When I lived in Ohio in the 1970s, I kept to the church — an island of maturity and purity in a town of small and secular people — I thought. When I came to Indiana in 1990, I shed the island mentality and got involved in town. My interests, and apparently my abilities, led me to being on a series of not-for-profit boards.
In addition to my church and Christian school boards, I have served over 30 years on our denominational mission board. In town, I’ve been on the boards of CASA, Habitat for Humanity, Cardinal Center (disabilities), our local hospital, and its regional health care network (advisory, as it’s a for-profit). I’ve also been on an almost unique board called Gradway that provides networking and innovation to encourage our four county schools systems as they work to meet their goal of graduating as many high school students as possible.
I’ve learned a lot about leadership on those boards, including search, finance, and budgeting committees, and once releasing a CEO. I’ve been on the exec committee or served as president (or both) of many of those boards. I think if I added up all those board seats over the years, it would come to more than my age. So what?
OK, here’s what I’ve learned about board leadership: the CEO is usually competent, though the exceptions are numbing. The CEO usually has a persuasive case for getting his/her program through the board. Not all CEOs are receptive to alternate ideas or pushback. Some boards can be sidetracked with fundraising.
I’ve kept a mental list of bad reasoning that I’ve heard over the years. I’d say that best practices involve avoiding them all. Not every error is horrible. I have seen much good reasoning that relates issues, plans, and needs to the mission, purpose, vision, core values. I’ve seen good strategic buy-in, along with balanced cost-benefit approaches. Most boards give sufficient time to consider various plans and options and are willing to take the time to get adequate input.
Here is some poor reasoning:
- Over-simplification: “The time has come…” “(This) is obsolete…” “As we all know…” “All the studies show…” “Best practices include….” “Among our peers…”
- Financial non sequiturs: “We have the money on hand.” “The endowment (or specific donor) can cover this expense.” “The new bequest seems timed just perfectly for (this).”
- Crisis errors: Letting a crisis become theatrical (or false); pushing a personal gripe or passion in crisis mode; excessive urgency to settle this today.
- Belittling as an argument: Impression that those who question or oppose don’t get it…are only being emotional or nostalgic…are not godly…are behind the times.
- Spiritualizing as a trump card, “I just read this book or verse/study and think we should….” “I just read this chapter and felt led to….” “I’ve been praying earnestly….” “God wants us to do (this).” “God told me that we should do (this).” “This is directly parallel to David (Moses, Paul), and he did (this).”
- Then there is the questionable appeal to values and process: “I ran this by the committee, and they approved it.” “This represents a core value.” “I’m the (title).” “You called me now, trust me.”
Let these go away, and your leadership will improve (so will your ability to think critically)!