Board committee sees itself as ‘Office of Staff Affairs’

• Published date: 01 March 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.30416
• Date: 01 March 2017

2 Board & Administrator

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

Board &

Administrator

Board

Issues

Hotline

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From the Board Doctor

Board committee sees itself as ‘Ofce of Staff Affairs’

I received a Board Issues Hotline

(515.963.7972; jeff_stratton@msn.

com) call from a Missouri adminis-

trator who has a serious problem.

His newly formed board person-

nel committee is concerned about

staff morale and is planning to

make a “suggestion box” available

to the organization’s employees.

The committee chair’s method for

this suggestion box? Just email

your complaints, suggestions and

thoughts to the committee chair!

“I don’t even know where this

idea came from,” said the Missouri

executive director.

Here’s where this type of board

action comes from: Board members

are volunteers, and for the most

part are well-meaning when they

propose “suggestion boxes.” As

volunteers, they typically have very

little day-to-day contact with the

organization, so they often wonder

how things are going in certain

areas—such as “Are employees

happy?”

When enough board members

start thinking this way, watch out.

Management of staff is the CEO’s

responsibility. It is your job to en-

sure that staff is being listened to—

that their complaints and sugges-

tions are given thorough and fair

hearings and then acted upon when

they are good for the nonprofit.

When board members express

a desire to know more about em-

ployees and their work, show them

turnover rates, evidence of how you

resolve standard staff grievances,

staff awards and testimonials from

those you serve that focus on em-

ployee care and interactions.

Maybe the best way to keep

a personnel committee or the

board from stepping out of line is

through an online survey to find

out what is on your employees’

minds. A survey on Survey Monkey

(https://www.surveymonkey.com)

will help you uncover any below-

the-surface issues that staff are

hesitant to bring to your attention.

These might be occurring in the

areas of morale, communication,

accountability or the direction the

nonprofit is taking.

This activity may be well worth

your while, because if you do not

undertake it, someday the board

may do it for you.

Sincerely,

Jeff Stratton, Editor

515.963.7972;

jeff_stratton@msn.com ■

Do ‘give and get’ expectations

bug the board?

Be careful about pushing “give, get or

get off” expectations on board prospects.

You never know just how this type

of board expectation will play out:

Some prospects may be turned off

by them, while other board members

may naturally understand why the

expectation is necessary.

If you find your best board mem-

bers embrace this responsibility, tar-

get this quality in your board recruit-

ing efforts. ■