Orientation of new board members is a good thing.  Helping prospective members to grasp the organization’s expectations for their trustee work is necessary for successful board service.  However, one ill-suited idea from the 20th century still lingers, the idea that attending a full board meeting in and of itself constitutes an effective screening or training tool. 

The intention behind this approach may be well-meaning.  If your board meetings are truly stellar, featuring insightful strategic thinking, stimulating educational impacts and deep satisfaction among members every time, then sure, go show off your meetings.  But even in that case, you run the danger of giving the full rounded-out board experience and requirements short shrift and may cause unrealistic expectations among a prospective new member.

If adequate energy can be devoted to screening and orienting board candidates, then the instinct to “show-and-tell” must be broadened to a more complete exercise in shadowing.  In this approach, the prospective candidate tags along with a skilled trustee through some aspect of all three zones of board work:  committee/work group activities, individual assignments (such as meeting with donors or other stakeholders), as well as perhaps processing a full board meeting package and processing with that assigned trustee.  [We can also assume that the prospective board member has been exposed to the organization’s foundation documents and board member briefing materials, right?]  After all of this, the context for the action in a full board meeting has been established and attendance there can then culminate a comprehensive orientation program.

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3.22 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."