Knowing When to Say No to your Board
Picture this. You’ve just completed a two-day annual planning workshop with your Board of Directors, set against a backdrop that encourages free thinking, new ideas, lots of time for networking, a barrage of “ah ha’s” and comments like “good idea—might have potential—can’t miss—right on target”. Armed with eighty-seven new ideas, you thank your Board for their contributions, and then you get lost on the way to the airport and miss your plane because you can’t think straight. Once you do get back to the office, you go off with your management team to identify the three or four “ideas” you might be able to afford and might have the resources to implement.
Sound familiar? For most of us, it’s real life. For some it might be real drama. For all association CSOs, it’s an ongoing issue we all face.
Fortunately, after recovering from the initial shock, most association CSOs have an opportunity to go back to their volunteer boards to pose the inevitable question, “If this is what you want, what do you want us to stop doing? And by the way, here’s a list for you to choose from. Let’s start now.”
Holding your Board’s feet to the fire when they want more than the current resources of the association can accomplish and sustain is an essential quality of a CEO who wants to lead his or her association.
It also helps lead the Board in:
• Setting the strategic direction for the association; and
• Reaching the final decision on the allocation of financial resources needed to execute the association’s annual plan.
With the annual plan in hand, it’s then time for the Board to get out of the way and allow the professional staff to run the organization. But exercise some caution with this practice. Not seeking ongoing advice from your Board could cause you to miss much of the potential talent and input around the Board table—contributions that are very valuable.
Don’t forget, these people want to make a contribution and leave a mark on their association, otherwise they wouldn’t have made the commitment to sit on your Board.
Seeking their advice and counsel, however, requires a very important management tool: The Board must understand that this additional role is to offer advice, ideas or suggestions only and the CSO must understand the absolute need to decide when and where to say “no”.
The decision to say “no” to a Board of Directors cannot be taken lightly. Among the key points:
1. Carefully examine all options and provide the Board with a strong business case from management that maximizes the human and financial resources of the association while also considering what might have to “go” if you move to the Board’s initial recommendations.
2. Take the time to carefully explain your decision to your Board. They need to understand the “why nots”. This requires a high degree of diplomacy on the part of the association CEO to gain the Board’s respect over the longer term.
Knowing When to Say No to your Board…………………
