GAINING BOARD SUPPORT FOR THE

STRATEGIC PLAN AND KEY INITIATIVES

A discussion paper based on Verity’s Third Quarter, 2013 Bridge2Success Executive Breakfast Forum

By Colleen Fleming, Forum Moderator and

Managing Director, Bridge2Success Verity International Limited

GAINING BOARD SUPPORT FOR THE STRATEGIC PLAN AND KEY INITIATIVES

An introduction

On September 12, 2013, a group of senior executives from the nonprofit sector came together to discuss the challenges, opportunities and solutions surrounding gaining board member trust and support.

The relationship between board and staff is key to a highly functioning board. The sector tends to attract executives who are empathetic and caring. An insightful executive stated that the biggest obstacle in gaining board approval, however, may be herself. This observation highlighted the importance for nonprofit leaders to be comfortable in exercising power in order to influence others and win support. There was agreement around the table that leaders of nonprofits needed to recognize that they have power and learn to use it effectively.

This discussion paper is the third in a series we plan to release following each of our Bridge2Success Executive breakfasts. We will address the issues that are currently keeping executives and influencers of the nonprofit sector up at night. We hope that, in reading this paper, you will gain a better understanding of the challenges faced by nonprofit organizations and become better equipped to manage them.

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Contents

Gaining Board Support for the Strategic Plan and Key Initiatives: An Introduction 2

Systemic Barrier to Change 3

A Strong Business Case 3

Building Trust 4

Developing a Team Mentality 4

The Use of Power and Influence 5

Bridge2Success 6

About Verity 7

Systemic Barrier to Change

Verity opened its September 12th filled-to-capacity Bridge2Success Breakfast Forum

with a round of introductions, revealing a wealth of post-secondary educational

backgrounds leading to diverse senior careers. The immediate reaction was that if this

highly skilled group of senior managers was challenged to implement its strategies,

there might be a systemic issue.

The group identified that a prerequisite for gaining board support – for the Strategic

Plan to be accepted and realized – is good governance. There must be a process in

place by which organizations are directed and controlled. In addition, good

governance must correlate to the business lifecycle of the enterprise. In short, the

systemic barrier to the nonprofit sector achieving strategic imperatives is a

governance structure that has neither kept pace with the growth of the enterprise nor

the macro conditions of the marketplace. It is important to address this deficiency as

soon as possible.

While good governance is essential, there are other elements that prevent leaders in

the nonprofit sector from winning board approval easily – the subject of much

additional discussion at the Breakfast Forum. However, a preliminary observation

made early in the roundtable is worth mentioning: no matter how great the

challenge, participants were unanimous in their resolve to gain board endorsement of

their initiatives. They felt strongly that leaders in the sector have to develop tenacity

and resiliency, given that the multiple-stakeholder environment introduces

complexity and barriers to progress. Participants talked about finding "another way",

being creative and attempting to inspire their board to adopt their proposals. They

also advocated continuing to learn and/or finding a mentor. The leaders in this sector

care deeply about making progress for the cause they represent. Their leadership is

not about themselves, their career or money; their focus is on contributing to the

greater good. Their commitment to their work is a key motivator and fuels their

determination to succeed.

A Strong Business Case

These determined leaders also demonstrated deep competency in the hard side of

their management role. Elisabeth Baugh emphasized that persuading the board with a

solid business case was imperative. An essential objective of the business case is to

educate board members on risk – both for the enterprise and for themselves in their

role as board members. Participants provided additional practical tips to gain support:

Meet with early adopters to gain a voice for the case

Approach contrarians privately to try to overcome their reservations

Because board members meet infrequently and possess a variety of competencies, repeat the core themes of the business case frequently

Joy Bullen emphasized the need to involve the board members in the change and get them to “own the process”, while Debra Kerby recommended reinforcing the board's accountability to encourage ownership.

Additional barriers to overcome when working with boards is the prevalence of risk

aversion, the tendency to resort to outdated board practices when stressed, and the

reality that some board members feel guilty about the state of affairs and their role in

contributing to the lack of progress. The group attributed good intentions to board

members but emphasized the need to communicate the new dynamics of the

nonprofit sector.

