Boards and Man-to-Man Defense
When I was growing up in St. Louis, MO, I played a lot of sports: basketball, volleyball, and softball in the Catholic Youth Council (CYC) league. Of all the sports, in the Catholic community at the time, basketball was the most important. It’s like Texas and football.
Our team trained hard and performed well. Our coach Mr. Burris really pushed us to do our best. Sometimes we hated him for it but we sure loved winning. Not only does playing sports make you happy when you win, it teaches you about teamwork and the importance of playing your position to reach success.
In one game, we were playing man-to-man defense (for those of you who don’t follow b-ball, that means on defense, you focus on one assigned player on the opposing team). I was playing my position when out of nowhere one of my teammates left her position and got in my way. Because she did this, both of our assigned players got past us and the other team scored.
It was the end of the quarter, the buzzer went off, and I was MAD. I asked her why she left her position and she sheepishly admitted she thought she could do it better. I scolded her and said I could do it and her interference could have cost us the game.
That’s pretty much what our coach told her too. And she got to listen to his lecture the rest of the game when he benched her. I got to stay in. Why? Because I played my part on the team and put the teamwork before my ego.
I didn’t do someone else’s job. I did mine. We ended up winning the game because in the second half, the team focused on our plays and playing our own position.
This relates to nonprofit organization Boards because they need to play their position.
Last week, I wrote on the topic “The REAL Job of Boards,” and I received a few comments in response. During conversations with a growing segment of my professional colleagues, we all agree that we need to change how we work with Boards, how Boards are educated and trained, and improving understanding of their REAL job and role. In my article last week, I made the argument that Boards are not The Boss; they are responsible for OVERSIGHT of the organization’s performance, specifically by working with the Chief Staff Executive.
But not everyone agrees with the position that the Board is not The Boss.
I like opposing views. We all need to be open to different views and perspectives as it helps us hone our ideas. Opposing views make us think about our different ideas and question if they are too off the wall. And, hearing different views sometimes helps us see that maybe our position was fine in the past, but maybe isn’t the best for “the now.”
While my position is that the Board is not “The Boss” of the Chief Staff Executive (CSE) several colleagues pushed back noting that the CSE needs to report to someone, and that nonprofit CSEs cannot just do “whatever they want.” I do agree with both of these statements, but where nonprofit organizations fall down and end up creating problems is in the area of what is Board Work and what is Staff Work as my friend Cheryl Ronk, CAE, FASAE, likes to explain it.
Yes, everyone needs to be held accountable and responsible for their actions and decisions, but the actual function of a Board of Directors is OVERSIGHT, not management. It’s their responsibility to hire the CSE and then OVERSEE their performance. Yes, that includes evaluating that performance but it is OVERSIGHT, not management. (See last week’s article for more information on Oversight and Boards.)
If someone is “The Boss” then they tell direct reports what to do. They manage them. Sometimes they micro-manage them. But those employees do not have the authority to make decisions and act on them because the Boss directs their activities.
CSEs do have authority and responsibility to make decisions and act on them. It is not the job or the role of the Board to approve every decision the CSE makes because it is not Board Work. The day-to-day of organization management and operations is Staff Work.
I continue to roll my eyes at the constant chatter about how nonprofits should act more like for profits, yet don’t apply the dynamics within a for-profit model that has a CEO and a Board of Directors. In the for-profit model, the CEO runs the company, keeps the Board informed, and does the job. The Board doesn’t tell them what to do. But if the CEO’s performance declines and is not meeting goals, the Board steps in to make a change.
That is OVERSIGHT. It’s not the Board’s job to manage the CEO or the company but it’s their job to oversee it and make sure it is done well.
Why don’t we make that connection in the nonprofit C-Suite? Because we continue to promote the orthodoxy that the Nonprofit Board is The Boss. This wrong thinking has brought down more than one high-performing CSE because the Board thinks they are in charge. Being on the Board does not mean you know how to run a nonprofit organization. It means you are committed to the organization’s success and have knowledge or skills that support it.
Board members: We love you and your contributions but you are not The Boss. You are a fiduciary acting on behalf of your constituency. This is why a powerful partnership with the CSE is crucial to nonprofit organization success.
CSEs who have training and experience as a nonprofit management professional are specialists with unique knowledge and skills related directly to organizational success. That coupled with the Subject Matter Expertise of a committed Board of Directors makes for an awesome team that can achieve their goals together.
Teamwork takes training, practice, and understanding our role in the pursuit of nonprofit organization success. For teams to be successful, we all have to play our position.
