Collective Wisdom

Since the board chair cannot override the board or act without board authorization, every board decision must be a group decision. The practical consequence of this design is that collective wisdom is built right into the board’s fabric, resulting in five key benefits.

Fuller Discussion

Since no one can unilaterally jump in and make a decision, and even a request to end discussion needs the group’s approval, no one on their own can force a premature vote. Discussion cannot be cut off until at least the majority feel that everything has been well researched and discussed.

It is more likely, then, that the board will have fuller deliberations than any individual would have on their own. One person may be sold on a particular decision that seems obvious and be ready to rush forward, succumbing to the temptation to save time and ‘just do it.’ But in a group situation, others may feel that alternatives have not yet been seriously explored and cause the board to slow down and go into deeper or broader analysis and debate. While the decision may take longer, the board’s collective wisdom will result in a better quality decision.

Synergy

If you want creativity or new thinking, there’s nothing like a group to make it happen. A comment by one person sparks an idea in another. Yet another person observes the line of thought and comes up with a fresh angle. Collective wisdom develops as people gain insights and “Aha’s!” from what others have said. A single jumping off point for discussion becomes multiple jumping off points when a group gets ahold of it.

Smoothing

Collective wisdom evens out the directors’ individual risk tolerances and personal preferences, including those of the chair (which might dictate the decision if the chair made the decision alone).

Each individual risk tolerance or personal preference will have less influence on the group’s decision than they would if a person decided alone. Each one can be identified and objectively tested for validity and reasonableness. Risks can be challenged, mitigated, or accepted by the group, when they might have been too much for one person to accept. Personal preferences or biases (present in all of us) will be uncovered and considered, thus arriving at a decision which is better thought out than would otherwise be the case.

Breadth of Perspective

Staff are hired for their skill related to the ministry’s work, and over time they become encultured to the ministry’s way of seeing things. This is what employers want, but it also has its downside, because staff will gradually come to think more and more alike.

Directors, on the other hand, are selected because they represent a demographic (chosen by the board as significant to good governance at the particular ministry), and for their skill at governing. They should have a passion for the mission, of course, but they come from a wide variety of backgrounds.

In the case of the CCCC board, we have people representing church ministries, denominational ministries, and Christian agencies. The directors live anywhere from New Brunswick to British Columbia.

They also have a variety of professional and educational qualifications and experience. The staff can only afford to hire people with the particular qualifications the ministry’s current work demands. The board is where you can assemble volunteers with a much broader set of qualifications that are beneficial to the ministry.

The directors should therefore have a very wide breadth of perspectives to add to the depth of perspective contributed by staff.

Boundary-Spanning

Directors are in a unique position to help the ministry. Like staff, they are well-educated in the business of the ministry, but unlike staff, they are not immersed in the ministry because they spend most of their time away from the ministry’s day-to-day operations. Since they span the organization’s boundaries, they can critique budgets, action plans and strategic plans from both external and internal perspectives.

Summary

Collective wisdom increases as board diversity increases. When board recruiting becomes a strategic process, there will be a consequent improvement in the quality of governance.

The Downside of Group Decisions

Having to come to a group decision does have its limitations. Getting a decision from the board may mean that:

• choices follow conventional wisdom
• caution replaces daring
• tinkering replaces radical re-invention.

To avoid this, the board needs to be aware of its own risk tolerances and compare those to the needs of the ministry. When confronted by options that it considers too bold or daring, the board needs to identify exactly what it is challenged by and then see how it could mitigate those risks. There are times when the board needs to move into uncomfortable degrees of risk if the organization is to move forward. A board with a low tolerance for risk will likely end up overseeing a shrinking and increasingly marginal ministry.

Preserving the Collective Benefits

The added value of collective wisdom disappears when the board allows the senior staff member or the chair to effectively run the board. There are at least four reasons why this situation may arise; one is the fault of the senior staff member, one the chair’s fault, and the other two are the board’s fault. The reasons are:

• The executive may be a strong personality who dominates the board by stacking it with friends or intimidates it by sheer force of power. If the board is ever afraid to confront the executive, something is seriously wrong.
• The chair may also be a strong personality, perhaps even the founder. A domineering chair is no better than a domineering director. This can be a very difficult situation to correct, but the board does need to take action. Perhaps a senior director or former director may be able to discuss the issue with the chair. Or the nominating committee should implement a process for doing annual review of the board and committee chairs. Anything that surfaces the issue would be good. Otherwise, the directors must take bold action at the first board meeting after the AGM and elect a new chair.
• The board may be in awe of the executive or hold the person in such high respect that they defer to that person. This may happen because of the leader’s demonstrated success or because the directors are overwhelmed by the staff leader’s passion and enthusiasm.
• It may be the board just isn’t doing its job. When this happens, don’t be surprised if the executive shows leadership. Leaders lead and are likely to step in when there is a leadership vacuum. The best senior leaders would, however, help the board recover its true role by: a) pointing out the problem to the board, and b) suggesting options for board development. Self-aware executives know it is in their best interest (and that of the ministry too) to have a high-functioning board.