Bridge2Success Executive

Breakfast Forum

September 12, 2013

Our Participants

Elisabeth Baugh, CEO, National Ovarian Cancer Association

Joy Bullen, Marketing Director, The Hilborn Group Ltd

Michelle Collier, Area Director Human Resources, ACCESS Independent Living Services

Donna Duncan, President & CEO, The Hincks-Dellcrest Centre

Cindy Dunn, VP Human Resources, Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario

Joanne Haywood, Director of Philanthropy, Canadian Feed The Children

Debra Kerby, Executive Director, Canadian Feed The Children

Georgina Kossivas, Bursar and CFO, St Michaels College of Toronto

Sinden Norton, VP Human Resources, Jewish Vocational Services

Cynthia Webb, President & CEO, Bridgepoint Foundation

Hosts

Colleen Fleming, Forum Moderator Managing Director, Bridge2Success Verity International Limited

Jeff Welton Managing Director, Verity International Limited

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The leaders cautioned that it is essential to honour the history of their boards and be

respectful of all board members, no matter their current fit for the role. Proposed

changes must be implemented in a manner that respects the past while inspiring

change. The leaders were acutely aware that they have to preserve the reputation of

board members, the enterprise and their own reputations when implementing

transformational change agendas. Reputational management needs to be actively

addressed in the nonprofit sector because of the reliance on public funds, especially

when there is increased competition for those funds in a soft economy.

Building Trust

The literature provided to attendees identified that an essential condition for gaining

board support for the Strategic Plan and other imperatives is a constructive

relationship between leaders and the board, the board chair and the CEO. The

literature suggested that the relationship has to be soundly based on trust so the

discussion turned to four components of trust: credibility, reliability, intimacy and

self-orientation. Roundtable participants agreed with the four dimensions, but Cindy

Dunn recommended a fifth one – transparency.

In order to build trust, much more time and effort must be spent in relationship

building. Leaders need to have frequent discussions – ideally face-to-face – with

individual board members, pre-selling ideas and building ownership and commitment

to change. If the CEO/Executive Director is to effectively undertake this work, he or

she needs to be supported by a strong staff, which frequently is not the case. The

burden of communication to multiple stakeholders - who frequently turn over - is a

contributing factor to the long hours and burn out in the sector and a barrier to

implementing transformational change.

Developing a Team Mentality

Our experienced leaders pinpointed lack of trust within the board as an additional

barrier to change. The group agreed that, ideally, the board's performance is at least

satisfactory to support a change mandate. This means that the board chair’s

leadership, board orientation, and processes such as current Terms of References,

must all be at least strong enough to allow necessary change to occur. However, other

factors that influence the success of the board’s performance process are the

competencies of individual directors and the use of a respectful communication style.

As the board moves to improve its own performance from satisfactory to best

practice, it can suffer a setback when board members’ terms end and new players

come to the table. The effective ongoing selection and orientation of board members

is critical for progress to be sustained.

In the current economy with our fiscally constrained government, many nonprofits

are necessarily becoming more active fundraisers. Georgina Kossivas strongly

cautioned against mixing fundraising with the governance boards. Cynthia Webb

advised that, as a Foundation CEO, she reports to the Foundation Board. Leaders who

operate in complex organizations with multiple boards must align the activities of

these entities so that they don't work at cross-purposes and further stall progress. In

order to encourage integration, Cynthia Webb suggested forming joint committees,

holding social events that mix the board members, and working hard on the selection

and fit of board members. Donna Duncan stated that her boards are really screening

for "fit", have no room for ego and seek candidates that relate to the collective good.

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Take-away #1

Lack of good governance may be a systemic barrier to change in nonprofit organizations

Take-away #2

Leaders of nonprofits have to build trust with board members in order to advance their strategic imperatives – and then rebuild it when board members change.

Take-away #3

Senior executives with nonprofit organizations need to learn to embrace the power available to them and use it to their best advantage to influence others.

The literature handout provided a Best Practice Road Map for building trust with the

board and board chair. Participants were in agreement with the road map, but Debra

Kerby suggested that leaders must also show passion for the work of the enterprise to

the board in order to focus on the common goal and move off individual agendas.

Debra’s aim was to enable her board to "believe again" when facing challenges, to

help them feel that together they can accomplish the mission. Authenticity was

identified as an essential trait for the leadership in the sector: leaders must be truly

passionate about their cause if they want to influence board members.

The Use of Power and Influence

We turned out attention to two essential competencies for effective leadership -

power and influence. Leaders in the sector are often promoted from within and can

be uncomfortable with the power they eventually acquire. They must be cautious not

to throw the power away as result of their discomfort. One seasoned leader in the

group acknowledged that she can be too empathetic, too kind and needed to

complement this trait with tough decision making. Another said that "she can't think

out loud" because if she muses on strategic options, her staff interprets her

comments as direction they are to follow.

The literature identified six distinctive types of power utilized by leaders: Coercive,

Reward, Legitimate, Referent, Expert and Network. The leaders use all the six powers

on a situation-specific basis. They made the following comments with regards to

these powers:

As mentioned, leaders of nonprofits can sometimes be uncomfortable with their legitimate power.

