Annual Meetings – Where the Board Reports to the Owners
All board-led organizations are required to have an annual meeting for the purpose of communication between the owners and the board. Quality communication is two-way, with the owners providing input and the board reporting back to the owners. By planning a quality annual meeting boards can exercise the discipline of respecting the owners.
It is at the time of the annual meeting that the members or owners elect the board members for the coming year. If the board members are elected by advance ballot the elected individuals are officially announced at the annual meeting. It is usually at the annual meeting that the owners make changes to the bylaws, constitution, or code which provides direction to the organization. Great boards value and heed these owner decisions.
The other part of two-way communication is the board reporting to the owners. This includes the board sharing with the owners the big picture goals that were achieved in the past year. It also includes the organization’s financial performance, such as the board reviewing the audited financial statements. It is a great time for the board to update the owners by reporting significant challenges the organization may be facing. Since the board members are trustees responsible for serving the owners’ interests, they have a responsibility to keep the owners informed of the bad as well as the good. An excellent board report also includes plans for the future.
Since the purpose of the annual meetings is communication between the owners and the board, reporting of recent performance and the sharing of future plans is best done by board members. The owners have entrusted board members to serve and protect their interests. If board members delegate the reporting to staff “who are better versed on the topics”, the board members are in essence saying that they don’t understand the organizations’ achievements well enough to update the owners, or in other words, that they have not been competent trustees of the owners’ interests.
In summary, the annual meeting is the primary opportunity for board members to exercise the “respect owners” discipline of governance excellence. At this time great board members demonstrate their service to owners by valuing the direction they provide and by reporting strategic results and plans, thereby demonstrating that they capably monitor operations.
October 15, 2009 at 1:43 pm
As the District Superintendent (CEO) of a judicatory, this article was helpful and timely. Our board is wrestling with how we can improve ownership/linkage back to our churches. After reading this article, I am thinking that our board, and especially our Chief Governing Officer (CGO) should have more of a presence to the owners.
October 16, 2009 at 6:36 am
You are correct, it is the board’s responsibility to have a presence to the owners, and the Chief Governing Officer (CGO) is usually the one who takes the lead on communications with the owners. Ideally, this communication will be two-way. Updates about the high level direction of the judicatory, such as strategic priorities and board determined initiatives, can be included in a newsletter to all the churches, with these updates signed by the CGO. The regional church board on which I sit has assigned each of the member churches to a board member, so each board member has a few congregations with which to communicate. When we call the senior pastor and/or the board chair of each church we ask them what has been going well in their congregations, ask them about their current challenges, inquire about how the regional organization could serve them better, and update them on regional initiatives. This helps the local churches to feel that they are truly connected to the regional organization and assists the board members in staying on top of member church issues so we can direct the regional organization more effectively. Even churches who have an active member on the regional board are assigned to a board member not from their congregation for cross-pollination of information and ideas. The board members need to stay at a fairly high level in these conversations. If somebody has a question or concern about a particular service that the regional group provides to the church, we need to refer them to the staff member that handles that matter. It is not the board member’s job to sort out operational issues, but rather to guide both staff and member churches to the right people to get the operational issues addressed positively.
October 15, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Just want to see comments