The solution to all the scenarios is the same: the board needs to embrace its responsibilities, fully engage with decisions, educate itself, and maintain its independence from management while collaborating with it. Directors should go back to square one and learn to govern.

A Note to Senior Staff Leaders

You may be wondering how you can bring the advantages of collective wisdom to your staff. The answer is simple: adopt a collegial, team-based leadership style. There may be times when you make a decision alone, but as much as possible, lead by consensus with your senior team. Try it. You’ll love it!

The post Collective Wisdom: A Board’s Added Value appeared first on CCCC Blogs.

When you and I engage with work, a cause, a hobby, or a person, things happen too. And when ministry directors engage with their ministry’s cause, not only do things happen for them, but their engagement provides benefits for others as well. By engaging well, they:

1. motivate staff,
2. change the board-staff dynamic for the better, and
3. advance the ministry’s mission.

Motivation

When directors go beyond their board duties and voluntarily do something extra to support the ministry’s work, they send a powerful and encouraging message to staff. Their contribution shows that they are not just interested in governing or being a director, but are committed to the actual mission itself.

Ministry staff are dedicated to the mission, probably having sacrificed more lucrative careers or better working conditions elsewhere for the sake of working on the mission. When board members engage beyond their board work, it affirms the choices made by the staff and sends a powerful message that others are willing to help bear the burden. It is always motivational when you realize you are not struggling alone!

Board-Staff Dynamic

Sometimes an unhealthy “Us vs. Them” attitude can develop between board and staff. The more involved the board is in the operational decisions, and the less that staff (below the senior level) have to interact with the board, the greater the possibility for this problem to develop.

That divisive attitude can be changed to “You and I, we together” when staff members see directors doing things that support their work. Staff will more likely consider directors as partners working in common cause and there will be a greater sense of teamship between board and staff. It’s a much healthier environment for everyone.

Advancing the Mission

Directors want to see the mission advanced as much as staff do, and they may come up with their own ideas about how to help the ministry. As long as they check with staff that their ideas will truly help the ministry and not conflict with or complicate anything that the staff are doing, they can  contribute to advancing the mission, and that makes everyone happy! Directors just need to remember that when they do this, they’ve taken off their board hat and put on their volunteer hat.

Ways to Engage

Here are a few ways that directors can engage with the organization and its mission.

Fundraising

A director’s own donations to the ministry usually are confidential, but the fact that the ministry’s fundraiser can tell potential major donors that the directors do support the ministry financially is a real help to convincing these large donors to give.

Beyond their own giving, directors can raise resources for the ministry from others. For example, they might find sponsors for events, raise in-kind donations from businesses, or introduce their friends to the ministry as potential donors.

When Heather Card (formerly COO at CCCC) was chair of World Relief Canada she served as a great example of how directors can engage in a public fundraising program. When Heather and her husband Rod celebrated their 25th anniversary, they wanted to include World Relief as part of that celebration. So they decided to raise $25,000 for the ministry by challenging their friends to give and they would match their gifts until the goal was achieved. They approached World Relief and worked together with their development staff to put together a campaign that involved the Card’s social network as well as the ministry’s communication channels. Heather and Rod’s campaign raised $107,000 for a great cause, and World Relief created a really nice “Thank you” video for the donors.

Champion

A champion is someone who acts as an evangelist or an advocate for the ministry. Directors can be ministry champions simply by being alert to appropriate opportunities wherever they are; at church, at work, among friends.

In my book, The Church at Work: A Manual for Church-Agency Relations, I wrote about the excellent ministry partnership between Wycliffe Bible Translators and Metropolitan Bible Church in Ottawa. This great relationship came about because Wycliffe’s board chair attended that church and was able to champion its cause within the church.

Volunteering

There’s nothing like actually doing the ministry’s work to really understand what it does, Volunteering is a form of direct inspection that will better equip directors to discuss the ministry at the board table. It’s one thing to know the facts about a program; it’s quite another to personally experience it and see how people respond to it. This type of engagement also builds relationship between directors and the staff. Again, the director needs to remember that the director hat is off and the volunteer hat is on during the volunteer activities.

