Give thought to meeting seating

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.30542
• Published date: 01 October 2017
• Date: 01 October 2017

October 2017 • Volume 34, Number 2 3

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

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Communication failures:

Asking board for approval

on administrative issues

Don’t ask the board’s approval to

do your job.

This is a cardinal sin for the non-

profit executive. Yet, too many ad-

ministrators feel uncomfortable about

making tough management decisions,

so they ask the board for approval.

That’s how you end up with a board

that tells you who to hire and fire and

what to buy! The board will infringe

on your duties if you invite it to do so.

If you need management advice,

ask a professional or a peer. If you

need more, use a board member as

a management advisor, outside the

board meeting, with the board mem-

ber volunteering his or her expertise.

More failure: Playing favorites

among board members

Never give a board member “inside

information” without telling the same

to all your board members.

Doing so is a surefire way to get

the ax.

Let’s say you are trying to con-

vince a “no” voter on your board of

your point of view and give him some

extra information in an attempt to

sway him.

Once the other board members find

out you kept them in the dark, trust

has been broken and the relationship

damaged.

A nal failure to avoid:

Not giving the board credit

Don’t pit yourself against the board

that likely feels its policies led to a

success. That might occur if you take

credit for making things happen at

your organization. The board hired

you and set the policies, and you

achieved what it wanted. So whose

success is it?

Boards need to be given credit

when it is due. When local media

wants to hear about one of your suc-

cesses, be sure to credit your board

and its work. ■

Chair should counsel in private

Consultant Carol Weisman (http://

www.boardbuilders.com) believes

that if you have an inappropriate

board member on your hands, it’s the

chair’s duty to talk to him about his

behavior.

“I was once on a board with a ca-

reer Navy man who would call all the

women on the board ‘girls,’” she said.

“He didn’t see it as inappropriate. I

took him aside and said, ‘The women

in the room don’t like being called

girls.’ He said, ‘Why not? I thought I

was flattering them.’” ■

Give thought to meeting seating

Here’s a meeting tip if you have two board

members who tend to bicker:

Use meeting name cards to indicate where

board members should sit at the table. Doing

so will allow you to keep the two argumenta-

tive board members apart. ■