What should non-profits promise to their board members?

Introduction

Many boards have a Code of Conduct which sets out how their members should behave. That is a very useful and important set of guidelines. But less frequently set out is what the organisation’s commitment should be to its board members. Put together, they could become a kind of mutual promise. Here are some ideas about what behaviours and commitments an organisation should make.

The foundations of good practice

Reimbursement for costs & expenses

The first and most typical commitment that boards make is to pay expenses. Most boards need to set out what they will pay for – travel, subsistence and hotels are the standard. The costs of working from home, laptops and the like may also be appropriate. A simple rule of thumb would be: if staff get reimbursed or costs paid for, why not trustees?

Training and development support

Most board members need training of some kind at some stage, whether it's internal or external training courses, the basics of trustee roles or going to conferences. Again, my simple rule of thumb would be if staff would be supported for this kind of training, then so should trustees.

Induction and understanding

New trustees need to have a good induction. They need to understand the organisation and how it works. They need to know the big issues that the organisation is facing and how they might come to board meetings for discussion. In short, trustees need to have a foundation of knowledge and understanding about their roles and the organisation.

Accurate information to make good decisions

Board members can’t make good decisions without accurate, timely and comprehensible and comprehensive information. Board members should be able to believe the information and feel comfortable challenging and interrogating it. Put another way, if board members don’t trust the information they get, or feel it's incomplete, that is a recipe for poor decisions and divided boards

Mutual feedback and objectives

Board members need to have feedback. They need to know whether they are doing a good job and to have a mechanism by which they are told what is expected of them. Equally, they need to know there are ways in which they can give feedback about others and their style and behaviour. Put together all board members, and the CEO and Chair should have feedback loops so they can give and receive feedback, and know what is expected of them.

The style and decision-making promises

Safe space and acceptance of challenge and scrutiny

A key role of trustees is to challenge and ask questions. It is to scrutinise the work of the staff team and make sure they are delivering to their goals and objectives. These kinds of discussions are not always easy to have. Being challenged and scrutinised is rarely comfortable. So staff and trustees need to know they will have a safe space in which to challenge and be challenged.

Valuing diversity and heterogeneity

People have different styles, and they have different demographics. People live in different geographies and have different experiences. Part of the job of an organisation is to make sure that the board members (and the staff team) are diverse in all those ways. That diversity brings strength and resilience; it also makes challenge and scrutiny more vibrant. Though that too brings challenges if it results in more debate and disagreement.

Inclusive discussions and inclusive practices

It is easy to forget that DEI includes the word inclusion. Being inclusive means adopting ways of working that lets all board members feel their voice is heard, and their opinion matters. It means knowing that a board will accommodate, as far as reasonably possible, your personal needs – whether that be family commitments, the day job, your physical needs or your learning or communications needs.

Being inside the room on big issues

Board members need to know that they are involved in the big decisions and issues that an organisation has to make. It's probably worth a board defining what those are, but CEO appointments, major investments, strategy and big challenges are obvious ones. The organisation should be able to promise board members that those issues will come to the board and that board members will have a say.

Each organisation will need to decide for itself what its commitments are to the individuals on the board. But combined with the code of conduct that the trustees make to the board, the two sets of mutual promises can make a powerful basis for a strong board.