For Your
Benefit
For Directors Only
Feed back/polls |
Note: This is Part 2 of a two-part series on boards of
directors.
Good Boardsmanship:
Working as a Team
By Patricio Figueroa, Jr.
A Few Simple Rules for New Board Members:
- Listen more than talk.
- Raise your hand when you want to speak.
- Ask questions if you don’t understand something. Raise
your hand and, when called upon, say, “Please explain to me why this is
important.”
- Listen to and learn from those board members who share your
views, and support them.
- Don’t be afraid if you do not understand written
reports or every word spoken at board meetings. Don’t be afraid to ask for
help.
- Create a folder for your board materials.
- Arrive on time -- or even early -- to board meetings.
- Prepare for board meetings by reviewing reports at home and
bringing your board folder with you.
- Greet — and treat -- your fellow board members as
friends.
- Don’t discuss what goes on during board meetings with
people who do not serve on the board.
The Law
The organization you and your fellow board members oversee
serves the community. Because any money it makes or receives goes to the
community (not its board members or -- after salaries are paid -- its
employees), it is called a nonprofit organization. By law, a nonprofit
organization must be governed by a board of directors or trustees. Each board
member has a legal and moral obligation to ensure that the organization
operates honestly, in the best interest of those it serves.
The Board of Directors must:
- govern the organization’s resources (money, real
estate, equipment, etc.).
- maintain, develop and expand programs for the people it
serves.
- make sure that the organization continues to have what it
needs to serve the community.
This takes honesty and integrity. You must be informed about how
the organization’s money is being spent. You have the responsibility to
ask questions if you think the organization is being run unwisely or
dishonestly. As a board member, you must not make decisions based on personal
interests. Always make decisions based on what is best for those you serve. As
a board member, you have a moral responsibility to be objective, to go beyond
your personal interests when tackling a problem that the board is voting on. As
a board member, you must believe strongly in the work your organization does.
You will want to see the organization grow for the good of all those you serve,
not just for yourself. As a board member, you will discover that there is never
enough money to do all that your organization would like to do. You will be
faced with hard choices about which programs or services to fund. Sometimes,
when money is tight, you and your fellow board members will have to choose to
discontinue a program, even though it is a good one.
The Board Works as a Team
Board members are nearly always community leaders. If you were
not seen as a leader, you probably would not have been invited to serve on a
board. The other members of your board team were elected for their leadership
skills as well. There is potential for great opportunity when influential
community leaders come together to serve on a board of directors. Often,
however, board members have very different opinions and very different
personalities. Some might think that this is bad -- or even dangerous -- for
the organization you serve. The very opposite is true. An organization needs
leaders with differing ideas. That’s how progress occurs.
How do you make one team, with one voice, out of these many
diverse voices? It happens when each board member makes a special effort to
understand and fit into the team. No matter what opinions you bring to the
board, your first personal goal should be to try to fit in with the team.
Still, being part of the team does not mean being a robot! Being part of the
team does not mean giving up your personal opinions. Being part of the team
does, however, mean trying to combine your ideas with those of the other board
members. It also means forming new team goals that all board members support.
Only the Team Has the Power to Decide
Legally, a single board member has no authority to make
decisions for the board of directors or the organization it serves. The only
way individual board members can make changes -- or make a difference -- is by
making decisions together. You may have been elected to the board because you
are from a particular geographic area. You may have been elected because of
your opinion about a particular issue. No matter why you were elected to the
board, your goal now must be to decide what is best for all those your
organization serves, not just to the special interests of those who helped put
you on the board. Making decisions that benefit just one special interest group
is unethical. You might serve on one board of directors. You might serve on
several. If you serve on two or more boards, you may occasionally face
conflicts of interest. For example, the decisions you are asked to make for the
board of one organization might conflict with those you have been asked to make
for another board. The solution is the same. Your decisions must be based on
what is in the best interest of the organization — that is, based on the
organization’s mission. If you cannot accept that solution, you must
seriously consider resigning from the board.
The importance of a board manual
Here is what it a board manual should include:
- A copy of the organization’s bylaws and articles of
incorporation
- A statement of the organization’s philosophy,
organizational goals, annual goals and current objectives
- A copy of all current policies
- A copy of the last annual report
- Copies of the last six months of meeting minutes
- The most recent audited financial statement and any
management notes from the auditor
- A history of the organization and its programs
- An organizational chart of board committees and
subcommittees
- A roster of the board of directors with addresses and phone
numbers, including primary committee chairs and subcommittee chairs
- An organizational chart of staff lines of authority
- A roster of staff members with their addresses and phone
numbers
- Copies of any current contracts or agreements
- Standard operating procedures followed by the board
- An analysis of the organization’s strengths, weaknesses
and current problems
- Copies of the organization’s promotional
literature.
******************************
Patricio Figueroa, Jr., is an author, artist, and first
generation ILC director. He lives in New York State.
|
ILUSA.Com  |
A
link to
navigation