Transformational Governance
How Boards Achieve Extraordinary Change
Beth Gazley, Katha Kissman
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
Transformational Governance
How Boards Achieve Extraordinary Change
Beth Gazley, Katha Kissman
About This Book
There has never been so much pressure on nonprofit boards of directors to achieve a level of accountability that meets public and stakeholder expectations. Member-serving association boards may be especially challenged by their more complex affiliate structures and a greater emphasis on representative governance. But what does the journey to good governance look like? Markedly different from existing board development books, this modern approach focuses less on the behaviors and qualities of "high-performing boards" and more on the stages and processes that directors and their staff used to transform their boards. Based on research funded by the ASAE Foundation, the book fills a gap in the governance literature by emphasizing diagnosis and problem solving, using the actual tools and activities implemented by 85 transformed associations. Combining the credibility of scholarly research with lively and compelling stories, tools, and teachable moments, this book is designed to help associations and other nonprofit organizations achieve the entire journey to good governance, from first to last steps.
Frequently asked questions
Information
1
Where Does Board Change Begin?
The path to our destination is not always a straight one.We go down the wrong road, we get lost, we turn back.Maybe it doesn't matter which road we embark on.Maybe what matters is that we embark.āBarbara Hall, writer and producer
- Why isn't this working?
- How can we make something better?
- What if we did this differently?
- āSomething is not right on this board.ā
- āWhy can't we get more done?ā
- āI like serving on this board except for _____________.ā
- āI'm not making a difference. Perhaps I should resign.ā
- āWhy do my ideas seem so out of place?ā
- āEveryone keeps telling me, āWe've always done it this wayā¦.āā
- āThere were problems. You would hear things.ā
- āWhen I was hiring, prospective staff would ask specific questions about board involvement.ā
- āIt had been brewing under the surface.ā
- āWe had organizational misalignment.ā
- āThe board was not able to make decisions.ā
- āWe were losing members.ā
- āThe board was exhausted.ā
- āAll the decisions were being made in the back room.ā
- āThe board was spending all its time on āadministrivia.āā
- āIn learned societies the board chair is the highest person in the field at the time and it's an honorific.ā
- āThe board spent a lot of time discussing issues that weren't really in their purview.ā
- āThere was no direction. We were living in the past. We were the world's largest association of xāand we were stuck.ā
- āIt was an operational board. We had budget meetings that lasted eight to 12 hours. We had board discussions about how to price a manual.ā
Concepts and Application
Top 25% of Ranked Association Boards, Based on CEO Board Performance Rating | Bottom 25% of Ranked Association Boards, Based on CEO Board Performance Rating | Total Average of All Boards (n = 1,585) | |
CEO intends to leave | 37% | 54% | 44% |
High staff turnover, affecting more than half of key positions | 8% | 18% | 12% |
Board has greater turnover than optimal | 3% | 10% | 6% |
Board has less turnover than optimal | 9% | 31% | 17% |
Difficult to recruit board members | 49% | 85% | 66% |
Association membership is growing | 48% | 24% | 36% |
Association budget is growing | 55% | 33% | 46% |
Association membership is shrinking | 16% | 38% | 25% |
Association budget is shrinking | 16% | 30% | 21% |
- āMembership was flat; programs were not growing.ā
- āI met with the board chair, and we both expressed dissatisfaction with my annual review process. So we began to have this discussionā¦.ā
- āThere had been a number of short-term strategic plans. It was easy to kick the can down the road. We would take markers, not hit them, and then do a new strategic plan. There was frustration at not being able to grow.ā
- āOur industry was at a crossroads.ā
- āIt was clear to me that one of the reasons for the financial crisis was rooted in the structure and function of the board of directors. The organization was basically not doing anything but spinning in a circle, depending on who was pulling the hardest.ā
- āWe did not have productive relationships with our colleague associations.ā
- āThere was growing member concern about _____________ā [safety, growth, professionalization, fiscal health, relevancy, etc.].