Is Your
Organization Going Through a Dilution of Powers?
In an organization governed by a nonprofit Board of Directors much of the ‘power’ can de diluted as it spreads throughout powerful committees, past Presidents who do not want to ‘let go’ and/or long term staff who may have made very influential contacts over the years. While the Board sets policy often times the policy becomes diluted as the various groups above, determine and exercise their interpretation. Sometimes these groups actually work in opposed direction of the Board’s policy.
This dilution of power happens much more that you might think as sometimes it’s interpreted as poor communication, a weak CEO or both. The potential damage in the short term can cause major issues. Over the mid to longer term it affects trust,
staff/board relations, member confidence and this list goes on and on……………….Board members become displeased, some leave, other become apathetic. Power struggles intensive. There is little if any change the organizations strategic goals are met, chaos reigns!
Perhaps some of you think this may be a bit dramatic, others agree and some of you may be going through this right now.
So what do you do when this is happening? It is somewhat like trying to close the barn door after the animals have begun to stream out. (In this case let replace the analogy of animals with the terms members, funders, and
valued staff members.)
In short, you must close this barn door quickly and then ensure it doesn’t open again. In real terms enhanced communication between the Board, CEO and other stakeholders needs to occur. Committee terms of reference must be evaluated to determine if they are appropriate. The need for transparency, broad based democracy and very clear lines of authority developed (and monitored for effectiveness)
So who makes this happen? It starts with the Board and the CEO. They must act as a team however strong questions must be asked to determine how the situation became so critical. Was there no appropriate CEO evaluation in place? Would the CEO be more comfortable in another sector? There could be a dozen different reasons, can’t fix this in a short blog, but it can and has been overcome many times.
Terry J. Clark CAE
This dilution of power happens much more that you might
think as sometimes it’s interpreted as poor communication, a weak CEO or both.
The potential damage in the short term can cause chaos. Over the mid to longer term it affects trust,
staff/board relations, member confidence and this list goes on and on……………….
Board members become displeased, some leave, other become
apathetic. Power struggles intensive. There is little if any change the
organizations strategic goals are met, chaos reigns!
Perhaps some of you
think this may be a bit dramatic, others agree and some of you may be going
through this right now.
So what do you do when this is happening? It is somewhat
like trying to close the barn door after the animals have begun to stream out. (In
this case let replace the analogy of animals with the terms members, funders, and
valued staff members.)
In short, you must close this barn door quickly and then
ensure it doesn’t open again. In real terms enhanced communication between the
Board, CEO and other stakeholders needs to occur. Committee terms of reference
must be evaluated to determine if they are appropriate. The need for transparency,
broad based democracy and very clear lines of authority developed (and
monitored for effectiveness)
So who makes this happen? It starts with the Board and the
CEO. They must act as a team however strong questions must be asked to
determine how the situation became so critical. Was there no appropriate CEO
evaluation in place? Would the CEO be more comfortable in another sector?
Can’t fix this in a short blog, but it can and has been
correctly overcome many times.
