Suneet Sharma, an experienced board member and governance consultant, shares his insights on how boards can become effective teams.
A board is a mixing pot of purpose, personality and passion. They often bring together people who are highly experienced, opinionated or directive and are highly invested, at times with lived experience of the cause itself.
However, a board at its core is a team, it has its own cadence, persona and approach. You can have people who work excellently as trustees or directors individually only to be ineffective when they come together as a group.
This article acknowledges these dynamics and provides some key tips to help you think about how to help your board work well as a team.
Board meetings are highly social as well as, hopefully, strategic- prepare for this
Board meetings are the engine room of the strategic operation of a charity. In this setting dysfunction can become pronounced and dynamics can easily override the effectiveness of your approach.
Whether you are a new chair, trustee or incumbent, if you want to reflect on the effectiveness of your board as a team, the first step is watching and harvesting information about how it operates. Consider these questions:
- How does the board operate in the meeting and what is the overall tone – is it constructive, rushed, calm, focused, sensitive, agreeable, antagonistic?
- How does the chair set the tone and lead as the first among equals on the board?
- What dynamics play out between people and why?
- How do decisions get made and what information is prioritised? How could this collective decision making be improved?
Don’t underestimate the value of investing in team building
In many boards there is a focus on doing. However, it’s vital to make time for evaluation and development as key steps to embed reflection, growth and improvement.
Consider whether board away days and in-persons can set a benchmark for taking this time for reflective practice and give you an opportunity to bring the board together through this evaluative process.
Where possible use a facilitator who, usually with an insightful brief from the chair, can help smooth these dynamics and encourage introspection from the board. This will unlock greater impact.
Where there is dysfunction pragmatically acknowledge it, consider and implement a solution
Dynamics which become more pronounced at board meetings can be really invaluable to unpack and address to ensure effectiveness and learning.
There have been a number of times where trustees have taken the opportunity to take me through a policy which had been drafted line by line for minor feedback. It wasn’t a good use of board time.
In one instance, after the trustee had finished, the chair very diplomatically suggested that the approach had not been the best use of the board meeting time, and asked for the comments to be sent through to me for action instead.
This approach, being done in a diplomatic and respectful way, was to bring an awareness to the dynamic that had just played out and signal to the board that there was a better way that was preferred. Notably, it wasn’t overly critical of the trustee but at the same time set an expectation of doing better whilst working together.
A good chair as a guiding hand, along with assistance from other trustees, can do this as necessary and in the way felt most appropriate, be it in the meeting or afterwards with some individual or group feedback, to adjust, evaluate and elevate the board’s approach.
Consider your operational team as an extension of your board when it comes to teamwork
When looking at your board as a team, don’t forget others (e.g. staff/ volunteers) who attend board meetings and contribute to the agenda. If they attend your board they are an extension of it.
Operational team members have an important part to play in your board. Usually this focuses on the CEO or Charity Manager- but should also extend to your Board Secretary and those presenting at a board level from the Senior Leadership team.
How a team member conveys information to a board and interacts with the members is important and should be facilitated by an open, questioning and supportive board. At times the staff take a backseat- the trustees are seen as the main decision makers after all, but it need not be so. Board meetings are a forum where other team members can showcase impact, or a lack of it, too.
In these circumstances, a board which fails to notice and tackle dysfunction head on or selectively can really damage team dynamics. Do not let your board do this. If there is a problem, find a way to raise it and tackle it with those involved. Having a robust Code of Conduct can help with this to make sure everyone is clear about what the expectations are and what will happen if things go wrong.
Summary
Ultimately to ensure your board can succeed, embrace the social and team dynamics at play in your board. Acknowledge and take time to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses to grow together to unlock effectiveness. Do not be afraid to step back and ask the searching questions about these matters, from those operationally as well as those who form part of your board. Applying consistent evaluation, in line with the Charity Governance Code’s advice of conducting regular reviews, and an external three-year governance review for large charities, can really assist you in unlocking the effectiveness of the board as a team.
Lastly, a lot of this is about communication. If you do not communicate, if something is going well, something is concerning, if some information is critical, your approach may fail to improve. Board discussions are just that- conversations. The worst dysfunction I have seen have been from lack of or poor communication leading to the exacerbation of existing issues or problem areas. That’s where the teamwork breaks down. Don’t let it be at your charity.
Suneet Sharma is an experienced trustee, a governance specialist, and currently a governance consultant and Governance and Membership Manager for a major subject association. Connect with Suneet on LinkedIn.
