as with any other decision, a hiring decision has a “shelf life.” Circumstances may change and require a different skill set, so the right person today may become the wrong person tomorrow. The board needs to ask every once in a while, “Have we still got the right leader?” (Here’s what the senior staff leader can do to make a favourable answer more likely.)

Boards should do what they can to support their senior executive’s success, and one way is by providing frequent performance reviews. I am amazed how many senior leaders have said they’ve never had a performance review! They’re in the minority, but there shouldn’t be any at all.

When it is determined that the leader is no longer the right person, and is not likely to become such, then the board must do what is best for the ministry and bring about a leadership change. A termination or non-renewal of a contract should be handled sensitively and in a manner that exemplifies life in the kingdom of God, recognizing that the leader who is leaving was called by God (and the board) for a period of time and has served to the best of his or her abilities.

Board Member Replacement

The board should have an intentional program of building and maintaining the ideal board by recruiting directors who add value to the composition of the board. People might add value in a number of ways:

• They represent part of the constituency.
• They are great fundraisers or have an excellent network of useful contacts.
• They have strong governance skills.
• They have expert knowledge of the ministry’s field of work.
• They have any useful attribute.

To guide the recruiting process, the board should consider what kinds of people would make an ideal board for the next season in the ministry’s life. I say season because what makes an ideal board may change from time to time as the issues facing the board change.

The board must also deal promptly with any director who either inhibits the board’s work or who does not fulfill the expectations of a director.

The Theme Today

These four ways of adding value all relate to the board spending time in reflection. Romans 12:3 is aimed at the individual person, but it can equally well apply to the corporate body: Think of yourself with sober judgment.

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