Chapter
1

Why a Strong Recruitment and Orientation Program is Important

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In our many years as consultants to community organizations of all kinds, we have spoken with a lot of board members. Given the degree to which those board members whine about their boards, one might think they were complaining about their spouse or their job!

When it comes to boards, we hear words like "dysfunctional" or "ineffective." Board members complain that

"Meetings are too long"
"No one shows up for meetings - we can't even get a quorum."
"Meetings are boring."
"One person commandeers every discussion to no real end. We are so relieved when he's absent."
"Our board micromanages every detail."
"Not our board - we just rubber stamp everything staff's already doing."

A study cited in the Wall Street Journal a number of years ago asked organizations the following question:

If your board was abducted by aliens,
would the organization notice they were gone?
Would anyone pay to get them back?

Given this frequently well-deserved attitude towards the boards that govern community organizations, is it any wonder folks feel desperate to find new board members? Good ones this time, not like that jerk we finally got rid of. Folks who can help us stay on track. Folks who can help us make it all work.

But come on - those people will never sit on our board. We’re just a small, fill-in-the-blank agency, not some powerful group. Well never have the good board members - theyre all sitting on those high-profile boards. We had trouble even attracting the people we have now! Everyone is so over-committed these days. Were lucky to get who we get.

If any of these laments sound familiar, then you are in luck. The good news is, it is fixable. The better news is you can fix it yourselves.

A strong recruitment and orientation program is a key piece in your efforts to create a more functional board. Through effective recruitment, you will gain control over who sits on the board, and you will stop feeling desperate to accept whoever walks in the door. Through effective orientation, you will prepare those new board members to serve from the moment they have arrived.

Study after study shows that of all the factors one might think would impact employment success (salary, hours, etc.), the single most important factor is “fit.” And the more time a candidate spends with the group’s members before he/she is hired, the closer the fit once he/she is hired. Fit is consistently found to be one of the best predictors - if not THE best predictor - of both job satisfaction and tenure.

Your organization’s recruitment and orientation processes will set the stage for a great “fit” for your board members. The process alone will tell potential board members a lot about the way the board approaches its job within the organization.

And so, our wish for you is simple:

Chapter 1 Continued >