Board secretary should have increased workload

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.30626
• Date: 01 February 2018
• Published date: 01 February 2018

© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

View this newsletter online at wileyonlinelibrary.com • DOI: 10.1002/ban

Editor: Jeff Stratton

Supplement

The board needs motivation and inspiration

Keeping board members connected to the mis-

sion presents challenges. Here are several ways to

accomplish this at board meetings. If one sounds

promising, speak to your executive director about

including it on the board meeting agenda.

• Build a “mission moment” into the board

meeting. The staff can tell the story of a person

your organization serves who has had success.

Or try starting a “speakers’ bureau” compris-

ing people you serve who can tell their stories in a

presentation to the board.

• Engage the board in fundraising. Schedule

one-to-one meetings with your CEO and board

chair, who can lay out the organization’s fund-

raising plan and ask board members to partici-

pate in whatever way they can.

• Boost committee engagement with specific

work. Committees typically perform more hands-

on work that can fit perfectly with a board mem-

ber’s area of expertise. ■

Board secretary should have

increased workload

Michael Daigneault believes the role of the

board secretary—the person who typically takes

meeting minutes and records governing docu-

ments—should be expanded to includemore work.

The type of work should be in the form of in-

creased responsibilities that will serve to improve

the board’s overall performance.

Daigneault recommends viewing your secretary

as the board’s “chief governance officer.”

His strategy is to make the secretary chair of

a board governance committee and to give the

secretary responsibilities in the area of new mem-

ber recruitment, working in partnership with the

board chair and executive director.

The secretary should also manage governance

activities such as appraisals of the board and com-

mittees the board uses.

By giving the secretary this type of governance

work, the board will develop a governance advo-

cate who works to improve its performance.

For more information, go to http://

quantumgovernance.net. ■

February 2018 Vol. 34, No. 6

Place a dollar value on the board’s time

People who volunteer to serve on boards deserve

a round of applause. They also deserve to have

their time used wisely and efficiently.

One way to respect board time is to put a dollar

value on it. Place a dollar value on the hourly rate

each board member gives to the organization. Mul-

tiply this figure by the number of board members

at your organization.

You will likely come up with an impressive fig-

ure that should drive home the point of working

effectively and efficiently as a board to make the

best use of the board’s valuable time. ■