Board Recruitment: Look for the What, Not the Who

BOARD RECRUITMENT IS SERIOUS BUSINESS. Or it should be. Now more than ever, our nonprofits need engaged, forward-thinking leadership. Our nonprofits need board members who are willing to use a continual loop of strategy and feedback to define and shape mission, relevance and community connectedness. To be content with board members who are ONLY interested in slices of an organization's mission is not enough. Board members have to want to embrace the whole enchilada, because they understand that a nonprofit's impact is more than the sum of its parts.

Nominating or board development committees need to sharpen their recruitment skills to laser-like precision. Recruitment no longer begins with the question, "who do we know?", but with "what skills or access do we need?" If you don't know what you're looking for, you're liable to accept any who. That worked decades ago when boards were merely extensions of wealthy social clubs. There's no time for that nonsense anymore.

It's time to start making that list. An organization's vision and mission statements, along with the strategic plan, are pretty much all the tools you'll need to develop a list of skills and attributes your organization needs around the board table. Use your list to go shopping for prospects by working your networks (and the networks of others) to identify them.

This isn't easy work. It's never-ending work, really. But it's the life-force for your nonprofit.

Photo: My grocery cart is filing up. h964 from SouthernBreeze - "God bless...

What Would Make You Turn Down an Invitation to Join a Board?

THERE'S SO MUCH WRITTEN ABOUT RECRUITING BOARD TALENT, I thought I'd spend a little time thinking about it from the prospect's point of view. Clearly, there are boards where the line is long to get on them. But what would make you turn down an invitation? Here's a short list to get the conversation started: 1. You've had no prior exposure to the organization. Your immediate reaction is "did you pull my name out of a hat?" (Is that lady in the picture the head of the Nominating Committee?) Seems as though there must be a hidden agenda at work (like you're rich and once you become a board member you'll pour all your resources into the organization) or the organization is simply looking for any warm body to fill a seat. 2. The organization doesn't have a good reputation. There's something to be said for street cred. An organization that's floundering may be strengthened by your participation or you may find yourself sucked into...

What to Do With Dead Wood on Your Board?

MY POLL ASKED WHAT ONE BOARD DYNAMIC YOU would change this year and the top response was "remove dead wood". For my first post on this topic I'd like to start with two obvious facts: 1) most boards have some non-performing or under-performing board members AND 2) most boards already have mechanisms in place for removing dead wood...or at least the non-attending dead wood. Those mechanisms are found in the Bylaws and perhaps in a board job description. Few boards, it seems, invoke these mechanisms, mostly out of fear of offending the offender. We end up side-stepping the dead wood, dancing around it, ignoring it, wishing mightily it would go away. Oh, and complaining about it. So, even though the dead wood isn't doing much, it's sapping the energy and focus of many others. (There must be a Law of Physics about this!) Where to start and how to implement? While removing dead wood is not the most pleasant of responsibilities, it does not need to be -- and s...

Change for Your Board in 2010: A Polling Update

WE'RE A DAY INTO MY LAST POLL (SEE RIGHT) AND the responses are clustering in two areas: 1) removing dead wood from the board and 2) using better/different tools to make decisions/evaluate performance. There are still six days left for your colleagues to cast their vote! In the meantime, those of you who are in need of tools for decision-making might want to check my posts on taking stock here , here and here .

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