Avoid traditional ‘traps’ of board composition strategies

• Date: 01 March 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.31219
• Published date: 01 March 2021

4 Board & Administrator

DOI 10.1002/ban © 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC • All rights reserved

continued from page 1

committed recruits, Paxton said. That’s partially

because this approach often involves enlisting

the help of other experts and intermediary groups

who specialize in board placement. But it’s also a

function of a more purposeful, transparent com-

munication process where organizations are forth-

coming about the demands and expectations that

come along with serving on their boards.

“One reason that some potential recruits don’t

match well with the organization is because they don’t

fully understand the commitment,” Paxton said.

“Nonprof‌its should be very specif‌ic and trans-

parent about how many meetings there will be,

where and when they’ll be, how many committees

there are, how many the new board members will

be asked to serve on, and more.”

They should also assess their expectations to

make sure they aren’t overly and unnecessarily

burdensome, she said, especially considering the

new factor that adds to many board members’

schedules—childcare.

“Personal uncertainty, the overall time

commitment, and whether they have the mental

bandwidth to take on additional duties as a board

member are all big considerations but dealing with

children in the home full time instead of school is

maybe the biggest issue right now,” she said.

Nonprof‌its can help address that issue by adding

f‌lexibility to their schedules and processes. But that

doesn’t mean lightening up on the overall duties

expected of new board members, Paxton said.

“These days we really need our board mem-

bers,” she said. “Be f‌lexible. But don’t compromise

around your needs and what you ask of your new

board members.”

For more information

Barbara Paxton is chief program off‌icer at Gover-

nance Matters, a consulting f‌irm offering nonprof‌it

clients a range of services relating to board gover-

nance and executive leadership. For more informa-

tion, Paxton can be reached via email at bpaxton@

governancemattersusa.org or visit the organization’s

website at https://governancemattersusa.org. ■

Avoid traditional ‘traps’ of board composition strategies

Experts say that nonprots will have more success

recruiting board members with a targeted and strategic

approach—looking for specic people with specic profes-

sional backgrounds, instead of the stereotypical affluent

community member with social cachet and connections.

However, they should also beware of some “traps” that await

them, according to Jan Masaoka, chief executive officer of

the California Association of Nonprots and formerly of the

nonprot resources website Blue Avocado. In a blog post on

the Blue Avocado website, Masaoka explained some of the

“traps of the board composition matrix.”

• The skills trap. By identifying specic knowledge

and skills that they want in a board member, such as

“legal” or “nance,” nonprots often end up with the

wrong kind of legal or nancial professional on the

board, Masaoka said. For example, if they want some-

one with a legal background, recruiting a personal injury

lawyer as a board member wouldn’t be as good a t if

the legal issues facing the organization are about either

employment or zoning.

• The demographic trap. As Masaoka explains,

nearly all boards are driven to some extent by the need

to improve their demographic diversity. Unfortunately,

this sometimes means just looking for someone who lls

a checkbox—whether that’s an all-white board looking

for a Black person, or an all-Asian board looking to bring

on a board member from India. You might end up with

someone that checks the demographic box, but never

becomes engaged in the organization’s mission, she

says.

In both of these examples, nonprots should instead focus

on actions needed, Masaoka says. In terms of skills, “look for

‘someone who can and will help us analyze the true costs

of our hotline’ rather than look for a CPA,” Masaoka writes.

“And by focusing on actions, we also tie recruitment to the

real-life needs of our organization at this point in time, rather

than a generic list.”

She suggests the same approach with regards to diversity.

“Do we need someone who can reach the Arab grocers

association to get their support for the plastic bag ban? Do

we need someone who can help recruit Spanish-speaking

Big Brothers? Let’s look for those action attributes rather than

simply for someone who is Arab or who is Latino,” she says.

For more information, visit https://blueavocado.org. ■