Articles

The Invisible Price Tag A staff member at one association described her board's lens this way: “What is the program? How much will it cost? Can we afford it?” That is one board — not a pattern, and probably not yours. Most boards ask better questions than that. Plenty of them genuinely ask whether something is worth doing. So here is the harder problem — the one that survives having a thoughtful, engaged, well-informed board: Boards do ask whether it's worth it. They ask in t

The Worth Question Every board decides what its organization's results are worth. Most boards do it by never saying so — and then wonder why the budget keeps answering for them. A nonprofit is a standing claim on other people's resources Dues. Donations. Tax exemption. Volunteer evenings. Staff careers that could have been spent somewhere else. Every nonprofit runs on resources the community handed over on the understanding that something better would come back. The worth que

WHAT’S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT GOVERNANCE? We Need “New” Solutions People seem to believe that the status quo still isn’t working because they...

Many of us in the nonprofit sector eagerly awaited the publication of this book by The Center for Association Leadership. The book is a...

Assessing Organizational Ends Starts with Questions – Not Answers In his book “Good to Great”, Jim Collins offers this wisdom for CEO’s:...

Insights into group dynamics are essential to facilitators to successfully accomplish the purpose of the meeting. Facilitators should...

Dear Association Executive: Recently on the American Society of Association Executive’s (ASAE) Executive Section listserv, there have...

Culture in an organization is comprised of shared values, goals, norms and processes. One overarching theme uncovered in studying...

Defining governance is not easy. If you google “definition on governance,” you will find over 500,000 entries. Governance is a generic...

Last week, President Obama spoke of a “failure of leadership” at GM. What happens to GM affects their employees, vendors, retirees,...

Those of you who know me know that I’m a big fan of Thomas Friedman. His book, The World is Flat” changed all of my perceptions about the...

Last night, President Obama said that democracy is messy. Democracy is messy. Governing boards represent democracy in action and the...

An acquaintance asked me yesterday what I do. “I work with board and executive leaders on a system of governance that helps them get rid...

An update to what was written here. This group is still together but we’ve moved beyond Policy Governance to conceptualizing what it...

The Little Red Hen was an industrious little hen. From a few seeds, she had a vision of a beautifully golden, richly fragrant loaf of...

Reading Scott Stratten’s book on Unmarketing. His take on ROI for social media (about it giving him ulcers!) resonates with me. As it did...

Most of my client teams (board and staff leaders) are geographically dispersed. As an organizational and governance consultant, I give...

The ad reads: “Car ‘phones. They’re no longer the privilege of the chosen few.” In 1982, I actually had one of these Vodaphone babies. I...

Decided that diary is the wrong word. Even though I’m chronicling my foibles and attempts at online networking, the day of the post...

Psychology. Why is it difficult for many?/most? boards to move to a comprehensive, logical system of governing? What’s that old joke:...