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Sara Wilson, CPCC, ACC | Have you tried implementing any of the suggestions from my recent blog: Is your board stuck in the weeds? Another tool that can foster high level board discussion is the board meeting agenda. I hear the rumbles of “I can’t change the board agenda, we’ve been doing it the same […]
Sara Wilson, CPCC, ACC | Are you a board member or executive director of a board that frequently gets in the weeds? Board meetings should primarily focus on governance level matters. It can be challenging, though: balancing big picture and detail-oriented thinkers, keeping conversations from going down a “rabbit-hole,” and a myriad of other issues […]
Sara Wilson, CPCC, ACC | In my last post I talked about a few organizational risks caused by avoiding board succession planning and promised to provide some approaches to mitigate those risks. Succession planning isn’t an easy topic to broach, especially if there are long-term board members and no term limits. I recommend organizations plan for […]
Sara Wilson, CPCC, ACC | What does board succession have to do with gardening? Just like your garden in spring, you need to evaluate what parts of your board are thriving, what is failing, and what just needs to go away. Everything needs renewing, even the board. Admittedly, it can be easy to stay with […]
Sara Wilson | I’ve never seen a board member job description that says “don’t be a bobble head” but they should. I strongly advocate for board members to think critically and ask questions. In fact, board members have a legal responsibility–the Duty of Care–to make informed decisions, meaning they need to gather facts and ask […]
Sara Wilson, CPCC | Ever had a day when you wished there was a reset button on your relationship with your board chair? I certainly have. Like the movie Groundhog Day, there is little worse than repeating the same mistake over and over…and over. Why not use the RESET button? It takes: Courage: to admit […]
Sara Wilson, CPCC | I have been thinking a lot about my current conversations. Are they fulfilling? Do they result in the type of information I seek? Are they building the kinds of relationships I want? Honestly, on many fronts, for me the answer is “no.” How about you? There are many reasons our conversations […]
Sara Wilson, CPCC | Often, the roles of board president and executive director are described in terms of how they are different, with the board president focused on the future and the executive director focused on daily organizational management and program implementation. But ideally, these two individuals act as a Dynamic Duo. Together they are tasked […]
Field Guide, Quarterly Newsletter for Board Members, Land Trust Alliance: Sara Wilson’s article, Board Building: Inviting People with a Shared Vision, published in the Field Guide, the Land Trust Alliance’s board member newsletter, is available as a download on our Resources page. In the article, Sara shares her extensive expertise on recruiting board members for […]
Sara Wilson, CPCC | During my 20+years of consulting, I have noticed one of the habits many high functioning nonprofit boards have in common is they routinely evaluate their performance through two lenses. First, as an entity, are we performing our responsibilities? And second, as individuals, are we fulfilling our job requirements and serving the organization as promised? Evaluating […]
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