Boards are Only as Strong as Their Weakest Link
“A key person on our board died several months ago and it is taking us a while to recover.” Three people have shared this challenge with me in the past week.
All of these organizations had been proactive in succession planning for officer and committee chair positions. One had a quality experienced board member in place to become board chair at its annual meeting in January. The other two had top notch people chairing committees that were gathering momentum to lead major organizational initiatives.
Due to sudden deaths, all three boards are backpedaling. One has called a former board chair back into service. The others are redoing work that an enthusiastic individual had done himself and sorting through notes to determine the current state of developing programs.
As is the case for most boards, some members are highly skilled while others have little board experience or understanding. The boards have not being requiring certain skills in their board member nominees nor providing governance training to equip less experienced board members for board excellence. Succession planning on these boards has not been as deep or broad as desirable. A few capable people have carried the minimal contributors. Now that key capable people have passed away the other capable people are burning out picking up the slack because the minimal contributors’ are not equipped to fill the holes. The organizations’ effectiveness is at risk.
Great board succession planning goes much further than having one person willing to take on the role of chair or champion a new initiative. It entails filling all board seats with people who have the capacity to be innovative and proactive leaders who have, or are engaged in developing, quality governance knowledge and skills. Then when a board officer or committee chair position suddenly opens up there are informed people who can step up to the plate.
