Effective Board Meetings

I believe that this is my last article comparing leading a staff team to leading a team of governance volunteers. If you haven’t been following along, but are curious to learn more, check out my previous articles on this topic:

What I have observed in working with and speaking with hundreds of nonprofit leaders, is an interesting disconnect. Whether it’s Board Chairs, who supervise and lead staff for their paid job, or Executive Directors, who lead a team of employees to deliver the work of the organization. These folks are often highly skilled when it comes to supervising and managing paid staff. Then, when it comes to leading a group of governance volunteers, they struggle. That was the motivation behind my last several articles comparing these two types of teams. 

I often say that all business is people-business. And when it comes to the nonprofit sector, that statement can be multiplied by 100. Everything about leading a nonprofit comes down to the ability to work with people. Relationships drive programming, funding, governance, partnerships, vision, impact and more. It doesn’t matter if you are speaking with your paid staff, volunteers, friends or your spouse, healthy communication is the foundation of strong relationships. 

Board Meetings as Special Events

One of the main communication systems most nonprofits have in place for connecting with their volunteers the regular board meetings. Hopefully this is not the only communication system, but it’s a pretty important one. So much so, that I have always thought of a board meeting as a special event. 

Think for a moment of the  Board of Directors as an adult leadership program. This program supports the volunteers governing the organization, and also helps develop even stronger and more passionate volunteer leaders. Running this program involves engaging different volunteers in a variety of aspects of leading the organization. This could include leading a committee, doing research, advocating for the organization, friend-raising, and more. Then the board meeting is when it all comes together. 

Like with a special event, a lot of planning, communication and preparation go into ensuring that it’s a success. The March article on communication goes into a detailed process on how-to and what-to communicate with your volunteers leading up to and following a board meeting. Ensuring everyone knows when the meeting will be and its content is important, but it’s just a small part of planning this special event. 

Components of Effective Team Meetings

Whether your team is made up of paid staff, or governance volunteers; meetings are a critical tool for effective communication, collaboration, and problem-solving within any organization. An effective meeting requires careful planning and execution to ensure that everyone is engaged, productive, and focused on the team’s objectives. 

  • Clear Objectives: Every meeting should have a clear purpose and objectives. If you don’t know why you are bringing people together, it’s worth evaluating the value of the meeting. Generally with board meetings we are looking to do some or all of these things:
    • Connect volunteers to the mission
    • Ensure everyone is well-informed and on the same page
    • Educate volunteers on their role and/or skills development
    • Problem-solve
    • Team-building
    • Strengthen communication
    • Address official business
  • Agenda: A well-planned agenda is a critical component of an effective team meeting. The agenda should be distributed to all participants a minimum of one week before the meeting, along with any pre-read materials or preparation required. The agenda will help keep the meeting focused and ensure that all relevant topics are covered. My recommended board meeting agenda is as follows, and is similar to my staff meeting agenda:
    • Welcome/Opening – In addition to introductions, this is a great time for a mission moment spotlighting the work of the organization. (Connecting volunteers to the mission.)
    • Segue – Have everyone share some good news, both personal and professional. This provides a transition from what they were doing before, to this group. It also ensures that everyone speaks at least once in the meeting. (Team-building.)
    • Approval of Minutes (Address official business.)
    • Customer/Employee/Board Headlines – Note anything worth celebrating or acknowledging. (Connect to the mission. Team-building. Strengthen communication.)
    • Operational Announcements (Strengthens communication.) 
    • To-Do Items – Review any action items from the previous meeting. Are they completed, progressing, or off-track? Any off-track items drop down to the Discussion section. (Strengthen communication. Identify issues needing problem-solving)
    • Committee Reports – High level presentation of the work of the committees. Vote on initiatives when appropriate. Drop any issues down to the Discussion section. (Ensure everyone is well informed. Problem-solving. Strengthen communication.)
    • Discussion Items – All of the previous items should be addressed fairly quickly, leaving half or even two-thirds of the meeting time to focus on your Discussion Items. If there is a long list, as a group choose the 3 most important topics that need to be addressed. Give each topic 15-minutes. If you get through all items, pick the next most important one to discuss. (Skills development. Problem-solving. Strengthen Communication. Address official business.)
    • Conclusion – At the end of the meeting review any action items or assignments made. Discuss any outward communications that need to come out of this meeting, and who will handle it. (Ensure everyone is well-informed. Strengthen communication.)

