Exercising Our Power for the Governance We Need

Note: This is the first of a 3 part series on governance and boards.  

I’ve just been much more conscious about what my power is and how I am using it.  Probably, the most power we have is what we put our attention on. Doesn’t require any cash. Everybody makes that choice and every choice we make is an exercise of our power because it is a shift of our attention. (Baratunde Thurston on Sunstorm Podcast, June 22, 2021)

I recently facilitated a leadership team meeting for a national nonprofit. The organization is about to kick off another strategic planning process and is experiencing significant growth in terms of services and revenue.  It is an incredible moment of opportunity for the organization to revisit what it is, who it serves, and how it operates.  One of the most important things I said during the meeting was that they have the power to determine these things - it is within their power as a leadership team.  Several members of the team thanked me for reminding them that they hold this power and that with this power comes the responsibility to use it wisely and in line with their mission.

I am struck by how often we abdicate the power we have or seem to forget we have it in the first place - especially when it comes to things that significantly impact our organizations like governance and boards. At the recent Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) meeting in Los Angeles, I attended a session on re-imagining boards. The session facilitators were encouraging participants to imagine boards in as expansive a way as possible, putting aside legalities and other regulatory and compliance issues that can distract us from thinking creatively.  As I sat at my table of colleagues I was disheartened to hear every person toss aside their power to create with the board the board they want and their organization needs to fulfill its mission.  They also ignored the power of the CEO or Executive Director - often a person who is also on the board (even though sometimes as a nonvoting member), and who has the responsibility of managing the board.  Instead, they talked about their boards as all powerful and almighty and stuck with the narrative - “if only the board showed up differently…”

There are pockets of change happening in the sector on this front. As David Renz points out in his NPQ article title “Reframing Governance II”, some organizations are redefining decision-making, accountability, and leadership to include community members and others in their ecosystem who are critical to the outcomes they seek to accomplish.  Citing the learned helplessness that prevents nonprofits from reimagining what is possible with boards, Vu gives a few examples of organizations that are fully re-thinking governance and therefore their boards in the process.

Your organization can have the governance system and board structure it needs, if you and your board members put your attention to it.  Here are some examples of what’s possible when you lean into your power, rather than cede it:

• You, your staff, and your board can know each other, respect each other’s experience and expertise, and work together to create a system of governance the best suites the needs of your organization

• Your board members can deeply connect with the mission of the organization and understand how it operates well enough to offer relevant and timely advice and guidance

• Together with your board you can be intentional about who you have on your board and why.  You can design a board that is intentionally broad in membership to capture the input of stakeholders within the ecosystem. You can intentionally design a narrowly focused fiduciary board with a small group of experts fit for that purpose.  You can design for what you need.

• You and your board can intentionally consider what leadership structure best fits the needs of the organization and then decide to change it, or not.  While many organizations use a hierarchical leadership structure, as the Washington Nonprofit Handbook points out, there are a number of alternative leadership structures rooted in traditions that focus on collaborative or distributed forms of power sharing.

The point here is that you and your board have the power to make governance and the board what the organization needs it to be.  It is, in fact, your responsibility to do so.

I consider myself a bit of a governance nerd.  I have willingly sat on at least 10 boards (3 in the role of chair, one a publicly elected school board) in the past 25 years.  I have also been governed by boards as an organization leader - some as large as 25 board members (large human service organization), others as small as 2 members (private family foundation).  I am always excited to dig in with leaders on governance issues and challenges.  In part this is because I know what a well-functioning governance system can do for an organization - it can clarify roles and responsibilities, it can hold people accountable, it can free up space for the work and limit distractions, it can help an organization learn about itself and continue to evolve with intention, and the list goes on. And there are few greater strategic tools for an organization than a board whose members know what lane they are assigned to play in, what is expected of them, and who are being leveraged for everything each of them has to offer the organization to meet its mission.  Those who know me have heard me say that: 

A great board can do great things for an organization, but a badly functioning board can take an organization down. 

Don’t ignore your organization’s need for an intentionally robust, mission, and values-aligned governance system.  Don’t let a board just happen to you or to your organization. As Baratunde says, power is about putting your attention to something. Enough complaining that boards aren’t showing up the way you need. Put your power, your attention, to governance and make it what you need it to be. Engage your board. Ask them to put their attention, their power, toward ensuring the organization meets its mission in ways that are aligned with its purpose and values.  And if you need someone to talk to about all of this, or help doing it with your board, put some time on my calendar.

In the next installment in this series I will address some misconceptions of what is and isn’t legal or required as it relates to governance and boards, and lift up opportunities for designing the systems and structures you want.

Sit with it for a minute…let me know what you think.