If you are a board member, or a leader on a board of directors, where are you guiding your organization?
You may think, Well, I am just a member, so it is not my role to guide. I cannot guide the direction of the board and organization. I beg to differ. You can, and you should. Let me be direct. If you don’t want to or aim to guide, you are wasting your time; just resign. How can you guide, being just one person in a group, without full authority? Let me tell you how.
I am a member of three different boards of trustees; on one, I serve as the Chairman. In these roles, I have noticed that boards are commonly reactionary, simply looking over whatever the CEO or director envisions. This is not ideal because the very purpose of our boards is to lead. After about 10 years of serving in different roles on a variety of boards, I finally realized that each member of the board can and should use their voice to lead.
A board should support its CEO, listening to his thoughts and visions. However, the members of the board should be the ones responsible to set the direction and establish the destination.
Let’s go back to the basics. What does it mean to lead? Without complicating the definition too much, to lead is to guide in a certain direction. I led the group of tourists to the restaurant. A simple example. Leaders, in this sense, are not meant to merely take a backseat and go along for the ride. Yet way too many boards and board members do this when they reduce their roles to only speaking up once in a while, offering an occasional suggestion, or making a comment.
As a board member, if you aren’t speaking plainly into the direction of the organization, something is wrong. Speak up. Guide. Talk in private or public. Disrupt. (No, don’t be disruptive, but disrupt the norm.) See who can support you and talk to them outside the boardroom. Lead with tact, but lead with persistence. It all starts with an idea the Lord may be laying on your heart. Don’t let it fade into dormancy. Say it, even if it’s your first time to meet with a certain group. Often the newest members give the freshest advice.