The exercise of power is especially challenging for nonprofit leaders because of the historical tradition in the sector of treating everyone equally. In some nonprofits, it is still deemed inappropriate to utilize Reward power for individual performance; variable compensation must be shared equally among the team members, or on the basis of length of services or some other objective formula.

Real progress is often comprised due to the collaborative environment in which leaders must exercise their power: they must negotiate, average out, and sometimes over-accommodate multiple and ill-informed stakeholders.

Georgina Kossivas stated that she was surprised at the weighted importance of Network power in the sector, which uses relationships as sources of power.

Coercive power is used to motivate change. This can be carried out by a review of enterprise risks, identifying gaps in fiduciary duties or by a competitive threat.

The concluding discussion was on how to develop the essential skills of influence. The

discussion emphasized the need to galvanize the board around the common ground

of the cause being served. In their engagement with board members, leaders must

ensure the board can identify their voice in the plans: board members want to know

they have been heard. Again, compromise came up, as it is important for leaders not

to be so entrenched in their position that the board becomes defensive. New leaders

need to use referent power until their individual voice has more influence.

Summary

“Ease in getting board approval is directly related to how well I’ve done my homework and built a full business case, including financials.”

Elisabeth Baugh

CEO, National Ovarian Cancer Association

"Leaders of nonprofit organizations must learn to couple the passion they have for their cause with the power and influence available to them in order to advance their strategic imperatives”

Colleen Fleming Forum Moderator

Managing Director, Bridge2Success Verity International Limited

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Unique Needs

The nonprofit sector is growing.

At the same time, its

organizations are facing increased

scrutiny and transparency over

processes and efficiency and

fierce competition over funding

dollars and donations. Its own

best practice research has

identified that the combination of

private and nonprofit sector

experience – the Blended Skill Set

– is critical to support

sustainability.

Aligning the work and the sensitive relationship of the board and the CEO/ED, as well as managing the performance of a CEO or Executive Director (ED); and

Meeting the expectations of stakeholders for rigorous processes for selecting a new CEO/ED and managing the renewal of the board, e.g. Slate Selection process.

Bridge2Success (B2S) is Verity’s distinctive practice area dedicated to unique needs of the nonprofit sector. From coaching executive-level “Bridgers” (leaders moving from the public or private sectors to the nonprofit sector), to consulting to the boards that hire them - our unique services make the relationship work and the organizations stronger.

Bridge2Success is the link – seamlessly “bridging” the skills between private and public sectors and the nonprofit sector, benefiting the individual, the organization and the overall

Distinctive Services

Bridge2Success offers a specialized array of services that are a direct response to these needs.

Board-level Consulting – From how to work with a new CEO/ED from the corporate environment, and to set him/her up for success, to how to get a board to operate together effectively.

Executive Coaching – Coaching for the new CEO/ED, with a focus on how to transition corporate, “For-Profit” skill sets to the nonprofit world, including building skills to support productive board relations.

Selection Consulting – Working with the board to establish and manage/oversee the process of selecting a new CEO/ED and/or members of the board.

Specialized People

Our advisors are carefully selected to bring a unique skill set to our customers and individual clients – knowledge, experience, as well as business and consulting acumen. They are all experienced leaders and board directors, with a keen understanding of the unique challenges Nonprofits face. And most importantly, they have the passion to make a difference.

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ABOUT VERITY

Unlocking the potential in people

Products can be copied. Customer service levels can be matched. Information technology quickly becomes obsolete.

It’s your people who drive competitive advantage and sustained performance.

Verity unlocks the potential in your people.

Consulting solutions for the people side of business

Verity International Limited is a boutique Canadian human resources consulting firm that focuses on the people side of business. We have decades of experience working as a trusted advisor with a wide-range of organizations, individuals and executives.

“Our mission is to help leaders align their people to build sustainably successful organizations—known for excellence in performance, innovation and employee engagement.”

We clearly understand the balancing act of managing the complexities of human performance, while meeting the demands of all stakeholders.

Our consulting and coaching solutions are unique and tailored to the specific situation. We believe in developing solutions that are specialized and results oriented—solutions that unlock the human potential that drives organizational performance and individual dreams. This is our core skill, our passion and the heart of our approach.

In operation for almost 30 years, we have four distinct practice areas:

Bridge2Success

Talent & Organizational Consulting

Executive Advisory Services

Career Management & Transition

We operate in all major cities across Canada through our national Verity Filion partnership and in over 40 countries globally as a founding member of BPI group.

For more information, please visit us at www.verityintl.com.

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