At CCCC, we don’t have many volunteer opportunities. So when a director volunteers to come and help with registration at a regional seminar, it gladdens my heart. Their time is precious, and I appreciate when they invest it in a CCCC event.

Representing

In part 3 of this series, I wrote about how directors represent the outside world and their particular constituencies to the organization. But they can also turn around and represent the organization to the outside world and their constituencies. On behalf of the ministry, directors could deliver speeches, attend meetings, visit donors, and so forth.

CCCC is located in a small town in Ontario, and at times we have had directors represent us at events in British Columbia and Alberta when staff were not able to be there.

Prayer

One CCCC board member stands out, and he is so humble I will restrain my inclination to name him, but I know he prays for me by name each and every day, and many other people as well, including some staff at CCCC. He also sends encouraging emails. This is a special way of engaging with the staff on a uniquely Christian level.

Social Media

One easy way directors can engage with the ministry is through social media. We have a director who retweets for us, likes posts on our Facebook page, posts that he’s looking forward to an upcoming board meeting, and generally helps raise our social media profile.

Be Creative

How a board member engages with the ministry really depends on their personal make-up. Finding a way to engage can start with asking oneself why they got involved with the ministry in the first place. What has God given them a passion for? What aspects of the ministry do they particularly care about? Be creative and find your own way to engage with the mission.

Why not share your tips for how directors can engage with the ministry?

The post Board Engagement: A Board’s Added Value appeared first on CCCC Blogs.

In fact, by setting the agenda the chair already has that ability. But the whimsical image of a board chair holding a remote control will help you remember four of the ways a board adds value.

Rewind = Review

The board reviews the ministry’s performance, but it also needs to review its own performance, including its adherence to the organization’s values.

Board Performance

The board adds value when it improves its skills and work processes, so here are some reviews that could be done:

• Have directors do an annual board performance review and suggest ideas for board development. Consider inviting senior staff to participate in the review because they work with the board and should have useful insights. Rather than using a single performance review template every year, you might think about asking different questions to get at different aspects of the board’s work. Over the years, the CCCC board has:
  • examined how it produces value
  • evaluated its performance against its policies for how it will work
  • compared its decisions for alignment with the corporate values
  • had individual directors evaluate their own performance as a director
  • had directors evaluate the board for how well it does its work
  • analyzed the agendas for the last year to see what the board spends its time on and if it addresses all the matters that a board should address
  • evaluated the current governance model to see if it is still the right model
• Review the performance of the board and committee chairs to ensure that good leadership is in place. Senior staff who work with the committees might be invited to participate here too. The CCCC board is in the midst of designing this process.
• This might be a bit far out, as I’ve never heard of it being done before, but it came to mind so here it is for your consideration. If your corporate membership is larger than the board, select a committee from the members who are not directors and ask them to review the minutes for the year and offer their comments and suggestions related to governance matters. This makes board accountability to the corporate membership more meaningful.
• Examine how well the board’s support systems are working, and whether it has all the support systems it needs. For example, does the board have a system to keep itself informed about the external environment? How does it orient new board members? One support system the CCCC’s board has is a board website that posts all board documents, bios and contact info for directors, pages for board committees, and so on.
• At each meeting, the board could assign one person to do a mini-review of that meeting focusing on how well the board complied with its own policies and how effective the meeting was. Here are the questions CCCC uses for this report.

Adherence to Values

Most organizations have corporate values that reflect its particular ethos. Since the board meets only periodically and the directors are likely associated with organizations that have their own sets of values, it is important that when they serve as this ministry’s directors they keep its values in mind. The board adds value when it ensures the organization acts in accordance with its declared values by:

• considering how the corporate values relate to the issue under discussion
• reviewing periodically how well the board is living out the corporate values
• checking that management has also adhered to the corporate values

Pause = Reflect

Great Board Deliberations

Boards add value by not rushing through an agenda but giving time for directors to reflect. Time should be allowed for group spiritual discernment, dialogue, and discussion; the three foundations for great board deliberations. I cover this topic in Serving as a Board Member, but often spiritual discernment is assumed to be an individual, private practice, and people usually think they already know what is best and skip over dialogue without even realizing it, going straight to discussion. When discussion is all you do in your deliberations, you have missed the most creative parts of developing a great solution.

