Board Development

Recommended Standing Committees for Boards of Directors

Who needs yet another regular meeting shoehorned into an already over-extended schedule? No one, I realize. Especially in the world of small to midsize nonprofit organizations, where so many of us play multiple roles, just preparing for the regular board meeting can be a real challenge. Yet the truth is that boards can in fact accomplish more if their meetings are not always meetings of a committee of the whole. A few key committees with clear mandates can result not only in more productive board meetings but also more productive boards of directors over all. So here is my list of standing committees that I recommend for nearly all boards

Recommended Standing Committees for Boards of Directors

Meetings: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

A Universal Woe
We all have to put up with them. Badly run meetings are a fact of organizational life and they waste our time, fray our nerves, and frustrate those who just want to get the job done and go home. Sometimes they can even get so ugly that we wish we had not even been there. Good ones – in which the job does get done and the participants all depart still talking to each other are not as common as they could be.

Content
Over all, get clear on the purpose. Is there a decision to be made? Is information to be shared? Is brainstorming to be done? There can be multiple purposes but whatever they are, know them before you even walk in the door.

Updating the Board Manual

For many nonprofit organizations, the fall marks the start of a new round of board meetings. If you are thinking it's time to update the board manual, here is an outline of what should be included in it. Optimally, the manual should be given to the board at the time of its annual new member orientation. And a word about production: Put it in loose-leaf format in order to facilitate updates.