September 22, 2010 | Read Time: 2 minutes
In 1992, I joined the staff of a young organization that is now known as BoardSource.
“Theories of change” were not yet all the rage, but looking back I believe we had one.
And it was simple: Put out better information about what boards are supposed to do. That will help boards improve. Better boards produce better nonprofits.
In many ways, we were right.
By the time I left the organization in 1999, we had produced scores of publications that were reaching thousands of people each year.
And evidence was accumulating that boards were doing better: more conflict-of-interest policies in place, improved committee structures, more thoughtful executive director performance reviews.
Incremental progress, but real. And also not enough.
Since leaving BoardSource (which continues to thrive and do great work), I’ve talked with hundreds of executive directors and board members about nonprofit boards—first as the executive director of a state association of nonprofits and then as a foundation program officer.
I’ve worked for a board, served on boards, written about boards, trained boards, and trained executive directors about boards. And after all that, I concluded that good information is only part of what we need to build stronger boards.
Now that we have better theory, we need better tactics. In real life, boards and executive directors have knotty problems. Executive directors don’t always realize that a big part of their job is to help their boards do a good job. Board members have egos and complicated motivations. Things that sound good in theory get complicated in practice, and too often we talk in vague generalities when executive directors and boards are starved for specifics.
One of the things we need is more opportunities for candid exchanges about the problems that pop up as nonprofit boards and executive directors work in partnership in real life. That’s what I hope this blog can be. It’s called “Against the Grain” because I hope to talk about things that don’t usually come up in the board literature—and to challenge current governance dogma. And, yes, there’s a play on words involving boards and wood. I couldn’t resist. At least I’m not making an awful pun using the word “bored.”
Each week I’ll post once or twice, raising an issue or posing a question based on the real-life experience of boards and executives—or highlighting research, new publications and tools, and other blogs.
This journey won’t be much fun or nearly as useful for readers if I’m simply talking to myself, so I hope you’ll join in. Suggest topics. Add your two cents. Respectfully disagree. I’m looking forward to the conversation.
