Organizations regularly evaluate performance, making adjustments to achieve existing and new objectives—and it's imperative boards do the same.
For a board of directors, conducting an honest, in-depth assessment of where the board and individual members stand in terms of strengths and gaps is the critical first step before making any adjustments to increase board effectiveness and performance.
Now, before your eyes glaze over, I'm going to make this easy for you. The most impactful action your board can take to strengthen governance, support organizational leadership and become high-performing is simple:
Why is a conversation about expectations so important?
In my decades of experience working with and serving on boards, more than half the time struggling boards can trace under-performance directly back to problems stemming from expectations.
Examples include no clear policy around board attendance or committee participation. No discussion about financial support or making connections in the community. Often board members don't even understand why they were nominated to the board in the first place—so they have no clue what type of contribution is expected of them.
This is even tricker because solving it requires a real shift in board culture. The conversation needs to delve into why leadership isn’t reinforcing expectations and, therefore, why board members feel comfortable ignoring expectations around giving, participation and service.
Your governance committee needs to facilitate a conversation centered around expectations for both the board and individual members. Starting with:
The more a board formalizes expectations the stronger board culture becomes and the faster performance increases.
Once your board governance committee has the conversation, expectations must be shared with the full board in order to gather feedback and build buy-in.
This entire process not only builds a shared understanding of what effective board service looks like and reinforces accountability, but also strengthens relationships between board members and between the board and organizational leadership.
Bottom Line: Clear, agreed-upon expectations help board members work as a cohesive team, support leadership and focus their collective efforts on advancing the organization’s performance, impact and mission.
Ann Quinn is a results-driven board development and governance expert who leverages her 20-year track record as a business strategist, senior leader and investor to benefit the boards on which she has served. During her career, Ann has steered organizations through pivotal transitions and growth phases, applying her experience in organizational lifecycles and corporate pivots, M&A and capital raises, succession planning and effective board governance. Known for helping boards create momentum while cultivating a culture of accountability and high-performance, Ann actively seeks board positions where her understanding of growth and scale, transformation and systems thinking are highly valued. Past and current board work includes Planned Parenthood Maryland, Baltimore Public Media (WYPR), Maryland Venture Fund Authority, Bluefire Security Technology, CodeRyte and Sourcefire.