You can grab a copy of my recommended board meeting agenda here.

  • Active Participation: Effective meetings require active participation from all team members. Otherwise, why are they there? The meeting leader, usually the Board Chair, can encourage this by asking specific people for their insights, going around the room and having everyone contribute, or breaking up into smaller groups for in-depth discussions. 
  • Time Management: We are all busy and time is a precious commodity. Effective meetings require good time management. Consider assigning a time-keeper to keep things moving along and minimize tangents. Effective meeting time management can bolster engagement when volunteers know their time is respected and used effectively.
  • Action Items: The point of a meeting is to make decisions and move the organization forward. As stated above, capture action items and next steps during the meeting and assign ownership and deadlines. Review at the end of the meeting and put these items on the agenda for next time, so they don’t get lost. This will help to ensure that decisions are acted upon and progress is made.

If you have not been thinking of your board meetings as a special event, give it a try. It establishes a greater sense of importance and production. Running quality board meetings can be one of the most effective strategies you implement in attracting and retaining quality board members. People want to know why they are coming together, they want to use their time effectively, and they want to see progress. Thoughtful and intentional board meetings can be the backbone needed to advance your work. 

Make Sure Everyone is Prepared

In addition to sending out agendas and assignments in advance of the meeting, everyone should know their role in the meeting. If you have a committee chair giving a report, review it with them in advance. Without guidance, they may end up just reading the minutes from their last meeting. Coach any who will be speaking or presenting on what and how they should approach the assignment. There is a bit of orchestrating that goes into delivering a quality board meeting special event. 

Timing is Everything

Finally, I highly recommend that your meetings have a set day and time. This way volunteers can have an entire year’s worth of meetings on their calendars. They can plan around them and communicate when there are conflicts. If yours is a brand new board, and you are still figuring out when that best time to meet is, use the input of the group, and then set the time that works best for everyone. As early as possible, establish that standing day and time. 

When it comes to frequency, I think monthly or every other month is best. Any less frequent, and you totally lose any momentum that you gain at the meeting. There are exceptions. For example, if you bring people in from all over the country/world. Or if your agency’s focus is on an event that happens once a year. For those who bring the board together less than every other month, it will be important to develop a robust committee structure or other work to keep your volunteers connected to your cause and to the important work of governing your agency. 

I love helping organizations evolve their board meetings from “sit & gets” to engaging and robust systems for advancing their work. Email me at Kim@Athena-CoCo.com, or schedule a Discovery Call to discuss creating board meeting special events that will drive your organization’s success! 

Kim is a mom, lover of being active and the outdoors,
and helper of nonprofit leaders.
kim@athena-coco.com

Dealing with Challenging Board Members

What is a challenging board member? How do they compare to a difficult staff person? Some of the characteristics are probably pretty similar, right? Here are some of the most common complaints I hear about how board members frustrate agency leadership:

  • They don’t do what they said they would do or what they are supposed to do
  • They say one thing and then do another
  • They drop the ball
  • They don’t show up when expected
  • They fail to communicate effectively
  • They stir up conflict with other board members
  • They harbor hidden agendas
  • They dominate conversations and shut down other view points

Anyone who supervises staff can probably relate to one or more (or all) of these scenarios. In my continued comparison of leading staff and leading boards, today’s article is focused on how to deal with difficult volunteers. 

The Best Defense is a Good Offense

Before we delve into how to address performance issues, let’s talk about some prevention strategies. By putting systems in place,  you can often stop problems before they occur. 

