Non Profit

My experience has been that the best nonprofit board members are those who listen the most intently while asking challenging questions that get to the heart of the matter the most directly.  How much energy does the typical board put into evaluating its own health and effectiveness?

This group of questions includes many that boards might want to ask themselves and their organizations on a routine basis while never getting too comfortable with the answers.

– Ray Caraway

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“Eclectic” is an accurate way to describe the mix of people on almost any nonprofit board. Getting a group of often highly successful people with multiple motives and perspectives to pull in the same direction is perhaps the quintessential challenge of the nonprofit world.  The absence of the compelling profit motive that drives for-profit organizations makes this challenge all the more complex and fascinating.

This graphic is designed to spur our thinking about how a board member with an “abundance mindset” approaches the board’s two key functions: advancing the organization’s mission, and supporting/challenging the CEO.  Haven’t all of us fallen into the “scarcity mindset” trap from time to time?  I know I have!

I struggle with the term “nonprofit.”  Generally, “for-profit” companies benefit from being highly motivated to make a financial profit. But, the profit motive alone is rarely sufficient to drive sustainable success.  What is it that motivates your nonprofit organization?  This graphic provides a few examples of how we can adjust our thought processes to move from average to exceptional leaders in the nonprofit world. Perhaps the best non-profit organizations and for-profit organizations all share the same thing — a passion for their mission that drives the way they think, act, and speak.

– Ray Caraway

Contact me here.

I was honored – and challenged – to report directly to nonprofit boards for over 25 years. I have made my share of mistakes and learned a few things along the way. One of the most knowledgeable and committed boards I worked for had a frequently repeated adage when I arrived – “no surprises.” The idea that a board member would first hear about something from a community member or, God forbid, the newspaper, was abhorrent. Totally unacceptable! At first glance, this doesn’t sound terribly unreasonable. But not being one to blindly accept tradition, I challenged the notion. What was behind this unwritten, but often verbalized, mandate to the CEO? What exactly was the fear or concern?

I’d suggest that a tactically minded board tends to be far more concerned about surprises. These are boards that tend to second guess the CEO, spend lots of time brainstorming, and are often “hands-on” volunteers for the organization. I would call these “working boards” or “tactical boards.” They are in the trenches, and they don’t want to look foolish by being caught off guard by something the CEO does.

But what if the board is a true “policy board” or “strategic board?” How does this change things? These boards – if they are operating as they claim to be – spend their time focusing on strategy and policy, and they evaluate the CEO based primarily on one thing: Results. Surprises are usually a good thing for these boards. I once served on a board that legitimately wanted to be a policy/strategy board, but the CEO kept pulling us into the tactical aspects of his work. Our board was a group of very busy people, and many of us were consumed with running our own organizations. We wanted to focus on the big picture and see creativity and resourcefulness from the CEO. As a board, our attitude was, “Please, please surprise us! Stop looking to us for ideas. You know the key objective, so go do it! Let us know how we can open doors and support your efforts.”

The ”no-surprises” board I worked for had held onto that mantra over the years. It was what we came to refer to as a legacy characteristic of the board – a tradition that needed to be retired. The board had legitimately evolved into a policy board. So when I challenged the notion, one board member was quick to speak up and affirm that this was an outdated notion that reflected unrealistic fears and a lack of trust in the CEO. “If we are clear on our objectives, and if we trust our CEO, then what are we afraid of,” he said. If there is great clarity regarding strategy and objectives, surprises of a tactical nature should be welcomed, not feared. This, of course, does not excuse poor communication. Rather it affirms that the CEO has a strong and confident mandate to move forward and to get the job done. Obsessing over what the board is and isn’t aware of is not a good thing. And boards should welcome the unexpected from their CEO.

If you serve on a nonprofit board, can you confidently say that most of your board meetings are devoted to strategy and policy? Is your board evaluating your CEO based on a desire for results that match up to your written strategic objectives with specific timelines? If so, I’d encourage you to tell your CEO, “Please, please, surprise us!”

Having a front-row seat to see nonprofits heroically change lives, bring diverse groups of people together around common missions, and strengthen communities in fundamental ways, has been a wonderful gift – a great way to spend the past 30 years!  But I’ve also seen the darker side of the nonprofit sector:  The never-ending “treadmill” of fundraising, high levels of staff turnover, and boards that have good intentions but are underutilized, unsure of how to best contribute, and sometimes even counterproductive. We’ve all seen the statistics. The for-profit sector – to a fault – is all about mergers and increasing efficiency through larger and larger platforms while the nonprofit sector remains one of mostly “mom and pop” organizations struggling to get sufficient traction to “move to the next level.”  Why is that, and what can be done to create change? What’s the secret sauce for success in the world of nonprofits?    

Every truly exceptional nonprofit I have seen has one quality that sets it apart from the crowd – a great CEO (executive director, head administrator, or whatever the title may be.)  And every truly great nonprofit CEO has a great board.  The two go hand in hand.  There’s no such thing as one without the other.  They are both completely responsible for each other. No finger-pointing allowed.  It’s a relationship that is unique in so many ways.    

So, whether you are a CEO who wants to see greater alignment with and engagement from your board, or a board member who wants to find new ways to support, motivate, and challenge your CEO, there’s work to be done!  

Wherever your nonprofit is in terms of performance – clearly struggling or perhaps striving to remain on a high-performing path – I am convinced there’s only one starting point when considering your future:  The board – CEO relationship. When that relationship is maximized, everything else will fall into place. Both need to be each other’s biggest fans, and both need to fully understand their roles, how they differ, and where they intersect.  Whether your organization is a two or an eight on a 10-point scale for measuring the strength of this core relationship, improving it is the key to achieving high performance.

After working for nonprofits in five different states for 30 years and having led four of them as CEO, I have seen the nonprofit world from just about every angle.  I believe the upside potential for nonprofit organizations is far greater than most boards and CEOs realize.  

If you’d like to start improving this crucial CEO – board relationship, I recommend blending relationship-strengthening activities into your strategic planning, CEO hiring process, fundraising efforts, performance reviews, succession planning, and visioning process. With a stronger CEO – board relationship, your nonprofit will multiply its impact and accomplish far more with less tension than you ever thought was possible.

The Peak Solutions team has worked with executives, leadership teams, and boards all over the world to improve organizational health. I’m excited to be helping nonprofits as a part of this team and would love to hear from you. One thing I know for sure is that the sky’s the limit for your nonprofit and for any nonprofit that is willing to take its relationships and culture seriously. I’m here to support you in any way I can!

– Ray

Contact Ray Caraway here.