Break the Cycle of Dysfunctional Board Relationships

This is the first in a four-part series, based on the book, Stop the Nonprofit Board Blame Game by Hardy Smith.

The book is segmented into four parts and this post addresses the title above.

Hardy talks about setting expectations for board members.  Do they know what their role is as a board member?  Do you have a job description for your potential new board members?
 
In my opinion, and noted in previous posts, it’s a must!  Go HERE and HERE for two posts, on the subject of job descriptions, for your board.

He also discusses that the frustration can be from both sides, the staff and the volunteers.
 
Based on his research with volunteers, he’s identified seven categories of the biggest criticisms of board members; communication, expecting too much, conflict with staff, conflict within the board, wasted time, lack of organization and the wrong people.
 
While that’s a lot to unpack, his book gives practical advice on how to address each.

He finishes this section with a discussion on finding out why members say yes or no to serving on a nonprofit board.

For more information on Hardy Smith, you can go to his website HERE.

Developing a Strategic Plan

This blog post is based on the title of Chapter 14, of Dave Adkisson’s book, Horseshoes vs Chess.

He starts out by discussing the difference between an internal plan vs an external plan.

Internal – is about getting the chamber back in shape and build the capacity to do more.

External – is about taking it to the next level.  Once your internal mechanisms are in good shape, now it’s time to focus on what you can do for the community (think long-term).

He goes on to talk about how your strategic plan needs to also have a yearly business plan.

For a resource on creating a strategic plan go HERE.

He then went on to discuss reporting on the progress of your strategic plan.

It’s important that these updates be informative and accurate.  It’s about accountability.  The consent calendar is a great place to put the strategic plan update.  Should a specific topic need to be addressed, feel free to make it a topic for discussion as a formal agenda item.

At the end of the day, the strategic plan (3-5 years) and your business plan (every year) progress reports need to be shared, internally and externally.

Remember, your program of work should always be tied to your strategic plan.  Stay focused, your members will appreciate it and support you!

Chamber Leadership

In Dave Adkisson’s book, Horseshoes vs Chess (Chapter 1), he talks about the many different types of leadership styles chamber executives may possess and what that means.

I’m going to focus on four; Surrogate Leader, Catalytic Leader; Aspirational Leader, and Servant Leader.

Surrogate Leader – Dave talks about this style of leadership is for the metro chamber who is hired to manage complex issues dealing with the chamber, government, and the community at large.

Catalytic Leader – as describe in ACCE’s Horizon’s 2025 Initiative, this executive is described as a CEO who can accelerate change for the community.

Aspirational Leader – is the leader who always works to see things to improve, get better for the community.

Servant Leader – is the executive who leads from the middle (my term).  Dave talks about this type of leader must be able to lead out front or from behind.  As Dave states, “this leader is dedicated to a cause of building an effective chamber and improving one’s community is the best underlying indicator of a true servant leader.”

I’d suggest you don’t have to be tied to one leadership style.  It all depends on your situation at a given time.

It’s about adapting your style to make change for your chamber and community.

Strategic Sponsorships: Aligning Members With Your Chamber’s Mission

A recent webinar presented by Jessica Simpson, VP of Membership, Greater Pensacola Chamber, addressed the issue of Strategic Sponsorships.  The following is my take away.

It's a mindset from moving away from individual transactions to a partnership that could last multiple years.

 

She started out by talking about Total Resource Campaigns and at the end of the day, they're all about a sponsorship drive.

 

Strategic sponsorships is all about the opportunity to align what you do with possible sponsors on issues they care about.

 

It allows a member/sponsor to align their sponsorship awareness with a program of work at the chamber (workforce, education, technology). If you do it right, you will see your engagement grow with those sponsors.

 

It’s also important to treat these relationships as partnerships which will allow you to create longterm commitments and not just create one-off transactions.  You don’t want to be in the transaction business, you want to be in the partnership business.

 

Start having conversations with possible sponsors to find out what they care about and what they will support.  If it’s in your program of work as a chamber, you’ve got a match (i.e. quarterly breakfast on a specific subject; Economic, Legal, Health Care, Education, etc.).

Suggestions on who might support those special quarterly breakfasts per issue:

 

• Bank – economic updates
• Hospital – health care trends
• College – education, workforce
• Law Firm – legal trends, policy and regulatory issues

 

I would suggest a three-year commitment to be a named partner for any program you create.  It’s also important that you communicate to your members the support of the named sponsor throughout all your communication channels.

 

Think holistically when setting up a possible partnership program, create a plan and ask your members to sponsor it!

Dropped Member Campaigns

This blog post is based on my note taking of a recent webinar I attended featuring Kathy Blank, CCE, VP McKinney Chamber in Texas, on dropped member campaigns.

 

If you’re in the membership business, you know this group of leads are your hottest prospects.

 

She talked about four steps to win back members: Analyze, Target, Make a Plan and Execute.  The following were her comments, in each category, to help conduct an effective dropped member campaign.

 

Analyze

 

• Survey your drops to gain insight on why they did not renew;
• Was their membership essential spending or discretionary spending?;
• Did you lose members due to closures vs money being tight?; and finally
• Clean your lists, don’t spend good money after bad.

 

Target

 

• Create a comeback program on your website.
• Create some virtual events that target lapsed members.

 

Make a Plan

 

• Did you extend memberships, specifically in the hospitality industry knowing that they were hurt the most?
• Did you show value over the past year during Covid and how you helped your members navigate some of the government benefits to the small business community, including but not limited to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) program?

