How well does your board really know the values of those to whom it is accountable? Are you asking the right questions to find out?
At The Governance Coach™, we believe that boards in the non-profit sector stand in for a group of people beyond the board. This group is similar to shareholders in a for-profit corporation. I’ll refer to these folks as “principals” – a term used in the agency theory of governance. While the organization may have many stakeholders, it is the principals to whom the board is accountable for the organization’s performance.
If the board is standing in on behalf of the principals, its decisions should be based in part on the values of the principals. Ultimately, staff or volunteers turn those board decisions into results. In effect, the board translates the principals’ values into operational performance.
We’ve met some board members who take the view: “I was elected/appointed based on my values, so any decisions I make during my term of office will be okay with the principals.”
We disagree.
While principals’ fundamental values might be slow to change or even unchanging, other values are more dynamic, shifting as the world changes. What a community prioritized yesterday may be less important today.
So, the board needs to constantly tune into the values of its principals. How does a board do this?
- By initiating and engaging in ongoing conversations with the principals.
- By carefully crafting good questions.
1) Formulate Your Questions as a Team
From watching board debates, I’m always intrigued when a board member starts referring to issues they hear from principals only to learn that other board members have not heard the same concerns from other principals. This is often the result of each board member asking a different set of questions.
The questions we ask direct the conversation. If I ask your opinion on challenges facing the local farmers, it’s unlikely that you’ll offer me your thoughts on the health needs of seniors!
Instead, based on direction from the board as a whole, board members should ask principals the same questions. Asking the same questions makes it more likely the board will receive a pool of responses with a more useable focus.
Questions can be posed in informal one-on-one sessions, more formal round table discussions, facilitated large groups, etc.
2) Craft Principal Questions, Not Customer Questions
For some organizations, such as trade associations, co-ops, credit unions, and municipal governments, the principals are also the customers. The board’s job is to link with them as principals. Staff link with them as customers.
Our human nature is to focus on customer issues. Instead, the board needs to carefully craft questions which solicit the principals’ values.
Management’s questions to customers of a retail co-op could be: “On a scale of 1 to 10 how was our service? How can we make your shopping experience more enjoyable?”
The same co-op members are not only customers, but also principals. The board might ask the principals: “What are some of the needs in our community which our co-op could address?”
3) Use open and closed ended questions
The principals for your organization have diverse and sometimes conflicting values. Likely, the board cannot address all values held by the principals. But it should understand both the diversity of those values and how widely held those values are.
As a start, use open-ended questions to discover the diversity of values. For example:
- For a trade association: “What are the challenges our industry is going to face over the next five years?”
- For a school board: “If the year was 2031, what might be some indicators of a fulfilling life for a student who had graduated that year?”
Boards can use different methods to collect this input: one-on-one conversations, focus groups, round tables, town halls, and surveys.
Using that input, design closed-ended questions to gauge how pervasive the identified values are:
- For a trade association: “Please allocate a total of 10 points among the following list of challenges facing our industry which our association should address. For those challenges you consider more important, allocate more points. For those which are less important, allocate less or no points.”
- For a school board: “From the following list, please identify and rank the top three indicators of a fulfilling life you desire for future graduates and for which our schools should help them prepare.”
A huge sample size for this second phase is not needed. However, use methods to reach a wider group of principals so that you can feel reasonably confident that you understand how pervasive their values are.
This is not a one-time exercise. Remember, some values of your principals will shift over time. Rinse and repeat regularly!
Linking with your principals and translating their values into operational performance are two of the board’s essential roles. It is ongoing work — and it deserves nothing less than your board’s deliberate attention.
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Wednesday, March 25, 2026 at 1pm MT / 3pm ET
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