I often say that all business is people-business, and even more so when it comes to the nonprofit sector. Everything we do, from the people we serve, to the problems we solve, to the donors and shareholders who support our work – it all boils down to relationships. And you cannot have healthy relationships without clear and consistent communication. 

When it comes to leading board members (and staff), clear communication and healthy relationships are just the beginning. Afterall, volunteers are there for a reason! Establishing agreed upon expectations and consistently holding people accountable will create the foundation needed to drive the work of your board and your organization forward. It also gives clarity to board members who might not really know what is needed from them. 

It’s Not You, It’s Your Behavior

As with any performance issue – staff or volunteer – it’s important to focus on the behaviors. By valuing the individual and working with them to change counterproductive behaviors, you can avoid hurting feelings and often strengthen valuable relationships. Generally speaking, people are associated with your organization because they care about the cause, and making our world a better place. Sometimes they need help understanding what is helpful and what is not. 

Reality

Wouldn’t it be great if by putting expectations and communications systems into place, you were guaranteed smooth sailing? Since we are all human with different life experiences, ideas, passions, and priorities – it’s not always that simple. Sooner or later reality sets in and behaviors emerge that make it difficult to move the work of organization forward. 

When (not if) that happens, I recommend following a  process very similar to how we address performance issues with staff. Ideally this process is led by the Board Chair. If that position is not developed to the point of being able to address performance issues, this may fall on the shoulders of the Executive Director. In that case, another volunteer should be present during the conversation, representing the governance leadership. 

Addressing Board (or staff) Issues

  • Don’t delay – create a plan to address the problem as soon as it becomes apparent
  • Define the problem clearly – “Here’s what I perceive is happening”
  • Identify the effect of the problem – “When you do ______________ , the impact is ______________”
  • Listen to the response – “Tell me your thoughts”
    • Avoid getting sucked into a debate or argument
    • Listen to understand; reflect what you’re hearing or sensing
  • Re-examine expectations – “Our agency’s success requires board members to ______________”
  • Describe the specific corrective action – “Here’s what needs to be done differently”
  • Determine if issues exist that limit the volunteer’s ability to change the behavior – “What challenges remain that we need to address?”
  • Seek feedback – “I want to be sure we’ve communicated effectively, let’s summarize the changes we’ve agreed on”
  • Create mutual agreement for implementation – “How will the change be accomplished?”
  • Identify measurement and follow-up – “How will we know we’re being successful?”
  • Summarize the agreement
  • State the consequences of their not making agreed-upon changes – this is not a threat!
    • It’s stating what the organization needs from its governance volunteers
  • End positively – “When I do ______________ and you do ______________ , I’m sure we’ll be successful”
  • Document – since volunteers transition through roles, future leaders need to know about any issues that have been addressed

I often help organizations to put foundational processes in place and to establish a strong offense against board performance issues. Email me at Kim@Athena-CoCo.com, or schedule a Discovery Call to discuss creating a Board of Superheroes that will drive your organization’s success! 

Kim is a mom, lover of being active and the outdoors,
and helper of nonprofit leaders.
kim@athena-coco.com 

Mission Monday ~ The Exodus Road

According to the latest report from the International Labour Organization there are currently 50 million enslaved people in the world. Of those, 22 million are in forced marriages, 21.3 million are in forced labor, and 6.3 million are in commercial sexual exploitation. These numbers represent an increase of 10 million people over the last 5-years. The Exodus Road is combating this global crisis with their vision of a world where humans are never bought, sold or exploited. 

Through programming focused on training/education, intervention, and aftercare this agency is battling human trafficking in Brazil, India, Latin America, the Philippines, Thailand, and the US. In the 10-years that The Exodus Road has been operating – 1,814 children, men and women have been freed from trafficking. 1,543 survivors have been supported with aftercare; this is significant as 80% of those trafficked end up being re-exploited.

