Getting Your Volunteer Board Working as a Team

It's Tuesday evening, and the board packet went out a week ago.

At 4:55pm, five minutes before the meeting, two directors are still flipping through it in the parking lot. Inside, one chair sits empty. Another director is dialing in late from the road.

So the same two directors who carried the last three meetings are about to carry this one too.

I see it on more boards than people expect.

And it usually has nothing to do with caring. 

Some run businesses. Some are retired and finally taking the trips they put off for years.

They love the credit union, which also makes accountability hard.

Why do good boards stall?

When busy people show up as they can, and no one works from a shared plan, holding each other accountable gets tough.

Commitments made in March drift into June. A committee assignment sits untouched because its owner is out of town.

Before long, one or two people do most of the work while everyone else nods along.

Nobody planned it. No structure was in place to correct it.

Most boards respond with more training. 

Now, board education helps, but it’s only part of the picture.

The boards that perform best have also learned to work well together. They make commitments, follow through, and share the workload so nobody burns out.

What does the right structure look like?

Here are three things you can start with. I cover them in more depth during my board trainings.

Shared commitments, written down. Every action item leaves the meeting with a name and a date beside it. Then the first item on the next agenda is a quick review of those commitments.

A rhythm people can plan around. Set the full year's calendar in advance. Send the packet early enough that directors have time to read it. Busy people show up prepared when they know what's coming.

A workload that's spread out. Look at who sits on which committee and who leads most of the conversations. If the same two names keep showing up, select others and invite them, based on their strengths and capacity. This will help them own the work from the start.

When a board shares the workload and has a strong structure in place, meetings get shorter and more focused. Decisions stick.

And your board and leadership team can move results forward together all year long.

Your action step this week

Pull the minutes from your last three board meetings. List every commitment that was made and who owned it. Then mark each one: done, in progress, or quietly forgotten.

Now count how many different names show up as owners.

If it's the same one or two people, you've found your starting point. Bring that list to your board chair before the next meeting, and pick one change you'll make together.

If you're a CEO wanting to help your board operate better, or a director thinking, "Michael, I know we can do better," hit reply and tell me where you're at.

I'd love to share the frameworks I use to help boards share the load and keep their commitments moving.

Lead Boldly,
~ Michael