Indiggo Associates Blog

Do you find yourself frustrated with the level of engagement of your Board members? Is your Board adding true value to your organization?

Most directors don’t look forward to going to a meeting to simply review reports, get updates and make a few decisions from time to time and rarely get engaged or passionate enough to make a true difference to the organization during their tenure.

A dynamic and effective Board of Directors should have a focused charter of responsibilities that is clearly laid out and accepted by the Board member prior to joining.  In addition to legal obligations it should include expectations around the time commitments necessary to be an effective member and a willingness to participate fully in board activities. Although they are not usually regarded as such, boards of directors are teams that have a time bound mission of policy, strategy and oversight and should benchmark themselves according to a clear set of metrics.

The board chair must hold directors accountable to these commitments. More than ever today, both for-profit and non-profit organizations need engaged and effective boards. Rather than repetitive transactional meetings, make sure to leverage the board’s resources by taking the time to plan an overall board approach and strategy. Then leverage the unique strengths and passions of directors to board goals to board. This ensures that the precious time that board members are able to meet and work together will be valuable.

If the people around us at work could only read our minds….What a surprise they would get! Some of it good, some of it bad and much of it just plain surprising!

How much easier life would be if we didn’t have to hold back, avoid, walk on eggshells with so many people, hoping that they will get the message somehow.

Yes – skill is definitely needed in giving honest feedback in a constructive manner. Despite the challenge, if done in a skillful manner and with the right intent, this builds trusting and rewarding relationships. Honest feedback is a form of caring, whereas tolerating behaviors and results that are mediocre or sub-par is a form of indifference.

This avoidance can also be due to lack of trust or confidence in the other person or in ourselves. Do we not believe they are capable of improving? Have we written them off too quickly or are we fearful of repercussions?

Besides skill and caring, another prerequisite is creating the processes and structures that support giving honest feedback as part of a healthy organizational culture.

When done in the right way, honest feedback is a treasure that enables people to grow and thrive and contributes to building a healthy organizational culture.