Avoid ‘steps to stagnation’ with your board

• Date: 01 December 2017
• Published date: 01 December 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.30582

4 Board & Administrator

DOI 10.1002/ban © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

continued from page 1

relationships, she said. If a board member is not

engaged early, it’s more likely they will not engage

at all, Rosenleaf said.

4. Tell stories. These should be stories of suc-

cess, Rosenleaf said, but also of strong efforts that

fell short due to limitations.

“Those who succeed also have spectacular

failures as they push toward the goal,” Rosenleaf

said. “There are tons of barriers we encounter—

ways we work around them, or bust through them,

our customers succeed in spite of everything with

our support.”

Whatever the mission is, the organization needs

to be striving at all levels to reach it and the board

needs to hear about successes and failures in real

terms—whatever the purpose of the organization,

Rosenleaf said.

5. Acknowledge and openly appreciate all

board efforts. “People are able to contribute in

different ways, and have varying time available,”

Rosenleaf said. “I’m grateful for all board member

efforts. Encouragement is a more successful mo-

tivator than guilt. Appreciation makes for happy

meetings, and nobody likes crabby meetings.” ■

Try an appreciation activity

to banish the board blues

If your board members need a “pick-me-up,”

show them what they have to be thankful for.

Include a list of the positive contributions in the

board meeting agenda packet the board has made

to the nonprofit. Then, at a late-in-the-year board

meeting, ask your board members to maketheir

own additions to the list.

As the list grows, you should see board mem-

bers perk up a bit when they notice all of the good

the organization is doing. ■

Avoid ‘steps to stagnation’ with your board

Be alert to the signs of board burnout. When

you propose a new idea and hear “It won’t work” or

“We’ve never done it that way before” from board

members, you need to be alert to these signs of

disengagement.

If it happens to you, draw board members’ at-

tention to these “steps to stagnation.” Stagnation

on a board is often the first step on the road to

disengagement with an organization.

1. We’ve never done it this way.

2. We’re not ready for that yet.

3. We’re doing all right without that.

4. We tried it once and it failed. Why try it

again?

5. It costs too much.

6. That’s not our responsibility. Why get in-

volved?

7. It won’t work.

A reminder such as this one gives the adminis-

trator a chance to explain that new ideas should

be discussed and considered. The CEO can re-

frame board objections into questions such as

“Why won’t it work?” and “Can we think of ways to

make this work?” ■

Role reminder: Fundraising

The board’s role in fundraising is to approve

fundraising goals, participate in fundraising events

and activities and make a personal annual gift to

the nonprofit.

The CEO’s role in fund-raising is to develop fund-

raising plans and to see that they are implemented. ■