Monitor finances with these questions

• Date: 01 April 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.30678
• Published date: 01 April 2018

B&A For Board Members

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

Know your relationship to staff

The proper relationship between the board and

the organization’s employees is vital to the smooth

operation of the nonprofit. A poor understanding

of this connection can undercut an administrator’s

effectiveness and cause a crisis of authority.

In practice, it’s important for board members

to remember a board has only one employee—

the executive director. The board hires this in-

dividual to be the nonprofit’s expert in all man-

agement areas—including the management of

personnel. The CEO is also charged with hiring

and firing staffers and has complete responsibil-

ity for supervising, evaluating, rewarding and

disciplining them.

Employees must clearly know who gives the

orders, who is accountable to whom and who has

the responsibility for what. To accomplish this, a

board creates a chain of command or an organi-

zational chart with lines of authority and account-

ability.

Here is the most effective chain of command for

a nonprofit organization:

• Who manages the people you serve? Direct

line staff.

• Who manages direct line staff? Supervisors.

• Who manages supervisors? The executive

director.

• Who manages the executive director? The

board.

• Who manages the board? The board chair-

person.

When board members ignore this chain of com-

mand, they interfere with the ability of the execu-

tive director to effectively run the nonprofit. Once

a short circuit between the board and employees is

allowed to happen, a dangerous precedent is set.

For instance, if the board overturns its executive

director’s discipline decisions, his or her authority

to handle and manage personnel is undermined.

Employees will believe they can come to the board

with every issue.

Imagine your board meetings with an agenda

full of staff complaints. You will accomplish noth-

ing but hearing employee problems. ■

Employees often fail to understand

the chain of command

A board’s support of the chain of command is

only half the equation. You as a board member will

likely never go to a staff member inappropriately,

but what do you do when an employee comes to

you with a complaint?

It’s not unusual for an employee to take a

concern or complaint directly to a board or to

an individual board member. When this occurs,

however, it is the board member’s responsibility to

clearly remind the staffer about the chain of com-

mand. You’ll want to remind the employee to take

the matter up with his or her immediate supervi-

sor and follow the internal grievance procedure as

necessary. ■

Monitor nances with these questions

It is tempting to comb through bills and reports

to answer questions you have as a board member,

such as “Are we spending wisely?”

But remember, your job as a board member is

to monitor results. Instead of worrying about how

much is being spent on photocopies, keep a close

eye on the big picture by asking your executive

director these questions:

• Are we on target with our planned expenses

and revenues?

• Are we financially solvent (money in the bank

to pay expenses)?

• Will we have income to meet future

expenses? ■