Tips From The Trenches

• Published date: 01 January 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.30607
• Date: 01 January 2018

January 2018 • Volume 34, Number 5 7

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

Tips From The Trenches

Use meeting stories that ‘resonate’

In consultant Richard Male’s “Rich Tips: Power

of Storytelling,” he suggests setting aside five min-

utes at each board meeting just to tell a story.

“Not every story will resonate with every per-

son, but over time, each board member will realize

that a particular story is ‘the one’ they would feel

comfortable telling and re-telling in the community

themselves,” Male writes. “This is an important

tool in coaching your board to be ambassadors

and cheerleaders for your mission.”

For more information, go to http://richardmale.

com. ■

On-boarding process

should last six months

The blog Nonprofit Board Crisis suggests a

hard-and-fast rule for new trustee orientation: “I’d

recommend that the first on-boarding rule is that

on-boarding is an experience that lasts throughout

the first six months—plenty of time to introduce new

members to all these subjects and likely accompany-

ing the explanations with a good board manual or

even an on-line board portal,” writes Mike Burns.

“But in addition to the fundamentals I’m thinking

I would like the first on-boarding experience to be

Take care of yourself rst

In Kathryn Martin’s blog post “Don’t Deplete

Your Brain’s Reserves,” shewrites that her motiva-

tion is high to take care of herself “so that I can

serve others.”

Martin offers these tips for you to do the same:

• Find joy in working on issues where you ful-

fill your purpose.

• “Take meaningful breaks throughout the day

(that does not mean go on social media!)”

• “Set a daily intention for BE-ing—in service

to others and to yourself (not a ToDo list, and it is

always possible to achieve it!)”

For more information, go to https://goo.gl/

kKuLhF. ■

Set the stage to change

board performance

In his blog post “Want to Improve Board Per-

formance? Take These Five Steps,” Hardy Smith

said changing board performance culture can take

time. First, you need to “identify the need and

course of action,” Smith said.

“To implement a culture change, establish a clear

understanding of why a shift is necessary. Is there a

performance expectation not being met? Or is a new

level of individual engagement needed?” Smith wrote.

“Explanation of the precise action required is

essential. Merely stating ‘You must do more’ or ‘You

must work harder’ won’t provide a defined direc-

tion or lead to much enthusiasm for change,” Smith

said. “Communicating a clear vision of the antici-

pated positive outcomes is critical, as is defining

the consequences of not moving in a new direction.”

For more information, go to http://goo.gl/fZV3u6.■

just that: an experience. A time for mission-connect-

ing and story-telling,” he writes. “Of course I believe

that a story about victories or consumers should be

shared at every meeting (aka mission moment) so

the on-boarding event is the starting point for every-

thing a new member will experience in addition to

getting to know who are all the players.”

Yes, relationships matter even more than the

transactions that will eventually be the fodder for

meetings, Burns continues. “Get out and have a

meaningful learning relational first orientation,” he

writes. “And then, set aside part of every meeting

or every action, time for learning.”

For more information, go to http://goo.gl/

oJCJUD. ■

Boost board performance

BoardSource recently reported on Rob Acton’s pop-

ular session, “Six Things You Can Do Right Now to

Boost Your Board’s Performance,” at the 2017 Board-

Source Leadership Forum. One of Acton’s suggestions

was to “reimagine the board meeting agenda.”

Acton suggested fixing your board meeting

agendas by “making generative and strategic ques-

tions the backbone of the agenda.” These are the

types of questions that allow deeper thinking on

timely topics, Acton said.

They often focus on issues about vision, mission

and values; explore the “why,” not the “how”; and

should appear early on the agenda, Acton said.

For more information, go to http://goo.

gl/2eH36q. ■