Nonprofit Theatre: Today’s Board President will be played by the Executive Director.

I work with a lot of helpful people, and I find what is intended as helpfulness in new executive directors can often look a whole lot like doing someone else’s job – sometimes a staff member’s, but surprisingly often, a board member’s. One ED I worked with would even sub in for board committee chairs that missed meetings and create detailed scripts for her board president who often flew into board meetings late and completely unaware of the matters up for consideration. 

 But the truth is that an ED can’t fulfill the function when the function in question is providing oversight to staff, fulfilling individual legal responsibilities as a board member, and inhabiting the distinct role of governance.

 Front-end prevention through clear board role descriptions and board member expectations is key, but what can a well-intentioned ED already caught in this situation do? If you can, engage the board member honestly, acknowledging that they seem exceedingly busy and seeing if they are open to support. Appropriate support can look like:

1)     Assigning a co-chair or vice president to step in for individual meetings and/or to serve for a period of time when the board member will have limited capacity

2)     Appointing an ad hoc board committee or subcommittee to take on key tasks

3)     Considering what within the board workplan can shift to better align with what the board member and the board currently have capacity for

4)     Giving the member an out. Change happens. Acknowledge if organizational shifts have increased the demands of the role or if the board member’s situation has changed. Sometimes bringing that conversation into the open provides the space and awareness for a board member to acknowledge they need to step down from their role.

 It might feel like being helpful or keeping things running, but doing the board’s work creates an illusion of distinct governance-management roles and masks the real needs and challenges of your organization. 

And if you mask the problem, how will it get better?