Board Effectiveness

Setting a New Leadership Team Up for Success

Situation

A leadership transition often shines new light on gaps and areas within an organization that need immediate attention. In this case, a nonprofit’s leadership team had been in place for a while and the group had unconsciously created workarounds and even a common language that gave the perception of structure and process even though these essentials for high performance were actually missing. When a new board chair and executive director were put in place, the gaps created by the lack of structure were illuminated and Quinn Strategy Group was engaged to design a performance evaluation process to help the board make positive performance changes. The challenge was to help board members see their performance objectively, as well as educate them in how to work with and evaluate the executive director for the best possible result.

Action

In order to develop the most effective process for evaluation, we facilitated discussions with the board and the executive director to establish organizational priorities with clear objectives and goals. This created a roadmap for the work to come and spotlighted the right metrics for performance evaluation. We then facilitated discussions to educate board members and help them fully embrace the process.

Impact

The work we did with this nonprofit’s leadership team and board provided a process and parameters for conducting an evaluation and gave the new executive director the clear focus needed to accelerate action. Through the process, the new board was able to fully align with the executive director and, therefore, better support the organization. Because we helped the leadership team agree on expectations from the start, a culture of communication and accountability emerged, greatly improving the group’s decision-making skills.

Too many evaluations are backward not forward looking. You need to think about how you want the board to work and how that aligns with the challenges and opportunities of the future.

Ann Quinn

410-458-2600

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