Aligning your board will make defining and achieving success more likely. By Charles Dahan 
In our experience with a broad array of non-profit organizations, those that are successful—in terms of attracting the best talent and increasing board and constituent engagement—are those with a clear and quantifiable mission. Some organizations view quantification as a risk: What if the organization falls short of the measured goals? Moreover, developing metrics can be challenging when board members have different goals and visions for the organization. Emphasizing board-level diversity, personal connections, and transparency dramatically improve the odds of success at reaching these goals.
- Diversity: Create a diverse board by encouraging existing board members to recruit beyond their immediate circle of friends and colleagues. A 2012 McKinsey report found diverse corporate boards produce 53 percent higher return on equity and 14 higher margins before earnings and taxes than companies led by the least diverse boards.
- Personal connections: Diversity may correlate with a lack of initial interpersonal connections between board members. Like any group, members must know that even if they disagree, each member has the best intentions of the organization in mind. Additionally, board members must attend meetings (and, when they attend, be prepared and well-informed by reading the board book and additional materials).
- Transparency: Secrecy always fosters mistrust. Two immediate consequences of keeping secrets are divisions and cliques within a board, as different groups attempt to hoard information and take action based on subgroup interests.
While implementing best practices such as these can make your board more efficient, there is no replacement for investing time in board activities. “Board members with very high impact invested eight extra workdays a year on strategy,” according to another report from McKinsey. By defining success and developing metrics that can measure the organization’s progress, boards can provide clarity to members and staff and promote the success of their organizations. Charles Dahan is managing partner of Behavior Clarity Analytics and project manager at Stanford University. Dahan will present “Defining, Quantifying, and Increasing Engagement for Association Members and Board Members” at CUES’ Execu/Net™, Aug. 28-31 in Fish Camp, Calif. Read “Relatedness: The Key to Employee Engagement” by Sandra McDowell, who will also speak at Execu/Net. Access a collection of articles by speakers at Execu/Net, including one that describes why getting outside facilitates productivity.