Training and education serves to help increase awareness and understanding of law enforcement, nonprofit partners, and the local communities on human trafficking. To date 1,246 officers and citizens have been trained on the realities of human trafficking and how to fight it in their own countries. Education is one of the most powerful and crucial weapons in the fight for freedom. You can take their digital course – TraffickWatch –  to learn facts, stories and action steps you can take. 

In speaking with Sonia Meeter, Director of Partnerships, I learned that small efforts can have an impact on this big problem. Monthly donations of even $19 truly helps make a difference and advance this work. You can also engage with The Exodus Road via social media to learn more about their work and share with friends and colleagues. Links, as well as a sign-up for their newsletter, can be found at the bottom of their website.  

After 10 years of fighting to eradicate human trafficking, it’s time to celebrate the impact The Exodus Road community has made over the past decade. Their Anniversary Celebration is coming right up on Thursday, October 6th at Lumen8 Rooftop Social. If you are moved to get involved in the fight against human trafficking, consider joining this insider’s look into the work. Details and tickets can be found here, TODAY is the last day to purchase!

Kim Stewart

Kim is a mom, lover of being active and the outdoors.
She empowers nonprofit organizations to help make the world a better place.
kim@athena-coco.com

Everyone Should Have a Budget. Period.

Over the last year and a half, as I’ve been meeting and speaking with small business owners and nonprofit leaders, one thing has amazed me. I’m always surprised to learn how many businesses do not have a budget. Either they are small enough that they don’t see the point. Or they have never had one, so why start now? One for-profit business told me that their entire purpose is to make money and who needs a budget for that? Maybe most concerning is when the leader has a strong understanding of the finances, but they just keep it all in their head. 

Allow me to explain why I believe everyone needs a budget. This goes for nonprofits, for-profits, and even your home finances. A budget is simply a plan; with numbers. Most business leaders, whether they write it down or not, have a plan for their business. They know that they want to grow, maybe add a staff person, possibly expand into new markets, etc. In order to do all these things and more, you need a plan. And more specifically – you need a budget. 

Why Avoid Budgeting?

It seems that many leaders avoid the budgeting process because of a fear of numbers. People decide early on that they are “not good at math.” And that leads them to steer clear of anything with numbers. This is why it can be helpful to think of a budget as a plan that you assign numbers to. With modern technology, a simple Excel or Google Sheets workbook can be designed to do all the math for you! If that’s too techy for you, a piece of paper and a calculator will do the trick too. 

Another reason leaders disregard budgets is that they do not want accountability. A budget tells you what you should be bringing in and what you should spend. That creates stress and frustration for some. Keeping in mind that you’re the boss of your business can be reassuring. YOU are the one holding yourself accountable! 

Along the lines of accountability, people will forgo a budget because they think they need to be able to predict the future. Meteorologists can’t do that, and neither can you. Fortunately, no one actually expects that of you. However, based on your knowledge of your industry, of your business, and of trends, you CAN be expected to make educated assumptions. If you’ve been growing steadily for 3-years, it can be reasonable to expect that trend to continue. If you’re in a more volatile industry, you might have to work harder to see trends, or plan for ups and downs. It’s not predicting the future, it’s developing a plan based on your expertise. 

Creating and following a budget will empower you in the following ways:

  • Making sound decisions
  • Educating you on what is really going on in your business
  • Helping you control your spending
  • Identifying problems
  • Being proactive

Making Sound Decisions

Business leaders make decisions every day. Everything from the epic to the mundane. Your ability to make really good decisions will likely determine how long you stay in business and how successful you will be throughout your career. Fortunately, you have at your disposal a super-power-like tool that can help you to make great decisions. And, you guessed it, that tool is a budget. 

Think you need to add a staff person to improve production? A budget will tell you if and when you will have the finances to make that addition. Thinking about expanding a product line? Your budget will tell you if that’s a good idea or not. Want to give raises to your amazing employees? A strong understanding of your revenue and expenses will make it clear when and how much will be appropriate and responsible. 

If nothing else, the process of creating and monitoring a budget will give you a strong understanding of where your money is coming from and where it is going. With super-powers like that, confidence in your decision making abilities will go through the roof!

