e-Newsletter: Connect to Solutions

So How's the Leadership of Your Board?
by Jeffrey S. Vengrow, Director of CNE Solutions

To paraphrase the famous stand-up comic Henny Youngman, the answer might be …"compared to what?"

These turbulent times have rocked the very foundations of nonprofit organizations, creating new leadership demands that some boards are ill-equipped to handle.

All nonprofit boards develop their own culture and leadership style that emerges over time. There are a variety of factors that influence this development, such as a nonprofit’s life cycle or stage of development, its funding diversity, and whether the organization has a local or national presence. For example, a mature organization may have a different kind of board than a newly formed nonprofit. A large nonprofit with a management hierarchy may exhibit a different style than that of a smaller one that lacks a middle management layer, and so on.

Rapid change, such as we have experienced during this deep recession, is a challenge to the agility and flexibility of a board, and necessitates that it leads differently in service of the mission of the nonprofit. The board can be a creative source for new thinking about possibilities, while it is also a steward of endangered resources. However, the development of board leadership requires both an intention and an objective. In fact, even the composition of the board itself can be viewed as a strategic choice that is part of a larger plan for sustainability in these times.

Among best practices of nonprofit governance is that of board self-assessment. Now more than ever, a board needs to know how it might choose to lead, compared to how it has been leading in the past. A self-assessment coupled with a clear sense of direction provides the two data points necessary to connect the dots, choose a path forward, and determine the leadership style needed to make the journey.

One outcome of an assessment may be a recognized need for ad hoc committees to address specific board or organization needs. Ad hoc committees can be developed to attract community members with skill sets missing from the board, explore collaboration with other nonprofit boards that have a compatible, but different mission, or to develop ongoing financial resources.

Regardless of composition, size, or structure, it is important that the board see itself as a strategic tool that can adjust its leadership role and style in a changing environment.

Contact Jeff Vengrow by calling 330.315.0432 or emailing him at vengrow@cfnpe.org.