• Group spiritual discernment gives the Holy Spirit room to speak to the board as a whole. This adds a whole different dynamic to the board’s spirituality.
• A dialogue is a free-ranging exploration of ideas without any judgements about those ideas. It helps you understand the topic at hand and find as many viewpoints as possible.
• A discussion is about analysis and persuasion. Promising viewpoints are researched to find factual support and to test assumptions. Then discussion turns to persuading people to one or the other of the options so that the board can reach a consensus.

Mission Progress

The board should also periodically sit back and reflect on what the board and management are spending time on and the results they are achieving. They can do this by looking at agendas and committee and management reports. Then they can assess whether or not the ministry is really moving forward in its mission.

If either the board or management feels like they are just going through the motions, or are stuck on a treadmill, it is time to discuss mission, outcomes and impacts, and how to shake things up. It may be time for field research, new blood on the board or staff, or a really challenging goal that revitalizes the organization.

Fast Forward = Represent

The board is in a unique position to help the ministry. They are not staff; they are quasi-outsiders who know the ministry very well. But unlike complete outsiders, they have detailed knowledge of the ministry. And unlike staff, they usually aren’t as comprehensively encultured. This means that directors are reasonably independent boundary spanners, linking the internal and external worlds of the ministry, with much to contribute to organizational life.

Senior management also spans organizational boundaries, but it crosses from the inside out, while directors cross from the outside in. Each contributes to a full understanding of the organization in its environment.

Directors are additional eyes and ears for the ministry, potentially acquiring a significant amount of market research. They also have a wide variety of experience and expertise through which to interpret what they discover in the field.

This all means that directors can hit the fast forward button, project current plans and activities into the future and, acting as representatives of the constituencies with their perspectives, provide the board and management with advice about the likely reception and outcomes of those plans and activities.

Eject = Replace

Senior Leader Replacement

The board must ensure that the right leadership is in place. This responsibility doesn’t end when someone is hired because, as with any other decision, a hiring decision has a “shelf life.” Circumstances may change and require a different skill set, so the right person today may become the wrong person tomorrow. The board needs to ask every once in a while, “Have we still got the right leader?” (Here’s what the senior staff leader can do to make a favourable answer more likely.)

Boards should do what they can to support their senior executive’s success, and one way is by providing frequent performance reviews. I am amazed how many senior leaders have said they’ve never had a performance review! They’re in the minority, but there shouldn’t be any at all.

When it is determined that the leader is no longer the right person, and is not likely to become such, then the board must do what is best for the ministry and bring about a leadership change. A termination or non-renewal of a contract should be handled sensitively and in a manner that exemplifies life in the kingdom of God, recognizing that the leader who is leaving was called by God (and the board) for a period of time and has served to the best of his or her abilities.

Board Member Replacement

The board should have an intentional program of building and maintaining the ideal board by recruiting directors who add value to the composition of the board. People might add value in a number of ways:

• They represent part of the constituency.
• They are great fundraisers or have an excellent network of useful contacts.
• They have strong governance skills.
• They have expert knowledge of the ministry’s field of work.
• They have any useful attribute.

To guide the recruiting process, the board should consider what kinds of people would make an ideal board for the next season in the ministry’s life. I say season because what makes an ideal board may change from time to time as the issues facing the board change.

The board must also deal promptly with any director who either inhibits the board’s work or who does not fulfill the expectations of a director.

The Theme Today

These four ways of adding value all relate to the board spending time in reflection. Romans 12:3 is aimed at the individual person, but it can equally well apply to the corporate body: Think of yourself with sober judgment.

The post Review, Reflect, Represent, & Replace: A Board’s Added Value appeared first on CCCC Blogs.

Value Creation

This series, How a board adds value, examines the added-value of good governance. Some boards add value in addition to governance (such as working boards that do the work itself, or management boards that make operational decisions), but our focus is only on the value of pure governance itself.

Adding Value by Meeting

If the board did nothing at all but call a meeting, it would still provide a valuable service to the ministry because:

• it has the power to hire and fire the senior leader, and
• a standard agenda item on every board agenda is the senior leader’s report.

The hierarchical relationship between the board and the senior leader means that just by holding a meeting to receive a management report, the board is holding leader accountable and ensuring that it reviews and reflects on its work. This is a passive way for the board to add value, so it’s easy to do. Just call a meeting and value is produced!

Why Meetings Add Value

For most ministries, adding value merely by holding a board meeting will add the least incremental value, because good managers will review and reflect on their work without needing to be prodded by the board. But since this is such an easy way for the board to be absolutely certain that it happens, it should not be overlooked.