 

Execute

 

• Continue to build relationships with your lapsed members and prospect members.  Stay focused.
• They will quit the Chamber, but they won’t quit the person (staff) and that’s why relationship building is so important.

 

Remember, it’s important to use all the communication vehicles available to you to connect with your lapsed members.

 

• Calls
• Email
• Direct mail
• Member-get-a-member campaign
• Social Media

 

Once you’ve done your homework, now it’s time to “just invite them back!”

 

And remember to engage those rejoins immediately with a plan as if they were first time members.  Don’t overwhelm them but do have a steady drumbeat of communications on how they can take advantage of their membership now that they have rejoined.

 

One thing I like to talk about that was not part of this webinar is the idea of revenue versus the number of members your chamber has on the books.  Have you heard the saying, “don’t trip over quarters to pick-up pennies?”  Over my 20 years of doing membership, those penny members are the neediest and will leave you at the drop of a hat.

 

And my final comment, don’t get caught up in the number of members but focus on the quality of the member.

 

For a great Association Now article titled, Win Back Your Lapsed Members, that details the four steps above, can be found HERE.

Keeping Your Board Focused on Their Responsibilities (and not yours)

The following are my notes from a recent Institute for Organization Management webinar led by faculty member Claire Louder, IOM, CAE, MP, Louder Nonprofit Strategies, LLC.

She started out with the question.  “Are your board members wanting to get more involved in your chamber?”
 
If your board members lack direction, that can result in disfunction, including but not limited to, micromanagement, rogue committees or special projects just to name a few.
 
Six Keys to Success to keep you on track.
 

1. Strong Bylaws – gives you structure and lays out the roles and responsibilities of your board on what they should and should not do.
2. Board Orientation – setting expectations upfront will pay dividends down the road.  And I’m a fan of repeating these expectations on a regular basis.  The things to focus on would be roles and responsibilities, and what I call the big three fiduciary responsibility – Duty of Care, Duty of Loyalty and Duty of Obedience.  Go HERE for a previous blog post on that subject.
3. Strategic Plan with Big Goals – keep your board out of the weeds and keep them focused on the big issues facing your business members and communities.  Your plan should drive your board meetings and keep them focused.  You could focus on one or two of your goals per meeting.  She did not suggest reviewing all each meeting.
4. New Chairman Orientation – I would expand this to having a yearly orientation with your current chairman and your incoming chairman at the same time.  This will give you continuity through the transition.  Board sets policy, staff implements that policy.
5. Open Board Chairman Communications – regular communications is a key component to a successful relationship with your chairman.  I call this the “no surprises” rule.  Your chairman should never hear about something related to the chamber by someone other than you first!  Commitment to a communication plan and stick with it.  It could be once a week, every other week or once a month.  Find out if this is a phone call, email, or in-person meeting.  I’ve suggested in the past about creating memorandum of understanding – you can go HERE for that blog post.
6. Succession Planning – every chamber should have a succession plan in place.  A communication strategy on notifying the proper stakeholders is key (i.e., staff, members, and the community at large).  How are you identifying your next volunteer leader?  I suggest use your committees as a training ground for future leadership on the board.

 
Speaking of succession planning, I suggest you have one for the CEO too.  CEO’s leave for a number of reasons but the big three are retirement, left for a new job or were relieved of their duty.  Your chamber does not want to be caught off guard no matter which of the above three caused the change and be seen as floundering until a new person is hired.  Go HERE for more detail on creating a succession plan for the CEO.
 
Claire ended with the comment “keep your board focused on the big issues,” they will thank you!

For more resources on board management go HERE and HERE.

The Making of an Esteemed Board Chair

This was a fascinating session from the recent virtual ASAE Annual Meeting.

The discussion was led by Tom Dolan and Mark Engle, both longtime association executive CEO’s.
 
They started off by identifying the characteristics of three problem chairs:

1. Power Grab Board Chair – be careful, they will go rogue on you.
2. Entitled Board Chair – they spend the chamber’s money, at the best restaurant, expensive venue for the board retreat, and they think they can push things through when the board has already voted it down in the past.
3. Speaker for Life Board Chair – they stay around and continue to insert themselves in board activities.

 
After that discussion, they delved into the ways you can have an esteemed board chair.
 

• Minimize the level of disfunction.
• Keep the board at the theory level.
• Build a partnership between you and Board Chair.

 
They talked about the role of the CEO and how they need to bring the board chair along on major issues the organization may be facing.  If there is bad news, you need to let the board chair hear it from you and not from someone else.  I call this the “no surprises” please rule of management, at any level.
 
They went on to give tips on how to build a relationship with your new board chair:

• Find out how your board chair wants to communicate with you?
• Go over the issues and policies facing the chamber on a regular basis.
• Remind them of the role between the chairman and staff.  Let them know that 90 percent of staff time is to keep the doors open.
• Have dinner the night before the board meeting to go over any last-minute items.
• And don’t forget to meet with the new chair-elect as soon as possible.  Begin by establishing open communications with your chair-elect.  They’ll be your chairman in a year!

At the end of the day, build a relationship with your board chair and make sure there are no surprises by communicating with them on a regular basis.  And remember, communicate with them the way they want to have those communications.
 
A final nugget of information they said, "any board member can become chair."  Be mindful of that and keep track of who would make a good future board chair and who would not!