Simple exercise can help bolster board discussions

• Published date: 01 December 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.31186
• Date: 01 December 2020

2 Board & Administrator

DOI 10.1002/ban © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC • All rights reserved

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Simple exercise can help bolster

board discussions

Having a board that sees eye

to eye with the executive director

on the critical issues facing the

nonprofit can be a godsend. At a

minimum, it means that decisions

can usually be made in a timely

fashion, with everyone focused on

a single, agreed-upon strategy or

approach to the situation. But, in

some cases, it can mask a deeper

issue with the board.

An ED from a Kansas-based

nonprofit recently noted concern

that his board isn’t taking enough

time to discuss some of the issues

and responsibilities they are tasked

with—resulting in a lot of unani-

mous (or near-unanimous) votes.

While the board seems to believe

that this unanimity shows that they

are all on the same page, the ED

said he was worried that members

with minority opinions aren’t com-

fortable expressing their contrary

opinions or votes.

Thankfully, a simple and fun

exercise can help ensure that those

with differing views feel free to

express themselves and speak up

during board meetings, according

to board governance expert Carol

Weisman.

“One way to get different points

of view is to give your board mem-

bers red and green pieces of con-

struction paper. When an issue

comes up—say, increasing the

board size—ask the board members

to put up a green or red piece of

paper. Green means ‘I’m all for it,’

while red means ‘I want to discuss

this further,’” Weisman said.

This gives reflective thinkers

more time to ruminate, while those

more prone to snap judgements

will have more data to consider, she

added.

In this exercise, the “red” folks

go first. The chairman chooses

one to express concerns, and then

one of the “green” folks is asked

to respond. This gives the board

a chance to hear from the quieter

board members.

When the discussion is conclud-

ing, the president then asks the

board, “Are we ready to vote now?”

If there are still red flags, ask what

your members need to know to

make an informed decision, and

postpone the vote until the next

meeting, Weisman said. And make

sure someone is assigned to do the

research necessary so an informed

decision can be made.

Another suggestion: If you have

a fun group and are meeting in

person, give PowerBars to those

who participated, Weisman said.

“Knowledge is power, after all,” she

said.

And if you are using Zoom,

consider writing notes in the chat

box encouraging those who partici-

pated. You can also use the white-

board feature to capture pros and

cons, she said.

For more information

Carol Weisman, president of St.

Louis–based Board Builders, is an

internationally known speaker, au-

thor and consultant. She supports

her nonprofit clients in all aspects

of volunteer management, fundrais-

ing, and board and organizational

governance. For more information,

visit https://boardbuilders.com. ■