Educating You on What’s Really Going On

As stated above, a budget puts your finger squarely on the pulse of your money’s comings and goings. It will tell you which product lines are kicking butt and which ones are under-performing. The amount you spend on staffing will become crystal clear; not just in terms of salaries, but also taxes and benefits. You will understand the true cost of doing business. You can even break it down so you know how much it costs to produce each item or service you sell. 

Over time you will be able to see if your business is going in a positive direction or a negative one. As you develop your budget you will be able to see how things look for your year. From there you can make decisions that can help make your year look better. If your budget for the year doesn’t show revenue covering expenses, you know this up front and have the ability to change plans. You can also build-in decision-making check-points. For example: If things are still trending up after the first quarter you may want to plan for additional investments. 

Helping You to Control Your Spending

If you are not tracking your expenses, you are definitely losing money. There’s an old saying: What gets measured gets managed. It might not be much. A few dollars here, a few there. Not knowing where your money is going can really add up. A great example is the daily coffee many people indulge in. Even if you go econo-coffee from the local convenience store, this likely amounts to $5 to $10 per week. Left unchecked, that’s over $500 a year! What would it look like if you saved or invested that money instead? 

If a daily coffee is important to you, keep it in the budget. This is not intended to anger the coffee drinkers! The purpose of a budget isn’t to take away things you need or really want. Rather, it shows you where your money is going. You are likely spending money without realizing how quickly it adds up, or considering what you can do with that money with a little bit of planning and intentionality. A budget brings bad habits to light and allows you to do something about them.

Identifying Problems

In addition to teaching you what you are spending money on, a budget can help you find problems. This is how embezzling is discovered! Does something seem off, but you can’t put your finger on it? The power of a budget will help you figure it out. By comparing the amount that should be coming in with the actual revenue you can find discrepancies and dig in. If spending seems off, your budget will help you root out the source of the added expenses.  

As this suggests, it’s not enough to just create a budget. You have to put your eyes on it. A monthly review is best. Once a month look through and see if your actual revenue and expenses are on track with the plan you created. If so, do a little happy dance! If not, you will be able to make decisions that will get you back on track. (This monthly comparison also allows you to monitor changes in trends so you can make great decisions.)

Being Proactive

Finally, a budget gives you the power to be proactive about the future of your business and your life. Whether this is in the area of saving for emergencies or planning for your retirement, a budget makes saving possible. A survey from Bankrate.com revealed that over 80% of people are not saving enough for retirement and 20% are not saving anything at all. 

A mistake often made is that people “plan” to save “whatever is left over” after all expenses are paid. As you may have guessed (or experienced), that’s not a plan at all. With that approach, nothing will ever go into your savings. And when there is an emergency, your business may not survive. By putting together a budget, and planning to save for emergencies and retirement, you are much more likely to invest in your future and the future of your business. By including ALL of your expenses in your budget, you will know what it really costs to run your business and support your life. 

Numbers do not lie. They are not there to make you feel good or feel bad. Using a budget makes you knowledgeable and in control of your business and your life. Wield it as such. 

I am not necessarily a “numbers person.” But I do love a good plan and a solid spreadsheet. I also love making good decisions with as much information as possible. This is why I’m a budget superfan! If you are interested in receiving a budget template, email me at Kim@Athena-CoCo.com. I can also help you to transfer your plan into numbers and set you up with a budget that works for YOU. Let’s connect!

Kim Stewart

Kim is a mom, wife, lover of being active and the outdoors,
and helper of small businesses and nonprofits.
kim@athena-coco.com

Solve Problems, Don’t Just Talk About Them

Raise your hand if you find yourself talking about the same problems over and over, but never coming to solutions. Whoa, that’s a lot of hands! This is a very common challenge for business leaders, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Let me share a fairly simple process for solving problems, so you can move on and focus on what’s important to you.

