Among the spunky women who I count as heroes is Alice Brown, the long-time but now retired president of the Appalachian College Association. The indomitable Ms. Brown is using her retirement years and the social capital acquired over three decades to speak tough truths in love to schools that she describes as “hanging on by a thread.”
Regularly in my work with faith-based nonprofits, I see what Brown sees – too many institutions and organizations with one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel (metaphorically speaking, of course). Despite my best hope that every good cause can be restored to financial health and mission success, for many, we’re talking water-to-wine level miracles.
If only I had Brown’s courage and cache, that’s what I would say to the boards and presidents who are hanging on at any cost — leaders so worn down, afraid, or simply naive, they’re not asking tough questions about what comes next.
EVEN IF YOU’D RATHER NOT, ASK.
Getting real about an organization’s situation doesn’t come easy for most of us. There’s no fun in exposing institutional deficiencies and even less in raising the possibility that an organization has passed the point of return to viability. Doing so feels like a betrayal of trust, or worse, a lack of faith.
The result, as Brown describes and I’ve observed, is that boards “don’t pay a lot of attention to what is going on. They don’t ask questions. They get a report from the president, who tells them what he wants them to know, and then they go to a nice dinner. I’m not sure many trustees really take it upon themselves to worry about whether the school is getting better.”
Although, “presidents seem to be happy to keep their trustees behind closed doors and the trustees seem happy to stay there,” there’s nothing gained but lots lost by hiding from the facts.
If a board doesn’t ask, it won’t get what it needs to lead well. And if the board isn’t leading well, everything and everyone else suffers.
God only knows what might be today if several decades back, the boards of the schools with which Brown relates had asked tough questions and responded proactively. However, I’m willing to wager big that the institutions would be in better condition had their boards done so. The same can be said for the faith-based nonprofits with which I consult.
A willingness to ask probing, sometimes uncomfortable questions isn’t optional. It’s a requisite of effective board work. The evidence is all around us. What boards don’t ask can (and regularly does) cause real harm to organizations.
For more on the importance of question asking in the boardroom, check out:
When your board comes to a fork in the road . . .
The role of edgy questions in strategic planning
Thanks for this post, Rebekah!
It seems to me that board members often don’t know what they don’t know. Perhaps they have a vague idea of it, but are afraid to go out on a limb and ask. I’ve been impressed lately to meet with board members individually and ask what burning questions they have… what uncertainties they have… what are the concerns that linger that they might have a hard time putting into words.
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