Having to write a management report forces management to take a periodic pause to assess where the ministry is at. Especially when board meetings occur only two to four times a year, it also ensures that management looks beyond a month at a time to look at three or four months together and perhaps spot some developing trends. The discipline of writing a board report forces management to get out of its day-to-day management activities and think more strategically about its work.

So the next time you are tempted to cancel a board meeting because the agenda has no important decisions on it, think again. At least have a meeting to receive the management report.

Another way board meetings add value is that it is a formal meeting with the requirement that minutes be kept. Those minutes are a history of the organization that might otherwise be hard to produce.

Adding Value by Monitoring

A more active way a board adds value is by monitoring management against pre-determined criteria such as board policy, the strategy map and the annual action plan. Instead of relying on the senior leader to decide what to report (as is the case in the management report), here the board tells the leader what it wants covered in the monitoring report.

I submit two reports to the CCCC board. One is my CEO report that includes what I want it to include, and the other is my monitoring report that the board decides what I will include. They could be combined into one report, but I think there is value in keeping them separate so that it’s clear who decides which particular element is in or out.

How Monitoring Adds Value

Assuming that the board has made good decisions that set the boundaries for acceptable execution of the ministry’s work, the value added by monitoring is twofold:

1. It minimizes risk by keeping the operational part of the organization within acceptable parameters and therefore helps keep the organization healthy and focused on its work.
2. It is another strong accountability measure for staff that keeps them focused on the board’s priorities.

What the Board Should Monitor

The board is responsible for mission accomplishment and the resources of the ministry, therefore those are what it should monitor.

The board can monitor mission accomplishment by asking management to report on items such as:

• key success indicators related to mission accomplishment that are based on the ministry’s theory of change
• progress on strategic initiatives at the mission level of the strategic plan 
• results of program evaluations
• any feedback from any source on its mission-related performance (for CCCC, this includes our triennial member survey and anecdotal stories we hear from our members)

To monitor ministry resources, the board could ask management to report on items like these:

• financial statements with comparison to budget year-to-date and a forecast to yearend
• progress on strategic initiatives on the strategy map that are below the level of mission accomplishment
• evidence of compliance with board policies
• staff policies (to reassure the board about HR management, risk management, and asset usage)
• management discussion of how it interprets results, its concerns and satisfactions, and its outlook
• assumptions (strategic, operational, financial)

The purpose of this monitoring is to satisfy the board that its expectations about performance are being met and that they understand the factors that management weighs in making its decisions.

How Often Management Should Be Monitored

The frequency of monitoring will be affected by:

• the degree of risk of a significant change, the speed with which that change could take place, and the difficulty of reversing or recovering from a negative change
• the cost and trouble of preparing a monitoring report (for example, can they be internally prepared, or do you need to pay external consultants?)
• the board’s confidence in the management team (how predictable their choices are)

The board should consider these factors and then decide the frequency of monitoring for each item it wants to monitor. Some could be monitored every three or four years, while others might be monitored at each board meeting.

Adding Value by Asking Questions

Directors serving on working or management boards need to have expertise in the mission of the ministry because they are either executing the programs, or making management decisions about them. Directors on a policy board do not need such expertise because the staff has it. What is necessary is that the directors are great at governing, which means they know the questions they should be asking. The board adds value by asking good questions that help management discover any blind spots it may have.

Why Questions Add Value

Directors’ questions will:

• draw out management’s assumptions so they can be examined,
• ensure that meaningful alternatives were considered and show how creative management is, and
• check the rationale behind management’s actions or proposals so the board can understand management’s priorities and values.

When asking questions, directors should compare what is being reported/proposed for its fit with the strategy map and the logic model or theory of change previously approved by the board. Directors should look for consistency and reasonableness.

Management Reports

A regular part of every board meeting is receiving management’s report (as already discussed above), usually called the Pastor’s Report or the CEO Report.

The board should read between the lines of these reports. The leader can’t include everything, so he or she must be selective in writing it. The report includes only what the leader

• believes is most important for the board to know, or
• wants the board to know.

Questions to ask about the management report include:

• Does the report contain only good news?
  • If so, is anything being hidden?
• Does the report focus on activities only?
  • If so, does management rank effort more highly than results?
• Do the reports ever acknowledge learning and growth on the team, perhaps by learning from mistakes?
  • If not, is management self-aware and growing in expertise?

The Theme Today

Meeting, monitoring, and questioning all have one theme in common: keeping management sharp! Proverbs 27:17 is a great verse for this theme!

