As snow appears on the ground in this part of the Northern Hemisphere, a consultant’s heart turns to thoughts of warm indoor meetings:  getting cozy with some great committees.  “Care and feeding” could refer to room temperature, sofa softness and snacks but, in this case, it means “support that creates meaningful committee outcomes.”  How to make your board’s committees more effective?  Think about how to help any work group to be productive.  Here are some starting considerations. 

1)  Is there a clear set of objectives or tasks or sense of what constitutes successful output for this group?  If not, please make it so.  2)  Are there adequate members to get the work done?  Now is the time to add a new member if there are only a couple of people who aren’t even meeting or who aren’t making progress.  This is a great opportunity to mentor new board members or give a senior board member a meaningful task.  Make sure there is at least one person with enough leadership/management skill to engage at least two other members in sharing work.  3) Is there a timeframe to complete key assignments?  If not, declare the end of the calendar year (say, December 1) as the target.  Then determine what of importance can be accomplished by that date and give the members encouragement to complete that task.  4)  Does the group have adequate support to be successful?  This could be authority, information, technology, access to staff or partners outside of the organization to provide information, make decisions or provide other resources.  If not, then make arrangements for appropriate support or decommission the group. 

There is more, of course, but these four items provide a starting point.  Why not look at all committees and work groups now, figure out the most important thing(s) they can accomplish by December 1 and have board leadership and senior staff do the minimum to help these groups succeed.  Up to perhaps half of what is important for board trustees to do is done in work groups, so  caring and feeding activity is really much more important than it may initially appear to be.

A common recruiting approach used by small boards of stagnating organizations, could possibly be seen as a variation of the sport fishing technique of “catch and release.”  In the board variation, the existing trustees act like fishermen, catching the first person they can hook to serve on the board.  Then, claiming they have found a replacement, the trustees depart from their board service, with a clear conscience.  After all, they did replace themselves so that the board can carry on.     Unfortunately, this approach is usually tried out of desperation and in a rush, and the resulting “catch” doesn’t build up adequate capacity. 

An alternative that doesn’t end up taking any more time, is to consult stakeholders individually or in small groups, a sort of serial think tank, where needs and priorities for board membership can be considered by a lot of caring folks that are less stressed and adequately motivated to think clearly, hopefully even strategically about who can help move an organization forward through board service.  If this sounds familiar, well, it is…a variation of the favored “one time nominating committee” technique for developing a list of board candidates. 

You just can’t lose by thoughtful consultation with stakeholders or those who represent them well.  Of course, the primary step that is usually passed over is the planning:  figuring out what the major challenges are that the organization needs its board to address and developing a set of membership criteria from there.  At that point, maybe even catching and releasing might work.  The only thing is, who wants to feel like a fish that has been tricked into swimming around in a dreary holding tank for several years on an underperforming board?

I have never played fantasy football or any other fantasy sport, for that matter.  But I have frequently fantasized about great boards.  I would like you readers to share a fantasy, not with me, but with your board colleagues.  It should take some of the boredom out of your board work. 

Take a break, don’t even have the next monthly board meeting.  Instead, grant yourself an hour to fantasize, either by yourself or with a friend, family member or colleague – however you are most creative when you brainstorm.  Take 10 minutes or so, and bitch about why your board work is so unfulfilling, why you think that your participation is a waste of time.  Feel the frustration, anger, and tension in your body.  Then take half and hour and really go for it, fantasize about what the greatest board experience would look like, how it would feel, what types of wonderful people would be there and what they would be doing.  Now take 15 minutes and really let yourself live in that fantasy world.  Just feel how good it feels doing the most fun and stimulating things you can think of (in terms of board work!).  Breathe deeply, release the tension in your body, look out into that magical space, close your eyes if you can.  As you emerge from your trance, jot down some notes to help you remember this wonderful, imaginary board experience. 

Next month, when you and your colleagues get together, make sure that most of the meeting is devoted to sharing visions about what your ideal, fantasy board looks and feels like.  Don’t end the discussion without recapping common features of your visions and a making list of what changes you can easily make to start down the path to that beautiful day when your board becomes truly wonderful.

As the academic year resumes, we are reminded that the end of the calendar year looms, and there is so much left to do.  Make a plan to reinforce productivity before the holiday season looms.  What can you and your colleagues accomplish in 100 days for your organization?

It might help to think in terms of threes:  which three relationships can I strengthen; which three “asks” can I make; which three decisions must get made; which three things can I do for PR; which three steps can I take to reach our highest priority goal; etc.  Ask your board colleagues to make their list of “threes for 100!” and check in on results to insure good news to celebrate in December.