Communication key to administrator's success

• Published date: 01 March 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.30636
• Date: 01 March 2018

4 Board & Administrator

DOI 10.1002/ban © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

continued from page 1

information on an issue, whether it is an action

item or information only.

“At board meetings, I will have much more de-

tailed information available if it is needed.”

• Keep contact outside of meetings. “Our

board meets six times during the year, every oth-

er month,” Hassemer said. “I send them informa-

tion between meetings that keeps them informed

of important matters.”

Examples include legislative concerns, financial

reports and events held or sponsored by the orga-

nization, Hassemer said.

“If there’s a call to action or involvement needed,

I will state such; otherwise, it’s conveyed as infor-

mation to keep them current on important mat-

ters,” he said.

• Pay attention to what you bring to the

board—it should be related to governance.

“The content of the material I bring to the board

is also carefully considered,” Hassemer said.

“Much of this is consistent with accreditation

standards related to governance.”

To this end, Hassemer has developed a “Cal-

endar of Recurring Events” that identifies tasks

to be completed at each respective board meet-

ing.

“If action is requested or needed, my board re-

port will clearly have a ‘Recommendation’ in bold

type; otherwise, it is to be viewed as information

only,” Hassemer said. “This is written in such a

way so that a board member can use the same or

similar language to state a motion.” ■

Communication key to administrator’s

success

Director of Public Health Gary Zaborac (Liberty,

Mo.) said that success as an administrator de-

pends on “communication, communication, com-

munication!” with his board.

“I communicate with my board on a weekly

basis and let them know what I have been doing

throughout the week,” said Zaborac. “It doesn’t

always have to be ‘magic’ in terms of weekly ac-

complishments, but routinely touching base with

a board is really important.”

Zaborac encourages board members to attend

community functions with him. “This is an op-

portunity to develop my relationship with them,”

he said. “It also helps develop community connec-

tions and relationships, which are very valuable to

the organization.”

Board education is also important to a CEO’s

success, Zaborac said. “I provide monthly education

presentations at their meetings to not only keep them

updated on current topics but also engaged in the

organization’s effort to fulfill its mission,” he said.

Giving board members the proper connection

to staff is also necessary to a CEO’s successful

relationship with a board. As volunteers, board

members are naturally interested in employees,

so give them the right opportunities for interac-

tion. “We have an annual employee appreciation

event and quarterly staff luncheons we invite the

board to, so they can connect with our staff,”

Zaborac said.

More tips:

• Honesty is the best policy. “I am honest

in my approach with the board,” said Zaborac.

“Not only do I thoroughly prepare on each issue

I bring to them, but I also try to give them all

options to consider. I always present in a profes-

sional way what they need to hear, not what they

want to hear.”

• Always be respectful of the board. “Finally,

I respect the fact that they volunteer to be here,”

Zaborac said. “They can be doing other things

with their time but they chose us.” ■

Calendar of Recurring Events

focuses board on governance work

Elsewhere in this issue nd Executive Director Mark Has-

semer’s useful organizational tool a “Calendar of Recurring

Events.” ■