| September 15, 2009: Catch and Release Recruiting? |
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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?
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