Blog
The iPhone and the “Board Meetings” In Between Board Meetings
By Dustin McKissen, September 22, 2016
There are two types of boards.
Board A gets together at its meetings, rubber-stamps a few
proposals, drinks some coffee, eats a few pastries, and doesn’t think much
about the organization, its mission, or its goals in between official board
meetings. Chances are good that many directors on Board A don’t actually attend
all of the board meetings. Just as bad, there is also a good chance that the
directors on Board A often forget to advance the cause or mission of the
organization when they have the opportunity.
When you work for Board A, you often hear your colleagues
who also work for boards complain about overactive, overly engaged, micromanaging
board members—and you get a tiny bit jealous, because you would rather deal
with the manageable challenges that come with an overactive board rather than the
far more significant challenges that stem from an apathetic board.
In other words, Board A is a stereotypically disengaged
board.
Hopefully you don’t work for Board A.
Hopefully you work for Board B.
Board B may have a disengaged director now and again, but
overall, Board B is pretty passionate and engaged when it comes to your
organization and its mission. For example, Board B understands the powerful
role a trade association can play in shaping an industry or profession, the
importance of a community bank in a local economy, or how impactful a school
board’s decisions are in shaping a community’s future leaders.
Board B can, at times, micromanage staff members or get into
heated disagreements during meetings. However, the good of Board B far
outweighs the bad, and one of the positive aspects of Board B is that directors
don’t forget about their organization in between board meetings. In fact, directors
on Board B discuss their organization during networking events and actively
seek to engage future stakeholders.
Directors on Board B also engage their colleagues on the
board in between meetings, and look forward to discussing important issues and
new opportunities.
And when directors are engaged in between meetings, they
turn the board into something more than just a governance and oversight body.
They turn the board of directors into the source of
innovation needed to take an organization to the next level.
And now it’s easier than ever to engage your board of
directors in between meetings.
BoardPaq, the affordable board portal of choice for a
growing number of cost-conscious organizations across the world, is
now available on the iPhone. Now boards can collaborate, discuss new
opportunities, and even conduct
a SWOT Analysis using their iPhone.
Board engagement is one of the most-discussed topics in
governance. And while there is no magic solution, providing directors with
technology and tools that make it easy (and in the case of BoardPaq’s SWOT
Analysis tool, even fun) to engage is a huge step toward getting the input from
directors their organization needs.
Interested in learning how you can give your board the tools
they need to become Board B?
Sign up for
a demo with BoardPaq today!
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Dustin McKissen is the founder of McKissen + Company, an association management and marketing firm. He is a Certified Association Executive and has served as an executive or consultant to a wide variety trade associations, professional societies, and nonprofits.
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