He starts out by talking about the 3 key attributes you should look for when identifying potential new board members.
Skill set – marketing, lobbying, legal, finance, fundraising, etc.?
Diversity – this would include but not limited to generations, geographic, industry sector, gender, ethnic, etc.?
Experience – what experience do they have in the community, working on a board and knowing the work of the chamber?
The slide deck included a list of the “Six Key Attributes of Board Members.” This list below is verbatim from his slide deck (Copyright 2020 Tecker International LLC).
- The ability to think strategically and analytically and to effectively communicate thoughts and the reasons for them.
- Possession of earned respect of other key stakeholder group members.
- The ability to work well with others as a member of a collaborative group with group decision-making authority and an understanding of the fiduciary duties of loyalty, care, and obedience.
- A demonstrated understanding of the differences between “oversight” and “supervision.”
- An earned reputation for emotional maturity, personal integrity, and honesty.
- A demonstrated familiarity with the body of knowledge related to both the process for which the group is responsible as well as the substantive content of the subject area within which decisions are choices will have to be made.
I wrote about the Duty of Care, Duty of Loyalty and Duty of Obedience of board members in a previous blog post that can be found HERE.
I’ve also talked about creating job descriptions for potential board members in previous blog posts. Have you thought about creating a set of interview questions to ask your prospective new board members? This is where you may want to go back to the skill set and attributes comments above for specific examples.
Remember, these new board members will be with the organization for the next six years, if you’re like most chambers who have two year terms renewable for three terms, and picking the right ones is key to your and your organizations success!
For more resources on board governance go HERE.
