What should I do if a board member starts stepping out of line?
Ask Me Anything Summary
So our last ask me anything question is about board of directors and it comes from one of our followers who wants to know, what do I do if my board of directors starts to step out of line and starts speaking directly to operation staff. Well, it happens all the time and every board is different. In fact, boards follow life cycles.
Some boards are very grassroots and boards are very involved and engaged in the operations. They may actually even be helping in operations. Some board of directors are a little bit more sophisticated and they have very clear lines and boundaries. A healthy board is one where the board of directors is responsible for the fiduciary health of the organization and the strategic direction.
That means the executive director ceo is recognized as the person that they have hired and empowered to run the operations in the organization. So if your board member is getting involved directly with a staff member, it might be time to step back and ask the question, do you have the right policies in place to delineate what those boundaries are? And have you been training, you’re bored enough? Then make sure that that redirection comes from a pier, ideally, the board chair would be the person that would talk to that board member about boundaries.
If that doesn’t work, you might need to have a larger intervention and that might be an opportunity to bring in a mediator. But it’s important that if a board member is getting deeply involved in your operations, that there is a boundary and that you have set that clearly. The executive director is charged with running the operations, but also where the buck stops, they answer directly to the board.
So if you have any questions, you need any help with the board problem, feel free to reach out to us, ask us a question and one of our experts, I’m sure we’ll be able to answer whatever dilemma that you’re facing. You can reach us at admin@sharityglobal.com or you can reach me personally at carol.wick@sharityglobal.com or just dm us here on social media.
Have a great day.
