Making Decisions without Accountability

A regional professional organization was run by a group of well-meaning community leaders.  The Board would receive monthly reports from the President who would make the decisions for the organization with limited input from the Executive Committee.  Other than a few random questions on the part of individual Board members, most of the Board trusted each other and the small group that ran the show.  When the President and the Executive Committee chose to unilaterally change the bylaws, some Board members began to object.  Members of the Executive Committee seemed to be running the association as a fiefdom rather than as a democracy.  Only later, when the organization found that there was no financial oversight, no checks and balances, and no money in the bank, they realized that the current system of governance had failed them.

The Board brought in the Sandbar Group which conducted an assessment and learned that Board members did not fully understand their role as representatives of the members.  Nor did they possess a system where the Board could lead the organization without functioning as the management.  A plan was developed to educate the Board about the principles of governance and develop governance policies that clearly organize the work of the Board, and the authority of the Executive Director.  The Board chose to spread the development of the policies over several months rather than developing these policies at one time.

Now that the new governance model has been adopted and implemented, the Executive Director has more authority to accomplish the mission of the organization.  The Board is an independent voice, providing oversight without micromanaging.  Perhaps most importantly, rather than spending its time running the operations, the Board spends its time researching, deliberating, and creating a clear vision of what the organization is meant to achieve.

The Board is strategic and informed; the Executive is empowered and accountable; and the future has never been brighter.