REALBoard Buzz™
Building CEO and Board Success Part 1 of 3
Is the CEO and Board Success Mutually Exclusive? In February 2018, Chief Executive Magazine reported: “One of the top reasons CEO’s stated for lack of success was ”the inability to build a connection with the Board” followed...
New Ways of doing things
As we continue our cruise up the coast of North America in the Intracoastal Waterway, we have visited many cities and towns. We have embraced many new ideas and come to understand that there are many ways of doing things. Today, as we...
Policy Governance® has No Grandchildren
Recently I became involved in a conversation with the CEO of an organization of which I am one of the board members. The CEO has also served on other Policy Governance® boards. In the course of conversation he was asked why he thinks Policy Governance loses traction...
Just a Minute – Pay Attention to the Minutes
In the course of any board’s work, there will be minutes. Minutes are the record of the board’s hours together, the decisions it makes, and sometimes its deliberations. Despite the fact that they serve the same purpose, minutes invariably differ from board to board. A...
The Board as an “It”
If you listen to conversations about governance, inevitably someone will refer to a board as “they.” For example: “The board indicated that they want to see more information in our reports.” I suggest that the language needs to change. Instead of “they,” the board...
Peter, Paul and Mary
The work patterns for my wife and I allow us to travel to the office together in the morning. We park underground at her office complex and, from there, I walk to my office. The parking underground sure is nice in winter! When we first started this travel...
Can a Policy Governance® Board do Fundraising?
When a not-for-profit organization recruits board members, one of the desired – and even required – criteria is the capacity to raise funds. How well a candidate is connected with those who have deeps pockets and are more likely to reach into those pockets is a...
Your Members Can Make a Real Difference in a Way You May Never Have Thought Possible
Role clarity for members is often a topic I address with a church interested in improving its ability to achieve its mission. This issue arises because the church leadership is interested in moving from a member-managed organization to a board-governed organization,...
Executive Sessions – Why, When and How
Early in my professional career, I worked in a nonprofit organization. I knew relatively little about board roles or governance processes – no one was even actually talking about ‘governance’ back then. I did observe that, quite apart from the need to prepare...
At The Heart of Change
The world becomes a little better place to live when any governing board ascends to principled, strategic leadership. Such a board undoubtedly will have fostered a culture that values learning as much as leading. The learning curve is not without discomfort, of...