Make Time to Focus

The first step is creating a system for addressing issues. I recommend spending the majority (about ⅔) of your weekly leadership team meeting focused on solving problems. After all, as the leadership team, isn’t this the most valuable way you can spend your time together? By solving problems so the business can operate more smoothly or you can remove barriers to efficiency, productivity, and work satisfaction. Plan your regular meetings so that everything else gets addressed efficiently and you can get to the work of solving problems.

List Them Out

Create a list of all the issues that need to be addressed. This list can be collected throughout the week and added to at the weekly team meeting. It may be a long list at first, but don’t let that scare you. Include everything, so that you don’t lose a key issue. If possible, it’s good to have all of the issues listed out on a flip chart or dry erase board so everyone can see them all. If that’s not an option, a printed list for each team member will work.

Prioritize

Looking at your list of issues, determine – as a group – which three are the most important ones and should be addressed first. Rank them 1, 2, and 3 in order of priority. Do not spend a lot of time on this task, keep it to about a minute. Team meetings that are 90-minutes long will give you 60-minutes to work on your issues. Starting with three will give you about 20-minutes per topic. If you are able to solve these first three issues in your allotted time, determine which one should be addressed next and start on it. Proceed this way until your time has expired.

Process

Once you have the issues you will be addressing, there are three steps to efficiently solving them:

  1. Present & Analyze – The person who proposed the issue in the first place will present it.. They will concisely share what they see as the problem. Then the group analyzes and drills down to get to the root of the problem.

    • For example: the issue may be initially presented as something like: “Sales are down 25% on blue widgets.” While this is true, and certainly an issue, drilling down may reveal a different issue. Just looking at the issue as presented, it likely seems like a problem with the blue widget sales team. However, a drill-down may reveal that production is down, so the inventory of blue widgets might not be meeting demand. Or maybe there have been quality problems with the blue widgets, scaring away potential sales. Or maybe there’s an industry-wide backlash on blue widgets. Whatever it is, the group needs to agree to the real problem surrounding the issue. Again, this should be a fairly quick part of the process.

  2. Discuss – Once the real issue is decided on, the group has a discussion. Solutions are presented. Pros and cons are debated. The meeting moderator needs to make sure all voices are heard (not just the loudest ones). Each person states their case only once.

  3. Decide – When all the stars align beautifully, a solution presents itself during the discussion and everyone is happy. In the real world, that usually doesn’t happen. In the real world, someone usually has to make the decision. The decision maker is often the top leader on the team; however, sometimes it’s another leader who will ultimately have the responsibility of rolling out the decision. Whoever it is, the decision maker takes all of the input they have gathered during the discussion, they evaluate all sides of the issue, and they make a decision. Boom – problem solved.

Next Steps

Once the decision is made, you need to think through next steps.

  • Does the decision need to be communicated out to others in the company?

  • Are there action steps to roll out the decision?

  • Is there a plan that needs to be created?

  • Who will be accountable for the next steps?

As part of the problem solving, determine what comes next and the system for following up.

To-Do List

Another component of a great team meeting is a To-Do list. This is a good place to capture the action steps and ensure there is follow-through on the decisions made. Gather all of the action steps from all the decisions made. List them in the To-Do section for the following week’s agenda. At next week’s meeting you quickly go down the list reviewing each action item. If an item has been completed you cross it off. If it’s not completed you quickly determine if it is an issue or not. If it is an issue, guess where it goes? That’s right – you add it to the Issues List.

Initially you may have so many issues that it seems overwhelming to tackle them three at a time. As you’re getting started, you may want to set aside half a day to power through your list of issues. Stick to the process above and shoot for about 20-minutes per issue. Finally getting decisions made will feel great. It will help you move things forward. And solving problems will benefit everyone in the company.

This proven process will help you solve your issues quickly. Happy problem solving!

An outside facilitator can help your team learn this process and become a problem-solving machine! Email me at kim@athena-coco.com to schedule a free 30-minute consultation. Calm the Chaos and find time to focus on what’s important to YOU.