As iron sharpens iron,
so one person sharpens another.

The post Meetings, Monitoring, & Questions: A Board’s Added Value appeared first on CCCC Blogs.

Having selected a new senior leader, it is in the best interest of the board and the organization for the board to do everything it can to improve the likelihood of its leader’s success. If the person doesn’t work out, just think of the cost of finding a new leader:

• Usually a lengthy and painful time as the board wrestles first with identifying the troubling issue, then raising it with the leader, then trying to work through the issue with the leader, and finally terminating the leader if it doesn’t work out
• After termination, there is usually another lengthy period of time spent doing a strategic review, redefining what is desired in a new leader, advertising the position, then interviewing candidates, and finally waiting for the new leader to be free of their current employment situation
• A new leader who isn’t already very familiar with the ministry usually needs another year to sort things out before they really understand all the issues and nuances
• It may take several years before the new leadership team gels into a mature, smoothly functioning group
• There is also the turmoil that a leadership change can cause among staff, donors, and partners

It just makes good sense that a board should invest in the success of the person they’ve chosen to entrust with organizational leadership.

I feel very well supported by the CCCC board, so I’d like to share how they invest in my success as a leader.

Prayer Support

Board members have let me know they pray for me, some daily. It means a lot to know that I’m not on my own. I feel a sense of community when others intercede for me. It leaves me feeling that we are in this together.

Frequent, Honest Appraisal

We have an in camera meeting at every board meeting that is devoted to only one topic – my performance. This is really great because it means I never have to wonder what the board thinks of me. It also means that if issues arise, they will be dealt with quickly instead of festering for months as directors wrestle with how to broach the issue. I find these in camera sessions confidence-building, affirming, encouraging, and helpful. If it sees ways to help me out, the board can use this time to offer its collective wisdom and advice in a mentor-like capacity. Should an issue arise, the board can also offer its correction. All of this helps a senior leader provide the kind of leadership that the board expects. Appraisals are made much easier when the leader is humble, self-aware, and teachable.

Professional Development Opportunities

I really appreciate that the board provides an amount in its budget for my professional development. Not only that, but board members are on the lookout for interesting educational opportunities for me.

• I have taken two courses at Harvard Business School for nonprofit leadership because a director found out about them and passed them on to me. I would never have thought of Harvard Business School as having any courses applicable to me, but as my Harvard series of posts shows, there are some great courses for nonprofits.
• I have my doctorate because a director thought I was capable of getting one and recommended a particular seminary. I thought I was finished my academic education when I got my second Masters degree, but now I have a Doctor of Ministry degree because of this director’s initiative.

Boundary Expansion Ideas

People don’t really know what their boundaries of imagination are until some external stimulus shows them that the territory of possibilities is larger than imagined. So a board can help its senior staff leader test the limits of his or her realm of possibilities.

• One way is asking probing questions that challenge a leader to dig deeper. Several directors have asked me excellent questions that triggered expansionary thinking. Sample questions regarding the ministry’s work might be:
  • What are you really passionate about?
  • What are you curious about?
  • What are you concerned about?
  • What upsets you?
• Another way of expanding the leader’s horizons is to provide a sabbatical to upset the habitual life of the leader. A sabbatical can jar a person out of a rut by exposing them to new people, new places, new education, and so on. Everyone gets into a routine after a while, and for a leader who is supposed to be generating possibilities, routine can be deadly. So a sabbatical should be something that switches things up. I was given a three month sabbatical after seven years (there is a series of posts on that too) that was truly transformational for me and is now transforming CCCC too.
• The board could ask the leader to:
  • share key insights they’ve had recently.
  • outline what they do to stay fresh and on the edge.

Reinforcing Teamship Between Board and Senior Leader

Senior staff leaders will be most successful when there is a mutual sense of shared organizational leadership between board and staff leader. It is not “me versus them”, but ‘the board and I.” The board respects the leadership I give while at the same time keeping the accountability factors in place. There is a healthy sense of the hierarchical relationship that balances teamship between board and staff with the board’s oversight function. It means that I feel empowered to move our ministry forward.

Teamship creates an environment of mutual trust and respect between staff and board. It should eliminate manipulation, politics, defensiveness and all kinds of other negative behaviours that can creep in when teamship is missing.

To maintain teamship:

• The bylaws give me the right to attend and fully participate in all board and board committee meetings (except my own performance and compensation review of course)
• The board includes me in its social events
• The board respects the line between board and staff responsibilities

May your board be a great support to your ministry’s senior leader.

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